I hope you managed to catch part I. But don’t worry if you missed it, the rest of the story is the most stirring!

Day 10. Thursday 20th March

At 4:45am, a strange time, the Lagos marines were finally discharged from their ‘guard’ duties and allowed to fly back to their home base. They were replaced by two Pathfinder marines who stood at arms all the time.

The day started as they all normally do in this navy base. The patrol boats, all re-fuelled the evening before were made ready for patrol and loaded up with their 12.7 mm machine guns fore and aft, their AK47’s and the ammunition for the day’s patrols. The navy’s Pathfinder group is responsible for the security of the Bonny River and its creeks in their fight against piracy, abduction and sabotage.

It was very frightening each day when machine gun fire broke the jungle silence as test rounds zipped overhead and into the forests around the base, but I learned to watch for the powder dust cloud of the fired ammunition and knew the sound would follow. The patrol (gunboats) then disappeared up river and creeks and arrived back at base late afternoon. Some six ribs formed the squadron, five serviceable with one under repair.

Fortunately they left us with our mobile phones which meant we could communicate with contacts back home.

Day 11. Friday 21st March

Good Friday, although I’ve never known what was supposed to be good about it! Today was to be my apocalypse, my Armageddon however you would like to describe it.

Roused a little early by the morning watch, at 06:20, I brewed a cup of coffee and went on deck to look at the comings and goings of this morning’s Pathfinders patrol. Just 20 yards from me I watched the lead RIB skipper (our friendly marine who only a couple of days ago let us know it would be best to remain in the navy base) who was finalising his preparations and crew for his next patrol. It was 6:45am now and I can still recall in slow motion how he checked over his shoulder to look at the outboards as he switched on the engine ignition.

In an instant I was looking at hell on earth! A wall of flame some 30ft high engulfed all the personnel on board the RIB. I could only make out shadows moving horrifically in the flames and no opportunity to help. One marine on fire, head to foot, appeared out of the holocaust, wearing heavy body armour and jumped into the river never to surface again.

I watched in fright and awe as the first RIB and its personnel disintegrated before my very eyes. Then the realisation that ordinance was exploding all around us and our vessel. Our crew, except the chief engineer who had bolted to the engine room to make ready to go, buried themselves behind the sand bags stacked at the stern of our vessel. For 30 mins my head was full of the noise of exploding ordinance. I was concentrating on keeping the Nigerian crew calm, as they were clearly terrified.

A break in the bangs, booms and zipping of bullets and a peer over the topsides. Almighty, not just one gunboat had gone up in flames, but one after another, after another. Five burning hulks came floating slowly past our vessel on the flood tide.

Now was the time to run ashore and run we did. We weaved our way passed spent heavy calibre shell casings praying that no more were on their deadly way. No time to look back now as we sought the shelter of the boats on the hardstanding. Another quarter of an hour was to pass before an all clear was declared.

I’ve never seen such devastation, but during the whole event it felt as though it was a film.

Removal of the bodies was a gruesome task. Rather than being ‘charred’ as I expected, I found it very bizarre that the bodies were white, arms and legs rigid in the final death throes of the fire.

That night myself and the three South Africans were accommodated ‘for our own safety’ in what was described as the officers hostel. The bars on the windows and doors, and us all sleeping together in the one room with a seven man guard really gave it away. We were never permitted to stray more than 100 yards from the ‘hostel’.

Day 12. Saturday 22nd March

This was now the time (I felt) to make contact with the British High Commissioner. He was unavailable to make a visit as he had no driver, but would endeavour to make representations the following day.

Day 13. Sunday 23rd March

The British High Commissioner turned up today. He was of very little help as his authority was not recognised by the naval base commander. Indeed he had other pressing matters later in the day, he had to get back in time to watch the football match.

Up to now the Marines had always kept their personal weapons with them. At one point after the Commissioner had left, a marine stood his rifle against the wall next to where I was sitting. He took some empty coke bottles into the kitchen. He was a friendly chap who I had known for a week or so and we got on well.

At this point where despair was almost total, all that went through my mind was ‘pick up the rifle, kill him and run’. It then dawned on me that yes, one would be dead and we could move to the door, but the guards who remained outside would mow us down before we got past the threshold. This thought stayed with me until the marine returned and reclaimed his weapon.

This was the only time in my life when I have ever thought about and could possibly have killed a man for real.

