tagged w/ Mozambique
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American hunters are emerging as a strong and growing threat to the survival of African lions, with demand for trophy rugs and necklaces driving the animals towards extinction, a coalition of wildlife organisations has said.
Demand for hunting trophies, such as lion skin rugs, and a thriving trade in animal parts in the US and across the globe have raised the threat levels for African lions, which are already under assault because of conflicts with local villagers and shrinking habitat.
"The African lion is a species in crisis," said Jeff Flocken of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "The king of the jungle is heading toward extinction, and yet Americans continue to kill lions for sport."
Two-thirds of the lions hunted for sport were brought to America over the last 10 years, a report released by the coalition said.
The organisations, which include IFAW, the Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society International, Born Free and Defenders of Wildlife, called on the White House to ban the import of lion trophies and parts by listing the animals as endangered species.
The number of wild African lions has fallen sharply in the last 100 years, the organisations said. A century ago, as many as 200,000 roamed across Africa. Now, by some estimates, fewer than 40,000 remain in the wild; others put the figure for survivors at 23,000, and they have vanished from 80% of the areas where they once roamed.
Lions have become extinct in 26 countries. Only seven countries – Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are believed to contain more than 1,000 lions each, according to the Panthera conservation group – which is not part of the coalition making the appeal.
The single biggest threat by far to the animals' survival is humans, though not necessarily western hunters. "It is just the very, very widespread killing of lions, mostly in a conflict situation, by anyone who is trying to farm livestock in Africa and finds it very difficult to co-exist with lions," said Luke Hunter, the executive vice-president of Panthera.
There is also a lot of pressure on lion habitats with wilderness areas shrinking to build roads – such as the controversial highway across the Serengeti – or to make room for agriculture.
But the report by the wildlife coalition, filed with the White House on Tuesday, said western hunters were a growing danger to the lions' survival.
Between 1999 and 2008, 64% of the 5,663 lions that were killed in the African wild for sport ended up being shipped to America, it said. It also said the numbers had risen sharply in those 10 years, with more than twice as many lions taken as trophies by US hunters in 2008 than in 1999. In addition to personal trophies, Americans are also the world's biggest buyers of lion carcasses and body parts, including claws, skulls, bones and penises. In the same years, the US imported 63% of the 2,715 lion specimens put up for sale.
For some countries, including Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia and Mozambique, hunting for sport was the main threat to the lions' existence. But even in countries which did not attract large numbers of tourists on hunting trips, the practice was taking a growing toll.
The conservationists noted that hunters' penchant for bagging a male lion risked wiping out entire prides. The loss of the alpha male could set off a struggle for supremacy among the survivors that could lead to further deaths of adult male lions, or male cubs seen as potential threats.
A hunting ban, the conservationists said, would reduce that threat by taking Americans out of the game. It's one of a range of threats to the survival of the species, said Teresa Telecky, director of wildlife for Humane Society International. "But what is most certainly true is that of all the threats to the African lion, the one we can best address here in this country is their import."
Flocken noted that all of the other big cats are protected – jaguars, leopards and tigers. "African lions are the only ones left out there," he said.
However, other wildlife experts argued that a total hunting ban was a "nuclear option". They said responsible hunting could in some cases help conserve populations by maintaining wilderness areas. Existing US and international regulations, such as the Cites conventions against trafficking in endangered species, could also be reinforced to protect lions, they said.
"If you remove hunting, the very real risk is that you force African governments to generate revenue from that land and the obvious thing is cattle and crops which just wipe out habitats," said Hunter.American hunters are emerging as a strong and growing threat to the survival of... more
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While Jean-Luc Godard’s life and work has received a plethora of critical attention, a relatively uncharted episode occurred in 1977–1978, when, at the behest of the Samora Machel government, the filmmaker worked in Mozambique to assist in the establishment of the country’s first television station. Having newly acquired its independence from Portugal, the avowedly Marxist government of Machel embarked on a cultural policy emphasizing the country’s autonomy and intending to avoid simply replicating the media landscape of First World countries. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/section-blog/16527-birth-of-the-image-of-a-nation-jean-luc-godard-in-mozambiqueWhile Jean-Luc Godard’s life and work has received a plethora of critical... more
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worrg
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1 year ago
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The protests in Mozambique weren't just about food, but about a constellation of injustices. There's still good coverage of the events in the press, but the most insightful analysis I've seen so far comes from UNAC, the Mozambican National Peasant Union. Attached is the statement of recent events- in Portuguese only at the moment, though in English soon.
