Clipmarks | Mauritania Clips

Food Riots Have Already Begun

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:08:02 GMT

clipped by: sunstreak509

(NaturalNews) Riots and other forms of civil unrest have already broken out around the world in response to a global grain shortage and surging food prices.

According to data from the World Food Program and the early warning and global information system of the Food and Agricultural Organization, street protests and rioting over high food prices have broken out in Guinea, Indonesia, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Yemen and West Africa in the past several months.

Tags: food, grain, riots, agriculture, shortage

Food Riots Have Already Begun

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:14:54 GMT

clipped by: Geshizar

Clip Source: www.naturalnews.com

(NaturalNews) Riots and other forms of civil unrest have already broken out around the world in response to a global grain shortage and surging food prices.

Prices of wheat and rice in particular have skyrocketed recently. Rice prices have increased 50 percent in the past year, while wheat prices went up 115 percent in the same time period. The high prices have been attributed to increased fuel and shipping costs, plus a worldwide grain shortage.

Tags: food shortages

Secret circle of the Sahara

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:02:48 GMT

clipped by: valann 47

Clip Source: been-seen.com

Hmmm. What is that? Could it be the eye of a hurricane? Jupiter's Great Red Spot turned blue? An ammonite? All acceptable guesses. The phenomenon sits in barren Northwest African terrain of the Mauritanian Sahara. A mystery that has intrigued scientists, geologists, astronomists and laypersons alike since its visual discovery by orbiting astronauts during the dawn of space travel. Le Guelb er Richat, or the Richat Structure.

The 50 km diameter structure, also referred to as the "Eye of Africa", is located just a little off the beaten path in Northern Mauritania, not far from Ouadane or from the route of the endangered Dakar Rally.

Like the Nazca Lines in Perú, the Richat Structure is best seen from above. Way above.

Tags: sarhara, circle, richat structure

Mauritania's PM vows peaceful struggle to restore president Abdallahi

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:08:55 GMT

clipped by: tommy2balmy
clipper's remarks: The African Union decided at the weekend to suspend Mauritania and Washington has cut all non-humanitarian funding, including $15 in military aid.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Mauritania's prime minister vowed on Monday to lead a peaceful struggle to restore the country's deposed president and France said it was suspending aid to the West Africa country.

Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed El Waghef was released earlier in the day, with his interior minister and several other officials. They were detained with President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi during a bloodless coup last week.

Fresh from his release, El Waghef addressed about one thousand people demonstrating in the capital against the coup, led by presidential guard chief Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

"We are going to continue our peaceful struggle for the return of the president," he told Reuters at the rally.

Crowds chanted Abdallahi's name, held up posters bearing his photo and demanded the military returned to its barracks.

Police were present but there was no violence.

Paris reiterated calls for the president's release.

Tags: mauritania

EU condemns Mauritanian coup

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:36:17 GMT

clipped by: tommy2balmy
clipper's remarks: Threatens to halt aid

Clip Source: en.rian.ru

BRUSSELS, August 6 (RIA Novosti) - The European Union on Wednesday condemned the coup in Mauritania, demanded that the president be returned to power, and threatened to halt aid to the northwest African country.

EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said the coup jeopardized cooperation with the EU, "as we are finalizing with the Mauritanian government a 156 million euro program for 2008-2013 to add to assistance already in place".

The EU's executive body, the European Commission, said in a statement that the coup endangered "the exemplary democratic advances which the country has made since the 2005 coup d'etat."

A group of renegade army officers staged a coup in the early hours of Wednesday morning, detaining President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf.

The leaders, along with other top government members, were arrested as soldiers were deployed on the streets of the capital and state radio and television was shut down.

Tags: mauritania, coup

Mauritanian govt overthrown in coup

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:27:04 GMT

clipped by: tommy2balmy

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Mauritanian forces seize power in coup

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Mauritanian soldiers overthrew the elected president in a coup on Wednesday and announced the formation of a military ruling council in the northwest African Islamic state.

Soldiers seized President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi at his palace after he sacked senior army officers during a political crisis in Mauritania, one of the continent's newest oil producers which also mines iron, copper and gold.

"The security agents of the BASEP (Presidential Security Battalion) came to our home around 9.20 (5:20 a.m. EDT) and took away my father," Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallahi, the president's daughter, told Reuters.

