Parboiled rice has more fiber than regular white rice. Parboiled rice might sound like it's precooked, but it's not. Instead, it's processed quite differently from other types of rice. The resulting grain is cooked and served just as you would white or brown rice. However, because of the special processing, parboiled rice is a better source of fiber, calcium, potassium and vitamin B-6 than regular white rice. Sponsored Link ミャンマーのドメイン取得代行 ミャンマー進出時のお問合せ・WEB制作 現地サーバまで一貫してお任せ下さい。 mm-domain.com/ドメイン取得 BasicsAfter rice is harvested, its inedible hull is removed to produce brown rice. If rice is put through a second step of processing to remove the bran, it becomes white rice. Unlike brown and white rice, the process for parboiled rice begins before the hull is removed. The complete grain of rice is soaked, steamed and dried, then the hull is removed to make parboiled rice. The steaming enables the rice to absorb nutrients and changes the starch so that it cooks into a firmer, less sticky dish of rice than regular white rice. The steaming does not precook the rice, so it still takes about 20 minutes to prepare. CarbohydratesOne cup of cooked parboiled rice provides 41 grams of total carbohydrates, or about one-third of the recommended daily intake of 130 grams. The same portion has 1.4 grams of fiber, which supplies 4 percent of men’s and 6 percent of women’s daily fiber. Parboiled rice has double the fiber than you'd get from cooked white rice. It has a low glycemic score of 38, compared with a high 89 for white rice, notes Harvard Health Publications. A low glycemic score indicates that the carbohydrates in parboiled rice do not cause a large spike in blood sugar. B VitaminsParboiled rice is especially rich in niacin, providing 4 milligrams, or 23 percent of the recommended daily intake in 1 cup of cooked rice. You’ll also get 19 percent of the daily intake of vitamin B-6. These values are about double the amount you would get from non-enriched white rice. Your body needs B vitamins to metabolize food into energy, but they also fill other roles, such as helping make hormones and neurotransmitters. Vitamin B-6 removes the amino acid homocysteine from your bloodstream by turning it into other substances. This might help keep your heart healthy; high levels of homocysteine are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. MineralsOne cup of cooked parboiled rice supplies 2 to 3 percent of the recommended daily intake of calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium. You'll get a slightly bigger boost of zinc, with 1 cup containing 0.58 milligrams of zinc. That amount represents 5 percent of men’s and 7 percent of women’s daily needs. Zinc performs vital roles throughout your body, from forming the structure of proteins to regulating DNA. If you don’t get enough zinc, your immune system becomes impaired; it needs zinc to produce the cells that fight bacteria and infections.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
How high carbohydrate foods can raise risk for heart problems
Tel Aviv, 29 June —
Doctors have known for decades that too much
carbohydrate-laden foods like white bread and corn
flakes can be detrimental to cardiac health. In a
landmark study, new research from Tel Aviv
University now shows exactly how these high
carb foods increase the risk for heart problems.
“Looking inside” the arteries of students eating
a variety of foods, Dr. Michael Shechter of Tel
Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine and
the Heart Institute of Sheba Medical Center —
with collaboration of the Endocrinology Institute
— visualized exactly what happens inside the body
when the wrong foods for a healthy heart are eaten.
He found that foods with a high glycemic index
distended brachial arteries for several hours.
Elasticity of arteries anywhere in the body can
be a measure of heart health. But when
aggravated over time, a sudden expansion of the
artery wall can cause a number of negative health
effects, including reduced elasticity, which can cause
heart disease or sudden death.—Internet
高炭水化物食品をどのようにすることができます
心の問題の危険性を高める
テルアビブ、 6月29日-
医師の知っている
数十年が過ぎる
炭水化物を多く含んだ食品
白パンやトウモロコシのような
フレーク支障が出ることができます
心臓の健康に。一で
画期的な研究では、新しい
テルアビブから研究
大学の今を示して
まさにこのような高
炭水化物食品の増加
心臓病の危険性。
"探し"を内部に
学生の食事の動脈
食品、博士は様々な
マイケルShechter電話
Aviv大学のサックラー
医学部と
ハート研究所
シバ医療センター-
とのコラボレーション
内分泌研究所
-正確に可視化が
体の内部に発生する
食品の場合、間違った
健康な心臓を食べている。
彼が見つかりましたが、食品と
高血糖インデックス
膨張した上腕動脈
数時間。
動脈の弾力性
体内のどこにでもすることができます
心の尺度になる
健康。しかし、
時間以上の悪化を
の急拡大
動脈壁を引き起こす可能性があります
負の数の健康
などの効果、縮小
弾力性を引き起こす可能性があります
心臓病や突然の
死。
Monday, April 13, 2009
Beverages in Burma under inspection for containing banned chemical dye
http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/1944-beverages-in-burma-under-inspection-for-containing-banned-chemical-dye.html
by Phanida
Monday, 06 April 2009 21:39
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese military junta authorities have started inspecting food and soft drinks in Burma, to check whether they are tainted with a chemical dye, which is dangerous for health of the people.
This latest move was initiated after the authorities banned over 100 brands of pickled tea leaves for using a banned chemical dye, 'Auramine O'. The authorities also recently, banned two alternative medicines for the high content of lead and arsenic in the products.
"We are inspecting all products, including soft drinks, fish paste, dried fish etc. We are inspecting soft drinks of domestic-make found in the market. Some of them are officially permitted brands," Chairman of 'Food and Drug Administration' (FDA), Dr. Kyaw Lin, told Mizzima.
"We have already tested samples of these soft drinks before production. But, the market survey is more important, so we are focusing on the market survey. We inspected all the brands, so as not to leave anything untested," he added.
The brands of domestically produced soft drinks are Scorpion, C +, Ve Ve, Max, Stan Crusher produced by Myanmar Golden Star (MGS), Pepsi, Sparking and Fantasy Orange among others.
A reliable source from Scorpion Soft Drink Trading and Distribution said that they had not yet received any notice from the department concerned, and they were distributing their products as usual to their customers.
"Scorpion is not yet included in the list of banned products. I do not know whether other brands are included in this list or not. So, we are continuing our sale to the customer companies. The buyers are still buying our products. We have not yet heard any significant news regarding it. We must inform our company, when we hear such news as we are agents for them. The ban order must be made public officially in newspapers," he said.
They buy these products from Pholapye Co. in wholesale and redistribute them.
