Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Tanzania Business Forecast Report Q2 2009

Financing problems are expected to loom large in 2009. With government revenues forecast todisappoint in this year and the next, Tanzania’s authorities now have to either cut expenditure- with attendant risks to political stability - or find new means of financing the deficit. Meanwhile,despite a forecast narrowing of Tanzania’s current account deficit, the likelihood that foreign directinvestment and international development assistance will fall short in 2009 means we expect adecline in the capital and financial account surplus. This, in turn, leads us to project both a drop inTanzania’s foreign reserves and a depreciation of the shilling.

Finally, we examine the prospectsfor a longer-term deterioration of foreign capital availability in the form of a partial withdrawal ofChinese investment from the continent.With donor countries now beginning to cut their aid budgets (Ireland is the first to officially do so)and the authorities beginning to revise down real GDP growth forecasts, the Tanzanian authoritiesare beginning to closely examine their options with regard to a looming budget deficit. Internationalborrowing has been ruled out, and we believe a combination of domestic borrowing, expenditurecuts and tax hikes will be deployed to finance the budget. We do not forecast a significant backlashon the mainland as the government cuts spending, but there is risk of regional instability on theislands of Zanzibar, which look set to face a particularly difficult year, in economic terms.Real GDP growth is set to slow sharply to 2.7% in 2009, from 7.5% in 2008, as all components ofGDP by expenditure suffer slowdowns. As the government finances its budget with a greater relianceon domestic borrowing, it will partially crowd out the private sector, compounding slowdownsin foreign direct investment and the tightening of international credit. The drop in investment-drivenimport demand, coupled with plummeting oil prices and a weaker shilling will lead to an improvementof the current account. These benefits will be partially mitigated, though, by falling tourismreceipts, donor aid and food exports.
Weaknesses in Tanzania’s physical infrastructure remain serious.
The country’s ports remainexpensive and inefficient, necessitating a presidential order to clear a major backlog. Meanwhilethe national airline required a government bailout and a railway run jointly by Tanzania and Zambiamay be privatised, following poor performance. Numerous other shortcomings still need addressing;property rights remain weak, skilled labour is in short supply and labour regulations remainhigh. Nonetheless, the country still manages to attract relatively high levels of FDI (at least duringbetter global economic climates) on the back of the high growth opportunities, efficient commercialcourts, long-standing political stability and a fairly competitive tax regime.

Tanzania economy up 7.5 pct last year - BoT



Tanzania`s economy probably grew by some 7.5 per cent last year, below a previous forecast of 7.7 per cent, the central bank said on Monday. ``Real economic growth of 7.5 per cent is likely to be achieved in line with a good performance in agriculture, as well as the strong performance ... in manufacturing, construction, and communication,`` the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said in a Monetary Policy Statement for February.
The economy had earlier been projected to grow by 7.7 per cent in 2008, before the onset of the global credit crunch that forced a downward revision at the end of last year. But the bank said the country had still weathered the financial crisis in the first half of its current (July 2008-June 2009) fiscal year relatively well. ``Despite the turbulent global environment, the Tanzanian economy continued to maintain solid growth during the first half of 2008/09,`` noted the bank.

Tanzania, a nation of an estimated 40 million people that is reputed for its relative stability in a volatile region, saw its economy grow by 7.1 per cent in 2007. A June 2008 projection was that this would accelerate to 9.2 per cent in 2011. Tanzania`s economy depends largely on mining, agriculture and tourists visiting its wildlife parks and beach resorts, which combine to make the country one of the more appealing frontier markets. BoT said its biggest task for the rest of the fiscal year would be controlling any speculation on the fate of the country`s currency due to the prevailing global market turmoil.
The exchange rate of the national currency, the shilling, is market-driven but the central bank says it is ready to intervene to stop speculation. It adds that, so far, no commercial banks in Tanzania had suffered a direct loss due to the global credit crunch. According to BoT, food-driven inflation would pose a problem: Food inflation stood at 18.6 per cent in December compared with 13.6 per cent the previous month.
Food accounts for 55.9 per cent of the basket of goods used to measure annual inflation. Overall inflation stood at 13.5 per cent in December compared with November`s 12.3 per cent, while the government targets inflation of 6.8 per cent by June this year.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

JESUS COMPLEX:



Is Jesus God?