The African Union and European Union condemned the coup in the largely desert country of 3 million, which straddles black and Arab Africa.

Abdallahi was elected last year and took over from a military junta that had toppled the authoritarian President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in a bloodless coup in 2005.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

African Wall of Trees to fight desert

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:56:22 GMT

clipped by: valann 47

Clip Source: www.cosmosmagazine.com

Three years after it was first proposed, preparations for an African 'wall of trees' to slow down the southwards spread of the Sahara desert are finally getting underway.

The 'Great Green Wall' will involve several stretches of trees from Mauritania in the west to Djibouti in the east, to protect the semi-arid savannah region of the Sahel — and its agricultural land — from desertification.

A plan for the proposed US$3-million (A$3.1-million), two-year initial phase of the project — involving a belt of trees 7,000 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide — was formally adopted at the Community of Sahel–Saharan States (Cen-Sad) summit on rural development and food security in Cotonou, Benin, last month.

It's really important for the work to be done with local experts in each country because they know which species can grow on their soil.

Green defence: A flat topped African acacia tree.

Tags: green belt, africa, desert

'Great Green Wall'- will stop Sahara desert

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:39:29 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: in.news.yahoo.com

Washington, July 9 (ANI): Preparations for an African 'wall of trees' to slow down the southwards spread of the Sahara desert are getting underway.

North African nations have been promoting the idea of a Green Belt since 2005. The project has been scaled down to reinforce and then expand on existing efforts, and will not be a continent-wide wall of trees, despite the name of the project.

According to a report in ENN (Environmental News Network), the 'Great Green Wall' will involve several stretches of trees from Mauritania in the west to Djibouti in the east, to protect the semi-arid savannah region of the Sahel, and its agricultural land, from desertification.

A plan for the proposed 3 million dollar, two-year initial phase of the project, which involves a belt of trees 7,000 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide, was formally adopted at the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (Cen-Sad) summit on rural development and food security in Cotonou, Benin, last month (17-18 June).

Tags: wall, trees, sahara, desert

Global Database of Quotas for Women

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:19:39 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Obstacles to women's political participation exist throughout the world in prevailing social and economic regimes, as well as in existing political structures. In 2005, the representation of women reached nearly 16 percent globally. Although this total has increased in recent years, the minimal progress globally means that the ideal of parity remains a long way off. Given the slow rate at which the representation of women is increasing, various methods -- such as electoral quotas -- have been proposed or implemented to address the present gender imbalance in decision-making. Consequently, governments and political parties have experimented with different types of quotas.

As the debate about the use of quotas as a tool to increase the political participation of women gains momentum, International IDEA and Stockholm University are collaborating on a research project leading to the production of a comparative knowledge and resources on their implementation and impact.

Clip Source: www.quotaproject.org

Afghanistan

27.3%

Australia

24.7%

Canada

20.8%

China

20.3%

Denmark

37.4%

France

18.5%

Germany

31.8%

India

8.1%

Iraq

25.5%

Lebanon

4.7%

Mauritania

17.9%

Pakistan

21.3%

Philippines

20.4%

South Africa

32.8%

Sweden

47.3%

Switzerland

29.5%

United Kingdom

19.8%

Sri Lanka

4.9%

Spain

36.3%

Senegal

22.0%

Rwanda

48.8%

Argentina

35.0%

Bangladesh

2.0%

Belgium

36.7%

Burundi

30.5%

Costa Rica

38.6%

Egypt

2.0%

Guyana

30.8%

Iceland

31.7%

Norway

37.9%

Tanzania, United Republic of

30.4%

Total # countries with constitutional, electoral or political party quotas:	97
Average level of representation for women countries with quotas:	19.8%

Tags: countries, women, representation, government, quota, global, database

Struggle to feed families as basic foods sky-rocket

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:52:59 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

On the Margins in Mauritania In a city slum and a destitute village, two families struggle to feed their children as prices for basic foods sky-rocket.

Tags: mauritania, food, price, economy, hunger

A Drought in Australia, a Global Shortage of Rice

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:08:33 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: The drought’s effect on rice has produced the greatest impact on the rest of the world, so far. It is one factor contributing to skyrocketing prices, and many scientists believe it is among the earliest signs that a warming planet is starting to affect food production.