The officials from the Health Department have not yet visited Pholapye Co. and have not yet banned their products, he added.
It has been learnt that local food and drug administration committees have been formed in each township.
The committee consists of a Township Medical Officer, a Township Health Department Officer, and responsible persons from the municipal body, police force, General Administration Department and Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department.
"These committees are in every township. They will inspect all the products, banned by the government as unfit for consumption in Burma, and recall these products from the shelves and destroy them in the presence of the shop owners. They can also inform about putting these products in the market again, depending on how much they are working," Dr. Kyaw Lin said.
It has also been learnt that no new rules and regulations have been announced yet and these tainted products will be removed in accordance with the existing National Food and Drug Law.
"They will know our Burma Food and Drug Administration regime in this way. We do not need to issue any new regulations. These regulations and rules are already in existence. We need to take action in accordance with them, such as the National Food and Drug Law. We will continue to enforce this law," Dr. Kyaw Lin said.
In today's edition of the state-run 'New Light of Myanmar', it has been reported that in a forum held in Rangoon, Liver Disease specialist, Professor Dr. Khin Maung Win, said that it had been found meat, fish and dried shrimps were tainted with chemical dyes for preservation and to artificially seem fresh. And also the salt found in the market was bleached with chemicals to whiten the product, which is originally brown, he added.
Fruits such as apples, grapes, papaya and watermelon were also dyed with chemicals to make them colourful and attractive to the customers. These banned chemicals, were also found in some snacks such as tea, roasted peanuts, cakes, phaluda and plums, the paper reported citing Dr. Khin Maung Win.
The state-run papers also explicitly announced on March 12 and March 29, that the Ministry of Health had banned 43 pickled tea leaf brands, including famous 'Ahyeetaung' and other 57 brands of pickled tea leaves for being tainted with the banned chemical dye called 'Auramine O'.
'Auramine O' is the industrial chemical dye usually used in dyeing of yarn, wool, silk, paper and hides, which may cause liver and renal diseases, cancer and may also affect the growth of the body if it is consumed for a long time.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Tea leaves from Myanmar recalled
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/418752/1/.html
Posted: 30 March 2009 1112 hrs
Singapore: A range of pickled tea leaves imported from Myanmar has been found to be unsafe for consumption.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) - which has issued a product recall - said it has detected the presence of Auramine O, which is a yellow dye used as an industrial colouring agent for coloring silk, cotton, paper and leather.
The dye is not permitted for use in food, and all products containing the dye have been recalled and will be destroyed.
The move follows a ban by the Myanmar Health Ministry on 43 brands of pickled tea leaves which were found to contain the chemical dye instead of edible dye, which is said to cost 20 times higher than Auramine O.
Pickled tea leaves, mixed with edible oil and nuts often called "tea salad" or "la phet thote" is a popular traditional side dish.
The pickled tea leaves found to contain the chemical dye include several popular brands sold in Myanmar and abroad.
In Singapore, 20 types of pickled tea leaves imported from Myanmar have so far been found to contain Auramine O dye, including those under the brands of Ah Yee Taung, M&N, Shwe Toak, Soe Win, U Ka Kar, Yuzana and Zayan.
The AVA said in a statement that all consignments of tea leaves from Myanmar will be held for testing and will be released for sale only if test results show that they are free from Auramine O.
Consumers who have bought such products are advised not to consume them but to discard the products. Those with queries can call AVA's hotline at 6325-7625.
Details of the recalled products:
1: Ah Yee Taung Pickled Tea Leaves
2: Ah Yee Taung Pickled Tea Leaves (Normal)
3: Ah Yee Taung Pickled Tea Leaves (Red)
4: Ah Yee Taung Pickled Tea Leaves (Sour & Spicy)
5: M&N Pickled Tea Leaves (Extra Spicy)
6: M&N Pickled Tea Leaves (Spicy)
7: M&N Than Lwin Fwn Food Products Lon May Pickled Tea Leaves
8: M&N Than Lwin Fwn Food Products Pickled Tea Leaves
9: Shwe Toak Pickled Tea Leaves with Mixed Nut
10: Soe Win Gold Label Tea Leaves, 70 g (Best before date Jul-09)
11: U Ka Kar Green Tea Leaves
12: Yuzana Pickled Tea Leaves (Blue) - "Girl"
13: Yuzana Pickled Tea Leaves (Red) - "Boy"
14: Yuzana Pickled Tea Leaves (White) - "Girl"
15: Yuzana Pickled Tea Leaves with Mixed Peas
16: Yuzana Pickled Tea Leaves
17: Yuzana Pickled Tea Leaves (Sour & Spicy)
18: Yuzana Pickled Tea Leaves with Peas
19: Yuzana Plantation Pickled Tea Leaves
20: Zayan Pickled Tea Leaves (Hot & Spicy)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
JAPANESE RESTAURANTS -thailand seen as regional springboard
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/02/17/business/business_30095883.php
By Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn
The Nation
Published on February 17, 2009
Network to boost fish, agricultural exports as home demand slows
Amid a domestic recession and a downturn in Japanese consumption, that country's government is promoting fish and agriculture exports through a well-recognised international network of Japanese restaurants.
Thailand will be in the top five of strategic countries targeted to promote Japanese restaurants in Southeast Asia, Yasumasa Asai, head of the Thai branch of the Organisation to Promote Japanese Restaurants Abroad (JRO), told a press conference yesterday in Bangkok.
"We are promoting Thailand as a hub and key springboard for expanding Japanese restaurants into other neighbouring markets in Asean, including Singapore and Myanmar [Burma]," he said. "We'll launch many measures set to help about 1,000 Japanese eateries run by 500 entrepreneurs in Thailand be more competitive amid the current economic difficulties."
Asai said the number of Japanese restaurants in Thailand had already increased sharply from last year, when about 750 outlets were operating.
He said measures to fight the bad economy, including having operators of Japanese restaurants pool their purchases of food ingredients and raw materials, would be enhanced, in order to reduce costs.
Up to 15 per cent of ingredients in Japanese food, such as specific kinds of alcohol and fish, have been imported from Japan, while certain ingredients, such as soy sauce, miso and some fruits, could be produced and locally sourced in Thailand.
"We'll work together to create new menus that require a good combination of Thai and Japanese ingredients," Asai said.
