Thursday, May 10, 2012

How to Make a Difference

How to Build a Culture of Community Involvement

One of the biggest issues in many small (and not so small) communities is that of getting volunteers for community organisations and events. Often it seems to be the same small group of people doing everything.

Below are a few suggestions to encourage more volunteers to come forward. None of this will result in stampedes of volunteers overnight, but if we think long term about building a community with a culture of active community involvement, they may help.

Set up service awards presented by Council/Community Board/local government - monthly/annually/as appropriate
Volunteer "jobs" board in the library and also in the Messenger
* Make sure that listings say skills required, that training is offered, what skills volunteers will gain etc etc
Volunteer "jobs" expo
Partner with significant employers in the area to have staff community volunteering recognised in some way
Partner with Government agencies/Social Services to have community service/volunteering encouraged
Put a monthly volunteer interview/profile in local newsletters/newspapers (+ sponsored award?)
* Why do you volunteer?
* How did you get involved?
* What do you get out of it?
* What skills have you gained?
* What skills did you need?
* How much time does it take?
Interview as diverse range of people as possible - ie not the usual suspects. Eg The bowls club secretary, Lions club treasurer, a volunteer fire fighter, someone from the Marae Committee, a PTA member, the Rugby club Pres ..

How do you encourage Volunteering in your community?

Poachers slaughter 200 elephants in Cameroon national park in six weeks. « The Truth is Where?

Poachers have killed more than 200 elephants in six weeks in Cameroon, in a “massacre” fuelled by Asian demand for ivory.

A local government official said heavily armed poachers from Chad and Sudan had decimated the elephant population of Bouba Ndjida national park, in Cameroon’s far north.

“We are talking about a very serious case of trans-frontier poaching, involving well-armed poachers with modern weapons from Sudan and Chad who are decimating this wildlife species to make quick money from the international ivory trade,” said Gambo Haman, governor of Cameroon’s northern region.

Speaking on local radio, Haman said some of the poachers were on horseback and operated with the help of the local population, who were given free elephant meat and were glad to be rid of animals that damage their crops.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) said cross-border poaching was common during the dry season but the scale of the killings so far this year was unprecedented.
“This latest massacre is massive and has no comparison to those of the preceding years,” the group said in a statement.

Citing a record number of large scale ivory seizures in 2011, Traffic, a conservation group that tracks trends in wildlife trading, has warned of a surge in elephant poaching in Africa to meet Asian demand for tusks for use in jewellery and ornaments.

Underlining the clout of the poaching force, Haman said a group of 50 had killed six Chadian soldiers who tried to arrest them as they fled with the ivory.

“In January we counted 146 [elephant] carcasses and since the beginning of this month we’ve had close to 60 already. This may only be a tip of the iceberg as some may have been killed in parts of the park that we cannot access,” Haman added.

Cameroon has dispatched a rapid-reaction force to the area but Haman said there were not enough troops to cover the remote park.

Ifaw said it was not clear how many elephants remained in Cameroon. A 2007 estimate put the figure at between 1,000 and 5,000.

Traffic has said that the spike in poaching and illegal ivory trade in Africa is a direct consequence of China’s investment drive into the continent.

Trans-frontier poaching decimating elephant herds in Camaroon

Poachers, believed to be armed groups from Chad and Sudan, have been blamed for an unprecedented spate of elephant deaths in Bouba Ndjida national park in Cameroon. The demand for ivory in Asia is thought to be the reason for more than 200 elephants being killed within the park in a six-week period.
As a result of this outbreak of poaching by heavily armed gangs, the elephant population within Bouba Ndjida national park in the far north of Cameroon has now been severely depleted
.
“We are talking about a very serious case of trans-frontier poaching, involving well-armed poachers with modern weapons from Sudan and Chad who are decimating this wildlife species to make quick money from the international ivory trade,” says Gambo Haman, governor of Cameroon’s northern region.
Read more: http://blog.arkive.org/2012/02/elephant-slaughter-in-cameroon/
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Cameroon+elephants+slaughtered+hundreds/6175134/story.html

http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/news/blog/shark-finning-fines-add-to-spotlight-on-taiwa/blog/39109/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gpnzblog+%28Greenpeace+New+Zealand+Weblog%29

Camaroon send in military to stop elephant slaughter | Metro Newspaper

Camaroon send in military to stop elephant slaughter

Written by: Derrick Spies

Cameroon has launched a military offensive to flush out elephant poachers from a remote national park in the country’s northeast near the border with Chad.

Defense Minister Alain Mebe Ngo’o announced the operation on state television late Thursday, saying that the country needed to take action against the poachers believed to be from Sudan.

In just eight weeks, the World Wildlife Fund estimates that the poachers have decimated the elephant population, killing between 200 and 300 of the roughly 400 elephants in the Bouba N’Djida National Park.

The wildlife group said in a statement released Friday that the military operation was launched Wednesday night after a high-level meeting between the minister of defense and the minister in charge of wildlife. The group cited unnamed sources confirming that over 100 Cameroonian soldiers had entered the park on Thursday to secure the area from poachers.

According to the wildlife group, the heavily armed poachers entered Cameroonian territory illegally via the border with Chad in order to harvest the ivory.

“The poachers, who are reportedly Arabic speakers traveling on horseback, are believed to be from Sudan and it is widely speculated that the vast volumes of ivory are destined for Asian markets,” said the WWF.

