Can't sustain a thread on action alone k, you need words for that -g- .... sorry i had no time yesterday to read, there are many highly interesting articles on that GNI site ..... Abdul the forester is very topical imho - goodnewsindia.com
Much of the poverty in this world is compounded and perpetuated by degradation of land, overgrazing and misuse caused by people who don't have the luxury of time to think ahead, when their survival is in question because they're starving .... they're starving because they've degraded the land, they degrade the land further because they're starving, it's a cycle that only a degree of security can break, and that security will in many cases have to come from outside .... Abdul was able to protect his Kaavu, many will lack his opportunity, more will lack his vision
There is a measure of aid-to-military called the bread-to-bombs ratio, it varies widely among the democracies but is generally pretty low, this should embarrass us imho .... result is that most aid goes to providing bandaid solutions for immediate survival, there is little left for addressing long-term root causes of problems .... those fotos of Afghanistan show hillsides that would naturally be in timber but aren't due to centuries of unrestricted cutting and goatherding, no doubt ..... seems to me that in addition to help with policing, the democracies could be doing something about this, make an effort to sway the culture a little in favour of a forestry ethic, and provide such aid as is needed to green the place up ..... is this social engineering to large extent, well sure it is
Note that Abdul seems to hold his land tenure in a form of which Hernando de Soto would approve - he bought it, so presumably he has full right to use and disposal, he can plant, protect, or cut trees, whatever he chooses, he can sell all or part of his land, or buy more, it's up to him ...... this is not the case in a lot of cultures which hold land to be common to all inhabitants, and emphatically not a commodity that can be bought or sold ... there can come a healthy ethic from this, but not always, it can lead to land becoming effectively property of the chief ... in Chiapas years ago, about six lacondón chiefs sold rights for huge tracts of selva to the federal government, which allocated tenure very poorly and corruptly, this made worse years of problems that won't be fixed any time soon .... as with all issues, it comes down to, Who decides, and on what principles? ..... no easy answers, but it's pretty clear we've got the technology and wealth to improve afghan living standards long-term with more trees and less opium poppies .... other places too - the Sahel is advancing southward while losing ground in the north to the Sahara, we could turn that around, put the desert in retreat .... the canadian federal forest service has many papers on their experiences there, probably not posted on the net, but they show that sometimes you get failure, sometimes excellent bang for the buck, and you learn as you go along what works in each place |