Day 14. Monday 24th March

Easter Monday, our deliverance day! I’m not religious but the significance of the hell of Good Friday and our release on Easter Monday was not lost on me.

We had been instructed by the company, through mobile phone calls, to show the marines how to operate our vessel the ‘Spitfire’ and all her idiosyncrasies. It was after this familiarisation with our vessel that I felt the most vulnerable. In effect they no longer needed us for anything to do with the vessel.

It appeared now that we had become a liability. With the tragic loss of the navy’s vessels and men on the Friday and a heightened risk of us ‘whites’ being kidnapped by the militants we became a genuine risk to their operations. Therefore at 4:30pm out of the blue, our associate the ex Nigerian Police Chief turned up at the naval base. After some discussion and paperwork we were dispatched in two military vehicles, two armed guards in each, to Port Harcourt for a hotel room. The next morning we caught the first available flight out to Lagos.

What a relief!

The following two weeks were spent in a Lagos hotel waiting to see if release orders would have any effect on us returning for the ship.

This period allowed us to reflect, report and talk through the events of the previous fortnight. I think this helped me hugely as I found it a relief to be able to talk about what I’d seen instead of coming straight back home and maybe keeping the death and destruction all bottled up.

The Nigerian Authorities did not release our patrol boat, so one month after arriving I was back on another British Airways flight back to blighty and the security of home.

Epilogue

We came to the conclusion that it was always the intention of the Nigerians to acquire our patrol vessel. Several representations had been made to our company for the purchase of our vessel during pre-planning discussions, which were all refused.

We felt the incident was simply the accident waiting to happen. Militants claimed it was of their doing when the extent of death and destruction finally became known. The militants and the authorities made denials, claims and counter claims which resulted in widely inaccurate reporting of this incident across Africa and in the European press. Google: ‘nigerian navy pathfinders’ to view several media reports of this incident.

This account, albeit with some detail and names omitted for obvious reasons, is to record the times, dates and casualty reports as accurately as possible from personnel who were there!

The Authorities

It is not unknown for deceit and corruption at the highest level to occur in this part of the world. Google: ‘vanishing oil tankers’ to get some of the background stories.

The Militants (MEND)

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta believe they are fighting corruption as the oil taxation revenues were originally imposed to ensure that education and health policies and programs were established for the good of the nation. They are having a major impact on the reduction of revenues through piracy, sabotage of pipelines and oil production facilities, kidnapping and murder.

The author is the editor and publisher of an online power boat magazine for sports and professional users of rigid hull inflatable boats, RIBs. www.hotribs.com

Among cigar smokers, it is always just “the embargo.” After all, though governments declare trade and other kinds of embargoes for various reasons all the time, no other such order has so affected the lives of those who smoke cigars as has the United States’ trade embargo against Cuba, created by executive order by John F. Kennedy in 1962 and in force ever since. At the time, Cuba was the world’s undisputed cigar capital, thanks both to the uniquely fine tobacco of its Vuelta Abajo district and its history as the first place where many Western explorers and colonists encountered the ancient ritual of rolled tobacco-leaf smoking. As a matter of fact, though, that “cigar capital” status is increasingly being challenged by offerings from Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic—a fact that itself relates to our initial subject, The Embargo.

The trade embargo, banning imports to and exports from Cuba, is doubly ironic. After all, the two countries had enjoyed close trade relations for years; indeed, Cuba’s political and economic ties to the United States were seen as one reason for the latter’s willingness to go to war, in 1898, to secure the smaller island nation’s freedom from colonial Spain—a “freedom” that, as many observers then and now have pointed out, was sharply limited by Cuba’s utter dependence on the US. With the larger county accounting for a whopping percentage of the island’s exports (eighty-two percent as of 1877) and making periodic attempts at seizing Cuba for itself throughout the nineteenth century (the most famous being the 1854 Ostend Manifesto), it’s widely thought that Cuba, by accepting the assistance of its neighbor to the north in its struggle for independence, merely exchanged one kind of colonialism for another, slightly less obvious version. (Indeed, the guns had barely stopped firing when a US-owned company began offering Americans Cuban land; and US troops only left the country when its leaders agreed to accept the Platt Amendment, which stipulated the US’s right to intervene in the Cuban economy and political process as desired.) Whether you think that Cuban-US relations prior to 1959 were domineering, neo-colonialist, or just rather cozy, the Cuban revolution of 1959 put an end to that longstanding friendship.

