Environmental

Environmental Groups to Take Root in Singapore: Rikvin

Singapore Company Registration Specialists

Singapore (PRWEB) February 09, 2012

According to a recent news report, more international environmental advocacies are following in the footsteps of NGOs like World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Conservation International, choosing Singapore as a base from which they will serve Asia’s needs. Singapore company registration specialists Rikvin is optimistic that the strong government support as well as a rising interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the region will translate to a continued uptrend in eco-business setup in the garden city.

The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) is optimistic about the industry based on an encouraging trend which saw the doubling of NGOs (from 30 to 60) and an estimated 120 jobs created between 2005 and 2008. In 2008, it led the launch of the International Organisations Programme Office (IOPO), an initiative that facilitates international NGOs with their transition to Singapore. EDB anticipates an estimated 150 international NGOs across various industries and correspondingly, 2,500 related jobs to be created in Singapore by 2015.

Many of the environmental NGOs in Singapore have cited government support, in the form of grants, tax incentives and setup advice, as a major factor driving them to form a Singapore company. Other factors include access to environmental and conservation experts and Singapore’s strategic position in the heart of Southeast Asia. Furthermore, as CSR gains traction in Asia, many NGOs recognize the potential for generous funding and partnership with a vast pool of multinational firms based in Singapore.

Rikvin agrees that strong government support is a vital contributor to the growing presence of international social benefit organizations in Singapore. As discussed in our press release on the rise of Singapore NGO setup over the past decade, the number of charities in Singapore has more than doubled between 2001 and 2010. By the end of 2010, a total of 2,028 charities were established in Singapore.

Rikvin has determined five other factors from a corporate secretarial and taxation perspective that are beneficial for international NGOs namely 1) low setup cost for charities, 2) Institution of a Public Character (IPC) status in Singapore, 3) VWOs-Charities Capability Fund (VCF), 4) exemption from auditing and 5) Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) Scheme.

LOW SETUP COST FOR CHARITIES

Many charities or NGOs choose to register a Singapore company limited by guarantee. According to the Companies Act, a minimum guarantee of S$ 1 is sufficient to register a company limited by guarantee. Therefore, company registration costs for charities are low in Singapore and allows NGOs to commit the funds they have for projects rather than entity setup.

INSTITUTION OF PUBLIC CHARACTER (IPC) STATUS IN SINGAPORE

Furthermore, to avoid reliance on foundations or firms, Singapore-registered charities may apply to be an Institution of a Public Character (IPC). This way, they may collect donations from the public and in turn issue tax-deductible receipts so that donors will receive tax deductions for their contributions. The renewed IPC scheme, which was introduced in 2009 and extended for five years, grants donors 250% in tax deductions. Overall, the scheme encourages greater giving to IPCs and helps NGOs garner the funds required to run projects.

VWOs-CHARITIES CAPABILITY FUND (VCF)

Charities and IPCs can tap of the VWOs-Charities Capability Fund (VCF) to enhance their training, management, administrative and infocommunications capabilities at significantly subsidized rates. By March 2011, 780 charities and IPCs have improved their capabilities by using S$ 8.7 million in VCF credits.

EXEMPTION FROM AUDITING

The government has recently exempted charities with an annual income or expenditure under S$ 500,000 from financial auditing. This in turn eliminates auditing costs for charitable or non-governmental organizations and allows them to utilize their funds to roll out worthwhile projects.

PRODUCTIVITY AND INNOVATION CREDIT (PIC) SCHEME

The PIC scheme grants every Singapore firm, including charities, a 400% tax deduction on the first S$ 400,000 invested in six productivity-enhancing and innovation activities. As demonstrated in Rikvin’s PIC Claims Chart, Singapore firms that plan their productivity and innovation strategies ahead of time could reap up to S$ 9.6 million in tax savings on their annual taxable income.

Commenting on the features, Mr. Satish Bakhda, Head of Rikvin’s Operations said, “Altogether, these factors demonstrate that Singapore offers an ideal environment to set up NGOs. Rikvin anticipates a continued uptrend in environmental NGO setup in Singapore and along with it the generation of niche positions to cater to the industry’s needs. In turn, we foresee an increase in Singapore work visa applications as more industry experts set up their base here.”

ABOUT RIKVIN

Rikvin is a Singapore-based consultancy that offers business solutions for both local and foreign professionals, investors and entrepreneurs. Rikvin’s areas of expertise include Singapore company registration, incorporation, offshore company setup, accounting, taxation and other related corporate services. Rikvin also provides Singapore work visa and immigration services for foreign professionals wishing to relocate to Singapore.