He said the JRO had developed a strategy focused on expanding Japanese restaurants in key regions, particularly East and Southeast Asia.
Due to its large population, Bangkok will play a major role in expanding Japanese restaurants into neighbouring countries.
"We've set a target of 300 official members this year and 500 next year," said Asai.
He said the JRO considered Thailand a significant potential market, posting strong annual sales growth by Japanese restaurants of 20 per cent. There are now 500 companies operating such restaurants in Thailand, half of them Japanese firms.
"Another 30 or 40 Japanese-restaurant entrepreneurs in Japan have shown an interest in opening outlets in Thailand in the near future," said Asai.
The JRO is a non-profit organisation established to promote Japanese restaurants in foreign countries. It has branch offices in 10 markets around the world, including Thailand and Singapore in Southeast Asia. Other offices are planned soon in Spain, Germany, Italy, Dubai and Hong Kong.
President and CEO Kazu Katoh said Japanese restaurants were popular and existed in many countries.
An estimated 25,000 Japanese restaurants operate in major cities around the world, excluding small sushi outlets in supermarkets.
"The JRO has a mission of supporting and exchanging valuable ideas between Japanese-restaurant entrepreneurs worldwide. Our aim is also to promote the value and benefit of Japanese food, including the use of original ingredients and cooking techniques on a global scale," said Katoh.
The JRO opened its Thai office last year to encourage entrepreneurs in the Kingdom achieve the highest benefit for consumers.
Mitsuhito Sendai, director of the Food Service Industry Office in Japan's Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, called supporting Japanese restaurants in all major countries around the world part of his government's strategy for boosting exports of fish and agricultural products used as major ingredients in Japanese food. This will help counter the local recession and the significant decline in domestic consumption resulting from a lower birth rate.
"The ministry has set a target of increasing its exports of fish and agricultural products to ฅ1 trillion [Bt382 billion] in 2013, from ฅ300 billion in 2006," said Sendai.
While achieving annual growth of 10 per cent in export sales from 2004-07, the value of Japanese exports of fish and agricultural products was stagnant last year at about ฅ430 billion, due to the global economic turmoil.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Myanmar doubles rice exports
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_337419.html
Feb 12, 2009
Myanmar's rice exports have nearly doubled, to around 400,000 tonnes since January, as the country has stepped up sales on competitive prices and strong demand from Africa. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
SINGAPORE - MYANMAR'S rice exports have nearly doubled, to around 400,000 tonnes since January, as the country has stepped up sales on competitive prices and strong demand from Africa, regional traders said on Thursday.
Myanmar is selling 25 per cent broken rice at US$270-US$280 (S$407 to S$422) per tonne free on board (FOB), compared with US$348-US$353 quoted for a similar Vietnamese variety.
'The quality is an issue but African buyers don't mind as long as they get the best price,' said a Singapore-based trader. 'We expect very good sales from Myanmar this year.' The country's rice exports fell last year when Cyclone Nargis struck in May, and the generals in army-ruled Myanmar banned exports to preserve stocks.
Officials say the ban was eased from July and government data shows Myanmar exported 127,600 tonnes in the first seven months of the fiscal year, from April to October 2008. Around 101,000 tonnes was sold in April, before the cyclone.
Traders in Singapore said Myanmar was likely to sell 700,000-800,000 tonnes of rice in the coming months after a bumper harvest.
'They are the cheapest in the world for inferior quality of rice,' said another rice dealer trader with a global trading firm in Singapore. 'There are some constraints at the port, and mills are not geared to handle large quantities, but they should be able to contract 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes.' Traders said Europe's Louis Dreyfus was active in the region, trading 6 to 7 cargoes of around 20,000 tonnes each.
Media reports in Yangon in November estimated a surplus of up to 3 million tonnes of rice for 2009 shipment to world markets.
Myanmar could benefit after much higher prices in top exporters Thailand and Vietnam forced buyers to look for cheaper alternatives, especially price-sensitive African importers.
The price of benchmark Thai 100 percent B grade white rice fell to US$580 per tonne from US$590 last week, as buyers, particularly Africans, who have been the most active recently, pulled back.
Thai rice prices trebled to hit a record peak of US$1,080 a tonne last May, when governments and importers rushed to stock up on fears the food staple would be in short supply amid high domestic inflation.
Rice from Myanmar is generally of inferior quality because of poor milling. The main buyers are Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and African countries. -- REUTERS
Saturday, January 31, 2009
'Six million Burmese need food'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7856265.stm
By Jonathan Head
BBC South East Asia correspondent
Some rural areas of Burma have been plagued by rats
The United Nations has warned of acute food shortages in parts of Burma, despite a better than expected rice harvest over the past year.
Its World Food Programme has issued a report warning that six million people in Burma are now in need of food aid.
They include a million in the Irrawaddy Delta, hit by Cyclone Nargis last year.
But the WFP says it cannot get enough food aid to the western Rohingya and Chin areas, because of restrictions imposed by the military government.
When Cyclone Nargis wiped out Burma's rice-bowl, the Irrawaddy Delta, last year, it was widely assumed that the country would face severe food shortages.
And the UN's World Food Programme says that is what has happened - but not because Burma is growing any less rice.
Military restrictions
Production has dropped by half in the Irrawaddy Delta - but in other regions, yields have been much higher, so that there is actually a healthy surplus available for export.
Burma's 'abused Chin need help'
But the number of Burmese who cannot grow or buy enough to eat has risen sharply to six million, says the WFP.
The UN wants to increase food aid - but cannot, because the government inexplicably stopped it from buying rice locally last year, and because the military restricts access to the worst-hit areas along the western border.
These are where ethnic Rohingya and Chin people live; their plight is reported to be desperate, with Chin state hit by a huge plague of rats.
The UN is hoping its appeal will persuade the Burmese government to lift these restrictions.
The dire conditions in which most Rohingyas live is one of the factors driving so many of them to Thailand, where they claim to have been subjected to brutal treatment at the hands of the Thai military in recent weeks.
UN: Myanmar faces food crisis because of cyclone
Source: Associated Press
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Myanmar faces food shortages in many parts of the country, largely due to last year's cyclone and a rat infestation that destroyed crops elsewhere in the impoverished country, according to a U.N. report released Wednesday.
The report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program forecasts that 85,000 tons of emergency food relief will be needed this year in the cyclone-affected Irrawaddy delta. Almost 100,000 more tons will be needed elsewhere: Food stocks in Chin State have been ravaged by rats while Rakhine in the north, historically among the country's poorest states, also needs assistance.