The other major irony is that, according to aide Pierre Salinger, President Kennedy made a point of purchasing 1200 H. Upmann cigars the night before the embargo began. (Salinger himself was dispatched to make the purchase.) The trade embargo, in other words, was signed into law by a man who was himself no stranger to the taste of a fine Cuban cigar.

But that’s not the end of the story—and here it becomes doubly ironic again. As the embargo outlasted generations of activist efforts to change it (it even became federal law thanks to the 1992 Cuban Democracy Act and the 1996 Helms-Burton Act), even surviving the frequently-expressed criticism that it merely strengthens Castro while preventing needed aid from reaching ordinary poor Cubans (even staunch conservative George Schultz, who was Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state, has called the embargo “insane”), the Cuban cigar industry has been challenged, and some might even say eclipsed, by cigar makers in neighboring countries.

In what we might call the Stogie Diaspora, some of Cuba’s best-regarded, longest-established cigar-making families fled the country during any of the several waves of emigration that have punctuated Castro’s reign. Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras have absorbed an especially high number of these once-Cuban powerhouses. These immigrants have flourished in their new homes, to the point where cigars from these countries routinely top international rankings. Though a Cuban cigar remains a peak memory for many dedicated cigar smokers, the expertise of these Castro-evading expatriates has allowed these countries’ cigar industries to attract some of the prestige that once attached only to their island neighbor. For example, Nicaragua’s importance as a source of cigars is so established that its cigar industry has managed to survive not only the Sandinista-era decision to turn the country’s tobacco crop to cigarette tobacco (which was thankfully reversed in the early 1990s), but, more importantly, the utterly disastrous Hurricane Mitch, which left thirty percent of the country’s infrastructure standing.

Adding insult, perhaps, to injury, many of these same countries have benefited from the assistance of Castro’s Cuba over the years. In Honduras, for example, the two countries’ history of cooperation allowed the Hondurans to learn tobacco cultivation from the experts (some of whom then decided to remain in country permanently!).

CigarFox provides you the opportunity to build your own sampler of the finest cigars that include cigar brands like Montecristo, Romeo & Julieta, H Upmann, Macanudo, Cohiba, Partagas, Gurkha and many more. Choose from more than 1200 different cigars! Other cigar products include cigar humidors, cigar boxes, and cigar accessories like Zippo Lighters.

Sustainable development is a broad concept that refers to meeting the needs of people without hurting the environment. The concept covers meeting economic, environmental and social needs of everyone without hurting anyone or anything in the process.

What is sustainable development? The concept was brought to life and named by The World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987. Since it’s conception, the concept has become a major focus in the 1990s to the present time.

What is sustainable development related to hunger? The concept would attempt to make sure that all people have enough to eat no matter what their income is. Whether you are well off or live in absolute or relative poverty, you would legally have the right and the ability to purchase foods to provide you and your family with an adequate number of calories each day to maintain health.

What is sustainable development related to economics? All people in the workforce have a right to economic growth without undermining the environment, natural resources and the incomes of the next and future generations. Safeguards are put in place by the world government so that labor standards are put into effect along with mechanisms for compliance internationally. People that work with hazardous materials have rules to follow to keep themselves and the environment safe. People that work in high places must use safety equipment to ensure they don’t slip and fall. Accidents do happen; however, many times accidents are related to human error when the rules of safety are not followed correctly.

What is sustainable development related to food service? Domestic foods are regulated by the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN); it also regulates foods that are imported at the point where they were received into the US. The US Department of Agriculture and the FDA require that workers in the food service industry have people in place to educate and train all food handlers how to prevent food-born illnesses though applied safety measures.

What is sustainable development related to preventing food-born illnesses in the food industry? Foods meant to be served cold must sit in ice when left in the open. Staff is responsible for recording the temperature of food, and if the temperature falls below the safe zone it must be discarded at once. All foods left out in the open for the public to serve themselves, such as in a salad bar or a buffet must have a shield between the food and the customers that serve themselves. This shield is to prevent contamination from people breathing, sneezing or coughing.

What is sustainable development related to dairy and meat farming? Sustainable farming does not use practices such as giving antibiotics or hormones, and once processed, the meat cannot be irradiated. In factory farming animals are almost driven insane with fear and cramped conditions, but in sustainable farming the animals are treated humanely. What is sustainable development? It is all the things mentioned above and so much more.