Have you ever met somebody with such personal magnetism that he/she is always the center of attention? Possibly his/her personality or intelligence---but something about him/her is enigmatic. Well, that’s the way it was two thousand years ago with Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ greatness was obvious to all those who saw and heard him. But, whereas most great people simply fade into history books, Jesus of Nazareth is still the focus of numerous books and media controversy. And much of that controversy revolves around the radical claims Jesus made about himself.
As an unheralded carpenter from an obscure Galilean village in Israel, Jesus made claims that, if true, have profound implications on our lives. According to Jesus, you and I are special, part of a grand cosmic scheme, with him as the center of it all. This and other claims like it stunned everyone who heard them uttered.
It was primarily Jesus’ outrageous claims that caused him to be viewed as a crackpot by both the Roman authorities and the Jewish hierarchy. Although he was an outsider with no credentials or political powerbase, within three years, Jesus changed the world for the next 20 centuries. Other moral and religious leaders have left an impact---but nothing like that unknown carpenter from Nazareth.What was it about Jesus Christ that made the difference? Was he merely a great man, or something more?
These questions get to the heart of who Jesus really was. Some believe he was merely a great moral teacher; others believe he was simply the leader of the world’s greatest religion. But many believe something far more. Christians believe that God has actually visited us in human form. And they believe the evidence backs that up. So who is the real Jesus? Let’s take a closer look.
As we take a deeper look at the world’s most controversial person, we begin by asking: could Jesus have been merely a great moral teacher?




Great Moral Teacher?
Almost all scholars acknowledge that Jesus was a great moral teacher. In fact, his brilliant insight into human morality is an accomplishment recognized even by those of other religions. In his book Jesus of Nazareth, Jewish scholar Joseph Klausner wrote, “It is universally admitted … that Christ taught the purest and sublimest ethics … which throws the moral precepts and maxims of the wisest men of antiquity far into the shade.”1Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount has been called the most superlative teaching of human ethics ever uttered by an individual. In fact, much of what we know today as “equal rights” actually is the result of Jesus’ teaching. Historian Will Durant said of Jesus that “he lived and struggled unremittingly for ‘equal rights’; in modern times he would have been sent to Siberia. ‘He that is greatest among you, let him be your servant’—this is the inversion of all political wisdom, of all sanity.”2 Some have tried to separate Jesus’ teaching on ethics from his claims about himself, believing that he was simply a great man who taught lofty moral principles. This was the approach of one of America’s Founding Fathers.
President Thomas Jefferson, ever the enlightened rationalist, sat down in the White House with two identical copies of the New Testament, a straight-edge razor, and a sheaf of octavo-size paper. Over the course of a few nights, he made quick work of cutting and pasting his own Bible, a slim volume he called “The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth.” After slicing away every passage that suggested Jesus’ divine nature, Jefferson had a Jesus who was no more and no less than a good, ethical guide.3
Ironically, Jefferson’s memorable words in the Declaration of Independence were rooted in Jesus’ teaching that each person is of immense and equal importance to God, regardless of sex, race, or social status. The famous document sets forth, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights …” But the question Jefferson never addressed is: how could Jesus have been a great moral leader if he lied about being God? So perhaps he wasn’t really moral after all, but his motive was to begin a great religion. Let’s see if that explains Jesus’ greatness.