Blessed with abundant natural resources and fertile land, Myanmar was once the world's top rice producer.
But years of government mismanagement have placed it among the 20 poorest countries in the world, the United Nations estimates, with a per capita income of only $200 — 10 times less than its neighbor Thailand.
Myanmar, children exploited for less than 30 cents a day
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=14318&size=A
01/27/2009 12:04
MYANMAR
They work as farmhands, waiters, on building sites and in the fishing industry. Their “wage” varies from 0.25 to 0.85 US dollars a day. According to Save the Children over 400 children have abandoned school.
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Small children forced to work for a “wage” less then 30 cents of a US dollar a day. The alarm is being sounded by a non governmental organisation – that asks to remain anonymous for security reasons – in Myanmar, according to who the practise of the forcing minors to work, in slave-like conditions, is still widespread today. Among those worst hit are children in the Irrawaddy delta region, badly hit by cyclone Nargis last May.
Burmese businessmen, fishermen, and farmers use male workers aging between 10 and 15 in order to pay out below minimum wages: for one working day the children receive a wage that varies between 300 and 1000 kyat ( 0.25 – 0.85US dollars), compared to an adult wage that varies between 1500 and 3000 kyat (1.50 – 2.50 US dollars).
“Children willingly work for 300 kyat and a meal”, says a member of the NGO, while local sources add “they are easier to control and they put up with heavy workloads”. In Myanmar it is not uncommon to meet children as young as eight who work aboard fishing boats, as waiters in the building industry or in the fields.
“I am tired but I am happy that I survived”, 10 year-old orphan Myo Min tells The Irrawaddy. Now he lives with his brother and works full time on a fishing boat. 11 year-old Po Po, also lost a brother and his father last May: he has abandoned his studies and now works as a waiter in a restaurant in Labutta. He earns 5000 kyat a month (equal to 4.20 US dollars) as a dishwasher and says he cries “every night” because he misses his mother.
According to the international organisation Save the Children An estimated 400,000 children did not return to school after the cyclone; about 40 percent of the 140,000 people who were killed or disappeared in the cyclone disaster were children. Many who survived were orphaned or separated from their parents.
Myanmar targets to export 500,000 tons of surplus rice in 2008-2009
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=434758
Updated January 25, 2009 09:38 PM
YANGON (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has targeted to export 500, 000 tons of surplus rice from the Ayeyarwaddy delta during the current financial year of 2008-09 ending March, the local Yangon Times reported in this week's issue.
The export will be done by 28 companies, the report said.
According to the figures of the Central Statistical Organization, in 2007-08, Myanmar exported 358,500 tons of rice, gaining 100 million US dollars.
The export tonnage in the first three quarters (April-December) of 2008-09 went to 150,000 tons amid storm.
Of the rice export, 101,235 tons were shipped to South Africa, 11,908 tons to Singapore, 8,007.85 tons to Sri Lanka, 2,499.7 tons to the United Arab Emirate, 1,500 tons to South Korea and 1,197.7 tons to Egypt, the Myanmar Agricultural Produces Trading was quoted as saying.
Myanmar government has urged agricultural entrepreneurs to make greater efforts for exporting more rice, saying that the country has enough cultivable land to boost paddy production.
Out of 17.6 million hectares of cultivable land, only 11.6 million hectares of paddy or 65.9 percent could be grown, the authorities said.
The calendar year 2007 saw a production of 30 million tons of paddy out of 7.6 million hectares grown, but only about 20,000 tons of rice were exported.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Chin: Humanitarian Crisis “Likely to Escalate”
http://www.unpo.org/content/view/9079/101/
Monday, 12 January 2009
NGO warns that drought and disease lie ahead for those living in Chin, Western Burma.
Below is an article published by Mizzima.com:
With crop yields declining due to severe weather conditions and the devastation caused by rat infestation, a humanitarian crisis is imminent for western Burma's Chin state in 2009, a leading humanitarian worker in Chin state said.
Joseph Win Hlaing Oo, director of the Rangoon-based Country Agency for Rural Development in Myanmar (CAD), on Thursday [9 January 2009] said the humanitarian crisis in Chin state caused by both drought and rat infestation in 2008 is far from being over.
"This year [2009], the situation seems to be getting worse," Joseph told Mizzima, adding that people have already begun running short of food.
"People will need more help," iterated Joseph, whose organization with help from the World Food Programme (WFP) has begun distributing aid supplies to a few villages in Chin state.
On Thursday [9 January 2009], CAD began distributing about 700 rice bags to villagers affected by drought and rat infestation in Hakha township, home to the capital of Chin state.
Since the end of 2006, food security in the region has been gradually threatened by the infestation of rats, which are multiplying in great numbers after consuming a special bamboo flower that blossoms only once every 50 years in Chin state.
"Today [ 9 January 2009], we started distributing rice bags to the people in four villages, including Pinam in Hakha township," Joseph said.
But he said aid is not simply given, with villagers instead receiving aid in exchange for community work, such as assistance in the construction of roads to connect villages, under a program called "Food-for-Work".
"We provide rice to villagers according to the work. We give [a total of] 100 bags of rice to 18 people on completion of a mile of road," said Joseph, adding that the 'Work-for-Food' model was utilized to help villagers get the best out of aid supplies.
Joseph said CAD intends to reach at least 30,000 people in three townships - Hakha, Thangtlang and Matupi – with aid supplies. However his initial plan of distributing aid last November [2008] was derailed due to difficulties in purchasing good quality rice and high transportation cost.
Additionally, he said aid supplies are still insufficient, as many more villages in other parts of Chin state, including those that are close to the Indo-Burmese border, are yet to be covered. According to him, the food crisis is far more severe along the Indo-Burmese border.
"The problems in the areas close to the India-Burma border are more serious than other areas," said Joseph, with the crux of the problem being a lack of proper roads and means of transportation to reach those areas.
According to an assessment done by the WFP and other relief agencies such as CAD, KARET, World Vision and Karuna Myanmar Social Service (KMSS), at least 60,000 people from 139 villages in Chin state are severely affected by food scarcity caused by rat infestation.
In 2008, the WFP coordinated a relief aid program to help victims in Chin state with 1,451 tons of rice through international and local relief agencies, Joseph said. He added that an additional 800 million kyat (approximately US$ 600,000) will be made available for the first six months of 2009.
