Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Palm oil boom tearing apart indigenous tribes (January 22 2013)Gilles van Kote the French reporter and Deputy Head of Environment and Science for the daily Le Monde, has published an article on Worldcrunch titled ‘How A Palm Oil Boom Is Tearing Apart The Indigenous Tribes Of The Philippines’.  Van Kote states “The palm oil plantation, started in 2005 by Nakeen, a subsidiary of the Filipino group A. Brown Company Inc. (ABCI), is very small – 200 hectares. Yet it still managed to upset the natural balance of this isolated northern region of the island of Mindanao, south of the Philippines archipelago… In 2008, the Hagpa Higaonon [tribe, one of the country’s many indigenous communities] was awarded a certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) for 14,313 hectares of their territory, in accordance with the Indigenous Peoples Rights Acts. A victory that doesn’t, however, make them immune to other people’s greed. Nakeen has already announced its ambition to expand its plantation, which is already partly on the ancestral domain. …The arrival of Nakeen and its oil palms created a rift in the local population. The local authorities wanted to turn the region into the “capital of palm oil” in Mindanao. …Nakeen offered locals between 5,000 and 8,000 pesos ($121 and $194) a year per hectare to rent their land for 25 years. …for a daily wage of 200 pesos ($4,87). …The Alternative Forum for Research in Mindanao (Afrim), a Filipino organization, claims that these rental agreements “turn farmers into farm workers” and that “jobs are only available for a small percentage of the population – for a wage inferior to the minimum legal wage.” …While an oil palm plantation in place of a forest that is already being exploited isn’t considered as deforestation in the Philippines, the environmental impact is very real. …an international mission launched by NGOs concerning another Filipino group in northern Mindanao found that the rental agreements were illegal and human rights were violated. “

Inspired by Gilles Van Kote, Worldcrunch ow.ly/gR3Em Image source Mediapart ow.ly/gR3zO

Amantha Perera the Sri Lankan journalist and foreign correspondent has published an article on the Inter Press Service titled ‘Getting Into the Business of Environment’. Perera states “Regulations that stand in the way of conservation programs lower their likely success, experts warned at the World Conservation Congress of the International Union of Conservation of Nature in South Korea. They say there is mounting evidence to show that with participation of communities, businesses and other groups, conservation efforts have shown better results. “Generally we find that protection efforts are more effective if they involve participation by different stakeholders,” Bastian Bertzky, senior program officer at the UN Environment Programme and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) … “Wherever there are businesses involved, non-governmental organisations involved, the higher their participation, better the management.” Bharrat Jagdeo, the former President of Guyana, while acknowledging the increasingly essential role private companies played, struck a note of caution. He warned that companies may try to gain undue advantage by linking with nature-friendly programs and agencies like the IUCN. Jagdeo proposed that if private sector companies are willing to take part in conservation programs, there needs to be strict criteria that tests and evaluates their willingness to change and sustain that change. “There is a need for a litmus test, to test their willingness to engage and change,” he said. Former South Korean minister for environment Maan-ee Lee suggested that governments should keep a close focus on companies willing to invest in conservation and environment friendly projects. “Governments should look at giving incentives to such companies,” he said. Lee called for a consensus among different governments because “big multi-nationals are going beyond national borders.”

Inspired by Inter Press Service ow.ly/dErmY image source Dart Centre ow.ly/dErll

Julia Marton-Lefèvre the Hungarian American Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world’s largest conservation environment membership organization which brings together states, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, scientists and experts in a unique worldwide partnership, has been interviewed by Busani Bafana for the Inter Press Service. In the interview Marton-Lefèvre stated “…through our SOS or Save Our Species initiative, IUCN and partners have already helped conserve close to 100 threatened species in over 30 countries. We know that conservation works, but we need significantly greater resources if we are to reverse the current extinction crisis. …a recent ground-breaking study found that we have overshot three out of nine of the so-called “planetary boundaries” that define a “safe operating space” for humanity, including biodiversity loss. Today we are dangerously close to reaching such “points of no return”, but it is very difficult to predict precisely when a tipping point is reached until it actually happens. For instance, the collapse of the north Atlantic cod fishery happened back in the 1970s but its impacts are felt even today. …Consumer demand for nature-based products – for food, medicine, clothing – has emerged as a major threat for many species that had not been affected by habitat loss or climate change thus far. Nature simply cannot keep up with our insatiable appetite for everything from raw materials to live animals – and we need to change that. …The biggest challenge now is getting everyone to understand what is at stake: that nature is not a luxury but the very foundation of our own wellbeing on this planet.”

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One of the most important ingredients in arts (March 2nd)

Datuk Masidi Manjun the Malaysian Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister stated that “One of the most important ingredients in arts is for an artist to have freedom of visual expression… This is important because it allows them to express their visual freedom and I would like to encourage for it to stay that way… With that in mind, I have already made my intentions known to the State government that we would like to put up another art gallery in the city centre at the site where the gutted building (formerly Public Works Department) used to be.  I have tried my very best although there are some legal impediment at the moment, that the site should be reserved for another art gallery for the State…” Masidi made the statement at an Art Patron appreciation ceremony where a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Sabah Cultural Board and Ming Garden Hotel. The objective of the MoU was to promote the development of visual arts in the Sabah State in line with Malaysia’s central government initiatives to raise the profile of art and culture throughout the nation.

Inspired by Daily Express http://ow.ly/9dsoo image source Senjaliza http://ow.ly/9dsaW