Panorama
 
 
 
 
 

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY TO REMOVE HUGE TREES FROM RIVER MOLE


Environmental Panorama
International
April of 2009


14 Apr 2009 - Malaysia's Muslim preachers have been enlisted in the fight for wildlife conservation, using passages from the Koran to raise awareness and help protect some of the world's most endangered species.

After a successful campaign last year, when more than 400 mosques in the state of Terengganu held sermons focusing on turtle conservation issues, WWF decided to extend the project to support efforts to tackle poaching.

The conservation group is running workshops for local imams, explaining the importance of wildlife protection.

“There are several passages within the Koran which talk about the responsibility of humans in protecting our environment and wildlife,” said Umi A’ Zuhrah from the Tiger Conservation Programme at WWF-Malaysia.

“Religious leaders are very influential and greatly respected in this community, so they are the best people to carry this message across.”

The Malaysian peninsula is home to some of the world's most amazing and threatened wildlife including the Sumatran rhinos, Malayan tigers and Asian elephants. But these, and many other species in the region, are under increasing threat due to poaching and the demand for their body parts in the illegal wildlife trade.

All created by God

Poaching is arguably the biggest threat to tigers in Malaysia, with the current population estimated at about 500, down from 3,000 almost 50 years ago. Tigers are poached for their parts, which often end up in traditional chinese medicine shops and exotic meat restaurants in Malaysia and other neighbouring countries.

The newly modified sermons will be read at 21 mosques in the district of Jeli, Kelantan, in June this year and will talk about the need to stop illegal hunting and reduce human-wildlife conflict using specific passages from the Koran

“We hope that religious-based initiatives such as these will complement our monitoring and anti-poaching efforts to conserve Malaysia’s endangered wildlife,” Umi A’Zuhrah said.

Questionnaire surveys developed by WWF-Malaysia for those who heard the previous sermons indicated an increase in their levels of concern for turtle conservation.

“In Islam, the conservation of the environment is based on the principle that all individual components of the environment were created by God, and that all living things were created by the Almighty Creator,” Mawil Y. Izzi Deen says in an essay called ‘Islamic Environmental Ethics, Law and Society’.

“In fact, we are encouraged not to exploit the non-human world (natural environment and animals).”

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WWF-Rating in Switzerland: Bad Grades for Retailers

15 Apr 2009 - Switzerland - With a per capita usage of 21 kg of tissue paper Switzerland is leading European consumption on tissues. Offering an adequate amount of recycled fibre tissue products to consumers would therefore be really important as forests around the world are cut for toilet tissues, napkins or baby diapers. Retailers have not yet recognized this fact however as a WWF rating of Swiss Retailers shows: 9 out of 12 retail chains receive the grade "not sufficient"

21 kg of tissue and hygienic papers were used by an average Swiss in 2007, this is a quarter more than 10 years ago. With this level of consumption Swiss are the leading tissue users in Europe - only North Americans use more with 24kg per person.

The high paper usage pattern was a reason for WWF Switzerland to conduct a survey with the independent Rating Agency Inrate about the tissue products offered by 12 Swiss Retailers. The following product categories are part of the rating: toilet tissue, kitchen rolls, napkins and cosmetic tissue as well as baby diapers. "The paper industry plays a key role for the future of the worlds forests. Globally almost half of the commercial timber cut is used for paper production" explains WWFs forest expert Simone Stammbach.

The result of the WWF Rating of Swiss Retailers
Migros and Coop came out best, followed by Lidl who is new in Switzerlands market. Migros offers the biggest number of tissue products made of recycled and FSC certified fibres.Coop comes second. Lidl achieved third place - the discounter offers only toilet paper and kitchen rolls made out of recycled or FSC fibres. 9 other retailers received lower marks. (see graph)

All retailers offer at least one ecological alternative to virgin fibre and uncertified toilet tissue. Only half of the retailers have ecological kitchen rolls on offer. For the product range on napkins and cosmetic tissue barely any products made out of recycled or FSC fibres are available. Totally insufficient is the situation for baby diapers: No diapers are available on the Swiss market made from recycled fibres or FSC certified fibres.

WWF Tips:
Preferentially buy tissue products made out of recycled fibre
Be efficient and economical in your use of tissue and hygienic paper
If it has to be virgin fibre for some reason then opt for products carrying the FSC label. FSC stands for environmentally and socially responsible forest management.

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New Episode of Extinction Sucks – “Dare for a bear”

17 Apr 2009 - The third episode of WWF's unique wildlife series Extinction Sucks goes online today (Friday 17.04.09) with Australians Aleisha Caruso and Ashleigh Young travelling to Vietnam on a mission to rehabilitate Asiatic Black Bears which have been freed from horrific captivity.

Throughout South East Asia bears are kept in cramped cages and “milked” for their bile which is in high demand for its supposed medicinal powers. The practice has recently been made illegal, which means the authorities have been able to free some bears – but they have have to be looked after since they cannot be released back into the wild.

Ash and Aleisha raise money for a new enclosure in Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam in their own unique way – by entering an Afro-Caribbean dance contest as a ‘dare-for-a-bear’ fundraiser. The pair then travel to Cat Tien to hand over equipment and see for themselves the project to allow freed bile bears to live the rest of their lives as normally as possible.

Extinction Sucks is a unique co-production between WWF and Babelgum to bring high-quality conservation programming to web audiences. It's thought to be the first time that an online video channel has commissioned original, full-length wildlife shows specifically for the internet. The series is being broadcast over a six week run on www.panda.org and www.babelgum.com. Other programmes see Ash and Aleisha raise funds for WWF programmes protecting elephants in India and rhinos in Nepal threatened by poachers, and marine turtles in Queensland.

 
 

Source: WWF – World Wildlife Foundation International
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