Afghanistan’s environment ravaged by war
Afghanistan’s environment is so degraded by two decades of warfare that it now presents a major barrier to the nation’s efforts at reconstruction, finds a new report presented to environmental leaders meeting in Nairobi in late January. Combined with three to four years of draught, the conflicts have drained the nation’s wetlands and caused much of Afghanistan’s wildlife to vanish.
The UN report shows how conflict has put previous environmental management and conservation strategies on hold, brought about a collapse of local and national governance, destroyed infrastructure, hindered agricultural activity, and driven people into cities already lacking the most basic amenities.
The draught has compounded a state of widespread natural resource degradation: lowered water tables, dried up wetlands, denuded forests, eroded land and depleted wildlife populations. The internationally significant Sistan wetlands -­ shared between Afghanistan and Iran -­ are now almost completely dry.
With two million refugees returning in 2002 and a further 1.5 million expected this year, pressure on Afghanistan’s natural resources and environmental services are expected to increase even further. (ENS)

Conflict over approval of GE canola
Growing opposition from farmers and environmentalists is sprouting over an application by Monsanto and Bayers for Australian government approval of the commercial release of genetically engineered canola, due to be decided on in April.
The spokeswoman for the Network of Concerned Farmers, Juliet McFarlane, says there is little evidence the biotechnology industry or the government are taking farmers’ concerns seriously regarding proposed guidelines intended to allow GE crops and GE-free crops to "co-exist." Farmers are concerned that approval of Monsanto and Bayers’ GE canola applications will result in existing farmers losing access to valuable markets that put a premium on GE-free food products.
Australia currently has no GE crops, a fact that makes its crops highly desirable to countries like Japan and China, which are suspicious of GE food. Introduction of any GE crops to the country spells the loss of Australia’s "zero contamination" status. A series of voluntary management protocols have been developed by the Gene Technonoly Grains Committee (GTGC) in an apparent attempt to allay the concerns of farmers.
However, the watchdog group, Genethics Network, dismisses the GTGC and its guidelines because of industry domination of the group, saying the GE industry has "systematically excluded anybody who doesn’t agree with it." (IPS)

US blocks international action on mercury
The delegates attending last week’s international meeting on environmental issues in Nairobi have agreed to crack down on sources of mercury emissions around the globe. But objections from the US delegation prevented the Governing Council of the United nations Environment Programme (UNEP)from adopting binding limits on emissions from power plants and other major mercury sources.
Last year, the UNEP Global Mercury Assessment Working Group, an assembly of about 150 experts, concluded that "there is sufficient evidence of significant global adverse impacts to warrant international action to reduce the risks to human health and the environment arising from the release of mercury into the environment."
Delegates to last week’s meeting supported that conclusion, and called for action to reduce mercury emissions. But the US delegation lobbied successfully to block the adoption of a binding protocol limiting the uses of mercury, arguing that such international agreements take too long and cost too much to negotiate.
Under the Bush administration, the US has opposed or withdrawn from a variety of international environmental pacts, including the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change. (ENS)

Indigenous Alaskans organize against big oil
An organization of Alaskan natives has formed to oppose oil and gas development and to speak out against the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).
The Alaska Native Oil and Gas Working Group’s mission is to "resist any new oil and gas exploration and development within the state of Alaska," said Evon Peter, chief of Arctic Village and a spokesman for the organization.
Peter led a news conference on Feb. 12 in which he attacked ANSCA, the 1971 law that established Native corporations and extinguished aboriginal land claims as an "illegitimate piece of legislation to gain access to Native lands," particularly for oil extraction.
Besides opposing future oil development in Alaska, the group wants to promote alternative energy and foster a dialogue on the health and subsistence effects of burning fossil fuels. (Anchorage Daily News)

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