Rikvin Pte Ltd

20 Cecil Street, #14-01, Equity Plaza, Singapore 049705

(65) 6438 8887

http://www.rikvin.com/

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Tags: Environmental, Groups, Rikvin, Root, Singapore, Take

Thursday, February 9th, 2012 Government Grants Applications No Comments

Patagonia Environmental Grants Program: Funding the Frontlines

We give 1% of our sales to support environmental around the world, funding at the grassroots level in countries and communities where we have people on the ground. We like to support activists on the frontlines because we know that many grant-makers either can’t or won’t touch the more political or controversial issues. Since 1985, we’ve given approximately million (last updated Nov. 2010) in grants and in-kind donations. To learn more about our history and philosophy of supporting grassroots environmental action, check out this video. More here: www.patagonia.com www.patagonia.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

www.grants-loans.org — Penny Gibson, owner of “Canada’s Diaper Ladies” explains how a grant from the Canadian government Small Entrepreneurs program helped her start her new small business.
Video Rating: 0 / 5

Tags: Environmental, Frontlines, Funding, Grants, Patagonia, Program

Sunday, June 19th, 2011 Grants Or Funding 1 Comment

$1.4 million for Farm Environmental Projects in Ontario

Port Perry, ON (PRWEB) April 15, 2006

Farmers on the Oak Ridges Moraine, part of Ontario’s Greenbelt, are now eligible for significant additional funding support for management practices that help protect soil, water and habitat resources. The initiative is an innovative partnership between the Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation (ORMF), farm organizations, the federal and provincial government and conservation groups.

The ORMF today presented a $ 1.4 million grant to the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA), at an event near Port Perry, Ontario. The Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, a member of Conservation Ontario, will partner with the OSCIA in administering this grant.

This funding will be delivered through existing procedures established for the Canada-Ontario Environmental Farm Plan program and its associated cost share programs, currently provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs under the Agriculture Policy Framework, an agreement among federal, provincial and territorial governments.

“We are committed to working with the private landowners, who own over 90 per cent of the moraine,” explained Russ Powell, Chair of the ORMF. “This grant today, and our announcement last week of the ‘Caring for the Moraine Program’, demonstrate the importance of working in partnerships to deliver technical and financial assistance to farm and rural communities on the Moraine, one of the prominent features of Ontario’s Greenbelt.”

OSCIA President Keith Black thanked all of the program partners in attendance. “We have created a unique and unprecedented partnership today,” he said. “We have brought together the working farm community, the federal and provincial governments, and leading conservation organizations on the Moraine, in a program that benefits farmers, and helps them enhance the environmental importance of their land.

“The Environmental Farm Plan program was developed by farmers for farmers. We are pleased that the Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation has recognized this highly successful program as an effective way to invest in farm stewardship practices on the Moraine,” stated Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition Steering Committee member and AGCare Chair, Brian Besley. (Agricultural Groups Concerned about Resources and the Environment).

With this new funding, farmers on the Moraine are now eligible to recover up to 90 per cent of their costs for implementing beneficial management practices from a list of eligible projects, such as installing alternative watering systems for managing livestock and fencing to manage grazing and protect watershed areas and construction of new ponds for storing water will be working to ensure all farmers on the Moraine are aware of these new funding opportunities, and the one-stop application process now being administered by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association.

The announcement today was attended by representatives of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition, numerous farm organizations, Conservation Authorities and other conservation groups across the Moraine.

For more information contact:

Michael Scott, ORMF Executive Director

905-833-5733

For ORM Environmental Enhancement Program details contact:

Andy Graham, Program Manager, Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association

519-826-4216

The ORMF website is www.ormf.com

About The Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation:

The Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation was created in 2002 to help protect, preserve and restore the Oak Ridges Moraine, part of Ontario’s Greenbelt and one of the province’s most prominent geological landforms, extending 160 kilometers across southern Ontario, from the Trent River to the Niagara Escarpment.

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Tags: $1.4, Environmental, Farm, Million, Ontario, Projects

Friday, February 18th, 2011 Ontario Government Grants No Comments

Planet Harmony Launches As Only Online Environmental Science/Justice Force Purposed To Broaden Participation Of People Of Color In Their Ecological Well-Being

Stephen Curwood, Executive Producer, MyPlanetHarmony.com

Somerville, MA (PRWEB) June 24, 2010

Planet Harmony Launches As Only Online Environmental Science/Justice Force Purposed To Broaden Participation Of People Of Color In The Ecological Well-Being Of Their Health And Community –

New Green Authority Releases 2010 Top 10 African-American Green Heroes of Past and Present-

In observance of the ‘freedom holiday’ season leading up to the Fourth of July, Planet Harmony launches today to help African Americans and other people of color tap into the next generation of freedoms available through a more environmentally-aware and active community. A project of Living on Earth and the World Media Foundation and funded by the National Science Foundation, the new web-based community features breaking news, blogging, podcasts, video and other social networking capabilities. More than a news source, Planet Harmony is taking the lead on providing an audience that is most negatively impacted by environmental inequities and underrepresented in environmental science education, jobs and careers with a place to join in on the national dialogue and access the benefits of a fruitful Green society now and in the future. Anyone can join Planet Harmony today at www.MyPlanetHarmony.com. Planet Harmony is also an online affiliate of the nationally-syndicated radio program — Living on Earth – which reaches approximately 300 Public Radio stations nationwide through PRI (Public Radio International) and on XM Radio Channel 133, broadcasting on environmental news, features, interviews and commentary on a broad range of ecological issues.

