Climate Change Threatens Humanity More Than HIV/AIDS - British MPs

By Kini Nsom & Daniel Gwarbarah

Some seven senior British Parliamentarians currently visiting Cameroon have warned that climate change is a jinx that threatens humanity more than HIV/AIDS.

 

British MPs in group picture with Minister Ngolle Ngolle

The MPs, who met with the President of the National Assembly, Hon. Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, and the Prime Minister, Ephraim Inoni, January 19, are in Cameroon for a five-day fact finding mission on the sustainable exploitation of forest resources and the protection of the environment.

Speaking to the press, the leader of the delegation, Hon. Timothy Stephen Kenneth Yeo, who is the chairman of the Environmental Audit Committee in the British House of Commons, said climate change is a threat to humanity and all hands must be put on deck to fight it.

He said they were concerned about the efforts that Cameroon is making to cut down the rate of deforestation, which fuels climate change.Earlier, the seven-man delegation held discussions with Cameroonian MPs led by Deputy Speaker, Hon. Rose Abunaw. They wanted to know how committed the various stakeholders in the country are in the fight against deforestation. 

Hon. Jean Jacques Zam, the Regional Coordinator of the Central African Network of Parliamentarians for the Sustainable Management of Congo Basin Moist Forest Ecosystems, and Hon. Cyprian Awudu Mbaya, the country Coordinator of the African Parliamentary Network on Climate Change, briefed their visitors on the strength and weaknesses of the fight against deforestation in Cameroon.

They thanked the British government for enabling them win major battles in the fight for sustainable forest exploitation and environmental protection.Meanwhile, at the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, MINFOF, January 20, the Minister, Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, expressed gratitude to the British Government for the diverse support so far accorded to Cameroon's forestry sector. He said the mission of MINFOF centres around rational management of the forests and resources.

The Ministry, Ngolle Ngolle noted, has five technical services, ten regional and divisional delegations spread across the country while some 2000 personnel are directly employed by the state in that Ministry.

Ngolle Ngolle said his ministry is working to ensure that the local population benefits from forest exploitation. He also noted that logging companies are bound in line with the 1994 forestry law to provide basic infrastructures for the local population in their respective areas of operation.

In the same vein, he announced that some 160 community forests have been created from which the population concerned derive some benefits. He also talked of forest royalties paid to councils and the local population by the state as some of the benefits of forest exploitation.

In their stop over at the Ministry of Environment and the Protection of Nature, MINEP, its Minister, Pierre Helé, dwelled on the environmental concern of his ministry when its comes to forest exploitation. He said they strongly recommend the exportation of timber exploited from forestry concessions where environmental norms are respected.

He explained that when projects under implementation are contrary to environmental prescriptions, his ministry steps in to call for modifications or outright cancellations of such operations.

In reaction to what both ministries are doing to fight against deforestation, Ngolle Ngolle said about 70 percent of Cameroon's forests are under management plans. He noted that as much as 2.3 million trees were planted as part of the re-afforestation programme in 2008 while some 3 million more trees would be planted in 2009.

He also talked of sanctions meted out to defaulting logging companies for contravening the forestry law in the course of their operations.Pierre Helé in response to the same worry from the MPs, said countries of the Congo Basin Rainforest have raised the issue of compensation to countries engaged in forest conservation in the sub-region with western nations several times with no positive reaction registered yet.

He expressed surprise that only a single global project of re-afforestation could be identified in China and urged nations of the world to move away from rhetoric into real action.

He, however, thanked the British government for providing FCFA 500 million to foster conservation efforts in the Congo Basin Rainforest.Other members of the delegation included Hon. Colin Robert Challen; Hon. David Michael Chaytor; Hon. Mark Lazarowitz; Hon. Desmond Stanley Turner; Hon. Jo Swinson; Hon. Joan Walley; Hon. Anne-Marie Griffiths and Hon. Oliver Giles Bennet.

Comments

[DR TAN OF CAMEROON]

