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Satvik S

Invasion of Goa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 1 views

en.wikipedia.org/...Invasion_of_Goa

5lwh

shared by Satvik S on 06 Nov 09 - Cached
  • The Invasion of Goa also known as the Liberation of Goa[1] or Portuguese-Indian War, codenamed Operation Vijay by the Government of India, was the Indian armed forces action that ended Portuguese rule in its Indian enclaves in 1961. The armed action, involving air, sea and land strikes for over 36 hours, ended 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule in Goa. 14 Indians and 31 Portuguese were killed in the fighting. The brief war drew a mixture of worldwide praise and condemnation. In India, the action was seen as a liberation while Portugal viewed it as aggression.
    • Satvik S
      Satvik S on 06 Nov 09
       
      I never knew about this till today. now I also know why so many goans are christians .
  • Shashank A on 06 Nov 09
     
    The Invasion of Goa also known as the Liberation of Goa[1] or Portuguese-Indian War, codenamed Operation Vijay by the Government of India, was the Indian armed forces action that ended Portuguese rule in its Indian enclaves in 1961. The armed action, involving air, sea and land strikes for over 36 hours, ended 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule in Goa. 14 Indians and 31 Portuguese were killed in the fighting. The brief war drew a mixture of worldwide praise and condemnation. In India, the action was seen as a liberation while Portugal viewed it as aggression.
  • Satvik S on 06 Nov 09
     
    The Invasion of Goa also known as the Liberation of Goa[1] or Portuguese-Indian War, codenamed Operation Vijay by the Government of India, was the Indian armed forces action that ended Portuguese rule in its Indian enclaves in 1961. The armed action, involving air, sea and land strikes for over 36 hours, ended 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule in Goa. 14 Indians and 31 Portuguese were killed in the fighting. The brief war drew a mixture of worldwide praise and condemnation. In India, the action was seen as a liberation while Portugal viewed it as aggression.
Gurupranav G

Poverty in Asia - 0 views

world-poverty.org/povertyinasia.aspx

asia poverty in south

shared by Gurupranav G on 15 Apr 10 - Cached
  • Poverty in Asia,caste and progress. In this FAO Poverty In Asia map, Darker is Poorer but some light areas are just 'no data' - see our Poor in a Rich World page.A majority of the worlds poorest people today are in Asia - partly because it holds a majority of the world's population. Of course some Asian countries like Japan and South Korea are not as poor as others like India and Cambodia, with Asian poverty being concentrated in South Asia.  Asian poverty1. Poverty in some Asian countries is largely due to the pressure of population growth on scarce resources and inadequate governments allowing strongly negative caste discrimination. 2. Education, medicine, clean water and sanitation are often inadequate also3. In some Asian countries land ownership being problematic also encourages poverty. 4. Asia till recently attracted less foreign investment than Latin America, but more of it has been stable longer-term European investment. Some of Asia has shown good progress on poverty in recent years, like China and South Korea. (in China noteably helped partly by controls on population growth)  But Asia, holding the largest populations, still has many extreme poor. The current world recession is also causing family remittances from overseas workers or migrant workers to fall. As more migrant workers lose jobs in Western Europe and the USA, remittances to their poor families in Central Asia are being hit hard. And the likely prospect for aid in the short term is a sharp fall.
    • Gurupranav G
      Gurupranav G on 26 Apr 10
       
      Great piece of info on poverty in asia
  • # The new green selected food crops have been helping in reducing poverty in Asia, but the newer genetically modified food crops and their monopoly providers seem to have been unhelpful to date ? See South Asia Land Management  - SACEP pdf 1.5 mb # For one small charity trying to do some good extreme-poverty work in India today, see SEED at seedkolkata.org or for another similar good small extreme-poverty charity working in Cambodia, see the Sao Sara Foundation at ssfcambodia.org Good small charities like these often lack the money they need to do as much as they would like. # For facts about individual countries, see NationMaster
    • Gurupranav G
      Gurupranav G on 26 Apr 10
       