It is difficult to definitely link short-term changes in weather to long-term climate change, but the unusually severe drought is consistent with what climatologists predict will be a problem of increasing frequency.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere, once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people around the world. But six long years of drought have taken a toll, reducing Australia’s rice crop by 98 percent and leading to the mothballing of the mill last December.

Ten thousand miles separate the mill’s hushed rows of oversized silos and sheds — beige, gray and now empty — from the riotous streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, but a widening global crisis unites them.

The collapse of Australia’s rice production is one of several factors contributing to a doubling of rice prices in the last three months — increases that have led the world’s largest exporters to restrict exports severely, spurred panicked hoarding in Hong Kong and the Philippines, and set off violent protests in countries including Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Italy, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, the Philippines, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

25 Most Polluted Cities

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:20:11 GMT

clipped by: Sheroug
clipper's remarks: the list goes on at the source.

Clip Source: immenceintense.blogspot.com

25 Dirtiest Cities In The World

No. 25: Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Problems with waste disposal continue to contaminate the rivers of Nigeria

No. 24: New Delhi, India

Garbage and sewage flow freely, creating a rich environment for the growth of water-borne diseases

No. 23: Maputo, Mozambique

lack of sanitation processes

No. 22: Luanda, Angola

No. 21: Niamey, Niger

healthy life expectancy at birth is 35 for males and 36 for females, thanks in part to poor sanitation and drinkable water.

No. 20: Nouakchott, Mauritania

No. 19: Conakry, Guinea Republic

No. 18: Lome, Togo

large percentage of the population continues to live without access to improved water or sanitation

No. 17: Pointe Noire, Congo

air pollution from vehicle emissions and unbridled water contamination from the mass unloading of raw sewage in the city's water su

No. 16: Bamako, Mali

No. 15: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

No. 14: Moscow, Russia

troubling levels of air pollution, which present a daily strain on lung health

Soaring Food Prices Bring Unrest

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:23:01 GMT

clipped by: cheapogroovo

Clip Source: e5.email.myway.com

According to the World Bank, 33 countries face unrest due to increasing food prices.

In the last three months, rising food prices have spawned riots and protests in Egypt, Haiti, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Bolivia and Indonesia.

Staple foods have seen price increases of 80% in three years.

Food and fuel prices have risen 40% on average globally since last summer.

Tags: food, war, poverty, prices, inflation

Deserts increasing - forests butchered

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 07:50:25 GMT

clipped by: bs1999bs
clipper's remarks: Sad same old story - destitute people wrecking not only nature but also wrecking their future.

Clip Source: www.irinnews.org

NIGERIA: The desert is fast encroaching but why?

“Deforestation constitutes 75 percent of the environmental problems in northern Nigeria

The increasing need for wood fuel for domestic use has caused the rapid depleting of trees which has… caused increasing havoc on the environment and put farming activities at great risk,

Yammama said the population burns over 40.5 million tonnes of firewood each year which destroys over 400,000 hectares of forest.

and dunes are encroaching at a rate of 30 hectares a year, taking over [entire] villages

The symptoms are erosion, rain shortages and drought, said Basiru Buwa Adamu, Kano state director of afforestation, adding that the livelihoods of over 55 million people are threatened, more than the combined population of Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Mauritania.

The forests in northern Nigeria have almost vanished and lumberjacks keep moving steadily southwards. Nigeria has the world's highest deforestation rate of primary forests

Tags: optional. separate by commas., activism, animals, conservation, environment, environmental action, nature, our future, planet earth, sustainability

Thought it was a thing of the past?

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 01:32:27 GMT

clipped by: mooner-one
clipper's remarks: Think again.

Clip Source: www.iabolish.org

The American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG) is a nonprofit organization that works with former victims of human trafficking to abolish modern-day slavery, focusing primarily on systems of chattel slavery in Sudan and Mauritania.

Click here to learn more about modern-day slavery and find out how you can help.

Victory in Mauritania! AASG's Abdel Nasser Ould Yessa celebrates as Mauritania passes new legislation criminalizing slavery.

Barbara Vogel joins our Speakers' Bureau! Long time abolitionist and founder of the STOP Campaign brings new voice to the AASG Speakers' Bureau.

Help us mark the bicentennial of the abolition of the slave trade by signing our petition to urge Congress to take meaningful action against slavery in Sudan.