DEAR ALL
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND GLOBAL WARMING IS ANOTHER ONE TODAY.
THE LIFE SPAN OF LEADERS IN FORESTRY MINISTRY IS VERY SHORT.[FORESTRY POLITICS].
THERE IS AN ONGOING DEBATE IN AMERICA , ABOUT THIS GLOBAL WARMING BUSINESS. MANY ARE QUESTIONING MR GORE,S PRESENTATIONS/ POSITIONS, AND BELIEVE HE IS WORKING FOR THE BRITISH , WHO THEY CLAIM WANT TO SLOW DOWN AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND GREATNESS.[ SUPERPOWER POLITICS? ]. WHEN I SEE THESE GUYS AROUND CAMEROON , I ASK , IS THERE SOME THING IN THOSE FORESTS , BESIDE BIOPRUDUCTS?
DID HE REALLY SAY , GLOBAL WARMING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FIGHT AGAINST AIDS? IF SO , VERY INSENSITIVE INDEED.SINCE THE WORLD SAY H.IV/AIDS IS AN AFRICAN PROBLEM. AND BLACKS DONOT DIE FROM HEAT.
THE BUSH CAMP, IS ALREADY MORCKING OBAMA, BECAUSE TO THEM, HE WAS HARD ON GEORGE BUSH[HOUSTON CHRONICLE THURSDAY JAN 22, 2009] FOR SAYING AMERICA FAILED TO MAKE RIGHT CHOICES IN HIS INAUGURAL ADDRESS. THEY SAY BUSH SPENT BILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR H.I.V/A.I.D.S FIGHT IN AFRICA. POOR AFRICAN BLACK AMERICAN PRESIDENT.
BUT THERE ARE ABOUT 1 MILLION AND ABOVE HOMELESS PEOPLE IN AMERICA, AND MANY OF THEM ARE H.IV. POSITIVE. OUR POVERTY , IGNORANCE AND DISEASE[A.I.D.S] IS REALLY A CURSE ON US. WE HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO HANDOUT PEOPLE . STUPID LEADERSHIP, HAS REDUCED US TO PRASE SINGERS OF THE RICH NATIONALS AND NATIONS.
GOVERNOR NTUBA USED TO SAY HE DOES NOT KNOW WHO DELIVERD HIM AN AFRICAN. WE NEVER REALLY APPROACH THINGS FROM ALL ANGLES AND VIEW POINTS. WHEN IT,S NOT OUR VIEWPOINTS , WE BECOME ABUSIVE AND THREATHENING, A SIGN OF WEEKNESS. WE SEAM ALWAYS SHORT SIGHTED TO OUR APPROACH TO LIFE ISSUES.
WHEN PEOPLE ASK WHY, I ASK WHY NOT. [EXTRA MILE THINKING.] THERE YOU UNDERSTAND THOSE WHO MAIPULATE AND USE YOU.

DR THOMPSON AKWO NTUBA MD.Ph.D
CORDINATOR SWELA USA

[DR TAN OF CAMEROON]

DEAR ALL
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND GLOBAL WARMING IS ANOTHER ONE TODAY.
THE LIFE SPAN OF LEADERS IN FORESTRY MINISTRY IS VERY SHORT.[FORESTRY POLITICS].
THERE IS AN ONGOING DEBATE IN AMERICA , ABOUT THIS GLOBAL WARMING BUSINESS. MANY ARE QUESTIONING MR GORE,S PRESENTATIONS/ POSITIONS, AND BELIEVE HE IS WORKING FOR THE BRITISH , WHO THEY CLAIM WANT TO SLOW DOWN AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND GREATNESS.[ SUPERPOWER POLITICS? ]. WHEN I SEE THESE GUYS AROUND CAMEROON , I ASK , IS THERE SOME THING IN THOSE FORESTS , BESIDE BIOPRUDUCTS?
DID HE REALLY SAY , GLOBAL WARMING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FIGHT AGAINST AIDS? IF SO , VERY INSENSITIVE INDEED.SINCE THE WORLD SAY H.IV/AIDS IS AN AFRICAN PROBLEM. AND BLACKS DONOT DIE FROM HEAT.
THE BUSH CAMP, IS ALREADY MORCKING OBAMA, BECAUSE TO THEM, HE WAS HARD ON GEORGE BUSH[HOUSTON CHRONICLE THURSDAY JAN 22, 2009] FOR SAYING AMERICA FAILED TO MAKE RIGHT CHOICES IN HIS INAUGURAL ADDRESS. THEY SAY BUSH SPENT BILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR H.I.V/A.I.D.S FIGHT IN AFRICA. POOR AFRICAN BLACK AMERICAN PRESIDENT.
BUT THERE ARE ABOUT 1 MILLION AND ABOVE HOMELESS PEOPLE IN AMERICA, AND MANY OF THEM ARE H.IV. POSITIVE. OUR POVERTY , IGNORANCE AND DISEASE[A.I.D.S] IS REALLY A CURSE ON US. WE HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO HANDOUT PEOPLE . STUPID LEADERSHIP, HAS REDUCED US TO PRASE SINGERS OF THE RICH NATIONALS AND NATIONS.
GOVERNOR NTUBA USED TO SAY HE DOES NOT KNOW WHO DELIVERD HIM AN AFRICAN. WE NEVER REALLY APPROACH THINGS FROM ALL ANGLES AND VIEW POINTS. WHEN IT,S NOT OUR VIEWPOINTS , WE BECOME ABUSIVE AND THREATHENING, A SIGN OF WEEKNESS. WE SEAM ALWAYS SHORT SIGHTED TO OUR APPROACH TO LIFE ISSUES.
WHEN PEOPLE ASK WHY, I ASK WHY NOT. [EXTRA MILE THINKING.] THERE YOU UNDERSTAND THOSE WHO MAIPULATE AND USE YOU.