      An addition to the info you see at the top. Quite valuable maybe you should take a good look at it.
  • Ajay V on 15 Apr 10
     
    Poverty in Asia on Japan, South Korea, China, India and Cambodia, and poverty in South Asia
  • Gurupranav G on 15 Apr 10
     
    A majority of the worlds poorest people today are in Asia - partly because it holds a majority of the world's population. Of course some Asian countries like Japan and South Korea are not as poor as others like India and Cambodia, with Asian poverty being concentrated in South Asia.
Morgan V

Dragon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/Dragon

dragons 5lwh

shared by Morgan V on 16 Dec 09 - Cached
  • Dragons are legendary creatures, typically with serpentine or otherwise reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of worldwide cultures. The two most familiar interpretations of dragons are European dragons, derived from various European folk traditions, and the unrelated Oriental dragons, such as the Chinese dragon (lóng 龍 or 龙). The English word "dragon" derives from Greek δράκων (drákōn), "dragon, serpent of huge size, water-snake", which probably comes from the verb δρακεῖν (drakeîn) "to see clearly".
  • European dragons exist in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe. Despite having wings, the dragon is generally depicted as having an underground lair or cave, making it an ancient creature of the earth element.
  • European dragons exist in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe. Despite having wings, the dragon is generally depicted as having an underground lair or cave, making it an ancient creature of the earth element.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • European dragons exist in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe. Despite having wings, the dragon is generally depicted as having an underground lair or cave, making it an ancient creature of the earth element.
  • European Main articles: European dragon and Saint George and the Dragon European dragons exist in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe. Despite having wings, the dragon is generally depicted as having an underground lair or cave, making it an ancient creature of the earth element. Chinese Main article: Chinese dragon Chinese dragons (simplified Chinese: 龙; traditional Chinese: 龍; pinyin: lóng), and Oriental dragons generally, can take on human form and are usually seen as benevolent, whereas European dragons are usually malevolent though there are exceptions (one exception being Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon of Wales). Malevolent dragons also occur in the mythology of Persia (see Azhi Dahaka) and Russia, among other places. Dragons are particularly popular in China and the five-clawed dragon was a symbol of the Chinese emperors, with the phoenix or fenghuang the symbol of the Chinese empress. Dragon costumes manipulated by several people are a common sight at Chinese festivals. Japanese Main article: Japanese dragon Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and India. Like these other Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. Gould writes (1896:248)[6], the Japanese dragon is "invariably figured as possessing three claws".
  • European Main articles: European dragon and Saint George and the Dragon European dragons exist in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe. Despite having wings, the dragon is generally depicted as having an underground lair or cave, making it an ancient creature of the earth element. Chinese Main article: Chinese dragon Chinese dragons (simplified Chinese: 龙; traditional Chinese: 龍; pinyin: lóng), and Oriental dragons generally, can take on human form and are usually seen as benevolent, whereas European dragons are usually malevolent though there are exceptions (one exception being Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon of Wales). Malevolent dragons also occur in the mythology of Persia (see Azhi Dahaka) and Russia, among other places. Dragons are particularly popular in China and the five-clawed dragon was a symbol of the Chinese emperors, with the phoenix or fenghuang the symbol of the Chinese empress. Dragon costumes manipulated by several people are a common sight at Chinese festivals. Japanese Main article: Japanese dragon Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and India. Like these other Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. Gould writes (1896:248)[6], the Japanese dragon is "invariably figured as possessing three claws".
  • European Main articles: European dragon and Saint George and the Dragon European dragons exist in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe. Despite having wings, the dragon is generally depicted as having an underground lair or cave, making it an ancient creature of the earth element.
  • European Main articles: European dragon and Saint George and the Dragon European dragons exist in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe. Despite having wings, the dragon is generally depicted as having an underground lair or cave, making it an ancient creature of the earth element.
  • European dragons exist in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe. Despite having wings, the dragon is generally depicted as having an underground lair or cave, making it an ancient creature of the earth element
  • Dragons are usually shown in modern times with a body like a huge lizard, or a snake with two pairs of lizard-type legs, and able to emit fire from their mouths. The European dragon has bat-type wings growing from its back. A dragon-like creature with no front legs is known as a wyvern. Following discovery of how pterosaurs walked on the ground, some dragons have been portrayed without front legs and using the wings as front legs pterosaur-fashion when on the ground, as in the movie Reign of Fire
  • Although dragons occur in many legends around the world, different cultures have varying stories about monsters that have been grouped together under the dragon label. Some dragons are said to breathe fire or to be poisonous. They are commonly portrayed as serpentine or reptilian, hatching from eggs and possessing typically scaly or feathered bodies. They are sometimes portrayed as having especially large eyes or watching treasure very diligently, a feature that is the origin of the word dragon (Greek drakeîn meaning "to see clearly").[3] Some myths portray them with a row of dorsal spines. European dragons are more often winged, while Oriental versions of the dragon resemble large snakes. Dragons can have a variable number of legs: none, two, four, or more when it comes to early European literature. Also, some dragons in Greek literature were known to have millions of legs at a time.[citation needed] Modern depictions of dragons tend to be larger than their original representations, which were often smaller than humans, but grew in the myths and tales of man over the years.[citation needed] Dragons are often held to have major spiritual significance in various religions and cultures around the world. In many Asian cultures dragons were, and in some cultures still are, revered as representative of the primal forces of nature, religion and the universe. They are associated with wisdom—often said to be wiser than humans—and longevity. They are commonly said to possess some form of magic or other supernatural power, and are often associated with wells, rain, and rivers. In some cultures, they are also said to be capable of human speech. The term dragoon, for infantry that moved around on horseback yet still fought as foot soldiers, is derived from their early firearm, the "dragon", a wide-bore musket that spat flame when it fired, and was thus named for the mythical creature.
  • Dragons are legendary creatures, typically with serpentine or otherwise reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of worldwide cultures.
  • Elizabeth B on 16 Dec 09
     
