EU to resume marine imports from Malaysia

Ruben Sario The Star 22 Feb 09;

KOTA KINABALU: The European Union is expected to resume imports of marine products from Malaysia soon.

European Commission Health and Consumer Protection director general Jerome Lepeintre said steps were being taken by fish exporters to improve their standard of hygiene of the fish products exported to EU.

He said EU banned fish imports from Malaysia following an inspection by its food and veterinarian officers a few months ago who found significant deficiencies in hygiene by certain fish exporters.

We were obliged to stop fish exports from Malaysia to the EU at that time, but our experts are helping the Malaysians to improve on these deficiencies, he said.

We need to import fish from Malaysia so it is better to help out and put in place a mechanism for Malaysian fish exporters to maintain certain standards so that they can resume exports, he adding that he expecteded imports to resume soon.

He was speaking to reporters said after chairing a one day forum on EU-ASEAN cooperation on Codex Matters here that ended on Saturday.

Lepeintre explained that the EU ban was not aimed at stifling exports of food from Asean countries but exporting countries must comply with the stringent safety requirements in force.

He said that, like in Malaysia, EU would assist any Asean country with technical assistance to help improve hygiene deficiencies which could prevent their foodstuff from being banned from the EU.

“Our main concern is that all food exported to the EU must be safe for human consumption.

“We are open and transparent, and not like other countries when it comes to food imports, and Asean is a major food exporter to the EU. Our import bill is US$40 billion a year and growing fast, he said.

Lepeintre said EU did not want to stop any nation, including Asean countries, from exporting food as the food imports were required by member countries.

The EU realised that meeting these high standards could be difficult and costly for developing countries, so it provided technical assistance to help them meet its own standards, he added.

The forum was held in conjunction with the CodexAlimentarius Committee on Fats and Oils Meeting organised by Malaysia 's Health Ministry.

Some 30 delegates from Asean countries EU officials, a representative from the Food and Agriculture Organisation and a representative from the French embassy attended the forum.

Touching on genetically modified food, Lepeintre said all foods must be labelled as such that it contains GMO, something which the United States of America has resisted all these while.

Earlier in a speech, Vincent Piket, Head of European Commission Delegation to Malaysia said the EU would continue to cooperate with Asean and had set aside EUR70mil for the period 2007-2013 to enhance economic and trade relations.

Piket, whose speech was read by Pablo Iglesias, said it was important to systematically review cooperation in the light of increasingly complex and dynamic trade and economic relations.

In the areas of food, scientific and technological advances as well as evolving consumer demand underline the importance of a productive and stable dialogue that can keep pace with market changes, he said.

Intense dialogue on Codex matters will help to ensure smooth trade flows and prosperity without losing sight of the need to address environmental concerns, animal welfare or provide a high level of protection of human health.

The forum was aimed to initiate dialogue on risk assessment matters and build on the EU's "Better Training for Safer Food Programme" which helped developing countries such as Malaysia to comply with EU food laws.

This is achieved through training, information and communication activities organised by the EU, and since early 2006, 10 workshops have been held in the Asean region and attended by over 1,000 people.

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Best of our wild blogs: 22 Feb 09

Facebook and Beyond
slideshow on cyber-advocacy on the Midnight Monkey Monitor

Day 2 of National Sustainability Conference
on the Midnight Monkey Monitor

Life History of the Plain Nawab
on the Butterflies of Singapore blog

frog fish @ terumbu raya
video clip on the sgbeachbum blog and hermit crab

Blue-winged Pitta catching a worm
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

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Bakun area overlogged, says Malaysian environmental group

The Star 22 Feb 09;

MIRI: The Bakun hydro-electric dam catchment area has been overlogged by more than 40,000ha, an environmental group said.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) said the original catchment area for the Bakun project in central Sarawak, as stipulated in the first environmental impact assessment report, was supposed to be 64,000ha.

However, more than 100,000ha have already been logged, said SAM field officer for Sarawak Jok Jau Evong, adding that ground studies in Bakun showed that forests outside the original catchment area had been subjected to intensive logging.

“It seems that the logging is being carried out all the way from Bakun to the forested areas earmarked for clearing under the proposed Murum Dam project.

“A large portion of the forest within the Murum Dam area has already been logged,” he told The Star yesterday.

He said the whole area from Bakun to Murum would eventually be cleared of all timber.