The key point: 'ha' algo de podre no reino da globalizacao"- There's something rotten in the kingdom of globalization.The protests in Mozambique weren't just about food, but about a constellation of... more
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MAPUTO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Police opened fire on demonstrators protesting against rising prices in Mozambique's capital on Wednesday, killing at least six people including two children, police and hospital sources said.
The violence was the worst in the poor southern African country, home to 23 million people, since 2008.
The protests appeared to have been touched off when the government increased prices on bread by 30 percent on Wednesday as wheat prices have soared around the world.
Residents of one of the world's poorest countries say they have been hit hard by rising costs for basic necessities including bread, with rising costs for fuel and other essentials adding to their troubles.
"The government underestimated the situation and can't understand or doesn't want to understand that this is a protest against the higher cost of living," Alice Mabota, head of the Mozambican League of Human Rights, told Lusa.
"The rise in bread prices and other essential goods is not the reason for the protest, but only the drop of water that spilled the cup."
An estimated 70 percent of Mozambique's population live below the poverty line, according to the CIA World Factbook. The country is heavily dependent on imports from South Africa, which have become more expensive in recent months as the South African rand currency has strengthened.
"I can hardly feed myself. I will join the protest because I'm outraged by this high cost of living," Nelfa Temoteo, who lives in the densely populated Malhazine suburb, said
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/pictures/CAP09.htmMAPUTO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Police opened fire on demonstrators protesting against... more
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Mozambique is increasingly becoming a hub for trafficking drugs from Latin America to Europe, Interpol warns. Ronald Noble, secretary-general of the global policing agency, said Interpol would help the southern African nation fight the narcotics trade.
Mr Noble’s visit to Maputo comes weeks after the US named Mozambican businessman Mohamed Bachir Suleman as a “drugs kingpin”. Mr Suleman denies the allegations and says he has no trafficking connections.
Under the Unites States’ Drug Kingpin Act, financial sanctions are imposed on suspected drug traffickers and US citizens are barred from doing business with them.Mozambique is increasingly becoming a hub for trafficking drugs from Latin America to... more
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Prince Harry has spent two days in Mozambique learning about the work of a British landmine clearance charity.
The Halo Trust said the prince was shown projects in the country during a private visit that included walking through a minefield.
The prince also met local people who had been injured by mines.
Prince Harry's mother, Princess Diana, was famously pictured walking through a minefield when she visited the Halo Trust in Angola.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/10369919.stmPrince Harry has spent two days in Mozambique learning about the work of a British... more
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From temperate England to tropical India, the cycle of the seasons is fundamental to life. But lately they seem to have changed their patterns, with profound consequences.
In the Indian state of Orissa, the black-headed oriole is the messenger of spring. It appears in the villages in January to greet the season’s start and flies away to the forest in March, signalling its end. Richard Mahapatra’s mother used the oriole’s fleeting appearance to teach her son about the natural rhythms of the world. “People like my mother remember six distinct seasons,” says Mahapatra, an environmental writer who now lives in New Delhi. After spring (basanta) and summer (grishma) came the rainy season (barsha). Between autumn (sarata) and winter (sisira) came a dewy period called hemanta. Each season lasted two months and the appearance of each was marked by religious festivals. “She had precise dates for their arrival and taught me how to look for signs of each.”
Damselflies gathered thickly a week before the rains began. Markers of the monsoon, they did not cluster at other times. The open-billed stork alighted on the tamarind tree on Akshaya Trutiya, a festival which usually fell in April or May and traditionally marked the start of the agricultural year. Farmers said that if you forgot the day, the bird would remind you, so predictable was its arrival. In the Mahapatra family’s garden, the nesting of bats in the peepal tree marked the onset of winter; when the tree flowered, it was midsummer.
Lately the heralds of the seasons have become unreliable. Spring is no longer a distinct season. Instead of six periods of equal length, there are two, a brief rainy season and a burning eight-month summer. Winter is a mild transition between the two, and spring, autumn and hemanta have been relegated to little-noticed interludes of a mere week or so.