    European Main articles: European dragon and Saint George and the Dragon European dragons exist in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe. Despite having wings, the dragon is generally depicted as having an underground lair or cave, making it an ancient creature of the earth element. Chinese Main article: Chinese dragon Chinese dragons (simplified Chinese: 龙; traditional Chinese: 龍; pinyin: lóng), and Oriental dragons generally, can take on human form and are usually seen as benevolent, whereas European dragons are usually malevolent though there are exceptions (one exception being Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon of Wales). Malevolent dragons also occur in the mythology of Persia (see Azhi Dahaka) and Russia, among other places. Dragons are particularly popular in China and the five-clawed dragon was a symbol of the Chinese emperors, with the phoenix or fenghuang the symbol of the Chinese empress. Dragon costumes manipulated by several people are a common sight at Chinese festivals. Japanese Main article: Japanese dragon Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and India. Like these other Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. Gould writes (1896:248)[6], the Japanese dragon is "invariably figured as possessing three claws".
Mahi N

Tribes - Survival International - 0 views

www.survival-international.org/tribes

5LWh rainforest people

shared by Mahi N on 16 Sep 09 - Cached
  • BushmenThe Bushmen are the indigenous people of southern Africa. They have experienced a genocide which has been almost completely ignored; having once occupied the whole of southern Africa, just 100,000 remain today. Most have lost their land to white or Bantu colonists. Dongria KondhVedanta, a British mining company, is intent on open-cast mining for aluminium ore on Niyamgiri mountain, which the Dongria Kondh worship as a living god. Mining the mountain will destroy the forests on which they depend. GuaraniFor the Guarani, land is the origin of all life. But violent invasions by ranchers have devastated their territory and nearly all of their land has been stolen. Guarani children starve and their leaders have been assassinated.
  • BushmenThe Bushmen are the indigenous people of southern Africa. They have experienced a genocide which has been almost completely ignored; having once occupied the whole of southern Africa, just 100,000 remain today. Most have lost their land to white or Bantu colonists. Dongria KondhVedanta, a British mining company, is intent on open-cast mining for aluminium ore on Niyamgiri mountain, which the Dongria Kondh worship as a living god. Mining the mountain will destroy the forests on which they depend. GuaraniFor the Guarani, land is the origin of all life. But violent invasions by ranchers have devastated their territory and nearly all of their land has been stolen. Guarani children starve and their leaders have been assassinated.
  • BushmenThe Bushmen are the indigenous people of southern Africa. They have experienced a genocide which has been almost completely ignored; having once occupied the whole of southern Africa, just 100,000 remain today. Most have lost their land to white or Bantu colonists. Dongria KondhVedanta, a British mining company, is intent on open-cast mining for aluminium ore on Niyamgiri mountain, which the Dongria Kondh worship as a living god. Mining the mountain will destroy the forests on which they depend. GuaraniFor the Guarani, land is the origin of all life. But violent invasions by ranchers have devastated their territory and nearly all of their land has been stolen. Guarani children starve and their leaders have been assassinated.   Explore the world's tribes The Americas Akuntsu BrazilArhuaco ColombiaAwá BrazilAyoreo ParaguayBrazilian Indians BrazilEnawene Nawe BrazilEnxet ParaguayGuarani BrazilIndians of Raposa–Serra do Sol BrazilInnu CanadaNukak ColombiaUncontacted Indians PeruWichí ArgentinaYanomami Brazil Africa Bushmen BotswanaMaasai KenyaMursi, Bodi & Konso EthiopiaNuba SudanOgiek KenyaPygmies Central Africa Asia & Australasia Aborigines AustraliaBatak PhilippinesDongria Kondh IndiaJarawa IndiaJummas BangladeshKhanty RussiaPalawan PhilippinesPapuan Tribes IndonesiaPenan MalaysiaSiberian Tribes RussiaWanniyala-Aetto Sri Lanka  
  • Mahi N on 16 Sep 09
     
    A good website but try not to get drawn into all the flashy videos and stuff.
Hugues M

Land mine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 1 views

en.wikipedia.org/Land_mine

landmine history use wikipedia 5msa

shared by Hugues M on 03 Nov 09 - Cached
  • Hugues M on 03 Nov 09
     
    "A land mine is a target (person or vehicle) triggered explosive weapon . Their non-explosive predecessors (caltrops, stakes and spikes) have been used on the battlefield since ancient times. Landmines were designed to be used to deter, channel, delay and kill an enemy. They have been used in various formats, for centuries and have featured in all major conflicts. Land mines are force multipliers , meaning that they may increase the efficiency of a force without requiring more personnel. The name originates from the practice of mining , where tunnels were dug under enemy fortifications or forces. These tunnels ("mines") were first collapsed to destroy fortifications above, and later filled with explosives and detonated. Land mines generally refer to devices specifically manufactured for this purpose, as distinguished from improvised explosive devices ("IEDs"). The use of land mines is controversial because they are indiscriminate weapons, harming soldier and civilian alike. They remain dangerous after the conflict in which they were deployed has ended, killing and injuring civilians and rendering land impassable and unusable for decades. To make matters worse, many factions have not kept accurate records (or any at all) of the exact locations of their minefields, making removal efforts painstakingly slow. These facts pose serious difficulties in many developing nations where the presence of mines hampers resettlement, agriculture, and tourism. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines campaigned successfully to prohibit their use, culminating in the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty . As of 2007, a total of 158 nations have agreed to the treaty. Thirty-seven countries have not agreed to the ban, including China , India , Israel , Pakistan
Jean Luc L