“SAM is worried that the ecosystem will suffer even greater damage because of the massive land clearing,” he said.

Evong was commenting on Assistant State Environment and Public Health Minister Dr Abang Rauf Abang Zen’s statement that tonnes of fish in Bakun had died recently due to excessive siltation in the Bakun catchment area.

He said this practice had caused serious siltation in the river systems in Bakun and had contributed to the suffocation of a large number of fishes.

Under Sarawak’s Natural Resour­ces and Environment Board laws, any land development project measuring 500ha and above must be subjected to EIA scrutiny and approval.

Evong said the authorities must monitor all land development projects regardless of the size because all of them contribute to destruction of the environment, riverine resources and wildlife.

Dr Rauf, when asked yesterday how big an area had been logged in the Bakun catchment region, replied that he did not have the exact figure.

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Don't judge states on wealth and emissions: Singapore's climate envoy

David Fogarty Reuters 21 Feb 09;

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Judging small, rich island nations purely on their wealth and emissions is unfair in climate change negotiations, Singapore's climate envoy said on Saturday, as pressure builds on more countries to curb carbon pollution.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N.'s main weapon to fight climate change, only 37 industrialized nations are committed to curbs on greenhouse gas pollution between 2008-2012.

But the U.N. list in Kyoto's parent pact that defines rich and developing nations dates from 1992 and wealthy nations such as Argentina, Singapore, South Korea and Malta are still deemed to be developing states under the U.N.'s climate treaties.

Under Kyoto, developing nations are exempt from any binding emissions curbs but recent studies show poorer states now contribute more than half of mankind's greenhouse gas emissions.

Australia and the European Union say the 1992 list doesn't reflect economic reality and should be updated. They say rich nations outside of Kyoto must commit to binding curbs as part of a broader climate pact likely to be agreed in December in Copenhagen.

Singapore's chief climate change negotiator, Chew Tai Soo, said Singapore was responsible for 0.3 percent of global greenhouse emissions but faced pressure to curb its emissions because it was rich and had high per-capita carbon pollution.

"This approach is flawed as it does not take into account the unique considerations and capabilities of different countries.

"It penalizes small countries with small populations without taking into account their limitations," he told a sustainability conference in Singapore.

The city state is one of the world's wealthiest nations with 2007 per-capita GDP of S$52,994 (US$35,163), according to government figures. Its greenhouse gas emissions are the same as many European countries at about 11 tonnes per person, compared with 20 tonnes for the United States and 4 for China.

In a submission to the United Nations last November, Australia said the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto's parent pact, let many advanced economies off the hook on carbon reduction obligations.

"Since the Convention was adopted in 1992 no work has been done to better differentiate the responsibilities of Parties," the submission said, adding the two annex lists of countries in the Kyoto Protocol were now out of date.

Chew said Singapore covered an area a fifth the size of Long Island in New York, was densely populated, lacked natural resources and its agricultural sector was virtually non-existent.

"With such economic restraints, we have no food security and are heavily dependent on trade and commerce for survival."

He also said the country was investing in research and development of solar and other clean-energy areas and that a decision to use natural gas in its power stations had slashed carbon emissions.

CRITICS

But critics point to booming sales of cars, rapid population growth, a vast petro-chemical industry and large shipping and aviation sectors as off-setting some of the benefits.

Government figures show 98 percent of the country's energy needs come from fossil fuels and that carbon emissions are rising 2.8 percent a year, despite energy efficiency programs.

The country's climate change strategy doesn't mention a government role in bringing down the city-state's absolute emissions, professor Natasha Hamilton-Hart of the National University of Singapore told the conference.

She said Singapore had to stop the fantasy of presenting itself as a developing nation and risked damaging its credibility in U.N. climate talks by asking others to make emissions cuts it was unwilling to make itself.

(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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Use new media wisely: Vivian

It can boost ties and understanding but also cause division and hatred
Kor Kian Beng, Straits Times 22 Feb 09;

The Young Sikh Association, which has hosted a website since its 2003 inception, has started a Facebook group. But this online presence is mainly to publicise its events.

So its president Hernaikh Singh, 45, has been wondering whether to launch a blog for more interaction among its 500-plus members, of whom over 30 per cent are non-Sikhs.

He knows the benefits. But the associate director at the Institute of South Asian Studies has one worry: the need to moderate the blog regularly so that no extremist or disparaging comments are posted against people of other faiths.