Goals of Sustainable Development in Urban and Rural Industries

The goals of sustainable development concerning the world system are to promote freedom of sociopolitical expression, economic freedom, as well as to protect human rights. The Goals also include that the governments are willing to invest in their citizens health, education and welfare. Workers and business people in the urban and rural regions of the world join in a team effort to make a living while preserving economic and environmental resources.

The goals of sustainable development are to preserve raw materials, conserve our natural resources such as water and energy. Learning to be conservative starts at home; we can start by recycling or reusing the items that would be detrimental to the environment. Articles such as plastic bags, plastic bottles do nothing more than clog up the landfills. As an individual, you can help fulfill the goals of sustainable development by separating paper, plastics, aluminum, and glass; these items will be re-manufactured into new products.

In the workplace, the goals of sustainable development are similar; you may be asked to reduce waste in your job. One of the goals of sustainable development is conservation of energy. Everyone can conserve by shutting off lights that are not in use. Tossing out the old incandescent light bulbs and putting in the new energy saving light bulbs saves energy and lasts much longer. Some light bulbs last up to 5 years.

In farming businesses, where our food originates, are reaching goals of sustainable development by changing over from fossil fuels to renewable forms of energy. The approaches the farmers use to achieve the goals of sustainable development may differ from businesses in the urban sector. A cattle farmer may divide his pasture land into subdivisions so that the cows can graze on different sections of the land in a rotation. The advantage to doing this is to manage the integrity of the soil, and the cattle can get adequate food to promote weight gain. To provide shade and cut the wind, farmers sometimes plant trees; this helps the livestock and also prevents lost soil through soil erosion.

In the food farming business, goals are to preserve the integrity of the soil, control or eliminate pests, and produce large crops that produce a good income to take care of their families. Goals of sustainable development are quite broad; one goal is to plant more than one kind of crop. This is called diversification; unlike mono-farming, where the farmer grows one crop, the grower is more likely to make a good profit even if the weather doesn’t cooperate. A farmer that is banking on one crop may lose that crop and lose his income; however, a diversified farmer that grows two or more crops is more likely to have a good yield of at least one of his crops. The goals of sustainable development vary from industry to industry; but in the end the the goals are met to promote socioeconomic growth, while preserving the environment.

Marcilio David M.D. is a Cardiologist, Clinic Owner and Internet Entrepreneur. Get your FREE report, receive a tips newsletter and learn more about Sustainable Development by visiting: The Sustainable development Guide.

The global opportunities have provided many doors for skilled workers and professionals all over the world. The compensation presented by the developed countries is very inviting. Many workers from the third world country are leaving their home to look for greener pastures. No one can really blame them. They would rather sweat it out in a nation that promises reward, than stay where they are, work as much, and earn way too little.

One of the best examples of professionals who are seeking employment abroad is the medical practitioners. Since the nurses are in demand in the different parts of the world, many take up the course, work for about two years, and leave their homeland to wear their landau scrubs somewhere else.

This is not only happening in medical industries. Engineers, pilots, and other professionals are leaving their countries to try their luck in developed countries as well. Although this is good for personal development, this is bad news for the local businesses.

Brain drain is slowly creeping to the veins of local industries. It is difficult because an organization cannot stop a person from leaving the company. He is free to explore other opportunities for the development of his potentials. However, it is very difficult for the country to grow if it continues to lose its talented human resources. When an organization loses talented personnel, there is a chain reaction. First, the organization has to find a replacement. When they find a replacement, they have to train him. The organization cannot expect him to perfect the processes after the training so he will incur certain damages. When he finally gets his act together, the possibility for him to look for better job abroad presents itself.

Although the local businesses want to keep their best assets, they cannot. This is simply because local businesses could not match the compensation offered in the developed countries. An employee who wishes to provide a good future for his family would opt to work overseas where his income is six times greater than what he is earning in his country.

This also has adverse effect on healthcare industries. Some countries are losing their doctors to nursing. There are doctors who give up their profession to take up nursing because of better opportunities abroad. Nowadays, fewer students in the third world countries are pursuing medicine, while doctors slowly shift professions. If this trend continues, the health care industry in developing countries will surely suffer.