The grassland biome - 0 views

www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/...grasslands.php

5RTo biomes grasslands

shared by Jean Luc L on 02 Sep 09 - Cached
  • SavannaSavanna is grassland with scattered individual trees. Savannas of one sort or another cover almost half the surface of Africa (about five million square miles, generally central Africa) and large areas of Australia, South America, and India. Climate is the most important factor in creating a savanna. Savannas are always found in warm or hot climates where the annual rainfall is from about 50.8 to 127 cm (20-50 inches) per year. It is crucial that the rainfall is concentrated in six or eight months of the year, followed by a long period of drought when fires can occur. If the rain were well distributed throughout the year, many such areas would become tropical forest. Savannas which result from climatic conditions are called climatic savannas. Savannas that are caused by soil conditions and that are not entirely maintained by fire are called edaphic savannas. These can occur on hills or ridges where the soil is shallow, or in valleys where clay soils become waterlogged in wet weather. A third type of savanna, known as derived savanna, is the result of people clearing forest land for cultivation. Farmers fell a tract of forest, burn the dead trees, and plant crops in the ashes for as long as the soil remains fertile. Then, the field is abandoned and, although forest trees may recolonize, grass takes over on the bare ground (succession), becoming luxuriant enough to burn within a year or so. In Africa, a heavy concentration of elephants in protected parkland have created a savanna by eating leaves and twigs and breaking off the branches, smashing the trunks and stripping the bark of trees. Elephants can convert a dense woodland into an open grassland in a short period of time. Annual fires then maintain the area as a savanna.
Annabelle H

Rainforest Animals - 0 views

www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rnfrst_animal_page.htm

shared by Annabelle H on 10 Sep 09 - Cached
  • The Sumatran rhinoceros is a small, hairy rhinoceros which survives in limited numbers in pockets of Indonesian and Malaysian rain forests. In the early 1900s it ranged over most of Southeast Asia from the Himalayas in Bhutan, eastern India through Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo. Now they are only found in little forest pockets on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and the Malay peninsula.
    • Katherine G
      Katherine G on 10 Sep 09
       
      For Research, Remeber to do on weekends . . .
  • The smallest living rhinoceros, the Sumatran rhinoceros has a gray-brown leathery hide. Its deep folds around the neck, behind the front legs, and before the hind legs give the rhinoceros an armor-plated appearance. It has a short, stocky body and stumpy legs which are covered with coarse reddish-brown hair. Its body length is from 8 to 8.5 feet and stands 4.5 feet at the shoulders. A mature rhino weighs from 2200 to 4400 pounds.
  • The Sumatran rhinoceros is the only Asian rhinoceros with two horns. Both sexes of rhinos have horns, the front horn being larger, averaging 15 to 20 inches. The male's horns are usually bigger than the female's, whose second, smaller horn is often absent. The upper lip curves down and can move around to grasp objects.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Information about the Sumatran rhino has been difficult to come by because it survives in small, scattered populations in the thick undergrowth of their rainforest habitat. It is known that the females have territories of about 1.2 to 2.2 miles in diameter that partially overlap with other females. The males seem to be nomadic. The estimated density per animal is approximately one animal per 15 sq. miles in high density areas, and one animal per 31 to 46 sq. miles in low density areas.
