Guyana flood of 2005

It is now 2 years since the 'Great Flood'. Said to be Guyana's worst natural disaster. Thankfully we have been spared a repeat - so far. Lessons have been learned and many improvements made in neglected infrastructure. The medium prospects remain uncertain however given climate change.
Here is an SDNP website from 2005 with links to other flood web sites (not all of which still exist) documenting the event.
Here is a Stabroek News article from today about families still recovering from the flood.

Guyana sea level

Reading a recent BBC article on sea level rise I was reminded of an article in one of our main national newspapers (Stabroek News) . The first article is about recent research suggesting that the rate of sea level rise is more than some had predicted and is about 10mm per year:

The team from Germany and the US found that for the timescale relevant to human-induced climate change, the observed rate of sea level rise through the 20th Century held a strong correlation with the rate of warming.
When applied to the possible scenarios outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the researchers found that in 2100 sea levels would be 0.5-1.4m above 1990 levels.

This agrees with local records which are referred to in the Stabroek News article:

According to the project document, an analysis of tide gauge records from 1951 to 1979 shows the trend in sea level rise for Guyana to be in excess of 10 mm/year, which implies a net change in sea level of 0.9 ft for the 28-year period examined. Assuming that the rate found remains constant then the net change in the sea level from 1951 - 2005 is some 1.8 feet. According to the studies quoted in the PID, sea level rise in the region of Guyana is 2 to 5 times faster than the global estimate.

The project referred to seek to address water control issues arising from climate change.
Given that most of our population lives near or below sea level these figures indicate how serious the situation is for us here! Short-term planning no longer suffices...

Rain forest into savannah

In an AP article:

Global warming could spell the end of the world's largest remaining tropical rain forest, transforming the Amazon into a grassy savanna before end of the century, researchers said Friday.

Jose Antonio Marengo, a meteorologist with Brazil's National Space Research Institute, said that global warming, if left unchecked, will reduce rainfall and raise temperatures substantially in the ecologically rich region.

This was an extreme scenario but climate change is happening and the edges of the rain forest are, I would guess, likely to be affected first. So our prized rain forest is definitely under threat. It is time we paid more attention to this issue. We need to take more steps to make our contribution towards reducing carbon emissions. There are things we can do which may actually save us money but do require behaviour change - and that is tough, but not impossible (see link below).

Links

Guyana and global warming

Guyanese bloggers - a list of blogs

Looking around for other Guyanese bloggers I found a list at the blog of friend Taran (of Trinidad), many of which are not very active. I decided a quick review might be useful so here it is. I include what other sites I found using dependable Google and ended up with a better list of active blogs - a dozen or so, mostly at Blogspot. I have omitted sites which no longer exist, are no longer blogs or have not been updated for more than a year. This blog is included for completeness though I am at a loss as to how to describe it...

Some observations - a number of blogs started around the time of the national elections (August 2006), two bloggers account for nearly half the blogs both of whom seem to be politically motivated, most use Blogspot.

Active
Golden Grove - Nabaclis Historical Society - politics and history (Started 2004)
Guyana - local tales and stories (Started 2005)
Guyana - Civil Society Speaks - general commentary (Started 2005)
Guyana - Open For Business - general commentary (Started 2004)
Guyana Diaspora - achievements of Guyanese overseas (Started 2006)
Guyana Genealogical and Biographical Society - local history (Started 2004)
GuyanaPalace.com Blog - general commentary (Started 2006)
Guyana Plunder Without Profit - forestry issues (Started 2006)
Guyana Providence Stadium - about the new cricket stadium and CWC 2007(Started 2005)
Guyana Visionaries - general commentary (Started 2005)
Guyana 360 - general commentary (Started 2006)
Living Guyana - a blog of a media critic (Started 2005)
Wondering Thoughts - a diverse and unusual collection of posts on development, IT and other issues
The Guyana Grove - general commentary from a woman's perspective (Started 2005)
The People of East Coast Demerara - politics and history (Started 2005)

Not so active - Two or less updates in the past 6 months
Descendants Of Sancho - family history (Started 2002)
Edgar Mittelholzer - literary / historical (Started 2006)
Guyana Resource Center - useful cricket links (Started 2005)
Jono's Blog - literary / historical, many links (Started 2006)
Kyk-Over-Al - literary / historical (Started 2005)
Martin Carter - literary / historical (Started 2005)

And concerning Iran...

I have always had a soft spot for Iran since becoming a Baha'i some 30 plus years ago - understandable when you know the history and the good things the Baha'i Writings say about it. I even spent time learning to read and write Persian though I have forgotten most of it now. So I was glad to hear that there is still support at the UN for the persecuted Baha'i community of Iran.
According to the Baha'i World News Service of Dec. 20th:

The United Nations General Assembly yesterday adopted a resolution expressing "serious concern" over the human rights situation in Iran, including the escalation of violations against Iranian Baha'is.

Their continuing plight is not forgotten and is continuing to draw attention even in Iran itself.