Great Religious Leader?
Did Jesus deserve the title of “great religious leader”? Surprisingly, Jesus never claimed to be a religious leader. He never got into religious politics or pushed an ambitious agenda, and he ministered almost entirely outside the established religious framework.
When one compares Jesus with the other great religious leaders, a remarkable distinction emerges. Ravi Zacharias, who grew up in a Hindu culture, has studied world religions and observed a fundamental distinction between other religious founders and Jesus Christ.
"Whatever we may make of their claims, one reality is inescapable. They are teachers who point to their teaching or show some particular way. In all of these, there emerges an instruction, a way of living. It is not Zoroaster to whom you turn; it is Zoroaster to whom you listen. It is not Buddha who delivers you; it is his Noble Truths that instruct you. It is not Mohammad who transforms you; it is the beauty of the Koran that woos you. By contrast, Jesus did not only teach or expound His message. He was identical with His message."4
The truth of Zacharias’s point is underscored by the number of times in the Gospels that Jesus’ teaching message was simply “Come to me” or “Follow me” or “Obey me.” Also, Jesus made it clear that his primary mission was to forgive sins, something only God could do.No other major religious leader ever claimed the power to forgive sins. But that is not the only claim Jesus made that separated him from the others. In The World’s Great Religions, Huston Smith observed, “Only two people ever astounded their contemporaries so much that the question they evoked was not ‘Who is he?’ but ‘What is he?’ They were Jesus and Buddha. The answers these two gave were exactly the opposite. Buddha said unequivocally that he was a mere man, not a god—almost as if he foresaw later attempts to worship him. Jesus, on the other hand, claimed … to be divine.”




Did Jesus Claim to be God?
Clearly, from the earliest years of the church, Jesus was called Lord and regarded by most Christians as God. Yet his divinity was a doctrine that was subjected to great debate . So the question—and it is the question—is this: Did Jesus really claim to be God (the Creator), or was his divinity something invented or assumed by the New Testament authors? (See “
Did Jesus Claim to be God?”)
Some scholars believe Jesus was such a powerful teacher and compelling personality that his disciples just assumed he was God. Or maybe they just wanted to think he was God. John Dominic Crossan and the Jesus Seminar (a fringe group skeptical of scholars with presuppositions against miracles) are among those who believe Jesus was deified in error.
Although books like The Da Vinci Code argue that Jesus’ divinity was a later doctrine of the church, evidence shows otherwise (See “
Was there a Da Vinci Conspiracy?”). Most Christians who accept the gospels as reliable insist that Jesus did claim deity. And that belief can be traced all the way back to Jesus’ immediate followers.
But there are those who accept Jesus as a great teacher, but are unwilling to call him God. As a deist, Thomas Jefferson had no problem accepting Jesus’ teachings on morals and ethics while denying his deity.6 But as we’ve said, and will explore further, if Jesus was not who he claimed to be, then we must examine some other alternatives, none of which would make him a great moral teacher.
Even a superficial reading of the Gospels reveals that Jesus claimed to be someone more than a prophet like Moses or Daniel. But it is the nature of those claims that concern us. Two questions are worthy of attention.
Did Jesus actually claim to be God?
When he said “God,” did Jesus really mean he was the Creator of the universe spoken of in the Hebrew Bible?
To address these questions, let's consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:18: “I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth.” What does it mean that Jesus has been “given” authority?
Prior to Jesus taking on human form, we are told that he eternally coexisted with his Father, and as God he had all authority. But Philippians 2:6-11 tells us that even though Jesus had existed in the form of God, he “stripped himself” of God’s powers to be born a human being. Yet the same passage tells us that after his resurrection Jesus was restored to his former glory, and someday “every knee will bow to him as Lord.”
So, what did Jesus mean when he claimed to have complete authority in heaven and on earth? Authority” was a well-understood term in Roman-occupied Israel. At that time, Caesar was the supreme authority in the entire Roman world. His edict could instantly launch legions for war, condemn or exonerate criminals, and establish laws and rules of government. In fact, Caesar’s authority was such that he himself claimed divinity. So, at the very least Jesus was claiming authority on a par with Caesar himself. But He didn’t just say he had more authority than the Jewish leaders or Roman rulers; Jesus was claiming to be the supreme authority in the universe. To those he spoke to, it meant that he was God. Not a god—but the God. Both their words and actions testify to the fact that they truly believed Jesus is God. (See "
Did the Apostles Believe Jesus is God?")

