Development Blogs.com

As stewards of God's Creation humankind needs to analyse and act upon environmental issues. The generations of the future have to be environmentally aware if we are to survive. It is vital that concepts such as sustainable development, bio-diversity and how to achieve environmental awareness whilst retaining a sense of environmental integrity are grasped. The Zambezi International Catholic School will be a truly unique, catholic co-educational institution, based on the banks of the Zambezi River in the heart of the most important safari area in the whole of Southern Africa.ZICS will see the birth of a revolutionary educational ethos; through the medium of the natural environment, pupils can be exposed to issues of multiculturalism and the challenges of the environment itself, where they...

ZICS will not be cocooned from the wider community. ZICS will be a focal point for the empowerment of local people.ZICS will provide considerable employment opportunities for local people and as the school develops will serve as a focal point for lifelong learning within it’s vicinity through outreach programmes and an extended school facility.ZICS will work within the community to develop:agricultural projects working alongside local farmers,improve literacy and numeracy levels of the adult population,develop an awareness of environmental and conservation issues,promote the Arts and Culture,develop an academy of sporting excellence.ZICS ultimately will become a beacon school that will reach out beyond it’s perimeters to promote solidarity and sustainable development within the wider...

ZICS will operate a summer school during closure in both December and August. Students for the summer school are to be drawn from across Africa and from Europe and North America. The summer school programme will be based upon issues relating to sustainable development, the arts, sports, the environment and issues relating to HIV & Aids. Accreditation will be sought for the summer school programme.The Thembinkosi Foundation promotes the interests of those affected by HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa....

Channel 4 in the UK aired a documentary showing the British government’s record on tackling climate change might not be as positive as they make it out to be. Two days later, the channel aired a documentary claiming the entire idea of human-induced climate change was a great swindle. Unfortunately, it turns out that documentary itself was a swindle, using disproved theories to make their case, misrepresenting views of at least one leading scientist they interviewed, and more. Various newspapers were at least initially taken in by the documentary. Channel 4 defended airing such a flawed documentary, but this appeared to be false balancing given the poor quality of the documentary. A documentary that more accurately looked at these views, that did not appear to mislead people, would have...

For many years, large, influential businesses and governments have been against the idea of global warming. Many have poured a lot of resources into discrediting what has generally been accepted for a long time as real. Now, the mainstream is generally worried about climate change impacts and the discourse seems to have shifted accordingly. Even some businesses that once engaged in disinformation campaigns have changed their opinions, some even requesting governments for regulation and direction on this issue. However, a few influential companies and organizations are still attempting to undermine climate change action and concerns. Will all this mean a different type of spin and propaganda with attempts at “green washing” and misleading information becoming the norm, or will there...

The declining number of polar bears has led an international conservation organization to put it on a threatened species risk, while the Bush Adminsitration ponders whether to list them as threatened under US’s own Endagered Species Act. Also, a particular species of penguin has crashed in numbers in recent years. A map showing tiger population distributions has also been...

Gender and Civic* ZAW promotes the enhancement of the postion of women (women's rights, women and inheritence, women and education, women and development etc.)* ZAW advocates for good governence and the promotion of peace.* ZAW works in conjunction with other NGO's on other vital issues such as the promotion of CEDAW - The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.Environmental and Sustainable Development* ZAW conducts sensitisation and training workshops in the areas of environment and health, educating communities about waste management and the disposal of urban and peri-urban waste.Social and Economic* ZAW promotes poverty eradication through food security programmes and other potentially income generating activities.* ZAW carries out and supports...

Marine species loss has been an issue for a number of years. However, the economic impact is becoming apparent, as a recent article in the journal, Science, warns that commercial fish and seafood species may all crash by 2048. At the current rate of loss, it is feared those ocean ecosystems may never recover. Extensive coastal pollution, climate change, over-fishing and the enormously wasteful practice of deep-sea trawling are all contributing to the problem. But the current rate of loss does not have to be the final arbiter. Efforts to protect ocean ecosystems have been shown to have economic benefits, and allow the ecosystems to regenerate themselves. However, the point of no return is quickly approaching, the report fears. Many other ecosystems suffer from similar problems, such as...

Gender and Civic* ZAW promotes the enhancement of the postion of women (women's rights, women and inheritence, women and education, women and development etc.)* ZAW advocates for good governence and the promotion of peace.* ZAW works in conjunction with other NGO's on other vital issues such as the promotion of CEDAW - The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.Environmental and Sustainable Development* ZAW conducts sensitisation and training workshops in the areas of environment and health, educating communities about waste management and the disposal of urban and peri-urban waste.Social and Economic* ZAW promotes poverty eradication through food security programmes and other potentially income generating activities.* ZAW carries out and supports...

Gender and Civic* ZAW promotes the enhancement of the postion of women (women's rights, women and inheritence, women and education, women and development etc.)* ZAW advocates for good governence and the promotion of peace.* ZAW works in conjunction with other NGO's on other vital issues such as the promotion of CEDAW - The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.Environmental and Sustainable Development* ZAW conducts sensitisation and training workshops in the areas of environment and health, educating communities about waste management and the disposal of urban and peri-urban waste.Social and Economic* ZAW promotes poverty eradication through food security programmes and other potentially income generating activities.* ZAW carries out and supports...