  • They live in a variety of habitats, but prefer higher elevations in the mountain moss forests and tropical rain forests with few human developments. The rhinos are most often found near water, and spend much of the day in mud wallows, which they dig out themselves and whose perimeters are kept clean. The wallows help the rhino avoid biting insects and protects them from the heat .
  • Sumatran rhinos are solitary animals who only come together to breed. Breeding of captive Sumatran rhinos has shown that the female will not come into estrus until she senses the nearness of a male. This reduces energy spent on cycling when the rhinos don't come into contact with each other on a regular basis. Gestation is 475 days with one calf per birth. The calf is covered with a dense coat of reddish hair. Calves are weaned at 18 month, but stay close to their mother for 2 to 3 years. Females reach sexual maturity at 4 years, and males take 7 years to reach sexual maturity. Birth intervals between calves is 3 to 4 years. The life span of captive rhinos is around 35 years.
  • Rhinos feed just before dawn and after dusk and move about during the night. The normal diet of the Sumatran rhino includes wild durian mangoes, figs, bamboo and plants species characteristic of disturbed forests. It will knock down saplings to get at the tender leaves. They are very fond of salt licks and each territory will include one.
  • The Sumatran rhinoceros is the smallest and rarest rhinoceros species. There are thought to be only 300 animals still in existence and the IUCN has put it on its critically endangered list in 1996. These survive in very small and scattered populations, their habitat fragmented into smaller and smaller pieces by encroaching human populations. The number of Sumatran rhinos has declined 50% due to poaching in the last 10 years. There are no signs that the situation is stabilizing. Efforts have been made by IUCN to set up a 3 year program for the protection to the Sumatran rhino in Indonesia and Malaysia in the wild. They are seeking to extend the program, whose funding ended in 1998. Captive breeding programs have also been set up, but have not been very successful. Since 1984 40 rhinos have been captured to participate in breeding programs, but 19 of these have died. Artificial insemination efforts have also not been very successful. These failures were the result of lack of knowledge of the diet and reproduction of the Sumatran rhinoceros. Experience so far has shown that the rhinos need larger enclosures with more natural conditions. Time is running out as efforts to save the Sumatran rhinoceros from extinction continue.
  • The Toco Toucan is the largest of the toucans. It can get to about twenty-four to twenty six inches in length. Its bill is brightly colored orange and black and can get to about eight inches in length. The Toco Toucan weighs about ten to seventeen ounces. The Toucan's massive bill is not as heavy as it looks; it has a hard outside and a hollow inside. A bright blue patch of blue skin surrounds the eye.
  • ifty degrees North to fifteen degrees South, and thirty-five degrees to sixty-five degrees in
  • The Wagler's pit viper lives in trees of the Southeast Asian rainforest. The climate in the rainforest is wet and humid and it rains a lot. During the wet season, or monsoon season, it
  • Chimpanzees are about 3 to 5 feet tall and weigh from 99 to 176 pounds. They have black hair. Adults are very often bald, usually a triangle on the forehead of the male, and more complete baldness in females. Their faces are hairless. Infants have pink faces which turn darker with age. Although chimpanzees have no tail, infants have a white tail tuft.
  • Africa Forest Elephant Bengal Tiger Chimpanzee Common Palm Civet or Musang Dawn Bat Golden Lion Tamarin Harpy Eagle Jambu Fruit Dove King Cobra Kinkajou Linn's Sloth Orangutan Proboscis Monkey Red-shanked Douc Langur Silvery Gibbon Slender Loris Sumatran Rhinoceros Toco Toucan Vampire Bat Wagler's Pit Viper
    • Gurupranav G
      Gurupranav G on 22 Sep 09
       