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

World Development Report 2010

THE CONTEXT: DEVELOPMENT IN A CHANGING CLIMATE
The physical impacts of climate change—such as sea-level rise, worsening hurricanes, and droughts—threaten the livelihoods and safety of millions of people in the developing world. To reduce their vulnerability to these impacts, all countries will need to adapt strategically to changing environmental conditions.
With a one-meter rise in sea level—now considered possible within our lifetimes—Egypt, already struggling with rising food prices, could lose 13 percent of its agricultural land. Vietnam could lose 28 percent of the wetlands that currently buffer coastal cities from storms and sustain the fisheries.

Global warming is caused by greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide that are released into the atmosphere, primarily by burning fossil fuels and by deforestation. Global GHG emissions must be reduced in order to mitigate further warming.
Many scientists say global temperatures should not be allowed to rise by more than 2 to 2.5ºC above pre-industrial levels to prevent catastrophic harm to people through channels such as health, agricultural productivity, and ecosystem services. However, without dramatic cuts in global emissions, the world is heading toward a rise of as much as 11ºC this century.
At the same time, the primary concern of developing countries remains economic growth and poverty reduction.

The developing world is on track to achieve the first MDG to halve the poverty rate from its 1990 levels by 2015. But nearly a quarter of the world’s people – 1.6 billion – don’t have access to electricity and one in six people don’t have access to clean water. Large inequalities remain within countries: in developing countries, a poor child is typically twice or even three times as likely to die before reaching adulthood, compared to a child from a wealthy family.
WDR 2010: APPROACH AND OBJECTIVESLooking at both the challenges and the opportunities presented by climate change, the WDR 2010 will tackle three questions:
1. What does climate change mean for development?2. What does development mean for climate change?3. What does all this mean for policy?

Climate change is one of many challenges facing developing countries – but unless it is tackled soon, it will reverse development gains. Developing countries simply cannot afford to ignore climate change; nor can they focus on adaptation alone. One objective of the WDR is to inform development policy: climate change does represent a changing climate for development.
Climate-smart development, which incorporates adaptation and mitigation objectives, is needed and can be achieved. A rethinking of development policy can help to meet these challenges and to exploit the new competitive landscape created by climate change. A second objective of the WDR is to take a politically realistic, how-to approach, and contribute to emerging knowledge: how should development policy be designed in a greenhouse world?
But reaching a solution to climate change that is adequate, achievable and acceptable will also require reworking climate policy, especially as it relates to finance and innovation, so as to address the substantial concerns of developing countries. Further, rich countries will need to take the lead on mitigation efforts. A third objective of the WDR is to inform climate policy: the integration of development realities into climate change agreements will be essential to their success.

NEW GROUND THIS REPORT WILL COVER…

In the crowded field of climate change reports, the WDR will uniquely:
prioritize development;
examine the trade-offs, co-benefits, and physical and policy intersections of adaptation and mitigation;
present evidence that the elements of a global deal exist;
highlight development opportunities in the changing competitive landscape – and how to seize them;
propose policy solutions carefully grounded in analytic work and in realistic understanding of the political economy of reform.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

By magessa,b.m.

Every person on our earth has the right to social security. They have the right to the protection of the family, an appropriate standard of living and sufficient health care. These basic rights are not guaranteed by our moral framework alone. In December 1966, the majority of the international community of states passed the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). It has since been ratified by a total of 156 countries worldwide. Some of the rights explicitly named in the UN social pact include the right of every human being to social security, education and health care. Since the UN World Social Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, the international community has recognised that social and economic development are equally important. The Millennium Development Goals confirm this mindset. If we are to structurally improve basic living conditions for impoverished people, we need to ensure universal access to education and health care, and equality between men and women, plus the basic tenets of human rights. The 189 United Nations member states addressed this need for basic social security in six of the eight Millennium Development Goals passed in 2001. This is to ensure social development in all corners of the globe. The economies of many developing and transition countries are growing. Average life expectancy is increasing, and even infant mortality is sinking. But a comparison of social indicators reveals that there is still a considerable need for development and qualifications in order to create a secure foundation for social systems. Differences between the industrialised countries one the one hand and the developing and transition countries on the other are still enormous. In Bangladesh, for example, on average 60 of every 1,000 newborns die. In Somalia the figure is 116, over ten percent. In Scandinavian countries the rates are even lower. The number of illiterate people also differs widely. In India, with its rapidly growing economy, 38 percent of those over age 14 cannot read or write. In the emerging nations of Brazil and South Africa it is around 12 percent, while the rate of illiteracy in industrialised countries tends to fall below one percent.

