Children's Painting Competition on the Environment 2007 - 1st Prize Global Winner

The world as an umbrella turned inside out by a powerful storm, while gripped by a dark almost diabolic-looking figure is the winning art work ( by 12 year-old Charlie Sullivan of the United Kingdom ). The 16th International Children's' Painting Competition echoes to this year's theme of climate change under the slogan Melting Ice-A Hot Topic?

Amazon wildlife

Welcome to Antarctica

Sebastien Copeland is an international award winning photographer and film maker.
In 2005, Copeland co-led a delegation to the Arctic town of iqaluit to raise awareness on the inuit's struggle at the hands of climate change and to put a human face to Global Warming.
Copeland return to the ice in 2007 to complete a collection of photographs assembled into his book : Antarctica - The Global Warning. With an foreword by President Gorbachev, and an introduction by Leonardo DiCaprio, the book will be released internationally in the fall of 2007.

" Scale and light. That is how I will remember Antarctica.As I review week's worth of intense shooting, I am awad by the raw power of nature in this surreal environment, where mankind, yet again, is dwarfed by such gigantic proportions. Towering volcanic peaks plunge precipitously into the sea ; glaciers nonchalantly and inexorably pour into the ocean, where chunks of ice the size of city blocks, carry their last hurray as they float away to their inescapable fate. Trapped in frozen air bubbles are hundred of thousands of years' worth of environmental data." Sebastian Copeland.

The rest of this wonderful prologue is there : http://www.antarcticabook.com/about.html
Welcome to Antarctica with those marvellous images and music : http://www.antarcticabook.com/gallery.html

How do toxic chemicals reach the arctic?

Polar bear cubs

"A poisoned Inuk child, a poisoned Arctic, and a poisoned planet are all one and the same." Sheila Watt Cloutier, chair (2002-06) of Inuit Circumpolar Conference

The Arctic acts as a final "sink" where pollutants become trapped
There is a tendency for many chemicals to move from warmer to colder climates. The so-called "Persistent Organic Pollutants" (POPs) are highly volatile, man-made chemicals that easily evaporate into the air but are slow to degrade.

Pollutants are also transported to the Arctic via ocean and river currents, melting sea-ice, and migratory birds.

Plants and wildlife take up toxins through contaminated air, soil, water, and food. Arctic animals, such as polar bears, whales and seals, are long-lived and have high levels of fat to insulate them against the cold climate.
Many toxins accumulate in fat and animals with a long life span have time to build up high levels of toxins in their bodies. As animals use their fat reserves during periods of hibernation, toxins become more concentrated in blood, organs, and their remaining fat.
Toxin levels increase moving up the food chain (a process called biomagnification) and are highest in top predators, such as polar bears and wolves. Humans are at the very top of the food chain and Arctic indigenous peoples are exposed to contaminants through a traditional diet.

Eye Of The LeOparD

~~ I am A man ~~

I am a Cro Magnon man
I’m a monkey or a fish
On Earth all year round
I, I turn around, I turn around

I am one then some million

I’m a man with the lionheart

In war all year round

I, I turn around, I turn around.

I’m a man full of ambition

Fine-looking car and fine-looking house

In the room or in the lounge

I, I turn around, I turn around.

I make love and the revolution

I have a look at the question

I move, i move backwards

And I turn around, I turn around.

You see, I’m not a man,

I’m the king of illusion

Forgive me, really

I am the king, the bloody stupid king

I have my own way of making the world

Cast in gold and concrete

Caged , thrown in prison

I, I turn around, I turn around.

Sat in front of my television

I’m the negation,

Very much a mass market products

Yea, that works out right

that works out right

You see, I’m not a man,

I’m the king of illusion

Forgive me, really

I am the king, the bloody stupid king

It’s me the ruler of fire,

I have the upper hand, I’m the ruler of the world

And see what I’ve done,

An icy earth, a burnt earth,

The Earth of the mankind that men are giving up.