      This is just beautiful. If you want to know about some of the animals that live in tropical rainforests, well just click on one of the names and you'll find out about it. one example is to your right . This is a piece of information on the African Forest Elephant, which can also be called the Pygmy elephant, as it says here. Maybe you would want to find out about that animal.
  • Katherine G on 10 Sep 09
     
    Rino Info
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Katherine G on 10 Sep 09
     
    Elephant Info
  • Katherine G on 10 Sep 09
     
    very good animal info
  • Annabelle H on 10 Sep 09
     
    chimpanzees
jack parker

Rainforest Destruction - 0 views

www.savetherainforest.org/savetherainforest_006.htm

rainforest destruction tourism G5_help

shared by jack parker on 16 Sep 09 - Cached
  • The immediate causes of rainforest destruction are clear. The main causes of total clearance are agriculture and in drier areas, fuelwood collection. The main cause of forest degradation is logging. Mining, industrial development and large dams also have a serious impact. Tourism is becoming a larger threat to the forests.
    • Gurupranav G
      Gurupranav G on 25 Sep 09
       
      A little useful for my Q4
    • jack parker
      jack parker on 04 May 10
       
      useful for my exibition
    • Shaian R
      Shaian R on 16 Sep 09
       
      How can we save the rainforest from destrution
  • The creation of national parks has undoubtedly helped to protect rainforests. Yet, as national parks are open to the public, tourism is damaging some of these areas. Often, national parks are advertised to tourists before adequate management plans have been developed and implemented. Inadequate funding is allocated for preservation of forests by government departments. Governments see tourism as an easy way to make money, and therefore tourism is encouraged whilst strict management strategies are given far less government support. Ecotourism, or environmentally friendly tourism, should educate the tourists to be environmentally aware. It should also be of low impact to its environment. Unfortunately, many companies and resorts who advertise themselves as eco-tourist establishments are in fact exploiting the environment for profit. In Cape Tribulation, Australia, for example, the rainforest is being threatened by excessive tourism. Clearing for roads and pollution of waterways are two of the major problems in this area. The Wet Tropics Management Authority which oversees the surrounding World Heritage Area is promoting tourism to the area before any management plans have been formulated, before any effective waste management strategy has been devised and before any ecofriendly power alternatives have been fully explored.
    • Gurupranav G
      Gurupranav G on 25 Sep 09
       
      Possibly useful for my Q4
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The immediate causes of rainforest destruction are clear. The main causes of total clearance are agriculture and in drier areas, fuelwood collection. The main cause of forest degradation is logging. Mining, industrial development and large dams also have a serious impact. Tourism is becoming a larger threat to the forests.
  • 5 Large Dams In India and South America, hundreds of thousands of hectares of forests have been destroyed by the building of hydro-electric dams. It was the dominant view that new dams had to be built or otherwise these countries would suffer an energy crisis. However, a recent study by the World Bank in Brazil has shown that 'sufficient generating capacity already exists to satisfy the expected rise in demand for power over the medium term, provided that the energy is used more efficiently' (WRM). The construction of dams not only destroys the forest but often uproots tens of thousands