More children face family separation

Picture: An unhopeful child

Global recession and armed conflict will cause a big increase in the number of children in orphanages and on the street over the next decade, warns an international children’s charity. These children, separated from their families, are more likely to suffer abuse, be exposed to HIV infection, experience mental health problems and later abandon their own children.
Children’s charity EveryChild issued the warning through a briefing paper, Why do separated children matter?, which explores child separation as a global development issue. No accurate figures exist for the total number of separated children world-wide but the charity estimates between 100 and 150 million children already live or work on the streets, 8 million live in residential institutions and over 1 million are in detention. It predicts a jump in the number of ‘invisible’ children caused by global recession, military conflicts such as in the Congo, failure to tackle violence and abuse against children, and increasing reliance on institutional care in poor countries.
“With current trends like the global recession set to signifi cantly increase the number of children separated from their families and communities,” said Anna Feuchtwang of EveryChild, “policy makers must do more to address the underlying causes of separation such as family disintegration due to violence, abuse and exploitation.”

RAFI GOLDMAN IS COMING TO TANZANIA


Dear NISPED graduates,
I have a pleasure to tell you that the Director of ICECOS and Chief Trainer of NISPED is coming on 29th March 2009. He will be the guest of ILO Tanzania office.For this message,may I take this opportunity to invite you to give out your suggestions and opinions,and i will be presenting them when i meet him on 30th March 2009.Due to his schedule being tight,he has already set the date and time to meet with those booked earlier.It is being supervised by ILO Offices,Dar Es Salaam.

HERE IS HIS BIO
Rafi Goldman is an economic and strategic consultant. He is Director and chief trainer of ICECOS. Mr. Goldman is a graduate of the London School of Economics with an MA in History and he holds an MBA with honors from Ben Gurion University in Israel.Rafi Goldman has nearly 30 years of experience as a senior business manager and CEO of various cooperative enterprises in Israel. In addition, he serves as a consultant for the Kibbutz Movement on the promotion and development of cooperatives as well as serving on the board of directors of a number of cooperative enterprises.Rafi Goldman is involved in the development and implementation of projects in several countries in Asia and Africa.

Female MPs in Rwanda make history


Rwanda’s women MPs have made history by becoming the first in the world to out number their male counterparts.
They now make up 56% of seats in the Rwandan parliament – compared to 19.3% of female members in the UK parliament. And they’ve now come together behind a campaign to reduce the number of mothers dying in childbirth. In a bid to improve health support for women across Rwanda, female parliamentarians, together with the First Lady, Jeanette Kagame, and development partners, including DFID have backed the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood Rwanda.
The Alliance aims to increase awareness about safe pregnancy and childbirth in Rwanda and unite the many existing initiatives aimed at improving motherhood in the country. The country’s rate of women dying during childbirth is among the world’s highest. Around 2,770 mothers die each year while giving birth – close to one death every three hours, every day of the year. “Rwandan women are key players of our national development, starting with the wellbeing of Rwandan families,” said Jeanette Kagame. “It is ironic that in the process of giving life, mothers are losing theirs. But I am certain that the Rwanda Ribbon Alliance will be able to improve the livelihoods of pregnant mothers and babies in Rwanda.”
Women’s rights have gradually improved since the genocide in 1994. A steady increase of female parliamentarians over the last 10 years has seen laws passed allowing women the rights to inherit land, work without the permission of their husband and make rape and physical violence illegal.
“The remarkable increase in female representation in parliament will give women across Rwanda a far greater voice in the decisions that affect their lives,” said the UK’s International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander. “It is shocking that so many mothers die while giving birth, and that is why the UK is committed to improving health care across Africa.”