Planet Harmony provides an opportunity for youth to construct a new identity as environmentally conscious citizens who are empowered with information to transform their own lives and communities through their engagement in the ecological well being of their health, community, and the world around them.

“In the next few decades, half of America’s youth will come from diverse populations and the environmental degradation of the planet will affect them the most,” said Steve Curwood, Founder and Executive Producer of Planet Harmony. “We believe that by getting youth more engaged now — in relevant ways — can better equip them as future power players on jobs in emerging Green industries, important health issues and preventions and an overall enhanced quality life,” added Curwood.

– On Planet Harmony –

Most people have never heard of Will Allen, a Black farmer in Milwaukee, or a festival in urban areas of Chicago that celebrates and promotes the value of breast milk among mothers of color. And what about Diego Stocco a musician who composes music using sounds from a tree or a new Green job opportunity in your local community? If you haven’t visited MyPlanetHarmony.com yet, chances are you’re missing out on a new, unprecedented community where students, researchers, activists, policy makers, entertainers and other environmentally-vested members share ideas and explore solutions on pressing environmental issues and concerns neglected elsewhere:

    Student Influencers. Through its network of college student reporters, Planet Harmony creates a pipeline of young, progressive influencers that are vested in the environment today and sharing the news with their peers.
    Planet Harmony Content. Planet Harmony covers a range of news from breaking national stories to little known news items that have major impact on our lives. Visitors can discovery everything from the hottest Green jobs and lifestyle tips to joining member posts and sharing personal experiences.
    On-Campus Advocacy. Through its network of students, professors and researchers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Planet Harmony has been fused within classroom instruction, curriculum and other campus programs. This spring Planet Harmony collaborated with students at Howard University in their Cross-Cultural Psychology course on a project focused on the natural disaster in Haiti and mental health.
    Broadening Participation in Environmental Justice. Planet Harmony provides one of the only opportunities people of color and those who live in poverty to become aware of the inequities in the environmental health of the communities in which they tend to live.

– Planet Harmony’s Top 10 African-American Green Heroes for 2010 —

From respected entertainers such as Drake, who teamed with an urban green jobs group to host a five-market campus consciousness tour and Ludacris’ new high-school programs; to HBCUs around the country hosting environmental events to engage students and Presidential Advisor John Holdren’s aggressive plan on national science issues — including reaching under-represented populations in the sciences — enthusiasm and participation in the environmental movement is growing among young people across the country. Planet Harmony has compiled its list of its “2010 Top 10 African-American Green Heroes” to help educate people everywhere this year about key figures that have made significant contributions:

1. Will Allen is a genius. That’s according to the MacArthur Foundation who handed him $ 500,000 in 2008 as part of its genius grant program. What caught the eye of the folks at MacArthur is what folks in Will Allen’s ‘hood in Milwaukee can see every day: more than a dozen greenhouses right in the middle of the city near a housing project. Founder of an organization called Growing Power, Will Allen and his crew are bringing the growing of fresh produce right on the block. And with his work coupled with some other urban and rural sites, Will Allen is not only putting folks in touch with the land, he’s feeding them directly off it.

2. Majora Carter is also a genius, certified by the MacArthur folks in 2005, for her determination to bring a clean, livable and indeed enjoyable environment to her native ‘hood of Hunt’s Point in the South Bronx. She thought she’d become a filmmaker, but when the City of New York wanted to locate a major trash facility right on the waterfront of Hunt’s Point she fought back. Today Sustainable South Bronx, her creation, is the proud sponsor of a lovely waterfront park. Ms Carter herself has gone on to form a for-profit environmental consulting company, the Majora Carter Group, now noted for working to bring high intensity agri-business to inner city neighborhoods.

3. Robert Bullard is a Clark Atlanta University sociology professor who was among the first to document that people of color are disproportionately affected by such environment risks as the location of toxic dumps, with his groundbreaking book Dumping in Dixie, first published in 1990. Professor Bullard’s work was key in debunking the misconception that economics played the most important role in the location of toxic dumps. Over and over he found race to be a more important factor. Professor Bullard has also documented that racism in transportation didn’t go away after the era of Plessey v. Ferguson, but that racism is a key component of sprawl. Today Robert Bullard also directs the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University.