of people, destroying both their land and their culture. The rates of waterborne diseases increase rapidly. Downstream ecosystems are damaged by dams which trap silt, holding back valuable nutrients. Reduced silt leads to coastal erosion. The sheer weight of water in dams has in Chile, Zimbabwe, and Greece led to earthquakes. The irrigation and industrial projects powered by dams lead to further environmental damage. Irrigation leads to salination of soils and industry leads to pollution. Solutions: Aid organisations like the World Bank have traditionally favoured spectacular large-scale irrigation and hydro-electric projects. In all cases when such projects are proposed, there has been massive opposition from local people. Reform of the World Bank and other such organisations, and support for campaigns against large-scale dams is needed.
Elizabeth B

Elephants - 0 views

www.globio.org/...article.aspx

5lwh elephants

shared by Elizabeth B on 17 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Elephants are the largest land animals. They can weigh over 6,000 kg, or more than the weight of four cars! The one feature that makes an elephant unmistakable is its long trunk. A trunk is an elephant's best tool for sucking up water, digging, grabbing, lifting, sniffing, and breathing. The trunk even has a fingerlike tip that can flick dirt from an elephant’s eye or pick up a single blade of grass. There are three species of elephants. Two species live in Africa and one lives in Asia. All three species are endangered.
  • Asian elephants have an arched body shape. They have triangular ears that do not reach their shoulders and two bumps on their foreheads. Their trunks have a single lip on the upper tip of the trunk. Male Asian elephants are 2-3.5 m tall. Their average weight is about 5,400 kg. Females average about 2.35 m tall and weigh about 2,700 kg. Often, only males have tusk
  • Elephants live in social groups called herds. Herds usually have about 10 to 20 members. Sometimes many herds will meet and form “super herds” of 100 or more elephants. Herds consist mainly of females that are related to each other. A typical herd might include mothers, daughters, aunts, and grandmothers, and a few young males. The oldest female is the herd’s matriarch. She leads the herd to water and finds food and a place to rest. There are also smaller bachelor herds that are made up of adult males.
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  • oung male elephants leave to join a bachelor herd when they are about 11-years-old. Female elephants, however, stay with their mother’s herd for life. Elephants keep growing their whole lives. A male may grow to be twice as large as a female of the same age. In the wild, elephants live to be about 60-years-old.
  • People have always been amazed at the great size and strength of elephants. Long ago, elephants were sometimes used on the battlefield. Soldiers riding atop them would charge at the enemy. The sight of a giant elephant in armor could terrify the enemy soldiers into running away. In Asia, elephants are trained to work for people. They carry people and supplies through tropical forests and help with logging by moving giant logs from place to place. Asian elephants have even been used as taxis to carry people through slow traffic. In India, Thailand, and other Asian countries, elephants are honored as symbols of good fortune. People sometimes decorate elephants and include them as part of traditional religious ceremonies.
  • In the early 1900s, there were more than 5 million elephants in Africa and Asia. Today, there are fewer than 500,000, as a result of hunting (legal and illegal) and habitat destruction. People are the biggest threat to the survival of elephants both in Africa and Asia.
    • Elizabeth B
      Elizabeth B on 17 Sep 09
       