Monday, March 16, 2009

RAFI GOLDMAN IS COMING TO TANZANIA






































Dear NISPED graduates,

I have a pleasure to tell you that the Director of ICECOS and Chief Trainer of NISPED is coming on 29th March 2009. He will be the guest of ILO Tanzania office.For this message,may I take this opportunity to invite you to give out your suggestions and opinions,and i will be presenting them when i meet him on 30th March 2009.Due to his schedule being tight,he has already set the date and time to meet with those booked earlier.It is being supervised by ILO Offices,Dar Es Salaam.


HERE IS HIS BIO



Rafi Goldman is an economic and strategic consultant. He is Director and chief trainer of ICECOS. Mr. Goldman is a graduate of the London School of Economics with an MA in History and he holds an MBA with honors from Ben Gurion University in Israel.

Rafi Goldman has nearly 30 years of experience as a senior business manager and CEO of various cooperative enterprises in Israel. In addition, he serves as a consultant for the Kibbutz Movement on the promotion and development of cooperatives as well as serving on the board of directors of a number of cooperative enterprises.

Rafi Goldman is involved in the development and implementation of projects in several countries in Asia and Africa.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

From rhinos to ecosystems: The evolution of charity campaigns


Most of us have grown used to conservation charities putting charismatic animals front and center of their fundraising campaigns.

The "Save the Rhino" charity uses funds to promote the protection of communities and habitat where rhinos live.

But do NGOs separate the endangered species they campaign to protect from the ecosystems they live in? And, in an increasingly crowded world, how do they factor in human populations or global threats, like climate change?
"An ecosystem approach is critical to achieving sustainable conservation solutions," says Diane Walkington, Head of Species at the World Wildlife Fund.

Despite the organization's iconic links with large mammals such as the panda, their efforts now encompass much more.
"Certainly our roots started in specific species conservation projects," says Walkington. "But today we have a much wider portfolio of work."
The WWF's experience is typical, and in many ways, the two approaches of singles species and ecosystem work seem to have merged.
"I think that people sometimes make too much of the distinction," says Clive Hambler, lecturer in zoology at the University of Oxford. "In many cases you have to do both."

Hambler believes that is often hard to separate elements within an ecosystem and singling one out for conservation over another can sometimes have counter productive results.
However, in some cases it may be possible to isolate issues affecting a particular species.
The Californian Condor, for example, faces one set of threats, including crashing into power lines, while the landscape it inhabits is under different pressures. But, despite this apparent distinction, dealing with the birds in isolation is still difficult.

"There are legal complexities," says Hambler. "At one stage, all the world's California Condors were taken into captivity for protection and breeding, but it was feared this might expose the habitat to destruction -- for example by grazing -- if it no longer had a protected species in it, thus making future reintroduction to the wild problematic."

Underlying all this is the fact that ecosystems are enormously complex and unpicking them can be problematic. Even comparatively rare organisms, such as woodpeckers, may have a disproportionate effect on their environment, for example creating insect habitats by pecking holes in trees.
In response to this increasing awareness of the interrelated nature of the natural world, campaigning groups now work to balance a web of factors that all exert an influence on endangered species.
"Our approach has certainly matured and changed over the decades as scientific knowledge has grown," says the WWF's Walkington. "As well as the fact that threats themselves are growing and changing."
"For example, when we started our conservation efforts in 1961, it wasn't envisaged that, less than 50 years later, we would have reached such an unsustainable consumption level of natural resources such as forests and water, or such a high threat from other factors such as climate change," says Walkington.

"Increasingly conservation needs to include both the traditional species work, along with more widespread campaigns to reduce pollution, the unsustainable consumption of resources and climate change."
Even groups focusing on specific populations take a wider view.

