EuropaWorld reports so often from dry and dusty parts of the world where water is short that we sometimes forget how lucky we are here in the UK to have plenty of it - most of the time at least. When school girls in Afghanistan are blown up as a result of terrorism or deliberate attempts to stop the education of women again we forget how lucky we are here to have the opportunities we do. So here is a little piece I wrote when it rained the other day and I happened to be looking out of the window.
It is pouring with rain and so dark that I've had to switch the light on. Not that there's much of that; the bulb is one of those energy efficient whats-its that take half an hour to come out of hibernation, so I'm writing this in semi-darkness. What ever happened to flaming June?
A girl has just walked past outside, oblivious to the rain. Even the girls these days are macho; coats being something created uniquely for old folk and wimps. They have no embarassment at turning up somewhere drenched to the skin, their garments transparent with wetness. Another example of our retreat from civilisation, I suppose.
Now the rain is driving, if not horizontally, then at 45 degrees. The girl, on her way to school presumably, stops and extracts a baby umbrella from somewhere about her person; she erects it above her head. It is so small that it looks like one of those creations that clowns carry when balancing on the high wire. Safe under its shelter she saunters out of sight.
What a curious thing is an umbrella, I reflect! A little roof that you unfold and carry above you on a stick to shade off the rain or the sun. When were umbrellas invented? I'd hazard a guess at the eighteenth century. And they still look quaint and old-fashioned even when machined from plastic and aluminium and upholstered in today's bright colours.
What other eighteenth century Heath Robinsonian inventions are left to us in daily use, I wonder? Cutlery, I suppose, and dinner plates; mirrors perhaps - but nothing surely as mechanical as an umbrella unless it be the cuckoo clock or the fan. But who uses a fan today? Whereas we would not hesitate to pull an umbrella from our handbags, to pull out a fan today at some social gathering is to invite knowing glances and sotto voce charges of eccentricity.
Unless we were showing off, of course, and pulled out one of those whirly electric contraptions whose blades spin round like a grasscutter. But how does one make eyes at someone from behind a battery operated mini-helicopter? Yet another example of technology killing
civilisation.
I see now that it has brightened up considerably. The electric light is fully charged and the sun has come out (ish). There's no longer an umbrella in sight. I shall leave my bah-humbug mood behind and get on with the work.
Posted by Fennie Somerville
Saturday, 23 June 2007
Saturday, 16 June 2007
A CALL TO PRESERVE TRADITIONAL LIVESTOCK
A warning this week from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) about the loss of genetic resources in agriculture. Basically because we are all consuming more livestock products, farmers and agri-businesses are turning to those breeds that produce the most meat, milk and eggs. This means that many traditional breeds are losing out and in some cases becoming extinct. Indeed 84 breeds of domestic farm animal have become extinct in the last seven years, say FAO - that is one every month, and 20 per cent of the world’s cattle, goat, pig, horse and poultry breeds are in danger of annihilation.
This matters of course because once a breed is lost the genetic resources are lost too. Quite apart from the matter of taste - many of the traditional breeds produce better quality products because of their slow growing nature - genetic diversity is needed for cross-breeding to meet new demands and circumstances that are now not foreseen.
I have always been a great fan of traditional or 'rare' breeds. We used to keep Norfolk Blue chickens that laid lovely brown eggs with bright orange yolks. Not quite in the industrial quantities that modern hybrid hens are bred to produce, but a lot better tasting. We find that the traditional breeds of pig - Tamworths, Saddlebacks, Gloucester Old Spots, for example - also taste better, especially if they have been slow-reared in outdoor conditions.
In Europe and North America the displacement of traditional breeds is now almost complete in mainstream agriculture. Since the mid-twentieth century, a few high-performance breeds, usually of European descent – including Holstein-Friesian (by far the most widespread breed, reported in at least 128 countries and in all regions of the world) and Jersey cattle; Large White, Duroc and Landrace pigs; Saanen goats; and Rhode Island Red and Leghorn chickens – have spread throughout the world.