Meanwhile Van Lian Thang, spokesperson for the exile-based Chin Humanitarian and Relief Committee (CHRC), recently said people from at least 16 villages in northern Chin state are facing food insufficiency as the harvest of crops such maize and paddy has fallen sharply.
"Because the rate of crops harvested this year is very low, people from some villages in Tedim and Falam townships are facing a shortage of food," said Van Lian Thang.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
MYANMAR: WFP to launch food-for-work programme
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82100
YANGON, 26 December 2008 (IRIN) -
The UN World Food Programme (WFP), in collaboration with its implementing partners, will soon begin an ambitious food-for-work programme for thousands of Cyclone Nargis survivors.
The programme aims to rehabilitate local assets and restore livelihoods in affected communities, and will target 40,000 participants and 200,000 beneficiaries in Myanmar’s badly affected Ayeyarwady Delta.
“Food-for-work activities can make a significant difference to food-insecure residents of the delta, and at the same time help households rebuild their individual and community assets,” Chris Kaye, WFP country director for Myanmar, told IRIN in Yangon, the former Burmese capital.
WFP is currently screening projects proposed by its partners, with expected project sites to be announced soon.
The programme is set to begin at the end of January and run till the end of April, with a focus on the construction, repair and maintenance of roads, and the construction of wells, dykes, dams, ponds and drainage ditches.
Reforestation, land clearance and irrigation projects will also be included. Individual projects will last 15-45 days.
These activities will play a critical role in restoring food security in the wake of Nargis, which left close to 140,000 people dead or missing in May 2008.
“From this programme, each participant will receive 4kg of rice per day as family rations,” Zin Aung Swe, a WFP programme assistant, explained.
Participants will include those left particularly vulnerable by Nargis, including landless farmers, jobless day labourers and female-headed households.
Cash-for-work
Plans are also under way to implement a cash-for-work programme in a few months time in the cyclone-affected townships of Yangon Division, including Kunchangone Township.
Under the scheme, some 500 people will participate, with around 2,500 beneficiaries.
Programme participants will receive 2,000 kyat (US$1.6) per day in return for labour intensive activities to benefit local communities.
“We’ll evaluate our [food-for-work and cash-for-work] activities, and then will decide whether to expand our programmes or not,” Zin Aung Swe said when asked whether the programmes would be extended after April.
“Pockets of concern”
Studies conducted in the delta now show positive results of the food aid provided thus far.
Photo: Lynn Maung/IRIN
Road-repairing will generate household income for thousands of landless farmers in Myanmar's cyclone-affected Ayeyarwady Delta
According to preliminary results of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission, overall food security in the area was improving, and humanitarian agencies were making progress in helping cyclone-affected people restore their livelihoods.
“However, there are pockets of concern where food and other assistance continue to be needed,” said Kaye, adding: “WFP will carry on responding to these needs by implementing both relief and recovery activities.”
Seven months after the cyclone, the agency has begun shifting its focus from relief food provision to early recovery, as well as helping to rebuild livelihoods in the delta, once the country’s rice bowl.
Food-for-work activities, along with a supplementary feeding programme targeting vulnerable populations, would be a pillar of WFP’s recovery activities in 2009, Kaye said.
The Periodic Review, the first of three such assessments released on 19 December by the Tripartite Core Group (comprising the Myanmar government, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the UN) said food aid had reached every surveyed community along the path of the cyclone. Indicators of food vulnerability showed a clear impact in areas where food aid efforts had been concentrated.
Nonetheless, it said food insecurity persisted in some areas.
“The problems facing the recovery of food production [including seed quality and harvest] and purchasing power may take some years to address. Food insecurity around Yangon and Pathein [a township in the delta] may be a result of chronic problems, rather than directly from Cyclone Nargis,” it said.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Myanmar to grant surplus rice export through border trade
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/22/content_10542218.htm
YANGON, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will grant export of surplus rice through border trade, the local Weekly Eleven News quoted sources with the Ministry of Commerce in Nay Pyi Taw as reporting Monday.
The country's rice export is mainly done through normal trade only but it will also be permitted to do so through border trade if there is surplus rice produced regionally, the sources said, adding that the grant covers surplus rice produced only from Yangon, Sagaing, Bago and Ayeyawaddy divisions.
Meanwhile, Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein has urged agricultural entrepreneurs to make greater efforts for exporting more rice, saying that the country has enough cultivable land to boost paddy production.
Out of 17.6 million hectare of cultivable land, only 11.6 million hectares of paddy or 65.9 percent could be grown, Thein Sein told a recent coordination meeting on development of agricultural sector and boosting of export items held in Nay Pyi Taw.
Last year saw a production of 30 million tons of paddy out of 7.6 million hectares grown, but only about 20,000 tons of rice were exported, Thein Sein said, adding that up to October this year, over 170,000 tons of rice had been exported amid Nargis, which was up from the previous year.
"Although Myanmar's rice production has increased, it can be found that she has not been capable of producing more rice than the nations that are smaller and have fewer farmland than Myanmar," he pointed out, citing the fact that Thailand exports 7 million tons of quality rice and Vietnam 4.5 million tons.
"Myanmar is to strive for ensuring local self-sufficiency in rice and export about 3 million tons of rice annually," he outlined.
Editor: Deng Shasha
MYANMAR: Cyclone survivors benefit from cash-for-work programmes
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82049
INKYUT, 22 December 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of cyclone survivors across southern Myanmar are benefiting from cash-for-work programmes being implemented by the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS).
In collaboration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the projects aim to provide financial support to those left vulnerable by Cyclone Nargis by creating jobs in rebuilding infrastructure.
"Now we are working for ourselves," said Ngwe Thein, 70, one of 150 people working to repair a 1.6km stretch of road between the villages of Mayan, Inkyut and Kyitepat in Kunchangone Township in Yangon Division, one of the hardest-hit areas.
"This is a real opportunity for us," Ngwe Thein said, as two more tractors laden with soil were unloaded. "This road was in a bad condition before the cyclone. Now it will be better and transportation will improve."
Thousands benefit
As part of the programme, launched in November, 34 village groups were put to work in 11 storm-ravaged townships, including Kawhmu, Twante, Kungyangon, Dedaye, Pyapon, Bogale, Kyaiklatt, Mawlamyinegyun, Labutta, Hynegyikyun and Maubin.