"Of course we recognize the importance of ecosystem work," says Mark Simmonds, Director of Science at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

"But we also focus on individuals. We are in essence a protectionist organization and believe that every cetacean is precious. We see the two aspects as inseparable; two sides of one coin."
Because of the way humans interact with whales and dolphins, animal welfare is a specific concern. But there are other, global factors affecting the seas, such as climate change, pollution, ozone depletion and acidification, which are also important, and the group works to address them.
"When you look at a relatively enclosed system such as the Black Sea, you can really see what happens when the level of inputs -- pollution, overfishing -- reach a high enough level," says Simmonds.
"There has been an ecosystem 'flip', where comb jellies, also known as sea gooseberries, have replaced fish. This obviously has a huge effect on marine life, particularly cetaceans as top-level predators."

A similar lattice of interrelating factors also affects conservationists working on land, and untangling it can be a challenge.

In order to protect Africa's rhinos, the NGO Save the Rhino has found it essential to work with and engage local human communities. They are, after all, part of the ecosystem.
"It's actually a misconception that we spend money on rhinos -- we're not taking them for a makeover or anything," says Cathy Dean, Director of save the Rhino. "We spend on the groups that can protect them."

Save the Rhino believe that targeted anti-poaching work is essential. But so too is environmental education, outreach and building alternative economic activity, such as eco tourism, that will benefit both rhinos and the humans that live near them.
One area where this approach is already yielding good results is Laikipia, Kenya, home to half the country's black rhinos -- and 350,000 people.

According to Dean, Save the Rhino funds "tons of practical initiatives in the area", including wildlife management, security, tourism development, community conservation and environmental education programs.

"They achieve a tremendous amount," she says. "You can't just look at the rhino in isolation. You have to look at the area it lives in and the people that live there as well."
The ultimate goal is to create a self-sustaining system independent of external funding where humans and rhinos can thrive together. In turn there can be benefits for wider ecosystems from focusing on some single species.

According to Hambler, by saving certain "umbrella' species," which may migrate long distances or roam large territories, many smaller species can benefit. Focusing on iconic species may also help NGOs raise money to save the ecosystems they inhabit, which may be a far less appealing prospect -- if still critical for preserving bio diversity.

"The RSPB in Britain have managed quite a good balance of using flagship bird species such as the avocet and bittern, but taking a wide interest in habitats such as estuaries and reed beds," says Hambler. "Which might not have turned many people on!"

In the end, taking species out of their ecosystems may only be a useful exercise when carried out for marketing purposes.
"If we are looking at fundraising with the general public, then charismatic species conservation is important," says the WWF's Diane Walkington.

"We can legitimately hook this aspect into the overall ecosystem approach to give a wider picture of what we do."
Ultimately, in the wild, it's the holistic, ecosystem approach that will work.
Says Hambler: "If you want to save the bulk of the world's bio-diversity you have to save ecosystems."

Surveyed scientists agree global warming is real

Human-induced global warming is real, according to a recent U.S. survey based on the opinions of 3,146 scientists. However there remains divisions between climatologists and scientists from other areas of earth sciences as to the extent of human responsibility.

A survey of more than 3,000 scientists found that the vast majority believe humans cause global warming.

Against a backdrop of harsh winter weather across much of North America and Europe, the concept of rising global temperatures might seem incongruous.
However the results of the investigation conducted at the end of 2008 reveal that vast majority of the Earth scientists surveyed agree that in the past 200-plus years, mean global temperatures have been rising and that human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures.

The study released today was conducted by academics from the University of Illinois, who used an online questionnaire of nine questions. The scientists approached were listed in the 2007 edition of the American Geological Institute's Directory of Geoscience Departments.
Two questions were key: Have mean global temperatures risen compared to pre-1800s levels, and has human activity been a significant factor in changing mean global temperatures?
About 90 percent of the scientists agreed with the first question and 82 percent the second.
The strongest consensus on the causes of global warming came from climatologists who are active in climate research, with 97 percent agreeing humans play a role.