'As a responsible organisation, we do not want to end up creating issues that could have an impact on our mission and objectives,' he said.

Such concerns were highlighted by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, when he spoke yesterday at the inaugural Community Leaders' Conference.

The event was hosted by OnePeople.sg, a national body that champions racial harmony.

He told 200 community, religious and youth leaders at the Woodlands Regional Library how they can use new media to boost community relations, while being alert to possible perils.

'The new media is a very sharp tool. When used properly, it could lead to greater understanding, appreciation and confidence; but it could also cause division, suspicion, violence or hatred,' he said.

He cited the example of terrorism. While radicals and terrorists push their ideologies and draw recruits using the Internet, he said, the authorities also go on the Net to counter radicals and stop the spread of their networks.

He listed Singapore's efforts, like the Religious Rehabilitation Group website (www.rrg.sg) which counters radical ideologies in cyberspace.

The websites under the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) promote correct religious practices and help Internet surfers tell apart radical websites from legitimate ones.

He said: 'As community leaders, we need to be watchful and foster a vigilant online community.'

The message: Singapore will not tolerate those who incite disharmony.

That is why Singapore prosecuted three bloggers in 2007 under the Sedition Act, he said. 'Let me say categorically that we will not hesitate to do so again if need be.'

But new media also engages the youth. Young people actively contributed ideas for Singapore's successful bid to host the Youth Olympic Games next year, for instance. 'They have an interest in helping to shape Singapore,' he said.

Another plus of new media: spurring a civic-conscious Singapore by sharing ideas and sparking discussions online.

The OnePeople.sg portal launched at the event yesterday can help achieve that goal, he said. A joint enterprise with the National Library Board, it aims to be the first stop for students, researchers and the community seeking a range of expert resources on racial harmony.

He said the Government will continue to use a light touch and be pragmatic in e-engaging Singaporeans.

This can already be seen through recent measures, like relaxing the ban on party political films on the Internet and responding to online forum letters.

'The political landscape on the Net will evolve with the times. However, the true measure of involvement is the degree of participation and ownership of Singaporeans in nation building, problem solving and in shaping the future,' said Dr Balakrishnan.

The event ended with a dialogue chaired by Mr Felix Soh, Singapore Press Holdings' digital media editor.

He advocated a zero-tolerance approach to negative comments in sensitive areas like race, language and religion.

Questions centred on how community leaders should react to unreasonable online comments and how to encourage older Singaporeans to embrace new media.

Government says policies on new media will evolve as new challenges crop up
Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia 21 Feb 09;

SINGAPORE : The Singapore government has been embracing and even adopting new media for its work.

And while it is still some way from fully tapping the potential, the government said it will gradually evolve its policies with a light touch, as the Web2.0 revolution constantly throws up new challenges.

Singapore is the most wired city in the world. And according to a survey, young Singaporeans aged 15 to 24 spend an average of eight-and-a-half hours a day being connected.

And the government has been using new media outlets such as Facebook, YouTube and forums to hook up with citizens.

Another new media outlet is the OnePeople Portal.

The online resource on racial harmony was launched by the Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Saturday.

While the government is gradually liberalising its approach towards online engagement with its citizens, the minister added that one has to be responsible and careful when posting their thoughts online."

Dr Balakrishnan said: "Anonymity in cyberspace is an illusion. You will remember in 2007, we prosecuted three persons under the Sedition Act because of the blogs they put up which denigrated the religion of one of our communities in Singapore.

"The reason we did that was to send the message that your words have an impact; if need be, we can identify you, and if we have to, we will be prepared to prosecute you."

But there are some challenges in the government's use of new media to get public feedback.

Dr Milagros Rivera, member, Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society (AIMS), said: "We expected people to give feedback. Nobody did. I think seven people posted comments on the AIMS website, and then the blogosphere went crazy with all kinds of comments and discussions about New Media.

"You can have a very nice welcoming website for the government to give feedback. If people are not comfortable they will just stay in their little forums and in their blogs and they will do their thing."

And there is no doubt more challenges will crop up as cyberspace continues to evolve and change the way people communicate with one another. - CNA/ms

Citizen journalism employed by Singaporeans with issues to raise
Nina E Varghese, Channel NewsAsia 21 Feb 09;

SINGAPORE : Citizen journalism is more evident these days, especially with several forums for Singaporeans to express their views.

One platform is Channel NewsAsia's "I Journalist" programme - now into its second season - which has received positive feedback from viewers.