The government has been under pressure to take action from both environmental groups and the European Union, ever since graphic images of the slaughtered elephants were published.

“We saw this situation coming,” said Basile Yapo Monssan, the WWF country director. “We have consistently alerted the government on the alarming growing rate of poaching in Cameroon. This is their wake-up call,” Yapo says.

In 2010, WWF wrote a letter to the prime minister saying that drastic measures were needed to stop the crossborder poaching. In 2011, a group of 12 ambassadors followed up with a second letter.

Lamine Sebogo, the group’s elephant coordinator, said that northern Cameroon’s elephant population represents 80 percent of the total population of savanna elephants in all of Central Africa.

“Any remaining elephant population remains at high risk until military forces are able to secure the area,” said the WWF. “It is absolutely vital that the (military) exercise is not a publicity stunt – the poachers must be engaged, arrested and prosecuted to send out a strong message.”

- Sapa AP

Sustainable Development

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-muir/balancing-economic-growth_b_1506358.html

Andrew Muir

GET UPDATES FROM Andrew Muir

Balancing Economic Growth With True Sustainability

Africa , Social Entrepreneurship , Impact News

I am privileged to attend the World Economic Forum for the first time. For me, it is very poignant that this forum is taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Addis is not only the home of the African Union but also at the heart of the new economic growth taking place on the continent.

Talk here is that Africa's projected growth rate for 2012 will be in excess of 5% and at a time of global uncertainty and general economic downturn. Talking to various delegates it seems that whilst there is a genuine worry around food security and high rates of youth unemployment, there is, at the same time, a renewed optimism about this continent's future.

However, the sustainability of this economic boom and growth requires
 attention and planning. Much of the economic growth for Africa is 
around a so-called resource boom, and this equates largely to extraction
 (mining) as well as natural resource utilization (farming and 
forestry). Transforming ecosystems through economic development has 
yielded net benefits to human society, but continuing to achieve these 
gains by degrading nature risks irreversible declines in productivity 
and producing an inverse relationship between resource exploitation and 
poverty alleviation.

In terms of Africa, unmitigated loss of nature, accelerated by 
population growth, will lead to ecosystem change at a scale and breadth 
too costly to reverse, and particularly when one adds climate change 
predictions into this boiling pot. We must guard against loosing the 
true meaning and concept of sustainability.

We can learn from people who live directly in natural environments, 
such as farmers, the 'first people' and indigenous peoples of Africa and
 our world, notwithstanding that our environments and challenges have 
altered in the contemporary world. The North American Indians for 
example, had a basic philosophy that before every action and decision 
they took today, they would look to the impact to the seventh 
generation. How do we accept the implications of living within our 
means, of living with tomorrow in mind?

Clearly, now is the time to implement many of the agreements and 
mechanisms agreed to at COP17 and other forums that will combine 
sustainable resource utilization together with access to clean energy 
mechanisms. This would include African governments putting into place 
adequate policies together with the tools and resources to monitor and 
enforce impacts.

The World Economic Forum has highlighted the fact that one in six 
people do not have access to adequate nutrition (approximately 1 billion
 people).  

At the same time it is "spearheading efforts to rethink 
infrastructure development, reshape responsible capitalism and encourage
 the free movement of people and goods" and that "social development 
without economic progress is not feasible."

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Leymah Gbowee: Unlock the intelligence, passion, greatness of girls - YouTube

Message of Hope

Leymah Gbowee: Unlock the intelligence, passion, greatness of girls - YouTube

by TEDtalksDirector on Mar 28, 2012 http://www.ted.com Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee has two powerful stories to tell -- of her own life's transformation, and of the untapped potential of girls around the world. Can we transform the world by unlocking the greatness of girls?

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Waka Waka Part 1: From Windhoek - to Cape Cross - YouTube

Timbuktu Chronicles

Emeka Okafor: Emeka Okafor is an entrepreneur and venture catalyst who lives in New York City.He is the curator of Maker Faire Africa.He was the director for TED Global 2007 that took place in Arusha,Tanzania.In addition he is a member of the TED fellowship team.His interests include sustainable technologies in the developing world and paradigm breaking technologies in general. His blog, Timbuktu Chronicles seeks to spur dialogue in areas of entrepreneurship, technology and the scientific method as it impacts Africa. "Timbuktu is a city unsullied by the worship of idols...a refuge of scholarly and righteous folk, a haunt of saints and ascetics, and a meeting place of caravans and boats" -Al-Sa'Di

In Cameroon Demangam Victorine Luekam a soya processor speaks with Martha Chindong of Agfax:

Soyabean image courtesy of Wikipedia

Through a simple processing technique, Demangam Victorine Luekam converts soya milk into a meat-like product. She then fries the soya meat in oil, which it allows it to be stored for up to a week, and sells cubes of it on sticks to a growing number of customers. Martha Chindong, who interviews Demangam, finds that soya meat is tasty as well as nutritious. It’s particularly good for menopausal women, as it contains natural oestrogen hormone. Eating soya products regularly helps to reduce the hot flushes that are a common symptom of menopause. And as a legume crop, soya also boosts soil fertility...[more]

Source:
http://timbuktuchronicles.blogspot.com/

Friday, February 17, 2012

See Africa Differently

When you think about Africa what do you see?

Africa is 54 diverse countries filled with people working to bring about positive changes.

Our site is going to showcase exciting news, videos and personal stories from the world's second largest continent.

Visit our website http://www.seeafricadifferently.com/