Petroleum geologists and meteorologists were among the biggest doubters, with only 47 percent and 64 percent, respectively, believing in human involvement.

"The petroleum geologist response is not too surprising, but the meteorologists' is very interesting," said Peter Doran associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and one of the survey's authors.
"Most members of the public think meteorologists know climate, but most of them actually study very short-term phenomenon."

However, Doran was not surprised by the near-unanimous agreement by climatologists.
"They're the ones who study and publish on climate science. So I guess the take-home message is, the more you know about the field of climate science, the more you're likely to believe in global warming and humankind's contribution to it.

"The debate on the authenticity of global warming and the role played by human activity is largely nonexistent among those who understand the nuances and scientific basis of long-term climate processes," said Doran.

Japan launches satellite to eye greenhouse gases

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- The Japanese space agency launched a satellite Friday that will measure greenhouse gases from the earth's orbit.
The IBUKI satellite is designed "to observe the concentration distribution of greenhouse gases that cause global warming, and to help reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions covered by the 'Kyoto Protocol,'" the agency's Web site said.

In 1997, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change passed the Kyoto Protocol with the goal of limiting greenhouse-gas concentrations in the atmosphere. The United States was the only one among 175 parties to reject it.
The rocket carrying the satellite lifted off from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan early Friday afternoon, following a one-day weather delay.
"The satellite is expected to play an important role in monitoring global environmental changes and look out for any small warning signs that could affect our future," according to the agency.

Trees provide 'free subsidy' for nature, study finds

Undisturbed tropical forests are absorbing nearly one-fifth of the CO2 released by burning fossil fuels, a new study has found.

Trees in undisturbed tropical forests are soaking up more CO2 than people realized.

The scientific report published in "Nature" magazine suggests that the world's remaining tropical forests remove 4.8 billion tons of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere each year. This includes a previously unknown carbon sink in Africa, which annually absorbs 1.2 billion tons of CO2.
The study was based on taken data on African tropical forests from the past 40 years and has shown that for at least the past few decades each hectare of intact African forest has trapped an extra 0.6 tonnes of carbon per year.
The scientists then analyzed the new African data together with South American and Asian findings to assess the total sink in tropical forests.
Analysis of these 250,000 tree records reveals that, on average, remaining undisturbed forests are trapping carbon, showing that they are a globally significant carbon sink.
"We are receiving a free subsidy from nature," said Dr. Simon Lewis from the University of Leeds, and the lead author of the paper, in a press statement.
"Tropical forest trees are absorbing about 18 percent of the CO2 added to the atmosphere each year from burning fossil fuels, substantially buffering the rate of climate change."
The study also found that trees of comparable age are gaining girth, though the reasons are unclear. For example, a 20-year-old tree is on average bigger than a 20-year-old tree measured a decade ago. A leading suspect is the extra CO2 in the atmosphere, which may act as a fertilizer..
However, Lewis warns, "Whatever the cause, we cannot rely on this sink forever. Even if we preserve all remaining tropical forest, these trees will not continue getting bigger indefinitely."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that each year human activity emits 32 billion tons of CO2, but only 15 billion tons actually remain in the atmosphere adding to climate change.
The new research suggests just where some of the "missing" 17 billion tons per year is going.
"It's well known that about half of the 'missing' carbon is being dissolved in to the oceans, and that the other half is going somewhere on land in vegetation and soils, but we were not sure precisely where. According to our study about half the total carbon 'land sink' is in tropical forest trees," Lewis said.
The protection of tropical forests is likely to become a key theme at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in November in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Co-author on the study, Dr. Lee White, Gabon's chief climate change scientist said, "To get an idea of the value of the sink, the removal of nearly 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by intact tropical forests, based on realistic prices for a ton of carbon, should be valued at around £13 billion ($18.5 billion) per year. This is a compelling argument for conserving tropical forests."
Dr. Lewis added, "Predominantly rich polluting countries should be transferring substantial resources to countries with tropical forests to reduce deforestation rates and promote alternative development pathways."

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