Positive News US is a free, not for profit newspaper published four times a year in Ithaca, NY. We report on successful projects around the world in the areas of sustainability, social equality, education and happiness, with a clear message that "another world is possible."
more...
| a part of Positive News International |
Seeing the Forest for the Peace |
Photo: William Powers, upper right, with friends in Monrovia, Liberia.
by William Powers
LIBERIA - Twenty-five years of dictatorship and civil war, preceded by a century and a half of misrule, have made Liberia one of the world’s poorest countries. But Liberia's development failures have paradoxically led to a success. Liberia has something that the world values now more than ever: a vast rain forest.
Liberia’s status as a republic with strong ties to the United States kept out European colonizers, so no Western power came in to slice rails and roads into the interior. Nature flourished in splendid isolation, and today more than a third of the country is virgin rain forest, one of the largest proportions of any nation.
A Garden of Eden bloomed around the hamlets where I worked: colobus monkeys crashed through the jungle canopy, pygmy hippos tobogganed into rivers, and sometimes the only roads through the forest were those blazed by elephants. Conservation International says that Liberia is the linchpin of West Africa’s Upper Guinean forest, which is believed to shelter the highest mammal species diversity of any region in the world.
Nearly all first-world governments have made conserving the last great rain forests on Earth a priority. The Liberian forest serves us all: it mitigates global warming; it harbors vulnerable species like the Mount Nimba viviparous toad and zebra duiker; it could be the source of new medicines; and it provides aesthetic and spiritual well-being.
Economics 101 is also at play here. As the supply of pristine rain forests declines (conservation groups estimate that the world loses an acre every two seconds) and the demand for what they provide increases, their value increases. Liberia should capitalize on its ecological wealth by exchanging something the world needs for something Liberians desperately want: stability.
It would be a sort of Peace for Nature swap, based on the Debt for Nature model in which third world countries receive debt relief for conserving their natural heritage. Under Peace for Nature, Liberia would convert a significant part of itself into a United Nations biosphere reserve, zoned for both strict preservation and multiple use.
In return, the world would commit to a sustainable, lasting Liberian peace instead of the usual Band-Aid approach. This means a full 20 years, long enough to establish a habit of peace and to educate a new Liberian generation. We would ensure security through the United Nations, meanwhile training Liberians to do the job themselves, including retooling former fighters as park guards. We would also help bring electricity and piped water to their capital, Monrovia, and a few interior towns. Liberia's potential for ecotourism and certified timber production will also be fulfilled over time.
NYC Sierran William Powers is the author of Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa’s Fragile Edge, 2005, Bloomsbury Publishing.
Story from Sierra Atlantic, the quarterly publication for the 45,000 members of the Sierra Club in New York state.
LIBERIA - Twenty-five years of dictatorship and civil war, preceded by a century and a half of misrule, have made Liberia one of the world’s poorest countries. But Liberia's development failures have paradoxically led to a success. Liberia has something that the world values now more than ever: a vast rain forest.
Liberia’s status as a republic with strong ties to the United States kept out European colonizers, so no Western power came in to slice rails and roads into the interior. Nature flourished in splendid isolation, and today more than a third of the country is virgin rain forest, one of the largest proportions of any nation.
A Garden of Eden bloomed around the hamlets where I worked: colobus monkeys crashed through the jungle canopy, pygmy hippos tobogganed into rivers, and sometimes the only roads through the forest were those blazed by elephants. Conservation International says that Liberia is the linchpin of West Africa’s Upper Guinean forest, which is believed to shelter the highest mammal species diversity of any region in the world.
Nearly all first-world governments have made conserving the last great rain forests on Earth a priority. The Liberian forest serves us all: it mitigates global warming; it harbors vulnerable species like the Mount Nimba viviparous toad and zebra duiker; it could be the source of new medicines; and it provides aesthetic and spiritual well-being.
Economics 101 is also at play here. As the supply of pristine rain forests declines (conservation groups estimate that the world loses an acre every two seconds) and the demand for what they provide increases, their value increases. Liberia should capitalize on its ecological wealth by exchanging something the world needs for something Liberians desperately want: stability.
It would be a sort of Peace for Nature swap, based on the Debt for Nature model in which third world countries receive debt relief for conserving their natural heritage. Under Peace for Nature, Liberia would convert a significant part of itself into a United Nations biosphere reserve, zoned for both strict preservation and multiple use.
In return, the world would commit to a sustainable, lasting Liberian peace instead of the usual Band-Aid approach. This means a full 20 years, long enough to establish a habit of peace and to educate a new Liberian generation. We would ensure security through the United Nations, meanwhile training Liberians to do the job themselves, including retooling former fighters as park guards. We would also help bring electricity and piped water to their capital, Monrovia, and a few interior towns. Liberia's potential for ecotourism and certified timber production will also be fulfilled over time.
NYC Sierran William Powers is the author of Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa’s Fragile Edge, 2005, Bloomsbury Publishing.
Story from Sierra Atlantic, the quarterly publication for the 45,000 members of the Sierra Club in New York state.
Announcements
What do You find hopeful in the world today? Please contribute a short paragraph and be published in Positive News. We are currently selecting...
more >
The California Edition of Positive News is well on the way! We are looking for volunteers to help make it happen. To join our team contact...
more >