They are issues you confront, trends you notice and questions you do not seem to get an answer to. Rather than complain to friends and family, citizen journalists get involved.

The latest episode of "I Journalist" discussed construction noise in residential areas - an issue many are all too familiar with - and something film-maker Tan Pin Pin tolerated as a condominium was being built opposite her home.

Her issue resonated with many people Channel NewsAsia spoke to after receiving feedback about it.

One person said: "That is a problem because most of the time, I will be working night shift. I sleep in the day so I can't get enough sleep..."

Another person commented: "I live in an HDB flat and there has been upgrading programmes for a while. It is pretty noisy when they drill and hack for the lift works. Currently I am on maternity leave, so it affects the baby as well."

"I Journalist" viewer Meng Yew Choong said: "I could sympathise with some of the sentiments expressed. But at the same time, my sympathy is tempered by the fact that construction noise is not something that is permanent.

"The way they talk is as if it will never end. We all live within earshot of each other so it cannot be helped, it cannot be avoided."

Pin Pin got residents in her block to sign a petition asking for a ban on construction on Sundays and public holidays.

Some polytechnic students featured in the programme's first episode did the same - as they rallied for lower public transport fares with a petition.

The students have achieved some success, at least with the recent announcement of fare cuts.

Tiffany Ang, producer, "I Journalist", MediaCorp News, said: "'I Journalist' stems from the idea of citizen journalism, where the ideas come from the citizens themselves. And we take these ideas that are from the people and delve a little bit more into it to find out what issues there are, and see it in the larger Singapore context."

One person said: "I suppose it is a good thing, because it brings up certain issues that you may not necessarily be focusing on but which affect people in general."

"I Journalist" airs every Monday at 8.30pm on Channel NewsAsia. - CNA/ms

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Singapore not affected by haze in Sumatra

Air quality here being monitored and there is enough water for dry spell, says Yaacob
Huang Huifen, Straits Times 22 Feb 09;

Singapore has not been affected by the haze from forest fires on Indonesia's Sumatra island.

Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, gave this assurance yesterday when asked by reporters on the sidelines of a Mendaki event at Fort Canning Park.

Media reports last week stated that haze from forest fires in Indonesia's Riau islands was blowing towards Singapore, and the number of hot spots there was rising.

'The more important point is the project we have in Jambi. Now, the data is coming online, we are monitoring the air quality and it showed that there are no fires in the Muaro Jambi area,' he said.

'We hope the collaboration that Riau has with Malaysia will also bear fruit, as the countries in the region take responsibility for this problem.'

He also urged Singaporeans to do their part in preventing bush fires.

A record 292 fires have broken out in the bushland and forested areas here over the past two months.

Dr Yaacob stressed the importance of not littering, especially with cigarette butts.

Singaporeans must also stay vigilant and alert the authorities immediately if there is a fire.

'The bush fires may be small but they contribute to the haze and it will not improve our air quality,' he said.

He also emphasised that the nation's water resources are enough to ride out the current dry spell.

He said: 'We have Newater and desalinated water, both of which are independent of rainfall. So if need be, we can always ramp up production.

'I don't think Singaporeans should be alarmed.'

Haze continues to blanket Dumai
The Jakarta Post 21 Feb 09;

While rain has helped clear haze in Pekanbaru, citizens of Dumai – also in Riau province – have yet to see relief as thick haze continues to blanket the city.

Head of the Dumai Health Agency Agus Widayat said Saturday that the city has instructed citizens to reduce outdoor activity and to wear masks to decrease the risk of health problems.

Agus said the blanket of haze was at its worst on Thursday, when visibility was reduced to just 20 meters, forcing car drivers to turn on their lights during the day.

“The haze is still thick today, even though it's not as thick as two days ago,” he said as quoted by state news agency Antara.

The local weather agency has reported that, based on satellite observations, there were 48 haze hotspots in Riau province, seven of which were in Dumai.

Earlier this month, the province declared a state of alert over thickening smog created by the annual burning of rainforests. (dre)

Rain clears haze in Pekanbaru
The Jakarta Post 21 Feb 09;

Moderate rain which began on Friday has cleared thick haze cause by forest fires that had blanketed Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, the local weather agency reported Saturday.

Syarif Kasim, a staff member at the local Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said visibility in the city has improved from two kilometers in the past days to four kilometers on Saturday.