Gender and Civic* ZAW promotes the enhancement of the postion of women (women's rights, women and inheritence, women and education, women and development etc.)* ZAW advocates for good governence and the promotion of peace.* ZAW works in conjunction with other NGO's on other vital issues such as the promotion of CEDAW - The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.Environmental and Sustainable Development* ZAW conducts sensitisation and training workshops in the areas of environment and health, educating communities about waste management and the disposal of urban and peri-urban waste.Social and Economic* ZAW promotes poverty eradication through food security programmes and other potentially income generating activities.* ZAW carries out and supports...

Gender and Civic* ZAW promotes the enhancement of the postion of women (women's rights, women and inheritence, women and education, women and development etc.)* ZAW advocates for good governence and the promotion of peace.* ZAW works in conjunction with other NGO's on other vital issues such as the promotion of CEDAW - The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.Environmental and Sustainable Development* ZAW conducts sensitisation and training workshops in the areas of environment and health, educating communities about waste management and the disposal of urban and peri-urban waste.Social and Economic* ZAW promotes poverty eradication through food security programmes and other potentially income generating activities.* ZAW carries out and supports...

New ape and monkey species were just recently discovered, showing there is still much to discover and learn about our diverse planet. Also, recent findings further strengthen the argument that sonar is having a detrimental impact on sea animals such as whales and dolphins, sometimes killing them....

A new site section on natural disasters has been created. To start off with, this section has three pages. The first looks at the recent devastating Asian Tsunami that has killed so many. The second looks at the impact third world debt has when trying to rebuild from natural disasters. The final is a page with a few links to other sites for more...

New species of birds, frogs, butterflies, palm trees, and many other plants yet to be classified, as well as animals extremely rare in other parts of the world were discovered recently in a remote mountain rainforest region of western New Guinea (Indonesia). This further highlights that conservation is more than just conserving animals; it is also about conserving their...

The scientist said there were fresh efforts to silence him because he had said that significant emission cuts could be achieved with existing technologies, particularly in the case of motor vehicles, and that without leadership by the United States, climate change would eventually leave the earth “a different planet.” Reporting this, The New York Times also notes there have been other such disputes recently whereby “many scientists who routinely took calls from reporters five years ago can now do so only if the interview is approved by administration officials in Washington, and then only if a public affairs officer is present or on the phone.” Scientists whose points of view are aligned to administration lines, however, see few signs of such restrictions. Aside from the concerns...

December 2005 saw the eleventh session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (or, COP11 for short). At the same time, the first Meeting of the Parties of the Protocol (MOP 1) took place. These meetings attempted to advance discussions on the future emission reductions and ways to help developing countries. The US walked out at one point of the meeting, but were eventually convinced to come back to the conference. The result, some felt, was a slightly weakened text, but something to build upon for the future. Developing countries were also discussed, but issues of climate justice and equity seemed to be missing once...

In 1997 at Kyoto, nations of the world agreed to the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as a way to combat climate change. CDM would assist rich countries in lightening their excessive greenhouse gas emissions as they would invest in poorer countries to help achieve sustainable development. It would help developing countries towards a less polluting form of growth while receiving much-needed investment. There were many fears at the time that the idea of CDM could be misused and allow rich countries to use the land of the poor countries to tackle their own emission problems. The Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment reports on the way some CDM projects in India have turned out and suggests that some of these fears may indeed be coming...

As part of its aid to poor countries, the British government has given millions to British companies. These companies push for privatisation of water in poor countries. Many such projects have come under heavy criticism for failing to provide universal access to a resource determined to be a fundamental right for everyone to access. Furthermore, this raises issues and concerns such as whether private companies (whose primary aim is profit) can indeed make efficient profit while having to provide universal access and how to address the reduced accountability. Often, poor country governments have been left to pick up the pieces when such projects...

Media coverage of natural disasters seems to vary a lot depending on the disaster. Is it selective? Why do some regions get more attention than others? Even when millions have died in a region from conflict and war, how is it (and not minimizing the loss of a single life) that a disaster that claims less in lives — sometimes in the same area, as in the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo — will bring in media interest and coverage? 2005 has recently seen a number of disasters and relief efforts, from the Asian tsunami, to the severe hurricanes and storms in the Caribbean, the earthquake in South Asia (Pakistan and India), and drought in parts of Africa. How has the media covered...

The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in southern parts of the United States has been immense. Amidst personally moving stories of loss and suffering, of heroic individuals and communities, this tragedy revealed a number of other issues and there has been a lot of criticism at the Bush Administration for not doing enough quickly. The mainstream media itself seems to have become more bold in its criticisms as well, which has been...

Just 20 or so years ago, the Indian vultures were the most abundant large birds of prey in the world. In the last 12 years, their population has crashed 97%. It seems that careless and casual use of a certain medicine by cattle farmers was poisonous to vultures when they fed on dead carcasses of animals that had been given this medicine. One possible reason for such careless use is thought to be the big push by pharmaceutical companies to encourage such widespread medicinal...

It is thought that there are some 20,000 lions in Africa now, compared to around 200,000 in the early 1980s. Factors thought to contribute to this decline include sport and trophy hunting, and encroaching populations that do not gain the benefits of...

New ape and monkey species were just recently discovered, showing there is still much to discover and learn about our diverse planet. Also, recent findings further strengthen the argument that sonar is having a detrimental impact on sea animals such as whales and dolphins, sometimes killing them....

A new site section on natural disasters has been created. To start off with, this section has three pages. The first looks at the recent devastating Asian Tsunami that has killed so many. The second looks at the impact third world debt has when trying to rebuild from natural disasters. The final is a page with a few links to other sites for more...