Water and Desertification

[Woodcutter]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8va5p ... -de_travel

Interesting video showing a relationship between irrigation (among other causes) and desertification.

Edit by Christophe: the blog link was HS, so I replaced it with a video on daily ...

[nicolas44]

thanks for this video!

[Flytox]

Further confirmation that irrigation with even slightly brackish water "enriches" the father but kills the son. We are far from sustainable.

It makes you think that when you "help" through an NGO or other, a small village in the depths of Africa, by financing a pump to go and suck water from deep in the water table, it is supposed to bring a little more prosperity / less misery ..... but without serious study on the quality of the water etc ..., one can bring the desolation after a few years (when it is not the poisoning of the populations to arsenic as in India). Medium or long term projects don't interest enough people.
A+

[Christophe]

Interesting interview with Pierre Rabhi.

http://www.latribune.fr/green-business/ ... ation.html

I like his opinion on Tax C ...

Transcription of the "chat" of September 14 with Pierre Rabhi, international expert for the fight against desertification

Find the entire "chat" of September 14 with Pierre RABHI, international expert in the fight against desertification, founder of Colibris, movement for the land and Humanism,
Hello and welcome to the Tribune.fr chat. Today we are pleased to welcome Pierre Rabhi, Founder of Colibri, movement for the earth and Humanism, who will answer all your questions.

Hello everyone, very happy to spend an hour with you ...

jeanne: A lot of media coverage on climate change, don't you think that journalists do too much on this subject by always seeing it in a dramatic way?

Nor should it be downplayed, because it is a reality that must be taken into account, because it has extremely important consequences for the present and the future. Perhaps the press dramatizes too much, but in any case it is important not to hide this problem ...

Philippe Billon: Hello Mr Rabhi, Do you think that measures such as the carbon tax are as effective as we suggest?

Would it not rather be one more way to punish the taxpayer, under the guise of a good ecological conscience of the government? Thank you for your response and your commitment to Nature.
For my part, this will remain a small palliative anyway, because the current challenges concerning the environment are colossal and would require national and international provisions and devices to match the problem. I find it very difficult to accept that ecology is treated as one parameter among others.
Radical international decisions have to be made. For example, treating vital goods (water, land, wild and domestic biodiversity) as goods which cannot be subject to speculation and must be managed as inalienable goods, the safeguard of which must be absolute ...

Vera: What do you expect from the Copenhagen summit?

I am afraid that the Copenhagen summit will not lead to more important decisions, as were those of Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, Kyoto ... I am very skeptical about the conclusions and especially the firm decisions which I wish, as I have already expressed: ecology cannot be treated as a subsidiary question, but as a fundamental question concerning the whole planet and which requires urgent decisions in a new paradigm, which would put the human and nature at the heart of our concerns. For that, it would be enough to transfer 4 or 5% of what is spent on armaments and advertising to already start the safeguard of our wonderful planet and, thereby, the safeguard of our species ...

Diana66: Organic farming which, in your words, "takes into account the rhythm of the earth", is it not applicable only in developed countries? the developing countries, which live mainly on agriculture, certainly do not have the means or the possibilities to follow this mode of agriculture to feed everyone.

Think again, organic farming, which is sometimes accused of producing luxury food, is the one that best suits the poorest peasant. This question there, we put it to the test, since I worked a lot in the Sahelian zones in the training of thousands of peasants in these techniques, which allowed them not only to free themselves from inputs
expensive chemicals that destroy soil and pollute water. It is therefore the most appropriate technique for underprivileged populations and I have testified to this question in several of my works, in particular "The Offering at Twilight", Ed. Harmattan and which in addition was awarded by the ministry of French Agriculture in 1989 ...

Pierre: Mr. Rabhi hello. You who advocate the “insurrection of consciences”, do you think that we have finally reached a real green revolution, a real awareness or that ecology is only a fashion effect dedicated only to doing business, but green? Thank you

There is that, but ecology is far from being a fashion, since it is not simply a craze of people, but unavoidable ecological realities that can only go on increasing . This is what we are seeing today and the forecasts are often alarming ...

jean-paul Copin: Can we think of a program to reconquer the desert, if that would be possible is it desirable in regad of climatic balances?

The reconquest of the deserts should already begin by stabilizing the zones in the process of desertification, because certain regions, like the Sahelian zones, are gradually desertified by drought, soil erosion, excessive cutting of wood, uncontrolled wandering of animals. All this already contributes to desertification and could be stopped by programs mobilizing the populations to fight against this desertification. There are also techniques to fight against erosion, management and control of rainwater, reforestation of semi-arid areas bordering the great deserts. Then, it may be possible to go further, but for the moment, the urgency of the fight against desertification is to intervene in areas undergoing desertification. This would be articulated on an international program with funding that would allow the implementation of strategies, an internal national program and the responsibility of nation states and popular programs that would give populations the means to intervene directly within their biotop. .
This obviously requires that this phenomenon of desertification does not only concern desertified countries, but also countries that are not desertified by phenomena that link all the biotops and induce non-localized effects. We see this, for example, sometimes in contrasts between acute drought and catastrophic floods.
So it's the whole planet that is concerned by desertification ...