It is good to note that many developed countries are opening its doors for talented people from all over the world. However, this has also caused threatening situations in some portion of the world. Many nurses and doctors are leaving their country to wear their landaus scrubs in a more prosperous land. Engineers, pilots and other professionals are doing the same thing. If the government of these developing countries does not do something about it, they will lose their prized assets. Now is the best time to look into the factors that will make their professionals stay.

Brent McNutt is actively involved in the subject of Landau Scrubs such as landau scrub and landau medical scrubs and enjoys networking with healthcare professionals online.

It is no wonder that the plethora of services Metropolitan Life Insurance Company provided favorably affected the life and health of the insured. Almost from the very beginning the mortality of industrial policyholders reflected the effectiveness of the welfare campaign. Death rates began to retreat more rapidly for these insured than for the rest of the population.

The mortality figures for industrial policyholders in the early 1900’s were about half what they were at the inception of the effort. Among children the saving in mortality was about 75%. The average child born at that time could expect to live 16 years longer than the one born a generation ago. These dramatic figures and the human values behind them attracted worldwide attention.

They gave tremendous stimulation to official and voluntary health activities on behalf of the entire nation. The welfare service more than paid for itself in deaths postponed, in many homes made happier, and in the ever increasing social point of view which motivated the life insurance (http://www.equote.com/li/termlifeinsurance.html) agent.

The culminating achievement of the administration at the time was the completion of the mutualization of the Metropolitan in 1915. In the beginning the company was organized as a stock venture, as a business conducted for profit. That was in line with the spirit of the times, which encouraged the investment of capital for business expansion.

Yet no one could have foreseen the extraordinary success of the organization, its rapid growth in number of policyholders and in assets, and the consequent influence of its position. It was exceedingly fortunate that the Charter of the Company limited the dividends of stockholders to 7% on their investment. Although the business ran into billions of dollars, piling up sizable reserves and surpluses, the stockholders were prohibited by charter from ever receiving more than $140,000 a year on the $2,000,000 of stock.

Yet the danger was ever present that, in some future administration, efforts might be made to obtain control of the company through purchase of a majority stock interest. There might thus result a directorate and management which would not so zealously protect the interests of policyholders, making such luxuries as occupationally available low cost life insurance, http://www.equote.com/info/life-insurance-info.html, a thing of the past. The administration realized this danger keenly; and Mr. Ecker, who then was Treasurer, was given the opportunity to carry on the mutualization negotiations with the stockholders.

A word must be said for the generous and broadminded attitude of Joseph P. Knapp, son of the former President, and one of the most active of the Board of Directors. His readiness to turn in his large stock holdings at the modest figure of $300 per share made a solution favorable to the policyholders quickly possible. Through payment of only $6,000,000, the Company once and for all removed any obstacle which stood in the way of complete ownership and control by its policyholders.

Such a fundamental transfer had been the hope of the administration for a long time; and in completing these delicate negotiations, the farseeing judgment of the management was demonstrated. From then on no individual could control the life insurance company (http://www.equote.com/li/term-life-insurance-quote.html) against the best interests of the policyholders who composed it. The officers and the staff were their employees not only in form but in substance; and thus was achieved the underlying democratic principle inherent in mutual life insurance.

The president at that time died in 1929, and was succeeded by Frederick H. Ecker, who, since 1883, had been in turn Office Boy, Clerk, Manager of the Bond Department, Comptroller, Treasurer, a member of the Board of Directors, and Vice President. For 20 years he had shared with the president the responsibilities of administration. As the investment officer of the company, he had guided the finances of the organization along constructive lines, assuring stability and sound business methods in the control of the company’s assets.

He had achieved a notable position not only in the insurance world but in that of finance. He had become expert in the diverse problems of urban real estate, and especially its complexities in New York City. His advice was widely sought by leading railroads, and he was particularly constructive in reorganizing those in financial difficulties. In all these transactions he had safeguarded the interests of the company, setting it up for what seemed like a successful future.

Sarah Martin is a freelance marketing writer specializing in business, financial planning, and low cost life insurance. For a life insurance quote without exam, please visit http://www.equote.com.