I am a man up against the wall

Like a mistake of nature

On the Earth without a reason

I, I turn around, I turn around.

I am a man and I measure

All the horror of my nature

as punishment, as sentence
I, I go around and around

Lyrics of Zazie, french singer

Reservation of Baratpur ( Inde )

Ceremony in a goddess' honour

Living together...

" Because in all the strife we've got coming to us, whether it's because of poverty or climate change, we can't do anything alone. The time when all you had to do was think of yourself is past and gone. From here on in you could say that we have a duty to take care of each other, to help each other. And the only way we can do that is to share life, talk to eachother, stop being scared. There are over six billion of us on this earth and there is no chance of any kind of sustainable development if we can't manage to live together."

"6 billion others" tries to draw a portrait of contemporary mankind by asking questions about universal values. They concern the family, experiences, what makes us laugh, cry, what gives life meaning, and the like.
Are we all chasing the same happiness ? are we all facing the same problems ?

Yann Arthus Bertrand

Here is a very wonderful site that everyone will love and for sure you will be touched by the emotions and sincerity of testimonials. And don't forget to check "nature" ;)

http://www.6milliardsdautres.org/main.php?Lng=en&File=homePage

Sanganeb's lighthouse ( SOUDAN )

• Did you know it ?

1. It takes a milion years for a glass bottle to degrade. Every tonne of recycled glass saves over one tonne of raw materials like sand and limestone. Which means less damage to countryside, less pollution, valuable energy savings and less global warmings.
2. It takes between 10 and 17 trees to make one tonne of paper - enough for only 7,000 copies of a national newspaper. Ask for recycled paper for your homework and your letters. Choose carefully. Some recycled papers use more harmful chemicals like bleach than 'new' paper. Expect that your recycled paper may not look quite so good!
3. It takes 450 years for a plastic bottle to degrade. Recycling just one plastic bottle can save the same amount of energy needed to power a 60 watt light bulb for six hours.
4. About 34,000 tonnes of aluminium foil packaging is wasted each year. Seven countries consume nearly 60 per cent of all the aluminium in the world. Recycling an aluminium can saves 95 per cent of the energy needed to make a new one and 99 per cent less emissions than when it is produced from raw materials.
   Aluminium can be recycled time and time again without loss of quality.

• The little story

Metal cans go back a hundred years. They were developed at Napoleon's instructions, to keep food for his soldiers on the march. Napoleon's cook experimented with stoppered bottles; then tried steel cans, lined with tin which did not corrode.

The can was a great success. But it was a long time before anyone invented the can opener. In the meantime, people opened cans with chisels.

Cans are light and convenient for single servings. They can be made of aluminium or steel and both of these materials are easy to recycle. Aluminium cans go into can banks. Steel cans can be recycled out of normal household rubbish too. Some councils use huge magnets to separate the steel cans from the household mixed rubbish for recycling.

A drop of Life - 2nd place of the International Photo Contest "Water is life" 2003

Ali Isik (Turkey)

On 22 march, World Water Day 2007: ‘Coping with Water Scarcity’.

The world’s water crisis has many faces.

• A girl in Africa walks three miles before school to fetch water from a distant well.
• A teenage boy in China is afflicted with terrible skin lesions because his village well is contaminated with arsenic.
• Impoverished slum dwellers in Angola draw drinking water from the local river where their sewage is dumped.
• Farmers on the lower reaches of the Colorado River struggle because water has been diverted to cities like Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

According to the United Nations, every day 4,400 children under the age of 5 die around the world, having fallen sick because of unclean water and sanitation. In fact, five times as many children die each year of diarrhea as of HIV/AIDS.

• 2.6 billion people lack basis sanitation
• 1.1 billion people have no access to safe water
• 1/3 of the world's population face water scarcity

Why is this so?

Access to water is mainly a crisis for the poor. More than two-thirds of those without clean water survive on less than $2 a day. Either poor people are excluded because of a lack of legal rights to claim adequate water, or they fall outside the scope of limited water infrastructure that serves largely the rich.