http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/john-parker/dance-birds-wisdomFrom temperate England to tropical India, the cycle of the seasons is fundamental to... more
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Producers Al Jazz, Origimoz and Dareenzo pay tribute to the West Coast musical movement
It would be a crime for me to try to post up this new Mozambique West Coast Coalition: The Instrumental Tribute project without giving credit to the website Beats N Crates. If it wasn’t for Aaron and that amazing site, I don’t think I would have come across this gem of a instrumental LP (which, according to their BandCamp page, has been available since March 14). The production team MWCC is made up of producers Origimoz, Al Jazz and Dareenzo, a trio of musicians who are all “…of Mozambican heritage that decided to give their own interpretations on how the West Coast influences them musically.” I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a straight up-and-down rendering of the classic 90’s era “G-funk” sound, as the guys would rather give listeners their own unique sound with hints of their “west coast” influences. The results are some really ear-catching beats that any instrumental fan will surely appreciate. Here’s the official rundown:
“This project was envisioned to pay tribute to the West Coast musical architects, the style, inspiration and also the musical movement in general. Al Jazz, Dareenzo & Origimoz are all producers of Mozambican heritage that decided to give their own interpretations on how the West Coast influences them musically. After much fun and dedication, we present to you: MWCC!”
Right now, most bloggers would say something like “So, put on your Chuck Taylors and throw up your ‘W’s’ homie!” but that would just be corny….right? Instead I’ll just say download Mozambique West Coast Coalition: The Instrumental Tribute from MWCC and play it at high volume …preferably in a residential area…homie.Producers Al Jazz, Origimoz and Dareenzo pay tribute to the West Coast musical... more
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In a world stained by the bloodshed of the innocent, where corrupt leadership infected with greed breeds legacies of famine, poverty and destruction.
Where Illegal wars take place in the name of democracy pretending to combat Terrorism whilst committing acts of terror upon civilians; many ask, what is the solution to all of these humanitarian problems?
Mozambican Lyrical Activist Mohammed Yahya teamed up with GlobalFaction, in Association with Chiraag Parmar to tackle the issues that we tend to avoid in his powerful and insightful music video A WORLD FULL OF SIN from his latest release Beyond Conflict.In a world stained by the bloodshed of the innocent, where corrupt leadership infected... more
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farmingfirst.org
Farming First spoke with Chansa Chisanga, Programme Manager at FANRPAN, at FANRPAN's annual regional policy dialogue in Maputo, Mozambique in September 2009. Chisanga discusses the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which was set up by African heads of state to encourage economic development through agriculture. CAADP calls for governments to increase their budget allocations to agriculture, and it is based on four interlinked principles, which help farmers improve their livelihoods sustainably.farmingfirst.org
Farming First spoke with Chansa Chisanga, Programme Manager at... more
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farmingfirst.org
Farming First spoke with Terna Gyuse of Inter Press Service (IPS) during the FANRPAN regional policy dialogue in Maputo, Mozambique in September 2009. Gyuse discusses journalism in Africa and the critical role which journalists play in monitoring development processes on the ground and reporting on climate change and agriculture ahead of Copenhagen.farmingfirst.org
Farming First spoke with Terna Gyuse of Inter Press Service (IPS)... more
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MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) -- A jovial President Armando Guebuza was among the first voters in an election expected to return him and his party to power.
Guebuza joked after casting his ballot Wednesday in Maputo that his choice was secret. He says he's confident his party and "candidate will win."
Guebuza's Frelimo party has been in power since independence from Portugal in 1975 and won every vote since Mozambique's first multiparty election in 1994.
Guebuza said nothing about charges from another presidential candidate, Daviz Simango, that the elections commission was used to squash Simango's new party.
Simango was allowed on the presidential ballot, but his nine-month-old Mozambique Democratic Party was excluded from most of the parliamentary races being contested Wednesday.MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) -- A jovial President Armando Guebuza was among the first... more
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Two experts on African agricultural development visited farms in Mozambique ahead of the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh.
In this video, Dr. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, CEO of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network, and Dr. Julie Howard, Executive Director of the Partnership to End Hunger and Poverty in Africa, listen to farmers and translate their concerns to the rest of the world.
Policymakers must target development aid in such a way that it captures agriculture's true contribution to the economy. Aid should also aim to build long-term, sustainable growth and improved rural livelihoods.
www.farmingfirst.orgTwo experts on African agricultural development visited farms in Mozambique ahead of... more
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Xenophobic attacks in South Africa displaced 150,000 people and killed more than 60 in 2008. This year, as the country heads to the polls, researchers say local politicians may be capitalizing on the hate and fear that fuelled the attacks - this time to win votes.Xenophobic attacks in South Africa displaced 150,000 people and killed more than 60 in... more
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Mount Mabu, in northern Mozambique, is a vast forest untouched by the modern world.