Yesterday saw a historic day for the divided island of Cyprus. During the last 34 years the island has been split into what effectively count as two separate nations: Cyprus, and the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Under the last Greek Cypriot leader, T. Papadopoulos, the impetuous for reunification stalled. When the Annan plan was rejected, in 2004, by referendum – a referendum which saw Turkish Cypriots support and Greek Cypriots reject the plan – there were fears that the pessimism and lack of progress which have long defined attitudes on both sides of the Green Line had returned for good.

When the moderate, left-wing Demetris Christofias was voted into power this February the world was reminded that long entrenched obstacles, and issues thought to be irresolvable, are often given that appearance of permanency only within a transitory political climate. In the case of Papadopoulos, his anti-reunification stance made it difficult to be optimistic over the issues that are now being discussed in Cyprus. Christofias, who has made public the fact that his primary objective as President is reunification of the island, has both an ideological and personal connection with his counterpart, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

The current round of talks – which began yesterday at a compound close to the last divided capital city in Europe, Nicosia – are being seen by commentators as providing the best chance yet of bringing reunification to the island. It is not just the personal ideologies and aspirations of the two moderate, left-leaning leaders that is motoring the drive towards a lasting settlement being made, but also the broader political climate, and especially Turkey’s relationship to the EU.

Turkey, which made a promise in 2005 to open its air and sea ports to Cypriot traffic, has been engaged with the EU on the Cyprus problem for the last couple of years, and their membership is, to a large degree, resting upon their response to the current round of negotiations (especially with Cyprus, an EU member now, still possessing their right of veto). EU membership talks had been plodding along at a regular pace until December 2006, when EU ministers decided to slow them down due to the fact that the EU and the country could not reconcile the promises that they had made to one another: the EU to provide aid and end the economic and diplomatic isolation of North Cyprus, and Turkey to open its ports.

The upshot of the talks yesterday seem positive, and reports place both leaders in high spirits immediately following the first day’s events. The leaders have agreed to meet again of the 11th of this month, with the hope that they will meet once a week to further flesh out the agenda towards reunification.

The property market in North Cyprus presently represents one of the best opportunities for investment in Europe. Not only is the county blessed with natural beauty – making it an ideal location for people wishing to retire or to buy to let abroad – but property prices in the North are currently far lower than in the South and far, far lower than in other locations on the Med – Spain for example. At the moment, the currency of the North is the New Turkish Lira, though wages and property deals are normally negotiated in Sterling. With the Euro now far less attractive against the pound, purchasing in pounds is far more sensible for a British buyer. When reunification occurs it is more than likely that Turkey will, like all other soon-to-be EU members, try to bolster their current currency so that joining the Euro does not equate to a recessionary pressure on their domestic economy. What this means for an investor is that buying in pounds now is a sure fire way of securing a return when reunification brings the two halves of this divided island back together.

More at White Rocks

After thirty years of failed peace talks, intensive discussions began again yesterday (3rd September ’08), between the Greek and Turkish, Cyprian leaders over the reunification of Cyprus to make it once again a united state. Both parties agree on the notion of two-party federation; however it is the details of the governing body which still need to be worked upon.

Due to the inability to reach a settlement in the past, United Nations officials are aware of the difficulties that lie ahead, however feel that both presidents are united in a common goal. Alexander Downer, the former Australian foreign minister who is the UN’s new special adviser to the talks, felt “a degree of optimism because I know the leadership is committed to a successful negotiation process. But I have no illusions on how difficult this is”.

Mehmet Ali Talat, the Turkish Cypriot leader is positive, believing that the framework of the agreement could be drawn up by the end of 2008, however Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot president has to deal with challenges from staunch nationalists opposed to a settlement, and is less optimistic, avoiding naming a deadline for the agreement.

In 2004 the Greek Cypriots rejected an UN-sponsored peace plan in a landside referendum which prevented the poorer Turkish Cypriot community from joining the EU, despite supporting the plan in a separate vote. It seems that their attitudes have changed significantly since then. Christofias has gained a lot of support since last February when he won the presidential election off the back of his wish to form a settlement. Opinion polls show that approximately 70 per cent of Greek Cypriots approve of Christofias’ handling of the situation. “There’s been a shift in opinion, with Greek Cypriots coming to realise that the costs of not getting a solution are higher than the benefits,” Philip Savvides, an Athens-based analyst.

Christofias, has the official support of the rightwing Democratic Rally under Nikos Anastasiades, unlike the communists who Christofias represents, they have always backed the peace deal; however more than 60 per cent of Greek Cypriot voters are loyal to one of these two parties, so provided a new peace plan addresses issues such as security, property and territory it should be successful.

