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Evidence of climate change in Nepal (August 24 2012) Evidence of climate change in Nepal (August 24 2012)

Naresh Newar the Nepalese journalist with special focus on armed conflict, humanitarian and environmental issues has published an article on the Inter Press Service titled ‘Droughts Bring Climate Change Home to Nepali Farmers’ in which he describes how farmers in this fertile central district of south Nepal are convinced that an intense drought between May and early July that destroyed their maize crops is the result of climate change. Newar states “Nepal has a history of droughts but the intensity increased this year… Evidence of climate change in Nepal is seen in temperatures rising by about one-tenth of a degree annually, receding glaciers and snow line and volatile monsoonal rains. While scientists are still trying to link these changes to factors such as production of greenhouse gases and deforestation, Nepal’s farmers are coping on their own with dwindling water supply, flash floods and landslides. Chitwan, a major producer of maize, has suffered a 70 percent loss of the crop due to late arrival of the monsoons this year, according to assessments by the government’s Agricultural Services Office (ASO). …the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu. …is currently conducting a study on climate change impacts on food security in the entire Indo Gangetic plains. …There can be two droughts in a year without causing too much damage, but when there is drought intensity that can destroy maize, even in irrigated areas, according to ICIMOD experts. With such unpredictability of weather patterns growing in the country, there is need now for planned adaptation.”

 

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Abderrahim El Ouali the Moroccan social writer on political and environmental issues has published an article on IPS News stating that Morocco is still divided over marriage of minors. In the article, El Ouali states “The widespread practice of marrying minors continues to be one of the most incendiary legal and political issues in Morocco today, causing open confrontations between hard-line Islamists and moderates throughout the country. …30,000 minor girls are married every year – roughly 10 percent of the 300,000 marriages recorded… A campaign to gather one million signatures to forbid the marriage of minors is already in progress, sparked by the death of Amina Filali, a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide after being forced to marry her rapist. …Sheik Mohamed El Maghrawi, a well-known Moroccan Muslim scholar, published a Fatwa reiterating families’ right to marry off their daughters over the age of nine. His position provoked a major scandal but the scholar suffered no consequences. …El Maghrawi even expressed his attachment to his position, “based on the Quran and the words of the Prophet ” according to him. However, opposition to this particular reading of Sharia’a law has become widespread. “All the laws that go against the dignity of women must be amended or even abolished “, said the president of the Chamber of Councilors in Moroccan parliament.”

 

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