China prohibits river sand mining.

On Monday, China’s water resources department in Jiangxi province banned river sand mining to protect over-mined Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China. The Jiangxi provincial government is proposing a transformation of 400 square kilometers of the lake into a national wetland park that will protect almost 1 million migratory birds.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/01/content_7899117.htm

UN organization says climate change will hold back the developing world. 

President Lennart Båge of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has stated that the impact of global warming will be very severe in less developed nations. IFAD projects that the agricultural lands supporting many of the world’s disadvantaged will lose productivity due to climate change effects. Mr. Båge stated, “We can expect future climate change to put almost 50 million extra people at risk of hunger by 2020. Those least responsible for the problem will be hit first, and hardest.” 

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26146&Cr=ifad&Cr1

Thailand farmers experience climate change effects firsthand.

In recent years, the farmers responsible for making Thailand the largest rice exporter have been noting a hotter climate, changing rainfall patterns, intensified tropical storms and flash floods. These concerns are being reflected in discussions among the top environment officials currently gathered in Bangkok, Thailand, for the United Nations talks on Climate Change.

Supreme Master Television speaks with Dr. Art-ong Jumsai Na Ayudhya, a scientist and educator best known for his invention of the automatic landing device used in NASA’s Viking Mission to Mars. Dr. Na Ayudhya is the representative for the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). He speaks about the current effects of global warming in Thailand.

CAPTION: Dr. Art-ong Jumsai Na Ayudhya,
UN Human Settlements Programme Representative (UN–HABITAT)
Director of the Institute of Sathya Sai Education, Top Scientist Award for developing NASA’s Mars landing device

Dr. Art-ong Jumsai Na Ayudhya: So within ten years time or less, the Mekong River for example, that flows to the Thailand along to the northeast of Thailand, it will be completely dried. And many big rivers, like Yangtze River that goes through China, the river that flows to India, they will all be dried, there will be no more water available and that will cause a lot of problems, and all of this is a true problem of global warming.

When we talk about the effects in Thailand, really it’s a global effect. So, right now we were running out of time because things are getting closer and closer to the real crisis in the world.

VOICE: Dr. Art-ong Jumsai Na Ayudhya is the director of the Institute of Sathya Sai Education, where the children follow a vegetarian diet. He says he is concerned about the severe inefficiencies of a meat-producing agriculture.

Dr. Art-ong Jumsai Na Ayudhya: When we have these animals, we raise cattle and so on, we have to get rid of the forest and it needs more space to grow vegetables that will yield equal amounts of protein. We lose a lot of foods in order to feed the animals themselves instead of feeding the people who are very poor, and we have a lot of people in Africa who are dying of starvation. We would have lot of grains to help people all over the world if we stop eating animals.

VOICE: It’s the small acts that will go a long way; the key is to start taking these steps now.

Dr. Art-ong Jumsai Na Ayudhya: Actually, we have very little time left. And, it’s almost at the stage where things are becoming irreversible. We cannot go back to where we were any more.

VOICE: We thank Dr. Art-ong Jumsai Na Ayudhya for speaking out on climate change. We pray for Buddha’s grace in Thailand and for all to take heed of scientists’ advice immediately, for our own survival and that of our global neighbors.