Unlike his predecessors Christofias is realistic about the reunification talks, accepting that the Greek Cypriots will have to make concessions over territory, property and accept that settlers from mainland Turkey have permanent Cyprus residence, if they wish to achieve an agreement. As they have been members of the EU for four years, and last January entered Eurozone, the Greek Cypriot party no longer has high concerns about security. However reaching an agreement about the removal of the 30,000 Turkish troops in north Cyprus will provide a testing topic.

The Turkish government is also more positive about matters that in previous talks. Wne he visited north Cyprus in July the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, praised Talat’s “active and constructive efforts” to re-start direct peace talks. Perhaps this time a positive outcome is not an unlikely possibility, and this would benefit the island greatly, giving Turkish Cypriots access to the full benefits of the EU and increasing the economy – especially the already growing property markets, for both north and south Cyprus.

Hannah Walker is a writer for www.whiterocksbafra.com

‘The Sahara Forest’ project is an ambitious proposal to turn areas of the dry arid desert into real-life oases. A team of architects and engineers are aiming to combine huge seawater greenhouses with solar power plants in the desert to provide food, fresh water and clean energy. They will use mirrors to focus the sun’s rays and generate heat and electricity, and eradicate the need to dig for fresh water creating lush areas of vegetation.

The vast majority of plants cannot grow in the desert due to the extreme temperature and lack of water, the seawater greenhouse can make these arid environments vegetation friendly. Charlie Paton is part of the Sahara team and the inventor of these greenhouses.

“So we’ve got conditions in the greenhouse of high humidity and lower temperature,” said Paton. “The crops sitting in this slightly steamy, humid condition can grow fantastically well.”

Paton said that the greenhouse produces over five times required for watering the plants so after cleaning the mirrors, the excess can be released into the local environment, creating a local microclimate outside the greenhouses for hardier plants such as jatropha - an energy crop that can be turned into biofuel. The ability to create these microclimates has been shown by Paton’s demonstration greenhouse.

To purifying the seawater and cool the air of the greenhouse, solar energy is used to power the evaporators and then pump the damp, cool air through the greenhouse, reducing the temperature to 15c less than outside. At the other end of the greenhouse from the evaporators, the water vapour is condensed. This fresh water can be used to water the crops and clean the solar mirrors.

Demonstration plants are already running successfully in Tenerife, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, producing lettuces, peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. The designers are confident that virtually any vegetables can be grown in the greenhouses depending on the climate maintained in them. The nutrients to grow the plants can be taken from seaweed or the seawater itself.

Both the CSP (solar power) and seawater greenhouses are proven technologies so the cost of this project should be relatively low. The designers estimate that building 20 hectares of greenhouses combined with a 10MW CSP scheme would cost around £65m. Groups in countries across the Middle East, including UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, have shown interest in funding demonstration projects.

These projects are useful due to the production of extra crops, but most importantly will benefit the environment. Hopefully these seawater greenhouses can be used instead of, or to counteract the environmental damage caused by greenhouses already built. In Algeria, southern Spain, more than 40,000 hectares of greenhouses have been built in this desert region over the past 20 years, taking water from the earth around five times faster than it comes in, so the water table drops and becomes more saline. To convert them all to the seawater greenhouses would make sustainable

“The beauty of the Sahara Forest scheme is that you can reverse that process and turn barren land into biologically-productive land.” Charlie Paton.

Hannah Walker is a writer for www.ecoswitch.com

Solar energy has really taken off in recent years, as global governments have become more aware of the need to protect the environment by minimizing the use of dwindling fossil fuels. The use of renewable energy, such as solar power, has previously been encouraged by government subsidies.

Italy is set to overtake Spain as Europe’s biggest solar power, as Spain’s market has recently dropped due to an end to solar subsidies from the government. Ernesto Macias is the managing director of Isofoton, Spain’s biggest solar panel maker and is hoping that the solar market in Italy may expand to reach 1,200 MW next year, which is the maximum solar output that is still entitled to subsidies under existing regulations.

Macias, who is also head of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA), spoke about the matter at a solar power conference in Valencia, Spain; “I personally think Italy will reach its cap in 2009. Much will be derived from Italy, so we will saturate Italy, but what we need is a plan to coordinate between the various countries, and we are working with the (European) Commission on that.”