Water is also a crisis for women and children, because they bear the burden of collecting water. In some places, women have to walk nearly 10 kilometers to reach a water source. Girls drop out of school either because they have to help fetch water or because there aren’t adequate sanitary facilities in school toilets. Millions of school days are lost as a result.

Water scarcity affects some parts of the world more than others. Today, 800 million people live under a threshold of “water stress.” As rivers dry up, lakes shrink and groundwater reserves get depleted, that figure will rise to 3 billion in 2025, especially in parts of Asia and Africa. There is an urgent need to reduce waste and invest in infrastructure to “harvest” rainwater or increase storage.

Most water use is in agriculture. Farming uses up to 70 times more water than is used for cooking and washing. Many countries have to import more than half their food needs because they do not have enough water to grow more food. If we do not change the way we use water, the amount needed for a rapidly growing world population will double in the next 50 years.

But the water crisis hits cities in the rich world as well — Houston and Sydney, for example, are using more water than is replenished. Australia is the world’s driest continent, where increasing salinity in water is threatening agriculture. Large parts of Europe are affected by recurring droughts.

Global warming is another threat. It will be responsible for declining rainfall in some regions, glacial melt in others, and rising sea levels.

The United Nations declared has 2005-2015 as the ‘Water for Life’ decade. The goal is to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015 and to stop unsustainable exploitation of water resources. Governments pledged to do this when they adopted the Millennium Development Goals in 2000.


Watch the ‘Water, Drop of Life' Video of the Decade and discover the issue: http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/specialevents/waterforlife-eng.rm

French version: http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/specialevents/waterforlife-fre.rm

Children's Painting Competition on the Environment - 4th Prize winner.

Anjali Chendrashekar, 12 years old, India

The Chipko movement

In the 1970s, an organized resistance to the destruction of forests spread throughout India and came to be known as the Chipko movement. Chipko means "to hug" in an Indian language as the villagers hugged the trees, and prevented the contractors' from felling them.

Not many people know that over the last few centuries many communities in India have helped save nature. One such is the Bishnoi community of Rajasthan. The original ’Chipko movement’ was started around 260 years back in the early part of the 18th century in Rajasthan by this community. A large group of them from 84 villages led by a lady called Amrita Devi laid down their lives in an effort to protect the trees from being felled on the orders of the Maharaja (King) of Jodhpur. After this incident, the maharaja gave a strong royal decree preventing the cutting of trees in all Bishnoi villages.

In the 20th century, it began in the hills where the forests are the main source of livelihood, since agricultural activities cannot be carried out easily. The Chipko movement of 1973 was one of the most famous among these. The first Chipko action took place spontaneously in April 1973 in the village of Mandal in the upper Alakananda valley and over the next five years spread to many districts of the Himalayas in Uttar Pradesh. It was sparked off by the government's decision to allot a plot of forest area in the Alaknanda valley to a sports goods company. the women of the area, under the leadership of an activist, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, rushed to the forests shouting "Chipko! Chipko!" and formed a circle around the trees preventing the men from cutting them down.

The success achieved by this protest led to similar protests in other parts of the country. From their origins as a spontaneous protest against logging abuses in Uttar Pradesh in the Himalayas, supporters of the Chipko movement, mainly village women, have successfully banned the felling of trees in a number of regions and influenced natural resource policy in India. Dhoom Singh Negi, Bachni Devi and many other village women, were the first to save trees by hugging them. They coined the slogan: 'What do the forests bear? Soil, water and pure air'. The success of the Chipko movement in the hills saved thousands of trees from being felled.

Some other persons have also been involved in this movement and have given it proper direction. Mr Bahuguna coined the Chipko slogan: 'ecology is permanent economy'. Mr Chandi Prasad Bhatt, encouraged the development of local industries based on the conservation and sustainable use of forest wealth for local benefit. Mr Ghanasyam Raturi, the Chipko poet, whose songs echo throughout the Himalayas of Uttar Pradesh, wrote a poem describing the method of embracing the trees to save them from felling:

' Embrace the trees and

Save them from being felled;

The property of our hills,

Save them from being looted.'