“We still have haze, but its no longer thick,” he said as quoted by Antara news agency.

The agency also reported that, based on satellite observation, there were 48 hotspots in Riau province.

Earlier this month, the province declared a state of alert over thickening smog haze created by the annual burning of rainforests. (dre)

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Rare U.S. jaguar caught, released in Arizona

Tim Gaynor, Reuters 20 Feb 09;

PHOENIX (Reuters) - An extremely rare jaguar has been captured and fitted with a satellite tracking collar by researchers in Arizona, who hope to shed light on the habits of one of the United States' most elusive predators.

Arizona Game and Fish Department officials caught the male cat Wednesday in a rugged area southwest of Tucson during a study to better understand bear and mountain lion habitat.

Jaguars roam over a vast area ranging from northern Argentina in the south to the rugged borderland wildernesses of Arizona and New Mexico, where they were thought to have vanished until two confirmed sightings in 1996.

Only a handful have ever been sighted in the United States since then, and very little is known about their habits.

The animal, thought to be at least 15 years old, was fitted with a collar containing a global positioning system, and released back into the wild, officials said.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to allow us to learn how the animal moves out in the landscape," said Bill Van Pelt, the department's birds and mammals program manager.

The U.S. government placed the animals under the Endangered Species Act protections in 1997. Since then, researchers using cameras set out on remote trails have identified just a handful of individual animals, all males.

The jaguars, the only roaring cats in the Americas, are thought to breed in Mexico and roam up over the border.

In recent years, concern over the well-being of the U.S. population has intensified as a program to build 670 miles of fencing gathers speed along the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200-km) southwest border with Mexico.

Van Pelt said the GPS collar fitted to the jaguar -- believed to be an animal known as Macho B, which has been periodically photographed over the past 13 years -- would allow scientists to track its movements back and forth over the border from Mexico and study its little known habits.

"The collar will also let us know kill sites, where it's eating, when it's eating ... (and) how it gets across major roads in country where there is a lot of human activity going on," he said in a telephone interview.

"It's just truly fascinating from a biological perspective."

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

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Save the whale (again): Secret plan to lift hunting ban

Twenty years ago, commercial whaling was outlawed. But hush-hush meetings between officials have paved the way for its return

Geoffrey Lean, The Independent 22 Feb 09;

Governments are preparing to breach the worldwide whaling ban, legitimising commercial killing of the giant creatures for the first time in more than 20 years.

Key whaling and anti-whaling nations have thrashed out a plan at a series of unpublicised closed-door meetings to allow Japan to kill the leviathans for gain, after outlawing it for two decades. It is to be presented to a special meeting of the official International Whaling Commission (IWC) early next month.

Environmentalists say that the plan amounts to “waving the white flag” to Japan and they fear that it will usher in a new era of legal whaling around the world.

All commercial whaling has been banned since 1986 after the governments who make up the IWC voted by a three-quarters majority for a moratorium on the practice which drove species after species to the brink of extinction.

But Japan has continued to slaughter in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, by exploiting a loophole in the international law which allows whales to be killed for “scientific” purposes.

Conservationists have harried these annual whale hunts on the high seas with their own ships, but the IWC has been powerless to stop the killing, even though Japan has steadily increased it beyond anything that could be justified for scientific research, and has sold the whale meat for food; this winter it is aiming to catch 935 minke and 50 fin whales.

The international body has remained powerless and deadlocked for decades, and even though both whaling and anti-whaling nations have assiduously recruited other countries to join them, neither side has been able to accumulate enough votes to give it victory under the IWC’s complex decision-making processes.

A year ago, as The Independent on Sunday exclusively reported at the time, the IWC began a series of closed meetings to try to find a compromise.

Since then a working group of 28 nations has met twice – in St Petersburg, Florida, in September and in Cambridge in December – and its leaders have thrashed out a package-deal proposal to put to a meeting of the full commission in Rome in two weeks’ time.

The proposal is so sensitive that the document containing it is officially classified as a “non-paper”, and only two people – the chairmen of the IWC and of the working group – formally take responsibility for it. But sources say it has been thrashed out by Japan and five leading anti-whaling nations, including the United States.

The package would accede to a long-standing Japanese demand by allowing it to hunt minke whales near its coasts for an initial five-year period. It presents two options for dealing with “scientific” whaling – phasing it out over five years or effectively legitimising it – but Japan has already ruled out ending the practice, leaving only legitimisation on the table.