      we must save them
Kengo M

Deserts, Characteristics of Deserts | TutorVista.com - 0 views

www.tutorvista.com/...deserts.php

5lwh

shared by Kengo M on 10 Sep 09 - Cached
  • These ecosystems are either barren or with scanty vegetation consisting of mainly thorny bushes. Deserts are classified as warm (hot) and cold (temperate) deserts. The hot deserts are the Sahara in Northern Africa, Kalahari in Southern Africa, Thar in India, Atacama in South America, deserts of Mexico and Australia.The deserts of Iran and Turkey, Gobi desert of Mongolia, some deserts of Argentina are recognised as temperate or cold deserts. Characteristics of Desertsi) Most deserts receive some rain every year but not uniform. ii) Light green covering of annuals is seen just after rains.iii) Have scanty vegetation, clear skies, hot days and extremely cold nights. iv) Soil is rocky and encrusted with sand or salt.v) Long periods without precipitation and extreme temperature (50 - 60oC) conditions (arid lands) impose considerable restraints on the flora and fauna which inhabit there. vi) Sandy storms are very frequent.vii) Occur generally in rain shadow areas. Flora1) Includes succulents such as Cacti and Euphorbias, which can store water in their tissues. 2) Trees with long spreading roots such as Acacia, Prosopis, Phoenix (dates) are found.3) Ephemerals (short lived) such as Boerhaavia repens are seen only during rainy season. FaunaMost desert animals are nocturnal and avoid the heat of the day by burrowing into the cooler soil. Animals include ants, locusts, lizards, Gila monster, coral snake, rattle snake, burrowing owls, Gambel's quail, kangaroo rats, rabbits, camel, skunk, badger foxes, jackals and desert cats. In general, the organisms having specialised structural and physiological and behavioural adaptations to withstand the extreme temperatures only can survive in a desert.
    • Kengo M
      Kengo M on 14 Sep 09
       
      Characteristics of desert flora fauna
  • Kengo M on 10 Sep 09
     
    This is some getting started information
Ajay V

The Future of the Rainforests - 1 views

tropicalhardwoods.com/...tropical_rainforests.htm

parkerq2 5RTo

shared by Ajay V on 25 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Since just 1950, the world's population has more than doubled to more than 6 billion people, with the fastest population growth being in the tropics.
    • Jack P
      Jack P on 25 Sep 09
       
      how did this happen?
  • Today, more than 3 billion people live in the tropics alone, more than lived in the entire world in 1950.
  • Annual world consumption of tropical hardwoods is now more than 250 million cubic meters, or over 100 billion board feet, per year.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • All of the primary forests in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh are gone. Ivory Coast's forests are essentially non-existent. Nigeria's forests have been decimated as well.
  •   Peasant farmers also clear the rainforest to have land for planting, by cutting the forest, and then in the dry season burning what they have cut.
  • Today we have less than 1.5 billion acres left, and we are clearing this remaining rainforest at the rate of 30 to 50 million acres per year, two to three times as rapidly as just a few decades ago.
  •   It is increasingly vitally important to plant tropical hardwood trees for harvest and to protect the world's remaining tropical rainforests.      It is also vitally important to get the message out to others about the importance
  • With the help and faith of our tree owners, with more than 2 million tropical hardwood trees planted to date, we are beginning to make a difference.
  • Jack P on 25 Sep 09
     
    who is doing this
  • Ajay V on 25 Sep 09
     
    who is doing this
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