MRCS and IFRC hope to complete 44 reconstruction projects, most of them lasting between four and six weeks, by end-December.
Photo: Lynn Maung/IRIN
Ngwe Thein, 70, says he is happy to be doing something for his community
Almost eight months after the cyclone, such activities are seen as vital in assisting local communities get back on their feet, say specialists.
"For three months after the cyclone, MRCS focused on relief operations in the disaster area," U Hla Myint, deputy head of MRCS's disaster management division, said. "Then we shifted to the ongoing recovery phase, and the cash-for-work programme is part of that phase."
Participants are paid 2,000 kyat (about US$1.70) a day.
Under the programme, female-headed families and cash-labourers unable to find work are being prioritised, said one MRCS official at the Kunchangone branch office.
Community involvement in the decision-making process is key to the programme.
"We ask the people what they want to do for their villages, whether they want to dig wells or repair the roads," explained one IFRC official in Dadeye Township, at the extreme southeast corner of the delta.
Slow recovery
However, recovery will take several years given the types of loss suffered and the extent of needs, according to the first of three strategic reviews published on 19 December.
Many people lost their assets and savings, reducing their capacity for recovery and leading to increased indebtedness.
Offering a snapshot of the needs of more than 2,000 households in over 100 communities in the affected area, the report noted that most people in the delta were now involved in casual labour, followed by agriculture, fishing and seasonal work.
The report also noted that changes in patterns of economic activity and livelihood had occurred because of Nargis. Since the storm, there has been a shift away from fishing and agriculture and an increase in casual labour.
"Without the capacity to produce their own food or income, communities will remain aid-dependent," the review stated.
Livelihoods within communities were interlinked and interdependent, the report said, reflecting complex social and economic structures. Casual and agricultural labourers were dependent on the recovery of the landowners for the restoration of their livelihoods, it said.
lm/ds/mw
Theme(s): (IRIN) Aid Policy, (IRIN) Economy, (IRIN) Natural Disasters
[ENDS]
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
Monday, December 15, 2008
Climate change, food security affecting Asian countries - Healthcare Minister
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/12/15/news21.asp
“Every minute, a woman dies during pregnancy and childbirth because she did not receive adequate care and prompt treatment.
“By increasing interventions for safe motherhood, we can save the lives of half a million women and seven million infants each year, and at the same time prevent millions of women from suffering from infections, injury and disability,” said Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition Nimal Siripala de Silva at the International Conference of Parliamentarians of South East Asian Region countries. The conference was held in Hanoi, Vietnam on December 12.
The Minister said: Since its inception in 1981 in Beijing, the AFPPD has come a long way taking up many burning and vital issues in order to support the formulation of multi sectoral policies related to population and development in the countries of our regions.”
“These meetings have brought greater understanding and cooperation among the parliamentarians of our countries and they have helped us learn from the experiences of one another and on the whole to steer our policies in complimentary ways.”
“You have selected an important and extremely relevant theme for deliberations this year - “The climate and food security challenges in the light of population growth”, Minister de Silva said.
“I wish to emphasize that climate change and food security are two of the most significant issues that threaten the lives of the people of our countries, and in some instances they could threaten even our very survival as nations. Therefore we appreciate the work of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians to make us well aware of these issues and help to prepare ourselves well in advance to meet the challenges that are upon us.”
“Perhaps nowhere is the need for reproductive health services more urgent than in the fight against HIV/AIDS and in family planning. Reproductive health services that empower women and young people with life-saving information and skills will help prevent HIV from spreading and further reduce suffering and social and economic setbacks.
The UNFPA reminds us very rightly that directing more resources to all these issues is critical in attaining the Millennium Development Goals, the internationally agreed framework to halve poverty by the year 2015,” he said.
“We are living in very uncertain times. Obviously, recent information on the meltdown in the American banking industry drew everyone’s attention, but the actual literal meltdown of ice in the North and South poles and of the Himalayas do not get sufficient attention but if the risks to humankind will be far greater than any bank collapse.”
“Countries of South East Asia are at different stages of development of their national food and nutrition policies. UN information indicates that countries like Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar have already established their national policies and work plans.
Bhutan has included food security as a part of its primary healthcare programme. In Thailand we know that their food security policy is a major part of the health development plan and the healthy lifestyles strategy while DPR Korea and Timor Leste have concentrated on nutrition management in crisis situations,” the Minister said.
He said however the most critical issue in the Region right now is the increase in food prices and food insecurity. Rising food prices have been transmitted to the South East Asian countries but still the increases are slightly less than that seen internationally. A quick comparison indicates that the rise in Bangladesh has been the sharpest, while being moderate in Nepal with the lowest rise being in Indonesia.
The onset of the price increases have also varied, with some affected as early as 2006 and others not until mid 2008. The effect depends partly on the price but also on other factors such as recent natural disasters. Consumers in the countries with the highest national per capita incomes such as Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka had been less responsive to the change in prices than countries with lower GNPs.”
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Forestalling water conflict in Asia
http://chellaney.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!4913C7C8A2EA4A30!903.entry
Beware of Water Wars
China’s hydro-engineering projects in Tibet raise serious concerns
Brahma Chellaney
The Times of India, November 24, 2008
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s disclosure that during his recent Beijing visit he raised the issue of international rivers flowing out of Tibet underscores the enormous implications of China’s hydro-engineering projects and plans. Through its control over the Tibet plateau, China controls the flow of several major river systems that are a lifeline to southern and southeastern Asia. Yet China is toying with massive inter-basin and inter-river water transfer projects. Its Great South-North Water Transfer Project is an overly ambitious engineering attempt to take water through manmade canals to its semi-arid north. The diversion of waters from the Tibetan plateau in this project’s third leg is an idea enthusiastically backed by President Hu Jintao, a hydrologist by training whose 1989 martial-law crackdown in Tibet helped facilitate his swift rise in the communist party hierarchy.
Water is getting tied to security in several parts of the world. The battles of yesterday were fought over land. Those of today are over energy. But the battles of tomorrow will be over water. And nowhere else does that prospect look real than Asia, the largest and most densely populated continent that awaits a future made hotter and drier by global warming. According to a 2006 UN report, Asia has less fresh water — 3,920 cubic metres per person — than any other continent other than the Antarctica.