Since then, the movement has spread to many states in the country. In addition to the 15-year ban in Uttar Pradesh, the movement has stopped felling in the Western Ghats and the Vindhyas and has generated pressure for a natural resource policy that is more sensitive to people's needs and ecological requirements.

Los Roques Archipelago ( Miranda region, VENEZUELA )

Yann Arthus Bertrand

The Los Roques Archipelago, 170 kms (105 miles) off the coast of Venezuela, still lives up to Christopher Colombus's description of it as "an earthly paradise". It is surrounded by a coral reef and consists of about 50 small, flat, sandy islands, called los cayos (keys), and many coral coves, all of which enclose a large central lagoon. It is an important reserve for many species including turtles, sharks, dolphins, grouper, large shellfish and birds. In 1963 a scientific foundation was set up to protect the species more threatened by overfishing. In 1972, for the same reason and in order to more effectively protect the region from booming tourism, the Venezuelan government made the archipelago a national park. This may also have been done to guard against treasure hunters and those who plunder wrecks. For two centuries these remote islands were the haunt of buccaneers who lay in wait for Spanish galleons laden with gold from the Americas.

• "I know her... Mother Earth, she breathes in the forests, she flows through the rivers and crashes on the shore with the sea. I feel her arms around me, nurturing me and all she asks of me in return is to love her, care for her, nurture her."

from Pachamama*.

*Pachamama means "Mother Earth" in the old Inca language of S. America.

St John Baptist's cemetery ( Fortaleza/Ce - Brazil )

Text written by Pascal OBISPO, a french singer, and translated by a dear N special friend (Thanks to U ;) ) and me

It is in me since I was born
Behind the medallion
A cross my name engraved
To protect, to unexorcise me
Of the hell where I have just arrived

Amen
Oh Holy Spirit
Amen
They understood nothing
Today people
They are simple-minded

Oh my Lord, forgive the sins
Back to front the world turns to inhumanity
Dust returns to dust
That's my prayer, me who only lived as an atheist

Amen
Oh Holy Spirit
Amen
I didn't choose
Today people
They are simple-minded

There’s a hole in the sky
You want to say to us something…Shh !
This rain of thunder
Up to the next overdose
Is this world which we are going to leave
To our children, is that the idea?
If we can change nothing more
Then I pray for existing...
Amen

Then I pray for existing...
Amen

"In the name of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit... "
Amen
I didn’t understand
"Tell me what is holding us "
This is the shout
"What are we becoming... "
Amen
Today people
" He bleeds... "
Amen
" It’s the requiem of simple-minded...... What's the weather like? "
That's this the sign?
"Don’t be afraid!
I protect you, Valentin... "
Amen
"In the name of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit... Amen...
Don’t be afraid!
I protect you
In the name of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit...
Amen "

Chavakkadu Pooram (Kerala - India)

( A special thanks to my dear friend Sooraj for these 2 nice pictures and informations about Chavakkadu Pooram)

The temple, PANCHAVADI, is situated in a village named CHAVAKKADU in THRISSUR district at northern side of KERALA State.

THRISSUR is known as the cultural capital of KERALA. This is the land of POORAMS (festivals). Each temple will parade beautifully caparisoned panchyderms, the tallest and well-figured available in Kerala. The elephants decorated with goldcovered ornaments, each carrying three priests, is a sight to cherish for ever.

At the temple PANCHAVADI the main god that the people worships is the god named Sri SANKARANARAYANA.
The main attraction is the procession made by two groups. Both groups contain the natives of that village.They will compete each other to make their processions better than the other one. It contains decorated elephants, traditional dancers and music with traditional musical instruments.
The two processions cover their own area and finally gather at the temple. At the vestibule of the temple they will form a row and all the cultural activities will be performed in front of the temple for about 2 hours.