Spain’s solar power market is now one of the biggest in the world and has grown to 1,000 megawatts this year. It has grown on the back of ‘feed-in’ tariffs, which are designed to make solar electricity grow as competitor to conventional power sources. However this scheme has created a multi-billion euro bill for the government, alongside the massively rising costs of subsidising household electricity bills, so they have chosen to end the tariffs in September ’08. The Spanish plans to cut the capacity of solar power plants entitled to feed-in tariffs down to 300 MW next year, have caused global Solar power stocks to fall.

However despite the rise for Italy, Macias did not think the growth prospects for Germany were so good, the leading solar panel makers Suntech said they have been unable to meet demand due to growth in Spain. “There is a lot of uncertainty in Germany due to the reduction in feed-in tariffs. That could force prices down and ultimately benefit Asian industries”.

Macias feels that in Spain the solar industry had become somewhat out of control and the new scheme of subsidy cuts was actually necessary. However he felt that negotiations needed to be made about the proposal. “I don’t want caps, but if I want to compromise, to open talks, OK, we will accept a cap of 400 MW for plants bigger than 100 kilowatts. But please don’t apply any caps on the retail market,” he said.

The advantage of solar power is that it eradicates the need to build expensive power grids and has low maintenance costs. Macias also believes that there are opportunities for solar panel production in rural electrification projects in developing countries. “It is also an energy that doesn’t need fuel — no need to transport coal, oil or gas, and there you have competition”. Several European renewable energy companies and industry groups including EPIA have formed the ‘Alliance for Rural Electrification’ to promote what they say are affordable and sustainable small-scale generation projects in poorer countries.

Hannah walker is a writer for www.ecoswitch.com

There are worrying reports that the Arctic sea ice is melting at a faster rate than last year, despite the colder weather. Information from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) shows that the year began with ice covering a larger area than at the beginning of 2007. However by the beginning of summer the ice had diminished to the same levels as June last year – breaking the records for sea ice loss. The ice is melting easily as it is so thin and scientists are now predicting that the Arctic seas may be ice-free during the summer within five to ten years.

“We had a bit more ice in the winter, although we were still way below the long-term average,” said Julienne Stroeve from NSIDC in Boulder, Colorado. “So we had a partial recovery. But the real issue is that most of the pack ice has become really thin, and if we have a regular summer now, it can just melt away”.

Despite NASA’s reports in March, that the area covered by sea ice had increased slightly from 2007, most of the ice is thin, formed during the previous winter. It is more fragile than the thicker, less saline floes that have been around for several years.

A few years ago, scientists were predicting that the Arctic ice would have melted in the summer by about 2080. Then computer models started projecting earlier dates, around 2030 to 2050. In the summer of 2007 the Arctic sea ice reduced to the lowest amount ever recorded; 4.2 million sq km from 7.8 million sq km in 1980. By the end of last year, a research group had predicted the ice melting entirely as early as 2013.

“I think we’re going to beat last year’s record melt, though I’d love to be wrong,” said Dr Stroeve. “If we do, then I don’t think 2013 is far off any more. If what we think is going to happen does happen, then it’ll be within a decade anyway.”

Despite this eminent loss off ice being environmentally catastrophic, countries surrounding the Arctic are seizing up the economic opportunities that melting ice could expose. Canada and Russia are exploring sovereignty claims over tracts of Arctic seafloor, while President George Bush has recently encouraged more oil exploration in US waters, possibly with intent to extend the exploration to reserves off the Alaskan coast.

In their rush to maximize the situation economically, countries are not reflecting enough upon the climatic problems this will cause. Greenland has already lost ice into the ocean, contributing to the gradual rise in sea levels. The Arctic ice cap could increase sea levels globally by about seven metres if it all melted. Natural climatic cycles such as the Arctic Oscillation play a role in year-to-year variations in ice cover. Many scientists feel that the ice is now so thin there is little hope of preventing the melting cycle.

“If the ice were as thick as it was in the 1970s, last year’s conditions would have brought a dip in cover, but nothing exceptional. But now it’s so thin that you would have to have an exceptional sequence of cold winters and cold summers in order for it to rebuild,” said Dr Ian Willis, from the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge. This does not bode well for the future of the Arctic ice.

Hannah Walker is a writer for www.ecoswitch.com