With the world’s fastest-rising military expenditures, most-dangerous hot spots and fiercest resource competition, Asia appears the most likely flash-point for water wars — a concern underscored by attempts by some states to exploit their riparian position or dominance. Riparian dominance impervious to international legal principles can create a situation where water allocations to co-riparian states become a function of political fiat.
Upstream dams, barrages, canals and irrigation systems can help fashion water as a political weapon — a weapon that can be wielded overtly in a war, or subtly in peacetime to signal dissatisfaction with a co-riparian state. Even denial of hydrological data in a critically important season can amount to the use of water as a political tool. Such leverage could in turn prompt a downstream state to build up its military capabilities to help counterbalance the riparian disadvantage.
Except for Japan, Malaysia and Burma, Asian states already face water shortages. A different water-related problem confronts some low-lying states like Bangladesh and the Maldives, whose very future of is at stake due to creeping saltwater incursion and frequent flooding. Bangladesh today has too much water, yet not enough to meet its needs. Born in blood in 1971, it faces the spectre of a watery grave.
China and India already are water-stressed economies. The spread of irrigated farming and water-intensive industries and a rising middle class are drawing attention to their serious struggle for more water. The two giants have entered an era of perennial water shortages, which before long are likely to parallel, in terms of per-capita availability, the Mideast scarcity. Their rapid economic growth could slow if their demand for water continues to grow at the present frenetic pace. Water shortages, furthermore, threaten to turn food-exporting China and India into major importers — a development that would seriously accentuate the global food crisis.
Even though India’s usable arable land is larger than China’s — 160.5 million hectares compared to 137.1 million hectares — the source of all the major Indian rivers except one is the Tibetan plateau. While the Ganges originates on the Indian side of the Himalayas, its two main tributaries flow in from Tibet. This is the world’s largest plateau, whose vast glaciers, huge underground springs and high altitude have endowed it with the greatest river systems. Almost all the major rivers of Asia originate there. Tibet’s status thus is unique: No other area in the world is a water repository of such size, serving as a lifeline for much of an entire continent.
In the stark words of Premier Wen Jiabao, water scarcity threatens the very “survival of the Chinese nation”. But in seeking to address that challenge, China's gargantuan projects threaten to damage the delicate Tibetan ecosystem. They also carry seeds of inter-riparian conflict. The hydropolitics in the Mekong river basin, for example, can only get sharper as China, ignoring the concerns of downstream states, completes more upstream dams on the Mekong.
While making half-hearted attempts to stanch Indian fears about the prospective diversion of the Brahmaputra northward, Beijing has identified the bend where the Brahmaputra forms the world’s longest and deepest canyon, just before entering India, as holding the largest untapped reserves for meeting China’s water and energy needs. A Sino-Indian conflict over the sharing of the Brahmaputra waters, for instance, would begin no sooner than China begins to build the world’s largest hydropower plant on the river’s Great Bend. Upstream projects already have been held responsible for flash floods in Arunachal and Himachal Pradesh.
The way to forestall or manage water disputes in Asia is to build cooperative river-basin arrangements involving all riparian neighbours. Such institutional arrangements ought to centre on transparency, information sharing, pollution control and a pledge not to redirect the natural flow of trans-boundary rivers or undertake projects that would diminish cross-border flows. The successful interstate basin agreements (such as over the Indus, the Nile and the Senegal) are founded on such principles. In the absence of institutionalized cooperation over shared resources, peace will be the casualty in Asia as water becomes the new battleground.
The writer is a strategic affairs analyst.
(c) Times of India, 2008.
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Monday, November 17, 2008
A new way is needed to help Burma's people
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/a-new-way-is-needed-to-help-burmas-people-20081117-695m.html?page=-1
Andrew Selth
November 18, 2008
Humanitarian aid will at least improve the daily lives of the Burmese.
THE SENTENCING of more than 30 Burmese dissidents to up to 65 years in prison for their part in last year's anti-Government demonstrations sends a strong message to pro-democracy campaigners inside Burma and their supporters abroad. And the message is simple: no amount of internal agitation or external pressure is going to deter the country's armed forces from perpetuating their rule through the creation of a military-dominated parliament in 2010.
Since 1988, when Burma's armed forces crushed a pro-democracy uprising and took back direct political power, different strategies have been tried to persuade them to return to the barracks.
The US and EU countries have taken the hardest line, condemning the regime and imposing tough economic sanctions.
Others, like the ASEAN members, have pursued "constructive engagement" in the hope that quiet diplomacy and trade would encourage political and economic reforms.
The UN has tried to act as an honest broker, by promoting reconciliation between the regime and the opposition movement, led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
Given the dearth of reliable information about Burma, it is hard to say exactly what impact these strategies have had. It is self-evident, however, that they have all failed to achieve their stated aims.
The military regime has not collapsed, nor handed over power to a civilian administration. In fact, it is probably stronger now than at any time since 1988.
Nor is there any sign that the generals are prepared to bow to international opinion and free Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
Indeed, the greater the pressure exerted against the regime, the more determined it has become to resist what it calls interference in Burma's internal affairs.
As long as the Burmese armed forces remain united and loyal, it is difficult to see how the regime can be removed from power. There have been reports of dissension in the ranks and some high-profile dismissals, but so far military discipline has held firm.
The opposition movement is weak and divided, and the few remaining insurgent groups pose no military threat. Despite the fears of
the generals, and the hopes of their opponents, no country is going to invade Burma to restore democracy. And the regime has enough powerful friends to survive economic sanctions and Security Council resolutions.
So what can be done? The international community cannot agree on a strategy.
The UN seems powerless. Even Burma's friends, like China, have limited influence with the generals, who jealously guard the country's independence.
The harsh reality is that there are few options against a regime that refuses to observe customary norms of behaviour, puts its survival before the welfare of its people and is protected by its allies.
Symbolism is important in international politics, but we also have to be pragmatic. There needs to be a new approach.
Countries such as Australia must keep faith with the Burmese people, who have clearly demonstrated their desire for a democratic government. It is important that Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners are released. And the regime must not be allowed to think it has escaped scrutiny. At the same time, a way needs to be found to help those in dire need. Thanks to decades of inept military rule, Burma suffers from major problems in areas such as health, education and social welfare.
This is where the international community can do something concrete to assist the Burmese people.