• Wild life experts consider that Indian Elephants are an endangered species. The ivory trade and diminishing habitats are the greatest threats to Indian Elephants.

Just over 5 percent of the original Asian elephant habitat remains today, and its population has declined over the past half century to an estimated 30,000–50,000 animals in the wild. This is only 10-15% of the African elephant population.Once a symbol of a unique and sacred relationship between nature and man, it is now threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Equus Zebra Hartmannae

"Nature never breaks her own laws"

Leonard Da Vinci (1452-1519)

The Hartman's mountain zebra is an endangered wild equid living in a harsh yet fragile environment. Only 362 Hartmann's zebra can be found within 47 zoos worldwide. Twenty years ago, more than 50,000 Hartmann's zebra were found in southwestern Africa. Today, experts estimate there are only about 5,000 of the animals living in disconnected pockets in the western regions of Namibia.

This subspecies is differentiated from it's close relative, the Cape mountain zebra because of it's body size, ears and stripes.

• Did you know?

In Africa's Namib desert Hartmann's mountain zebras have been observed to sniff out water on the surface of dry river beds. They paw at the ground with their hooves to get to water that is sometimes three feet below the surface. By doing so these zebra's benefit other desert dwelling animals. It has also been mentioned that Hartmann's mountain zebras can go without water for four days.

• And to answer that age old question: if you were to shave a zebra, you would actually have a black animal!

Inlandsis Ice-Stream ( Greenland )

"This we know, the Earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the Earth. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family...Whatever befalls the Earth, befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself"

Chief SEATTLE, 1854. (1786-1866)

Inlandsis or ice sheet is a mass of glacier, greater than 50 000 km² (19 305 miles).
The only current inlandsis are Greenland and Antarctic. The Greenland ice cap is the only relic of the last continental glaciation.

Although the surface is cold, the base of an ice sheet is generally warmer, in places it melts and the melt-water lubricates the ice sheet so that it flows more rapidly. This process produces fast-flowing channels in the ice sheet - these are ice streams.

• Did you know?
  The Greenland ice sheet occupies about 82% of the surface of Greenland, and if melted would cause sea levels to rise by 7.2 metres.

Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary at Sunset ( Senegal )

Nice photography taken by my friend Wahida...thanks Didi ;)


Situated in The Senegal river delta, The Djoudj park is an exceptional bird reserve, known as the third ornithological reserve of the world; This wetland of 16 000 ha is not only a gathering place for millions of 250 different species of bird, but it is also home to phacochers, hyenas, gazelles, crocodiles and more!
Djoudj is truly a delightful oasis of freshness and tranquility, but a fragile sanctuary inscribed in The World Heritage in Danger.


African Spoonbill

Maupiti Islands - The Society archipelago ( Tahiti )

• These days, it is relatively common for people to recycle paper, glass and metals (aluminum and steel). The infrastructure and services for this recycling activity are available and relatively well understood. However the recycling of petroleum products is less well known and sometimes confusing. Regulators and recycling agencies have effectively communicated with businesses the need for and benefits of recycling used oil but more can be done to communicate with individuals who work on their cars or trucks in the garage at home. These individuals generate significant quantities of used petroleum products that need to be recycled.

• Many individuals who are unfamiliar with the importance of recycling used oil are unconsciously harming the environment by throwing it away with their normal garbage or emptying their used oil into storm drains. Such actions, especially emptying used oil into storm drains, can cause real harm to the environment. To put it into perspective, just one gallon of used oil can contaminate 1 million gallons of water.

• Recycling your used motor oil keeps it out of our rivers, lakes, streams and even the ground water. In many cases, that means keeping it out of our drinking water, off our beaches, and away from wildlife. We all share the responsibility of protecting our environment and keeping our waters safe. Recycling used oil allows us to continue to enjoy what many of us take for granted every day – clean water.