4. Anthony “Van” Jones is probably America’s funniest green black person, if his recent appearance on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher is any guide. A lawyer and community activist who started looking to green jobs as one of the ways to help employ former prisoners, he has become one of the most articulate voices calling for a new green economy for the inner city—and the rest of America as well. An author of the bestselling The Green Collar Economy, Van Jones is a Fellow of the Center for American Progress, and a former green jobs advisor to the Obama White House.

5. Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is CEO of Green for All Green for All, an organization that was originally launched by Van Jones. Since she’s took over the helm of Green For All in 2009, she has become the poster person for involving people of color in fighting climate change. Interviewed in 2009 in Yes Magazine, Ellis- Lamkins, outlined how she has achieved success so far. “We’ve joined with the Hip Hop Caucus, the NAACP, and other organizations that have not always been traditional players in the environmental movement, and created Green the Block, which gets people involved in environmental projects in their own communities. That program’s successes have shown us, in a short period of time, that when you mobilize communities of color and low-income communities, they really can make change in the environmental movement and also address the issues that are most critical to saving the planet.”

6. Hazel Johnson was busy educating people about the effects of environmental hazards on low-income and minority communities as early as 1982 when she formed People for Community Recovery (PCR) in Altgeld Gardens, a gritty housing project on the South Side of Chicago that is within “spitting distance” of more and a dozen toxic dumps and industries. Young Barack Obama came and went as a volunteer in Altgeld gardens, but Hazel Johnson has stayed. Today Altgeld Gardens is cleaner, and some of the dirtiest nearby industrial sites have cleaned up their acts, but Hazel Johnson is still out on the job. “There is still so much to be done,” she recently told a group of visiting journalists from the Unity Convention.

7. Jerome C. Ringo grew up in the bayous of Louisiana and worked for petrochemical industry for years in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley until shortly after he noticed that people at his plant had to wear protective masks and clothing, but the residents along the fence line didn’t. He started speaking out and back in 1991 joined Calcasieu League for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN), an affiliate of the Louisiana Wildlife Federation. In time he would be elected chairman of the National Wildlife Federation. He’s now a director of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of organized labor, environmentalist, business and civil rights leaders dedicated to clean, sustainable and secure energy.

8. Ludacris (Chris Bridges), the highly successful rapper and actor, uses his celebrity to speak out on environmental causes. This year he’s actively involved with Increase Your Green program to make your high schools across the nation more environmentally friendly. He also co-stars in Discovery Channel’s environmentally themed reality show, Battleground Earth.

9. Drake headlined ‘Greening the block” with a Campus Consciousness Tour across 17 campuses in 16 states during 2010’s Earth Day season. The wildly popular performer joined with Green The Block, campus leaders and community organizations to raise environmental awareness during the tour. The tour itself led by example, riding in bio-diesel buses, working with the concert venues to recycle, and purchasing clean energy offsets.

10. George Washington Carver is a genius who grew up in the Jim Crow era of the South, when many African Americans were disappointed about what they saw as the broken promise of the federal government to provide every freed slave family 40 acres and a mule. (The promise is attributed to Union General William Sherman). Carver set out to prove that even a single acre of land could provide great bounty, and he devoted his genius to agricultural research. He’s known for his work on the peanut (think of G.W.Carver when you have a peanut butter sandwich) but also developed hundreds of inventions and concepts, ranging from novel crop-rotation methods to hundreds of new uses for crops such as the peanut and soybean, which created new markets for farmers.

The Search Is On for Planet Harmony’s Unsung Green Heroes in Your Community -
In addition to famous, national heroes, Planet Harmony supports and promotes everyday Americans making a difference in their communities across the country. Kicking off on June 19 with the Juneteenth milestone and extending through the Fourth of July holiday, Planet Harmony is calling for visitors to post their personal “Green Heroes” at www.MyPlanetHarmony.com. Participants are encouraged to post anyone from family members and friends to local businesses and community organizations for their unsung Green deeds that may otherwise not be recognized. Select posts will be featured on MyPlanetHarmony.com’s homepage for a limited time.

“Ultimately, we’d love to establish a pipeline of amazing, unsung Green deeds from coast to coast on the web site,” said Curwood. “You just never know what sharing in this way can lead to. Could be as simple as a Green-efficient health tip that makes someone feel a little better or a testimonial that sparks creativity for the next, great advancement in handling deepwater oil spills,” concluded Curwood. For more information on Planet Harmony, go to MyPlanetHarmony.com.

ABOUT PLANET HARMONY –
Based in Somerville, MA, Planet Harmony is a community and major source of news and information about environmental change made possible in part by member contributions. A project of Living on Earth syndicated radio program reaching more than 300 public radio stations and World Media Foundation, Inc. and funded by the National Science Foundation, Planet Harmony was founded by Steve Curwood in 2009 and is comprised of a network of student reporters, researchers, activists, policy makers, entertainers and other environmentally-vested partners that share ideas and explore solutions on pressing environmental issues and concerns otherwise neglected in the African American community.