DR THOMPSON AKWO NTUBA MD.Ph.D
CORDINATOR SWELA USA

[UnitedstatesofAfrica]

I have very little patience for this global warming clap trap. And who uses more energy? Africa or Western countries? how many children in Africa have laptops and cell phones and ipods? in America and other Western countries, even five year old kids are already using iphones, ipods, itunes and all sorts of "i"s. 15 year old kids own cars and outlets are always busy charging useless technological accessories. Yet, the West will hammer on Africa about global warming.

Don't you think Africa has more important issues to worry about? like good governance? stamping out corruption? development of local industries? free trade among A.U states? revitalising our education system?

Priorities! set your priorities! scale of preferece as they call it in Economics.

[Legima Doh]

That was a nice piece Dr Tan.We are tired of the West heaping all sorts of ills on Africa in the name of diseases,poverty,now global warming and so on.Global warming first and foremost is a natural consequence of their lifestyle and not that of Africa.Global warming if extended to Africa follows from the consequences of their imperialist motives in play in Africa through the tyrannic and despotic leaders they put in place.Britain as I know has always been a very selfish nation from the outset of colonial days.How can they be talking about forestry conservation in Cameroon without talking about France deadly extraction of forest products through the monopoly of son of Paul Biya called Frank Biya?Britain today is in official recession.Those MPs should come back to Britain and tackle the recession.Simple petition that we put forward to her majesty's government to correct the mess they put our motherland in cannot be done promptly.The forest in Cameroon is Southern Cameroon property and any accomplice with La Republique is considered an attempt to foster the continuous theft of our natural resources.There is no conservation plan in the agenda of La Republique.The regime is bent on plundering all our natural resources.Its a shame.
Our Land shall be saved
Legima Doh,
ScNc UK

[Ma Mary]

TAN, quit posting in CAPITAL LETTERS. It indicates a rambling, shouting, disturbed mind.

[Ma Mary]

Deforestation is a dangerous thing. It affects air quality, reduces the availability of drinking water, increases soil erosion, causes flooding and landslides and that is just the short list. These are true whether you all hate white people or not.

Also true is the fact that the current capitalist economic system being pushed by the West is a failed and unsustainable system. It is also inhuman and undemocratic because it concentrates power and wealth in the hands of a few people. No, I am not supporting Marxist-Leninist-Maoist communism. There have to be other ways. Reject the imposed paradigms, dear thinkers.

[Ted]

Global warming is real and is affecting the entire world irrespective of living standards. It's something contagious and one of the reasons the west is seriously honing in on Africa to sit up on this issue is the proven fact that Africa has always been lagging behind in all aspects of human development. If the worse of this global warming comes around, Africa will be the worst hit and the pressure will be too much on the west to bear. Most African countries are unable to feed their people, unable to provide portable water to them, unable to cloth their fellows right now and when deserts will stretch across the continent, that's when Africans will be able to take care of their humans. Don't envy the industrialization of the west, but rather copy their examples. We should begin asking how many "made in Cameroon" do we have?

[CountryFowl]

Ted,

200,300 or 400 years of incessant industrialization, toxic fumes from atomic & neutron bombs, industrial spillage, non-biodegradeble products, pouring of chemicals on the Earth's soil et cetera et cetera are some of the things that have contributed to these problems. Even if Africans are lagging behind. We must not always follow the ways of the west in order to be able to exist. Man existed well before industrialization came.
There is really no prove that industrialization is the best way of life for man.

Do we know what are the overt and subtle consequences of constantly exploding atom and neutron bombs underneath the Earth's surfaces as the French, Americans, British, and other western powers have been doing for so many years in some places such as the S. Pacific Islands..??

Do we know what are the implications of altering the genes of plants, and introducing bizarre gene manipulated hybrid flora and fauna into the natural ecological systems of the world...??

The coast line of the indian ocean for example, from the southern tip of the African continent right up to the northern tip has been plugged with thousands of tons and tons of toxic waste, because whilst we are not looking, certain Western nations have been pouring their filth, and toxic waste in the oceans of the world.