• Where?: Many service stations, repair facilities and quick lubes will accept used oil and used oil filters. Additionally, your local government or recycling coordinator may be able to identify curbside or other recycling programs in your area.

• Why?: There are many practical uses for used motor oil.

1. A primary use is to rerefine it into a base stock for lubricating oil. This process is very similar to the refining of crude oil. The result is that the rerefined oil is of as high a quality as a virgin oil product. In fact, rerefining used oil takes from 50 to 85 percent less energy than refining crude oil.
2. A secondary use of the used oil is to burn it for energy. Large industrial boilers can efficiently burn the used oil with minimum pollution. As a result some used oil is sent to power plants or cement kilns to be burned as fuel. On a smaller scale small quantities of used oil are burned in specially designed heaters to provide space heating for small businesses.

• As you can see, recycled used oil probably touches your life every day without you even knowing it. As consumers, we all benefit from recycling used motor oil . From augmenting our oil supplies and helping to generate heat, to protecting the environment, recycling oil just makes good sense.

Nubian Oasis ( The Sudan )

"The lasting pleasures of contact with the natural world are not reserved for scientists but are available to anyone who will place himself under the influence of Earth, sea and sky, and then amazing life"

Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

American scientist and writer

• The augmentation of 0,6°C of the earth's average temperature since the early in the last century, affects the biodiversity and set the question about his capacity for adaptation to that quick and violent climat change.

A movie ( cartoon ) which is worth watching at: http://www.exxposeexxon.com/movie/

Lemon Shark

The lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris), unlike some other sharks, doesn't have to swim constantly in order to breathe, so it often spends the day lying on the sandy seafloor. Since it is fairly common, easy to find, and not aggressive, the lemon shark is a popular research subject for scientists.
It is also a popular catch for commercial and recreational fishers. Nearly all of the shark is used in some way: the meat is eaten, the fins are used in soups, liver oil is extracted for vitamins, the hide is used as leather, and the carcass is used as fish meal.
The fisheries in the Mesoamerican Reef ecoregion are largely unsupervised, and biologists are concerned about the status of all sharks in the region of Honduras.

Reefscape in the Sea Red, The Brothers islands ( Egypt )

• An estimated 10% of the world's corals have been degraded beyond recovery. More than 60% of the world's reefs could be destroyed within 50 years.
• The global fishing fleet is 2,5x larger than what the oceans can sustainably produce;
  75% of the world's fisheries are classified as "fully" or "over-exploited"

• Unfair "Access Agreements" means rich countries are taking fish from poor countries.
• At least 25% of all fish caught is by-catch; Annually, 30 million metric tons of this by-catch is being thrown over the side of fishing boats, dead or dying.
  In the Mediterranean, over 60,000 turtles are caught annually in fishing gear. One industry source estimates1300 fishing vessels of significant size are flying flags of convenience (ie, ships which are likely to be involved in contravening international and local fishing policies, guidelines and protected areas) .
• Chemicals painted on the sides of ships can directly poison marine life and/or cause chronic disease, reproductive failure, or deformities.
  More oil reaches the sea each year from sources such as leaking cars than was released by the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
• Poorly thought out industrial scale aquaculture can lead to the severe destruction of marine habitats

Village of Seaweed Fishermen - The Sulu archipelago ( Borneo)

• More people have travelled in to space than have ventured into the deep... In fact, humans have explored less than 10% of the oceans and have protected less than 0,5% of it. Of that small percentage, 80% are "protected" in name only.
• 60% of the global human population live within 64km (40 miles) of the sea. Fish from our oceans provide the principal source of protein for more than 1,000,000,000 people (estimated Jan 04)
• Around 90% of trade between countries is carried by ships, More than US$15 billion is spent by governments each year on subsidising fishing fleets

Iceberg ( Groenland )

"And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything. "