For more information, contact Planet Harmony at info(at)myplanetharmony(dot)com or visit us at MyPlanetHarmony.com.

For press inquiries, contact Nichole D. Taylor at taylor(at)taylorcommunicationsgroup(dot)com.

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More Government Grants For Single Mothers Obama Press Releases

Tags: Broaden, Color, Ecological, Environmental, Force, Harmony, Launches, Online, Only, Participation, People, Planet, Purposed, Science/Justice, their, WellBeing

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 Government Grants For Single Mothers Obama No Comments

Best Environmental Internships

Choosing environmental internships can provide unparallel work experience for students enrolled in science- related disciplines or environmental studies. Environmental internships can work nicely with disciplines such as chemistry, engineering or biology, for the simple reason that environmental jobs require experts with related degrees.
Why should you choose environmental internships? There is an easy answer to convince you: environmental internships can complement science-related studies, broadening your expertise area. This will surely turn into a wise card at the time you will try to find a green career in the environmental sector. In addition, the experience of actually working in an environmental association is priceless. Green employment can be varied, including:

• air quality
• wildlife preservation
• clean technology (Solar Jobs/Thermal and Wind Energy Jobs)
• nature conservation

Enrolling in environmental internships is a smart move for any student interested in the future of renewable energy, preservation of environment or new green technologies. Some of the main advantages are that you will meet people, make connections are learn many things about how to keep our planet healthy.

Additionally, there may be government grants for those who want to attend green energy training to prepare for an environmental internship or green career. In effect, anyone and everyone who has a serious interest in green energy would benefit from a course about renewable energy training.

By: Greenjobsready Team

For additional information on green careers visit the Green Collar Job www.greenjobsready.com“> Resource Portal

Tags: Best, Environmental, Internships

Monday, September 6th, 2010 Government Grants No Comments

Environmental Disaster in Afar Land Strengthens National Struggle for Secession from Fake Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a fake country with a false name; its correct name is Abyssinia. The barbaric Amhara and Tigray tribes of the tiny early 19th century Abyssinian kingdom invaded with the help of the English and the French a great number of lands that they subsequently annexed, subjugating various Hamitic – Kushitic and Nilo-Saharan nations.

By renaming their colonial state as ‘Ethiopia”, the Amhara and Tigray Tewahedo (Monophysitic) Abyssinians tried to usurp a historical name that does not belong to them but to today’s Sudan and to the modern Kushitic nations of Sudan and Abyssinia. They did this in order to fallaciously portray their genocidal state, and use a national name that serves as ideal coverage of their hideous tyranny and malignant intentions.

Ethiopia signifies Hamitic – Kushitic identity, culture and historical tradition, but today’s fake Ethiopia is a monstrous tyranny evolving around a counterfeit axe, namely the imposition of a Semitic, Abyssinian identity, culture and historical tradition on all the subjugated Hamitic – Kushitic and Nilo-Saharan nations.

Whereas the aforementioned makes already of this fake Ethiopian tyranny a racist state far worse than Nazi Germany, there is a religious dimension of the tyranny as well.

Not all the Amhara and the Tigray Abyssinians are Monophysitic (heretics who are not accepted as Christians by the Roman Catholic Church); ca. 35 to 40% of the Abyssinians are Muslims, who have irrevocably rejected the disreputable trash of Kebra Negast, the 13th century bogus-text of Satanist monks who composed a vicious, heretical version of the Bible. The Abyssinian Muslims have been greatly marginalized and deprecated in Abyssinia by the hysterically anti-Islamic regime of the Amhara and Tigray Tewahedo (Monophysitic) Ethiopianists who are the world’s worst terrorists and most inhuman gangsters.

All equations made, only 18% of Abyssinia’s population supports the nightmare of the Satanic Ethiopian unitary state, which institutionalized race-based odium, unpunished crime, racism, and barbarism. They are still divided into Monophysitic Amhara Ethiopianists and Monophysitic Tigray Ethiopianists, and because of this division, we can safely assess that the governmental party (representing the latter group) gets in true numbers the support of less than 6% of the country’s population, whereas the opposition reflects the wishes of slightly more than 10% of the country’s population.

Due to institutionalized terror, the ruling Monophysitic Tigray Ethiopianists will prevail over their opponents whose electoral basis is twice as large as the ruling party’s. This terror is supported by the European Union and the disreputable criminals who rule Paris and London, fooling the administrations of European countries with no colonial past.

In fact, the entire survival of this execrable and evil felony of Ethiopia has been due only to Freemasonic support provided by the colonial regimes of England, France and America. Today’s elections are not elections but a crime and a declaration of war against the subjugated nations whose identity, culture, historical heritage and rich natural resources are targeted with extinction by the genocide perpetrators Monophysitic Tigray Ethiopianists, who get the shameful support of the European Union.