Marco Polo: What is your opinion on the carbon tax? Are you on the side of those who think that Sarko is blowing air with its compensation system or on the side of the PS, in favor of a higher tax but therefore more incentive or more or less "satisfied" like Hulot?

I have already answered this question at the beginning of "chat" ...

Doudou: A bit prophet, do you think we will save the planet?

I integrated the two hypotheses. The first which would lead, from transgression to transgression, not to the elimination of the planet which will survive despite everything, but to the self-eradication of the human race due to permanent transgression. The second hypothesis: a burst of collective consciousness that we can see emerging everywhere on the planet, where more and more consciousnesses are awakening and mobilizing for this cause. The future of our species therefore belongs strictly to our species ...

La Bigoudenne: Mr. Rabhi, I live in Brittany in the Côtes-d'Armor and I am very worried about the nitrate pollution of which our beaches are victims caused by the proliferation of green algae which are themselves caused by intensive agriculture. .. I would like to know what we risk living next to these sites? And on the other hand, do you think that the 700 million euros invested by the State to educate our farmers in better practices will be enough to regain the splendor of our beaches?

It is obvious that the mass of tonnages of chemical fertilizers and pesticides dumped each year on the soil by agriculture has a disastrous effect on the soil, water, nature and that it would obviously be necessary to change the practices by modifying the way we eat. One example, corn, which is widely grown to feed animals, is one of the culprits. Excessive consumption of animal protein leads to the cultivation of cereals for animal feed. However, it takes about ten kilos of concentrated cereals to obtain a kilo of meat. One kilo of grain corn requires about 400 liters of water, a large quantity of fertilizers, pesticides and therefore leads to this deterioration of the soil and the loss of the food heritage.
Perhaps, to limit the damage to health, be concerned with quality food and water that is also quality food too. Today, fairly sophisticated water filtration systems exist and it is advisable to use it ...

jean-paul copin: Thank you, technically in our latitudes how long is it necessary to give new life to soils sterilized by intensive agriculture?

Like any deterioration of soils, regeneration and sanitation and rehabilitation are obviously determined by the level of deterioration and pollution of these soils. There are soil remediation techniques and, for heavily polluted land, it can take four, five, six years, depending on the case. But it is difficult to be very precise on this question.

Low polluted soils can be regenerated fairly quickly; two years and purified by regeneration techniques, in particular green manures, certain legumes, a reasoned work of the soil and the contribution of noble organic matters like compost ...

Toinon: I read that almost 500 million people could migrate by 2050 due to climate change. And that millions of people have already been displaced. So, when will the status of climate refugees not recognized by international law? Are we a welcoming land for these refugees? Are there associations in France which take care of these refugees? if so why? I would love to become a volunteer ...

It is obvious that today, we are witnessing climatic migrations with a worsening by the concentration of these migrants on still alive grounds. This accelerates the depletion process of these soils, which means that the migratory process can in no case be a solution.
Today, states and world governance must have population stabilization programs because climate migration is added to many other migrations (political ...) linked to factors other than climate.
I do not think that we can deal with climate migration without taking into account all the factors which are sometimes of human responsibility: destruction of living biotops, deforestation, to which no limit is given, expropriation, massive crops of plants for agro-fuels. All of these factors need to be addressed as they are also the artificial cause of climate immigration.

Currently, we are working in Morocco on semi-arid areas, where a peasant population survives very difficult. Some of these peasants end up selling their small heritage, constitute a small nest egg with which they hope to buy a small shop and, often, it is the great illusion because it exceeds their means. They end up spending their little money, go through a slum phase and, then, try to cross the seas to go to so-called prosperous countries. This is how this illusory and dramatic process is maintained.
For volunteering, I recommend that you search the Internet and why not consult the site www.colibris-lemouvement.org

Thank you Pierre Rabhi. The final word ?

I thank all those who pay attention to what we are trying to promote for nature, for ourselves and for future generations. Thank you to everyone who takes action. It is obvious that my conviction is that, beyond all ecological considerations and being part of ecology, the way must be opened so that we can consider that life is above all sacred ...

latribune.fr

[Christophe]

A long speech by Pierre Rabhi on the radio to listen to here (10 part of 20 minutes!): http://www.dailymotion.com/group/econol ... ecroi_news