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

English dramatist poet

• Oceans account for 95% of all the space on this planet available to life, produce 70% of our oxygen .
• The oceans dominate the world's weather systems, they absorb heat and re-distribute it around the world
• Estimates of the range of species in the ocean vary from thousands to tens of millions ...from the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth, the blue whale, to the tiniest plankton.This diversity far outweighs the diversity of life on land

A Bowhead Whale in the Bering Sea

In the waters between Russia and Alaska lies a sea so rich in wildlife and so varied in habitat that it is considered one of the world’s most productive marine environments.
Covering almost a million square miles (2.5 million square kilometers), the Bering Sea supports vast populations of fish, birds, whales, and other marine mammals.
And conservationists are fighting to keep it that way.

The endangered bowhead Whale (Balaena mysticetus) gets its name from its oddly curved, huge jaws, which resemble an archer's bow.
The bowhead's enormous mouth and head are believed to be able to break through thick ice.
In the summer the bowheads move through the Bering Strait deeper into Arctic waters as the ice melts. They swim with their mouths open, straining seawater for plankton, crustaceans, and other small marine creatures.

Here are two links to hear a bowhead whale:

http://www.chez.com/cetacean/baleine.wav

http://www.dosits.org/gallery/mp3/bow1.mp3
Bowhead whale moans recorded in the Arctic Ocean, off Point Barrow, Alaska. ©North Slope Borough, Barrow, Alaska

Red-necked Amazon Parrot/Jaco

" We all breathe the same air, we all drink the same water, we all live in the same earth. we have to take care of it all together "

Raoni, Indian chief

Original forest extend

Current forest cover

Remaining frontier forest

Frontier forests are the world's remaining large intact natural forest ecosystems - undisturbed and large enough to maintain all of their biodiversity.
Map Source: D. Bryant, et al.,

http://www.fsc-info.org/english/dbcoce.asp
[Select the country you live in and click on the Start button]
Buy furniture for your home responsibly so that endangered species get to keep theirs

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an independent, not for profit, non-governmental organization that provides standard setting, trademark assurance and accreditation services for companies and organizations interested in responsible forestry. Always try your best to make sure that any timber you buy, either tropical or non-tropical, carries the FSC label (shown above)- it's the only sure way of knowing what you buy is "good wood".

A Balloon flying over Iguazu Falls ( Brazil )

" The Nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value "

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

President of the United States, created 51 wildlife refuges

• Rainforests are the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, as well as being the home to an estimated 50 million indigenous forest people.

However, millions of hectares of these forests are being destroyed every year.

As a result, rainforest people are being displaced, their rights abused and their cultures lost forever.

It is believed that thousands of species of wildlife could become extinct as a result of the destruction. Amongst the species that are disappearing are those that could potentially be of great benefit to humanity, such as in the discovery of new medicines.

The destruction of rainforests is also one of major contributors to global climate change, as many rainforests are burned, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Rainforest clearance can also disrupt local weather patterns, as well as increasing soil erosion, floods and droughts.

Mount Trafalgar - Prince Regent ( Australia )

"We are creatures who are distressed with consequences which we continue adoring causes "

Jacques Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704)

French prelate, preacher and writer.

• The agriculture of XXe century has sterilized 25% of fertile soil of our planet.

Inside a Yurt ( Mongolia )

• Eco-gesture

Reduce your electricity consumption:

1. avoid halogen lamps in favour of low consumption ones. Invest in compact fluorescent light bulbs. They use 1/4 of the energy of an incandescent bulb, last at least 10 times longer and release much less CO2 into the atmosphere.
2. Turn off equipment like TV and stereos when you are not using them. That little red standby light means they are still using power, and that means a contribution to global warming.

Dlinza Forest Pinwheel ( trachycystis clifdeni )

Photo: Dai G. Herbert

It is a Critically Endangered snail known only from Dlinza forest, South Africa. The forest is protected under KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, however, it is a very small area (only 250 hectares) within an urban location and there is concern that the species may be negatively impacted by extreme stochastic weather conditions and climate change.