In an earlier article titled ‘Tyrannized Afars Slam Today’s Pseudo-elections in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia)’
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/158118), I republished a Press Release issued on the occasion of today’s pseudo-elections by the Afar Forum, and I further added an announcement about the forthcoming 5th Afar Social Gathering in Europe (organized by the Afar Forum) as well as an insightful from the Afar Diaspora website www.cangoafar.ca.

In the present article, I will republish a feature about the calamitous environmental conditions currently prevailing in Occupied Afar Land that are due to the total disregard of the Tigray Hitler Meles Zenawi for the Afars’ development and prosperity. I will complete the subject with a forthcoming article.

The disastrous environmental situation constitutes the basic reason for which all Afars reject the racist Amhara – Tigray tyranny; in free elections whereby candidates and voters are not shot dead, all Afars would vote against the current TPLF regime that represents that world’s filthiest scam.

Afar Pastoralist Development Association – Qafar Dacarsittoh Dadalih Egla

http://www.afarfriends.org/Dok%20t%20websida/APDA/Apda20091117.pdf

P.O. Box 592, Addis Ababa
afarpda@yahoo.com, afarpastoral@ethionet.et, www.apdaethiopia.org
Telephone: (251) 011 5159787, (251) 033 5500002
Fax: (251) 011 5538820, (251) 033 5500352

Update: the pasture region drying up;
APDA news and activities

November 17th, 2009
The situation in summary:

This year’s main rains stopped abruptly in mid-September followed by a few violent storms in early October while temperatures remained in the high 40’s. Now as the region goes into its brief ‘winter’, the good of the rains are fast disappearing: what grasses generated is now all dry and shrub-grazing is drying. With the least reliable winter rains of ‘Daddah’ coming in December (in recent years, this season has passed without any moisture) and the short rains expected in March, the herd is peering into the void of poor pasture leading to hunger, animal stress – related sicknesses and the looming possibility of head death. With such vulnerability in the community, the situation is critical. See below.

a) Dry districts

There are now major dry pockets throughout the region at high risk:

-Dullassa, Arguba, parts of Awash/ Fantale and Ami Bara had one storm to minimal rain

-Southern Mille, eastern ‘Adda’ar, north and central Gawwaani had minimal rain and are now dry

-Aysaita and Afambo had much less than normal rain. The usually lush Kutubla is now half dry

-The grazing lands of Geega, Dagaba and Saha in western Dubte have far less rain than expected to sustain pasture

-Northern Eli Daar had 2 storms in all and grazing is extremely minimal. Biru is highly barren.

-Erebti, eastern Barahale, northern Afdeera had extremely minimal rain.

-Awra, Yallo, Magaale, Aba’ala all had well below the expected rainfall leading to crop failure in the west

b) Milk supply in the house

In what should be the Afar peak milk season, there are few communities able to fully feed their families on milk. Again, it is expected that milk – levels with quickly drop off as animals loose condition and the herd disperses. Firstly, the cattle are in a high risk position and are already grazing near the western peripheries of the region. The goat herd is also very vulnerable, loosing milk and unable to reproduce or miscarrying. There are several places reporting animal diseases ranging from infectious animal pneumonia (CCPP and CBPP) as well as pasteurolosis, genrally acknowledged as a ‘stress disease.’

c) AWD high alert remains

While acute watery diarrhea (AWD) seems to have dissipated as an outbreak in Zone 1 (last outbreak was in Sifra up until October), as of November 9th, there are cases in Zone 3 among the farm-laborers picking cotton in Ami Bara -16 cases and Gawwaani – 6 cases, according to Bureau of Health reports. Despite the Bureau’s effort to bring the investors into line with safe living and sanitation regulations for the farm-laborers, the situation among these people coming in from other regions is highly unsanitary. Having been a significant part of stopping outbreaks in 11 woredas since July (a total of 205,980 people were taught 6 messages and 4,512 people with AWD treated up until early November), APDA continues the effort to raise blanket awareness on a house to house basis, distributing soap and water purifying agents.

d) Current status of vulnerability and needed response

Vulnerability in the community is mounting: already there are upwards of 1,000 households unassisted through re-stocking. Household economic survey in January/ February 2009 identified these families in northern Eli Daar, Biru, Kori, parts of Geega and Dagaba in Dubte Woreda and Finto and Uri Koma in Awra. The organization then managed to re-stock 429 households, an activity that proved actually lifesaving and life – resuming. Again, there are more than an estimated 3,000 households in these districts having less than 10 goats thus in danger of becoming destitute should these animals die.

Numbers among the most vulnerable being treated for severe acute malnutrition had fallen to 420 but this is expected to increase under the above – described conditions. Again, these people have recently shown their tendency to AWD transmission. There are specific needs such as water trucking in the Su’ula to Buure district of Eli Daar where water source is not available and water held in cisterns has now dried up. This includes the refugee/ displaced population around Su’ula.

