Jobs

16-11-2007

Ok bear in mind Africa can provide easily enough food for itself, it is not that it's too hot, or the people unable, but that the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have systematically undermined the food sovereignty of poorer nations and this only accelerated after the oil hike in the 70's and the ensuing debt of those countries. Yes they could have not agreed to be loaned the money in the first place but many of these were only recently independent of colonial rule, many still had corrupt puppets installed by the west, still true in many places today. If they were not pushed to grow for export and didn't have their grain markets devalued with the dumping of gentically modified food as aid, enough food could be grown for people in Africa without more land being taken from wildlife. It frustrates me that we expect many african nations to preserve their wildlife when they are being bled dry by the international financial bodies that could do so much to help them.
Its kind of a matter of perspective, in the UK here we have more plant biodiversity in habitats created or maintained by humans than in the old forests felled in neolithic times. But then we have no bears, wolves, lynx anymore. I guess in Australia its not people that are the problem, but the animals they brought with them.

16-11-2007

Ok bear in mind Africa can provide easily enough food for itself, it is not that it's too hot, or the people unable, but that the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have systematically undermined the food sovereignty of poorer nations and this only accelerated after the oil hike in the 70's and the ensuing debt of those countries. Yes they could have not agreed to be loaned the money in the first place but many of these were only recently independent of colonial rule, many still had corrupt puppets installed by the west, still true in many places today. If they were not pushed to grow for export and didn't have their grain markets devalued with the dumping of gentically modified food as aid, enough food could be grown for people in Africa without more land being taken from wildlife. It frustrates me that we expect many african nations to preserve their wildlife when they are being bled dry by the international financial bodies that could do so much to help them.
Its kind of a matter of perspective, in the UK here we have more plant biodiversity in habitats created or maintained by humans than in the old forests felled in neolithic times. But then we have no bears, wolves, lynx anymore. I guess in Australia its not people that are the problem, but the animals they brought with them.

As for AIDS, does anyone even still believe that was an accident? I think in 20 years or so things will really start to come out about how that started, and how it managed to get round Africa so fast.

16-11-2007

absolutely!!

18-11-2007

Can't argue with that.

At a grass roots level, however, what worries me greatly is the bushmeat "industry".
The popular misconception is of a few hunters going into the bush occasionally in order to put a little meat on the table at home.

The truth is , in many cases it is carried on by organised teams of professional hunters armed to the teeth and well equipped, and who in extreme cases even have freezer trucks. They wipe out everything, mostly for sale in the cities.

This just isn't sustainable.

19-11-2007

This is true. But these areas are only accessible now due to roads, made to facilitate logging, and western demand for timber is contributing to this. I'm not just up for ultra-PC self flagellating criticism, of course people of all nations have a responsibility to their wildlife, but in the context of a continent so rich in resources, if the people of central africa recieved even a fraction of what is owed to them for the minerals etc we have stolen, then less of them would be concerned with the prices they can get for bushmeat. It's tragic and upsetting to know that apes and monkeys are being slaughtered in the most inhumane fashion, but with the forest much more fragmented these days I don't see how that will cease until the people of those countries are taken out of poverty. More guards, more patrols, will help in the short term but for vast areas this is impractical and only leads to local tensions and even conflict.

22-11-2007

Back to the tread just to let you know I'm a professionnal drummer and drum teacher in the Paris region, France!

23-11-2007

And i am still a full time student at the university (biology in Leiden) which is the most important.
On the side, to earn some money, i work about 20 hours a week at the financial department of another university (in Delft, my hometown).
And at the university in Leiden i teach sort of a course for schoolkids around the age of 17-18 who want to find out whether biology is something they would like to do after they finished school. It's so nice to do. Trying to make them enthousiastic about biology. Luckily this course is completely digital, so no sett working hours... ergo; this i do at night
So i'm quite busy... but ey, otherwise i get bored