Patrick Ramage, of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, yesterday denounced the plan as “a political fix to give Japan what it wants” and accused conservationist nations of “waving the white flag”.

Mark Simmons, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said that the package amounted to a “de facto lifting of the moratorium”. He feared that other nations would seek similar deals, leading to a worldwide revival of legal whaling.

But Alvaro de Soto, a Peruvian diplomat who chairs the working group, called the package “eminently practical”. He added: “If it is followed it will require compromise, possibly painful, by all concerned, which we profoundly hope they will be willing to make.”

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China's Chery Auto unveils electric car: company

Yahoo News 20 Feb 09;

SHANGHAI (AFP) – China's largest independent carmaker Chery Automobile rolled off its first plug-in electric car this week, the latest Chinese automotive company to produce an alternative energy vehicle.

The all-electric car, S18, can go up to 150 kilometres (93 miles) on one charge and has a maximum speed of 120 kilometres (72 miles) an hour, the company said in a statement.

The battery can be fully charged within six hours using a 220-volt home outlet, while 80 percent of the battery can be charged within 30 minutes, it said.

"The price will be very suitable for families," Yuan Tao, vice president of Chery said, without offering details.

It was also unclear when the car would be available to buy.

Unlike another Chinese carmaker, the BYD Co, which began selling its plug-in electric hybrid car in China in December, the Chery has not given the S18 the option of running on petrol.

BYD's plug-in hybrid, named the F3DM, can travel 100 kilometres on its battery, or 580 kilometres in hybrid mode with petrol.

Domestic manufacturers of clean vehicles are likely to get a boost from the government in the form of a policy package to help the car industry through the global economic crisis.

China's Ministry of Finance said Tuesday the government planned to subsidise purchases of alternative energy vehicles to expand domestic demand, boost the domestic car industry and reduce pollution emissions.

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The vanishing village of the Sunderbans

The Telegraph India 22 Feb 09;

An island, which contributes minimally to climate change with a few thousand people and not even a single motorised vehicle, is going under water due to the phenomenon.

The documentary Mean Sea Level, directed by Pradip Saha for the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), tries to tell the story of Ghoramara island in the Sunderbans.

Ghoramara, located about 150 km south of Calcutta and immediately north of Sagar island — close to where the Hooghly meets the sea — is about 4.8 sq km in area. It has lost land roughly half that size in the last three decades to the Hooghly. Though a few argue that the submergence is caused by the dynamics of the river’s flow, most experts feel that the rising sea triggered by global warming and melting glaciers is the dominant factor behind the disappearance of islands in the Sunderbans.

A study by the oceanographic department of Jadavpur University found that roughly 80 sq km in the Sunderbans have vanished under water in three decades.

“My house was there, then there was a temple; a church; a pond…before the entire Lohachara island vanished,” an elderly person in the film, sitting in a boat, points at the stretch of the river where the island stood 18 years back.

The one-hour film is also about the lives and livelihoods of climate refugees, who are growing in number as more land is submerged.

“What happened in Lohachara 18 years back is happening in Ghoramara now and many feel it will affect Sagar island tomorrow. We tried to show that while the rest of the world has only been talking about climate, islands like Ghoramara are being submerged and affecting the lives and livelihoods of thousands,” said Saha.

“The evacuated people from Lohachara were settled in Ghoramara and Sagar, people from Ghoramara have been trying to find shelter in Sagar and maybe in the mainland. Sagar may be threatened in future… where will all these people go? What will they do to survive since their traditional livelihoods of agriculture and fishery are being destroyed?” — the film raises questions not easy to answer. More than 7,000 people have lost their homes in Ghoramara.

“Houses shown in the film are no more there,” said Das. The film was shot between February and July in 2008.

Mean Sea Level says that people are suffering not only because the sea level or the global temperature is rising, but because “somewhere a reckless society is having a party” at their expense.

If the submergence continues, Calcutta can experience a huge influx of climate refugees from the Sunderbans in India and Bangladesh.

“The film is not only about climate change but the human tragedy that it creates. No wonder the global human development report has identified climate change as the greatest human development tragedy,” said an environmentalist.

The film will be launched in Ghoramara island on February 25 in the presence of governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, CSE chief and environmentalist Sunita Narain and Sunderbans affair minister Kanti Ganguly. The Calcutta screening will be at Max Mueller Bhavan on February 27.

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