In summary, APDA is urgently requiring to

a) Provide supplementary animal feed for milking goats in around 2 to 3,000 households

b) Undertake ongoing nutritional and disease surveillance in the most vulnerable communities

c) Continue the severe acute malnutrition treatment as needed and provide supplementary food

d) Work to provide town sanitation to stop urban to rural transmission

e) Facilitating the community to construct more water reservoirs is also both adamant and well-directed in that through cash for work/ food for work vulnerable households can be reinforced.

In the medium term, destitute households must be re-stocked. They cannot become farmers/ townsfolk or the like. They now live from relief assistance as well as from the egalitarian culture of the Afar.

Refugee news

Starvation in Eritrea continues to push its citizens into Ethiopia. The last 2 months have seen a steady increase in those coming, both as families and as individuals. In towns, people are restricted in what they can purchase: in a day: one piece of bread per person. In the rural districts there is no grain. Aside from the lack of food in Eritrea, they report that those fishing on the Red Sea are now prevented from doing so. Again medications are not available. As far as possible, the refugees are trying to come down as far as Assayita in order to register with UNHCR and ARRA, the government responsible agent but for many, the distance is too great and there is no means of assistance.
Development News

1. APDA re-registered!

Under the new Ethiopian CSO law, APDA is re-registered as a Resident NGO, registration number 0228 as from 11th November 2009. The certificate of this registration is available to those partners and supporters who may require it.
2. A once -in – an – organization occasion: 630 APDA members + 300 –
odd community members gather!!

Another historic event for us!! Almost 95% of our membership walked to transport facilities from their various remote rural places and arrived in Logya on the back of trucks and buses to spend 14th ad 15th together demonstrating our practical desire to be responsible leaders in the fight to gain community HIV response. The Regional Vice – President opened the conference and government bureaus that work with APDA were part of the meeting.

Over 500 members happily had themselves tested for HIV and through the organization HIV workplace policy those found to be positive will be supported.

The 2 days proved to be a time of outstanding celebration: the full range of Afar cultural dancing, drama, traditional poetry (kasow) was displayed and the tremendous bond of sharing one objective for the development of the Afar pastoralists was demonstrably tangible!!! The organization packed out the Afar Region Museum auditorium listening to a number of notable speakers including that of Jamal Abdulkadir Reddo, the head of the Afar Language Development and Enrichment Center. In all, the meeting resolved to struggle for a more effective community response to HIV & AIDS, to stop kaat as far it is possible realizing the connection between HIV spread/ deepening poverty and kaat chewing and to make every effort to support the use and development of Afar language.

3. The urgency of HIV work in the rural districts

In the above meeting, the government reported that of 6,000 people tested in the pastoralist society recently, 444 proved positive to HIV (7.4% prevalence). This is alarming and all the more reason why APDA needs to work harder and have a very strong program to assist those affected since ARVs are only available in 7 health institutions in the region.

4. Progress in community economic development

APDA is currently facilitating the community to send goats and sheep to Djibouti for export benefiting from the coming Islamic Eid of Arafa through the now 12 community animal marketing cooperatives. A fattening site is being established on the outskirts of Logya for this purpose. This APDA sees this as the beginning and a learning exercise with the vision to establish a flourishing cross – border market for the community through Djibouti to Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

The northern Somali port of Berbera is now very active sending Somali livestock therefore there is now adequate space in the Djibouti market. Afar animals are preferred by the Arabs and described as ‘baaldiya’ selling for a higher price.

5. Opening new work in Dawwe and Gawwaani among communities entrenched
in illiterate practices such as FGM/ C

In two adjoining communities, one in Dawwe, Zone 5 and the other in Gawwaani, APDA is beginning a 3 – year project to enable the entire community to be empowered through Afar literacy and innumeracy. Once literate, particularly women will go on to learn how to implement income generating 3
activities together. Through training community religious and traditional leaders and enabling women, they will plan to leave harmful practices including FGM/ C (female genital mutilation) and forced marriage. The initial baseline survey describes these communities as being totally closed to female involvement in any aspect of community life beyond the house. APDA will train literacy teachers and women extension workers from the community to lead this challenging activity.

6. Progress toward an improved plan for safe motherhood

Afar are on the verge of moving forward with decisive practical steps to gaining the strategy of securing safe motherhood. Each month, Afar women are dying in child-birth and even more neonates are dying in the first week of delivery. The ‘Barbara May Maternal Emergency Center’ in Mille is on its way to completion. APDA’s first student midwife has begun 3 years training in Addis Ababa. The plan is also to establish 8 district waiting areas attached to major clinics that are satellite to the Mille Center with a midwife serving ‘mothers at risk’ linking to APDA’s team of health workers, women extension workers and trained traditional birth attendants in the rural areas. Much of this is materializing through the extra-ordinary vision of medicos and other folk in Australia who have established their own foundation now on its way to registration: the ‘Barbara May Foundation’.