Scientists from London's Royal Botanic Gardens came across it after looking at satellite images on Google Earth.
Intrigued, they set off on what they believe is the first expedition. Once there, they discovered what are thought to be some new species.
The expedition leader was Jonathan Timberlake.Mount Mabu, in northern Mozambique, is a vast forest untouched by the modern world.... more
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The Zambezi is one of the most heavily dammed rivers in Africa. More than 30 large dams have already been constructed throughout its basin, at great cost to local people and wildlife. These impacts have been particularly harsh in Mozambique, where the giant Cahora Bassa Dam displaced tens of thousands of people, and severely degraded downstream floodplains and fisheries. Significant work is currently underway to restore the lower Zambezi by improving how water is released from Cahora Bassa. Water release patterns that more closely mimic natural flows will improve the richness of the degraded downstream environment.
Now, the Mozambican government – with China's help – is proposing to build the Mphanda Nkuwa Dam 60 kilometers downstream from Cahora Bassa. Proponents hope the dam will help attract energy intensive industries to Mozambique, but for the foreseeable future, much of its electricity will be exported to South Africa.
video "Defending the Zambezi: Africa's River of Life"
http://internationalrivers.org/en/node/3140The Zambezi is one of the most heavily dammed rivers in Africa. More than 30 large... more
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The United Nations said today that the death toll from the worst cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe's history has now surpassed 1,100 and the epidemic continues to spread to new areas of the capital, Harare.
In addition, the number of suspected cases as of 17 December has now reached nearly 20,600, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
"The UN is planning for a worst-case scenario of 60,000 cases before the end of the rainy season," UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters. "That's based on an estimate that half of the country's population is potentially at risk of contracting cholera."
In addition to affecting nine out of the country's ten provinces, the outbreak has also spilled across borders into South Africa, Botswana, and Mozambique.
OCHA said cases and fatalities of cholera - an acute intestinal infection caused by contaminated food or water - have decreased substantially in areas where aid agencies are present.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) has already flown in medical supplies to treat 50,000 people. The agency is also working with OCHA to coordinate the response through a donor-funded Cholera Command and Control Centre.
In addition, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is intensifying its support to cholera treatment centres across the country....
Read more at link.The United Nations said today that the death toll from the worst cholera outbreak in... more
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When classes finish at Francisco Manyanga Secondary School in Maputo, capital of Mozambique, most teachers and students head for the bus while others walk home. Júlia*, 16, a 10th-grade student, gets into a luxury car, where a man who looks to be in his 40s waits for her. The man is not her father, but her boyfriend, Lucas*. It began one rainy day in March when he offered her a ride to school; soon they were dating. At the beginning of their relationship they used condoms, but not anymore. Júlia has never taken an HIV test, but believes she is negative.
When classes finish at Francisco Manyanga Secondary School in Maputo, capital of... more
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Bukeni Waruzi, WITNESS Program Coordinator for Africa and the Middle East, traveled last month to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to conduct a video advocacy training for 20 young human rights activists aged between 15-25 from Speak Africa, a Pan-African youth focused network of organizations.
Coordinated in partnership with UNICEF Ethiopia, YMCI, AUCC-Accra, BBCWST, ACPF, and UNECA, the training lasted for one week and focused on youth from Ethiopia, Ghana, Angola, Egypt, Mozambique and Madagascar.
Although many of the youth are already active in their countries as independent reporters, producers, and editors, this training was their first experience with video as a tool for advocacy. "The main goal was to start to share continental experiences on advocacy strategies using media," says Bukeni. "They were very creative and able to conceptualize their messages clearly in the short (practice) videos they produced as Public Service Announcements."
A customs snafu made the challenge even harder: the Flip cameras donated by WITNESS to UNICEF were only released by Ethiopian customs on the last day of the training, which meant that the students had just one day to shoot. In their first attempt, this practice round shows how quickly they learned the potential of video for advocacy.
See for yourself -- This group from Mozambique called on the government to ratify the African Youth Charter before November 1st, Africa Youth Day: Clip Above
More Videos at the link!Bukeni Waruzi, WITNESS Program Coordinator for Africa and the Middle East, traveled... more
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The whale sharks off the coast of Mozambique aren't dangerous to humans, but humans are proving more and more dangerous to whale sharks. The whale shark is coveted for its large dorsal fin which is often sold to Asian markets as a way to advertise the sale of shark fin soup.The whale sharks off the coast of Mozambique aren't dangerous to humans, but... more
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Jaron
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added this
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3 years ago
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