But now, say FAO, they are crowding out traditional breed in many developing countries, even when conditions may not be fully suited to their rearing. In Vietnam, for example, the percentage of indigenous sows has declined from 72 percent of the total population in 1994 to only 26 percent in 2002. Of the 14 local Vietnamese breeds, five are vulnerable, two in a critical state and three are facing extinction. In Kenya, introduction of the Dorper sheep has caused the almost complete disappearance of pure-bred Red Maasai sheep.
The FAO is less sure of its ground when it comes to what should be done. It has called for improved conservation programmes and says that these statistics are a 'wake-up' call - as indeed they are. But merely stressing the need to bolster global food supply by maintaining and deploying a wide array of vital and irreplaceable genetic resources is not likely to persuade a hard-pressed farmer in the developing world not to sire his traditional dairy cows with a Friesian bull.
Still, if you have any better ideas, I am sure that the Rome based FAO will be very pleased to hear from you.
Posted by Fennie Somerville
This matters of course because once a breed is lost the genetic resources are lost too. Quite apart from the matter of taste - many of the traditional breeds produce better quality products because of their slow growing nature - genetic diversity is needed for cross-breeding to meet new demands and circumstances that are now not foreseen.
I have always been a great fan of traditional or 'rare' breeds. We used to keep Norfolk Blue chickens that laid lovely brown eggs with bright orange yolks. Not quite in the industrial quantities that modern hybrid hens are bred to produce, but a lot better tasting. We find that the traditional breeds of pig - Tamworths, Saddlebacks, Gloucester Old Spots, for example - also taste better, especially if they have been slow-reared in outdoor conditions.
In Europe and North America the displacement of traditional breeds is now almost complete in mainstream agriculture. Since the mid-twentieth century, a few high-performance breeds, usually of European descent – including Holstein-Friesian (by far the most widespread breed, reported in at least 128 countries and in all regions of the world) and Jersey cattle; Large White, Duroc and Landrace pigs; Saanen goats; and Rhode Island Red and Leghorn chickens – have spread throughout the world.
But now, say FAO, they are crowding out traditional breed in many developing countries, even when conditions may not be fully suited to their rearing. In Vietnam, for example, the percentage of indigenous sows has declined from 72 percent of the total population in 1994 to only 26 percent in 2002. Of the 14 local Vietnamese breeds, five are vulnerable, two in a critical state and three are facing extinction. In Kenya, introduction of the Dorper sheep has caused the almost complete disappearance of pure-bred Red Maasai sheep.
The FAO is less sure of its ground when it comes to what should be done. It has called for improved conservation programmes and says that these statistics are a 'wake-up' call - as indeed they are. But merely stressing the need to bolster global food supply by maintaining and deploying a wide array of vital and irreplaceable genetic resources is not likely to persuade a hard-pressed farmer in the developing world not to sire his traditional dairy cows with a Friesian bull.
Still, if you have any better ideas, I am sure that the Rome based FAO will be very pleased to hear from you.
Posted by Fennie Somerville
Saturday, 9 June 2007
No Easy Route from Iraq to Europe
Life continues to worsen for ordinary Iraqis. Indeed so bad has it become that more than 4 million have fled their homes, according to UN estimates - something like one in six of the population. Half of these are still in Iraq, sheltering where best they can but more than two million have sought refuge in neighbouring states which now face an overwhelming problem of providing for the new arrivals.
"The magnitude of the crisis is staggering," said Jennifer Pagonis, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently. Jordan and Syria are carrying most of the burden but calls for increased international support for governments in the region have so far brought few results.
Beyond Iraq's immediate neighbours - particularly in Europe - recognition rates of Iraqis remain low, says UNHCR.
What this can mean is well illustrated by the plight of an Iraqi couple - Christians as it happens - who remain in a safe but unedifying limbo as two European countries dispute whose responsibility they are.
To protect them UNHCR has not released their names. They are currently being held in the Steenokkerzeel Detention Centre near Brussels Airport, unable to communicate with staff, confused about the reasons for their four-month detention and angry about their treatment as asylum seekers,” the agency said.
The agency has called on the Belgian authorities to allow the couple to remain in Belgian were their son is in the process of becoming a Belgian citizen. But their case reflects the problems that many asylum seekers face.