The regime has made the delivery of humanitarian aid very difficult. It imposes onerous conditions on providers, restricts access to those in greatest need (including the ethnic communities) and siphons off foreign aid for its own benefit. Formal contacts with the regime can be seen as granting it a legitimacy it does not deserve.
These may be the costs, however, that the international community has to pay to help alleviate the suffering of the Burmese people. It is a price most of them would count as cheap, if it meant an improvement in their basic living conditions.
Since cyclone Nargis hit Burma in May, more than 45 non-government organisations have been working in the country, providing aid at the grass-roots level. They are being helped by numerous local groups. Also, the tens of thousands of Burmese refugees in neighbouring countries are crying out for more assistance.
Instead of looking for new ways to punish an entrenched and nationalistic regime, a more constructive approach might be to provide increased humanitarian aid to those communities, both inside and outside Burma, which desperately need help.
The signs are that change will come slowly to Burma. Also, it will have to come from within the country and involve the armed forces, something that Aung San Suu Kyi herself recognises. It may take a new generation of military officers more tolerant of political diversity, or even a Gorbachev-like figure prepared to overturn the system that created him.
That is small comfort to the Burmese people, who have already been waiting 46 years for another democratic government. But until that day dawns we can at least make a greater effort to improve the quality of their daily lives.
Dr Andrew Selth is a research fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University.
Global climate changes could lead to violence
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6113758.html
Experts say it will accelerate the race for food, water
By SCOTT CANON
McClatchy-Tribune
Nov. 15, 2008, 6:06PM
KANSAS CITY, MO. — A warmer planet could find itself more often at war.
The Earth's fast-changing climate has a range of serious thinkers — from military brass to geographers to diplomats — predicting a spate of armed conflicts driven by the weather.
Shifting temperatures lead to shifting populations, they say, and that throws together groups with long-standing rivalries and thrusts them into competition for food and water.
"It's not hard to imagine violent outbursts," said Julianne Smith of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Smith helped write one of four major studies put out in a little more than a year by centrist organizations in Europe and the United States that warn climate change threatens to spark wars in a variety of ways.
Each report predicted starkly similar problems: gunfire over land and natural resources as once-bountiful soil turns to desert and coastlines slip below the sea. They also expect violent storms to unsettle weak governments.
Just years away
Security analysts say profound dangers are just years, not decades, away. They already see evidence of societies at odds.
Ethnic groups clash in Sudan's Darfur region, trading gunfire in a conflict with climatological overtones. The armed thugs who rule Myanmar were exposed, and their regime knocked back on its heels, when Cyclone Nargis killed tens of thousands of people in May and the leadership responded so poorly. Likewise, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 began the fall of President George W. Bush's approval ratings.
Much more is going on in Darfur than climate change, but crop scarcity in the region has pushed rival ethnic groups onto the same turf.
Even those scientists who are most adamant that the planet is warming in unnatural ways don't blame single storms on climate change. But even conservative climatologists predict crazier weather that is capable of toppling governments.
"Governments that are already weak will be destabilized much more often and much more easily," said Jay Gulledge, a senior scientist at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. "And if cooperation isn't enough to stretch resources, then what happens?"
Military planning
Although still controversial in some circles — Congress has split along partisan lines over whether the military should plan for global warming — the scientific consensus is that the Industrial Revolution increased greenhouse gases that set off an unprecedented rate of climate change.
Growing seasons could lengthen. Frozen seas could thaw to make way for convenient shipping routes. Previously inaccessible spots could be ripe to gush oil.
Meantime, wetlands could dry up. Rivers could disappear. Scientists already think that hurricanes, blizzards and droughts are more frequent and more severe. Rising sea levels could send tens of millions of people scurrying for higher ground.
"The idea that somehow there are winners in this is wrong," said Peter Ogden, a security analyst at the Center for American Progress. "Even places that come out ahead will see pressure on them from outside from the losers."
Last year the Center for Naval Analyses gathered retired generals and admirals to gauge the potential for climate to cause conflict. The former commanders concluded that war would be more likely, that the U.S. military needed to plan for the new threats, and that the United States had to reduce its carbon emissions.
"We will pay for this one way or another," wrote retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, the former chief of the U.S. Central Command. "We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today, and we'll have to take an economic hit of some kind. Or, we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives. There will be a human toll."
Developing countries stand most at risk, the studies conclude. Those countries lack the resources to absorb resulting disasters.
Consider Bangladesh. Long riddled by crushing poverty, it lies in a region that scientists expect will see even more devastating storms and the steady retreat of its coastline. That could send even more Bangladeshi Muslims running to the fence that predominantly Hindu India is building to keep them out.
Likewise, weather patterns that make it harder to grow food in Latin America could increase the rush to cross the southern U.S. border.
"People will pay no attention to borders. They will swamp borders. They will trample over them in desperation," said Raymond Callahan, a military historian at the University of Delaware.
Even efforts to mitigate global warming could prove dangerous.
Nuclear power doesn't add greenhouse gases, but it could mean the spread of doomsday technology to unstable parts of the world. Iran already is thought to be cloaking nuclear weapons ambitions inside "peaceful" nuclear facilities.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Burma lifts post-cyclone rice export ban
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-08-burma-cyclone_N.htm
Rangoon, Burma (AP) — A Burma newspaper says the military government has lifted a rice export ban it imposed after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country's main rice-growing areas in the Irrawaddy Delta and south of Rangoon in May.
The Voice weekly said rice exports will resume with 60,000 tons being sold by private companies, although it gave no further details.
The newspaper is privately owned but subject to state censorship like all Burma media.
In the 1950s, Burma was the world's top rice exporter, selling more than 1 million tons a year, but exports have dropped significantly since then.
Burma exported 107,600 tons of rice in April before the May 2-3 cyclone.
Mekong river nations consider Asian rice cartel
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200811/s2414143.htm?tab=latest
Updated November 8, 2008 11:06:28
Southeast Asia's five Mekong river countries are actively studying a plan to set up an association of rice-exporting nations.
Vietnam's prime minister made the announcement after a regional summit of the Mekong River nations with Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Burma.
He says these nations are the rice bowl of the Asian region and their exports account for about 50 percent of the world market so they have an important role to play in ensuring food security.
Thailand proposed a rice exporters' cartel last April, as world grain prices reached record levels.
It backed away from the plan after the Asian Development Bank and rice importing nations criticised it, saying it would exacerbate hunger and poverty
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