Pyramids of Meroé ( Sudan )

" If the bee came to disappear, only a few years would remain to live for the man "

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Physicist

• About 30% of breeds livestock are endangered species. And since 1900, about 75% of the genetic diversity of grown plants have been lost.

Flight of balloon over icebergs ( Greenland )

• Did you know?

Due to water cycle in the nature, it is always the same quantity of water that flows since the creation of the Earth, more than 4 billions years ago. So the water that was drunk by dinosaurs is maybe the one you are drinking today. But it takes a long time so that the water is avalaible again; so let's see to it that it is not wasted!

Licancabur ( Chili )

• Eco-gesture

Let's economize drinking water, a valuable foodstuff and very rare in some countries. A tourist in Africa, for example, use from 7 to 10 times more of water to wash himself than a local inhabitant to water his field and feed his whole family!

Nunavut - Strait of Lancaster - Ice field (Arctic)

"Man isn't the only animal that thinks, but he is the only one to think that he is not an animal"

Paul Broca (1824-1880)

French surgeon and anthropologist

• Protected areas cover 12% of the earth's, but 3/4 of them is protected only on paper

Karakoroum (Mongolia)

• Eco-gesture Office

I select my suppliers. Some of them get ISO 14001 for their environmental management.

ISO 14001 is an international standard that specifies a process for controlling and improving a company's environmental performance. This means that you identify elements of your business that impact on the environment and gain access to the relevant environmental legislation. And you produce objectives for improvement and a management program to achieve them, with regular reviews for continual improvement.

"What do a Del Monte Guatemalan banana plantation, the Toronto airport, a Guinness brewery in Dublin, and the IBM Corporation have in common? They are all registered to ISO 14001". You wanna know more? click here: http://www.homestead.com/iso14001/ISO14000World.html

The site of Dallol (Ethiopia)

• Eco-gesture

I make inquiries about the environment to institutions, associations, professionals... and I share the collected informations with my family and friends circle, teachers, children...

Bazaruto Island (Mozambique).

" The Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed "
Mahatma Gandhi ( 1869-1948 ),
Patriot and Philosopher of India

• The value of goods and services provided by ecosystems is equivalent to twice annual value of human goods.

Tanganyka Lake (Tanzania).

• The Earth is the only known place of the universe where the water comes in liquid form. It covers 71% of the planet. More than 97% of that water is salty and less than 3% is fresh water, if that! The bigger part is held prisoner by ice polars. Thus, the usable water by the man represents less than 1% of the whole water of the planet.

The Nutcracker Bird

The bird who planted trees.
Tireless bird, the nutcracker bird spend his time to plant pin trees on the mountains pastures (Asia and Europe ). Due to his powerful beak, he shells pine cones to extract purple seeds that he is crazy about. He buries them in anticipation of winter, but sometimes he forgets them and from the seed appear suddenly a tree!.

The Cape of Good Hope ( South Africa ).

" There is no point for man in gaining the moon if he ever lost the Earth "

François Mauriac ( 1885-1970 ).

French writer

• More than 80% of the earth's surface is under the human influence ( facilities, urbanization or farms activities ) and there are no more territories really virgin.

Aqua Azul ( Mexico ).

" Forest precedes the peoples; desert follows them "

François René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848)

French writer.

• More than 50% of original forests of the planet have been destroyed and, over remaining forests, only a little part is now protected effectively.

Don't flush our forests and wildlife down the toilet

Did you know that everyday about 270,000 trees are flushed down the drain or end up as garbage all over the world?

Every time you use a toilet roll or other tissue products you might be directly contributing to this environmental destruction.
Tissue products, such as toilet paper, handkerchiefs, kitchen towels and napkins cannot be recycled after their use, for understandable reasons!

So it is important to ensure that the tissue products you buy contain a high level of recycled content.

GREEN: On the right track

YELLOW: Showing some encouraging signs

RED: Needs substantial improvement

Source: WWF