Under the provisions of the European Union's 2003 Dublin Regulations the country where a refugee arrives first has the responsibility for examining any claim for asylum. In practice, this can lead to people being held in detention in
one European member state prior to being sent back to another European country considered responsible for their claim.
In this case the Iraqi couple have been shuttled back and forth between Greece and Belgium. Originally from Zakho in northern Iraq, they lived for 30 years in Baghdad, running a grocery store and raising their four children. The family fled after armed men raided their home in December 2004 threatening to kill them if they
did not produce $50,000 within 10 days.
In Greece, they were detained for three months on the grounds of illegal entry. They applied for asylum during this time, but this was rejected. Nor could they appeal as Greece has suspended all decision-making on Iraqi cases at the appeal level since 2003.
In November 2005, the couple paid a human trafficker to bring them to Belgium, where their son is about to become a Belgian citizen. On arrival, they asked for asylum. Again, they were detained and then sent back to Greece, where they were held for two weeks at the airport.
Belgium argued that Greece was responsible for their asylum claim under the Dublin rule. But UNHCR point out that the regulation allows a member state to take over processing of a case for humanitarian reasons, particularly where there are family considerations.
The Greek authorities again issued an order for the couple to leave – on the grounds that their case had already been considered and was now closed. With the help of a local priest, they tried to apply for asylum again. They were told they had only been freed because of their age and must leave the country immediately, even though they had nowhere to go.
Earlier this year, they then paid another "agent" to get them back into Belgium and they were detained on arrival at Brussels Airport on 7 February. “They are now hoping that another hearing into their case will end their ordeal and reunite the family,” said UNHCR.
Posted by Peter Sain ley Berry
"The magnitude of the crisis is staggering," said Jennifer Pagonis, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently. Jordan and Syria are carrying most of the burden but calls for increased international support for governments in the region have so far brought few results.
Beyond Iraq's immediate neighbours - particularly in Europe - recognition rates of Iraqis remain low, says UNHCR.
What this can mean is well illustrated by the plight of an Iraqi couple - Christians as it happens - who remain in a safe but unedifying limbo as two European countries dispute whose responsibility they are.
To protect them UNHCR has not released their names. They are currently being held in the Steenokkerzeel Detention Centre near Brussels Airport, unable to communicate with staff, confused about the reasons for their four-month detention and angry about their treatment as asylum seekers,” the agency said.
The agency has called on the Belgian authorities to allow the couple to remain in Belgian were their son is in the process of becoming a Belgian citizen. But their case reflects the problems that many asylum seekers face.
Under the provisions of the European Union's 2003 Dublin Regulations the country where a refugee arrives first has the responsibility for examining any claim for asylum. In practice, this can lead to people being held in detention in
one European member state prior to being sent back to another European country considered responsible for their claim.
In this case the Iraqi couple have been shuttled back and forth between Greece and Belgium. Originally from Zakho in northern Iraq, they lived for 30 years in Baghdad, running a grocery store and raising their four children. The family fled after armed men raided their home in December 2004 threatening to kill them if they
did not produce $50,000 within 10 days.
In Greece, they were detained for three months on the grounds of illegal entry. They applied for asylum during this time, but this was rejected. Nor could they appeal as Greece has suspended all decision-making on Iraqi cases at the appeal level since 2003.
In November 2005, the couple paid a human trafficker to bring them to Belgium, where their son is about to become a Belgian citizen. On arrival, they asked for asylum. Again, they were detained and then sent back to Greece, where they were held for two weeks at the airport.
Belgium argued that Greece was responsible for their asylum claim under the Dublin rule. But UNHCR point out that the regulation allows a member state to take over processing of a case for humanitarian reasons, particularly where there are family considerations.
The Greek authorities again issued an order for the couple to leave – on the grounds that their case had already been considered and was now closed. With the help of a local priest, they tried to apply for asylum again. They were told they had only been freed because of their age and must leave the country immediately, even though they had nowhere to go.
Earlier this year, they then paid another "agent" to get them back into Belgium and they were detained on arrival at Brussels Airport on 7 February. “They are now hoping that another hearing into their case will end their ordeal and reunite the family,” said UNHCR.
Posted by Peter Sain ley Berry
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