The western way of life is killing the planet, that is an indisputable fact. When we are eager and inadvertently copying and imitating that life style, it is certain that tragedy will strike the continent mercilessly.

Africa is the testing ground for everything. Religion, commerce, social, economic, intellectual, every kind of idiotic or stupid ideas are eventually tested out and practice on us, that is the reality. Everything has to be put on the African as well, the dark things, the diseases et cetera et cetera.

Off course the African themselves have played a part in their own impoverishments, but it is disturbing when these politicians go around warning Africans about global warming and they still send their companies to continue to tear apart the Earth's surfaces in many African countries to extract minerals, they cut down pristine forest regions to extract wood and medicinal products...!!!!
So what sense does it really make in the total. To destroy the continent, give it a bad name and blame the people....?????

Look at the Dr. Congo, the mineral called coltan from this land fuels the cell phone business. 10 million people were killed outright in the early 19 century because of liquid rubber. Today millions are being killed and displaced because of the rich minerals that are underneath the country's surfaces. Now that the country is impoverish, the entire world blames the Congo people...!!!!!

There is little justice in this world...!!!!

[CountryFowl]

Here is an excellent write up on issues regarding the Congo war. It is also indirectly related to this problem of global warming in a way.

---
The following is reposted from the publication The Industry Standard and looks into one of the economic reasons behind the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the commercial interests of major computer and cell phone related companies in the exploitation of the DRC which comes at a massive cost to civilian life. The original article at http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,26784,00.html has now expired, but is preserved here.

[Ted]

CountryFowl,
You wrote that,"There is really no prove that industrialization is the best way of life for man.?" Which is your best or better alternative to industrialization?. You could've better written, "polluting industriallization is not the way of life for man" rather than exposing your ignorance and a lack of knowledge on the subject.

[CountryFowl]

Ted,

There is no need for insults. It is a discussion we are having on global warming.
I am merely pointing out another point of view.

On the point of the subject regarding global warming, I believe anyone with access to good libraries, with access to the internet and a modicum of thinking skills can garner enough material on this subject to inform themselves properly. At my age, I can not afford to be ignorant on certain issues, I will be unable to make a living....!!!!
On the other hand, we all start from ignorance, we investigate and then we learn, and we have knowledge. So it is not really a problem for me when someone says, I am ignorant or stupid..!!

Regarding industrialization, it is a subject which has been discussed, perhaps for the last 300-400 years. Should we begin from Einstein, Stephen Hawkins, David Bohm, Neils Bohr, Robert Oppenheimer and other numerous scientists or should we also start from the Huxleys, Santayana, Russell, Rouseau, Søren Kierkegaard et cetera or other prominent thinkers of the western world who have also in their own humble way been questioning the relevance of too much industrialization even though some of them were inventors...??
Oppenheimer at a later stage of his life was regretful and very critical of the atom bomb of which he had been one of the principal architects..!!
Before you say this is non-sense talk, please remember that these scientists and thinkers are some of the architects of certain aspects of contemporary Western culture.

These issues are things which you and me, mr X, Y or Z can discuss amicably and share the little we know without resorting to invectives. This is the way we can learn something so we are not continually deceived by the seeming comforts and ease of life that industrialization provides to us.
The dehumanization of man and the wanton destruction of the environments is directly proportion to too much industrialization.
The billions of dollars that are spent on weapons alone, can feed the entire world multiple times. Even reputable economist and social scientists are agreeing on this simple fact. For example what are some of the resultant effects when money which ought to go towards food is diverted to guns and bombs..??

You did not address the issue of the atomic & neutron bombs..!!! Take a look at the ecological, biological, physical and psychological implications of such weapons.
Off course atom energy has very useful purposes there is no doubt as to that, but on the other hand, scientists themselves are beginning to realize the huge moral implications of these killer weapons that they have been creating...!!
And there are the issues of biological weapons... do we know the how and the deeper implications of all of that...???

On a lighter but humorous side;

I know a few people from this side of the world who are renouncing some comforts and going overseas to live with the pygmies deep in the forest. There are also large groups of immigrants from the US of A, up there in Cortez Island in Canada, and plenty other examples of people who are shunning the fast world and taking refuge in alternative ways of living with just the minimum of technological gadgets to get by.

If you live in America, you will have heard of the Amish folks, there are also some communities in France, Switzerland, Germany, England, little groups of people that are shunning the fast world of technology and have been living so for the last 100 years or more.

May be they are stupid and ignorant, but as long as they are not bothering you and me, they can lead their lives quietly without anyone calling them names.

Thanks.

[Coach Outlet Factory]

[ This is good ]