7. Kutubla, one of the little known treasures of the region

In November, the program officers visited our 12 health workers, 8 community teachers and 6 women extension workers in Kutubla, a highly exotic environment of nature hidden between the last bends of the Awash River.

Abundant in crocodiles, hippos, amazing birdlife, wild cattle, mosquitoes and more the team waded through croc/ hippo infested water to reach the community – these Afar have very special traditions and beliefs born of their isolation.

Aside from the wonder, one is also struck by the fact that the Kutubla Afar are thoroughly ignored in their daily vigilance to live: a woman was mauled by a crocodile during the visit; the communty face the daily menace of Issa, an Somali clan raiding them day and night and the new threat for their land drying up. A vast once flood plain has dried as of 2008 due to re-direction of Awash after the damming of the Awash just south of Logya. Kutubla had started maize farming in this plain – that option and grazing in almost 50% of the land is now gone.

Their cattle are currently grazing in the far west of the region in Sifra and Uwwa. This once wealthy Afar now speak of diminished herds and lack of milk. Nevertheless, it was inspiring to see them plough land where they can to farm as well as herd animals – they sell their grain to the Afar of Lake ‘As’aal in Djibouti in exchange for salt. Finally, the centuries – old date palm plantation in Harsa, eastern Kutubla bordering Djibouti is highly under threat since the plantation depends on the annual flooding of the Awash River.

Tags: 'Ethiopia', Afar, Disaster, Environmental, Fake, From, land, National, Secession, Strengthens, Struggle

Saturday, July 24th, 2010 Grants No Comments

Which Environmental Departments Are Going To Suffer As A Result Of The New Government?

When the new Coalition Government came in we all knew there was going to have to be spending cuts and around £250 million of these cuts are set to come from environment departments.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is set to lose 5.5 per cent of its budget, amounting to £162 million, while the Department of Energy and Climate Change will lose £85 million which is around 2.5 per cent of theirs. Both departments are likely to have to cut spending on major programmes in order to meet the savings as reducing recruitment and internal spending would not be enough.

As Britain’s 200,000 farmers and landowners receive billions of their funding from European subsidies on owning land and growing food, they are not likely to be majorly affected by the cuts. However, due to the withdrawal of funding for regional development agencies, it is likely that green building and conservation efforts will be badly hit as they subsidise many renewable energy, agricultural and environmental schemes.

Currently the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) spends far less on administration than DEFRA so is expected to drastically cut spending on household energy efficiency schemes which could affect investment in low-carbon technologies badly. The DECC’s three biggest delivery bodies are all expected to see budget cuts over the coming year.

The Environmental Transformation Fund who invest and promote new low-carbon technologies will see a massive funding cut of 22 per cent, totalling £120 million. Also, the Low Carbon Building Programme that provides grants for clean household energy technology installations will not be continued and is now closed to applicants. The Low Carbon Building Programme offered grants for micro-generation systems such as small scale wind turbines and solar panels (photovoltaics) but these were withdrawn at the beginning of April when feed-in tariffs that pay homeowners for every unit of clean energy they produce were introduced.

The ending of the Low Carbon Building Programme will produce only a small saving of around £3 million but will mean that there will be no funding for green heating systems currently available. It is likely that the Government will start a scheme around Spring 2011 as that is when the previous Government planned to introduce their Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.

By: James Driffield

Environmental advice from energy efficient double glazing specialist, Safestyle UK

Tags: Departments, Environmental, Going, Government, Result, Suffer

Sunday, July 4th, 2010 Grants No Comments

Which Environmental Departments Are Going To Suffer As A Result Of The New Government?

When the new Coalition Government came in we all knew there was going to have to be spending cuts and around £250 million of these cuts are set to come from environment departments.

By: James Driffield

Environmental advice from energy efficient double glazing specialist, Safestyle UK

Tags: Departments, Environmental, Going, Government, Result, Suffer

Sunday, July 4th, 2010 Grants No Comments

Which Environmental Departments Are Going To Suffer As A Result Of The New Government?

When the new Coalition Government came in we all knew there was going to have to be spending cuts and around £250 million of these cuts are set to come from environment departments.

By: James Driffield

Environmental advice from energy efficient double glazing specialist, Safestyle UK

Tags: Departments, Environmental, Going, Government, Result, Suffer

Sunday, July 4th, 2010 Grants No Comments

Which Environmental Departments Are Going To Suffer As A Result Of The New Government?

When the new Coalition Government came in we all knew there was going to have to be spending cuts and around £250 million of these cuts are set to come from environment departments.

By: James Driffield

Environmental advice from energy efficient double glazing specialist, Safestyle UK

Tags: Departments, Environmental, Going, Government, Result, Suffer

Saturday, June 19th, 2010 Grants No Comments