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PEOPLE AND PLACESTHE SOULOF OLD CAIRO

PLANETWAR‘S CHAINREACTION

INTERVIEWOCIMAR VERSOLATO:HYBRIDCREATIONS

B i o d i v e rs i t y :a friendfor life

May 2000

P u b l i s h e din 27

l a n g u a g e s

C o n t e n t sMay 2000 53rd year

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PEOPLE AND PLACES

3 The soul of Old Cairo Photos by Denis Dailleux;Text by Samir Gharib

PLANET

9 From Viet Nam to Rwanda: war’s chain reaction Fred Pe a r c e

11 The pollution of the Balkans Nevena Popovska and Jasmina Sopova

WORLD OF LEARNING

13 Science teaching’s quantum leap Asbel Lopez

ETHICS

38 The battle for an ethical buck Lucia Iglesias Ku n t z

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

41 Timeless Angkor Fabienne Luco

CONNEXIONS

44 Asia’s alternative television

E t h i rajan A n b a rasan and K. J. M . Va r m a

INTERVIEW

47 Brazilian couturier Ocimar Versolato:hybrid creations

C o v e r : © Steve McCurry/Magnum, Paris

1 6 Focus B i o d i v e rs i t y : a friend for lifeBiodiversity is the essence of life. Without nature’s tremendous

variety, our planet would be hostile to human life. Our existence

and well-being on Earth depend upon learning how to preserve

this diversity.

To do so, we must strike a new balance with nature

and commit to sharing its precious resources more fairly between

the haves and the have-nots.

Detailed table of contents on page 16.

http://www.unesco.org/courier

P E O P L E A N D P L A C E S

May 2000 - The UNESCO Courier 3

T HE SOUL OF OLD CA IRO◗ Photos by Denis Dailleux; Text by Samir Gharib

A traveller weaves his way through streets and alleys crowded with memories ■

I was a child when I first discoveredC a i r o, one morning when I hadt r avelled from my nat i ve Upper

Egypt on the famous midnight train. Istayed with my aunt on my father’s side,who lived in the Fostat quarter [name ofa city founded in 641 by the Muslimconqueror Aman ‘bn Al ‘Ass] on the outs-kirts of Old Cairo. The air was filled with

◗ French photographer Denis Dailleux has been a member of the Vu agency since 1995. This year he won a World Press Photo award in Amsterdam (Netherlands).Samir Gharib, Egyptian writer and journalist, was

appointed chairman of his country’s National Libraryand Archives in 1999. His published works include TheVitality of Egypt and Engravings on Time (Egyptian BookOrganization, 1996 and 1997).


4 The UNESCO Courier- May 2000

an acrid, p e n e t r ating smell from a nearbyt a n n e ry.

On the first evening, I went to the nea-rest mosque, d e d i c ated to the memory of anextremely pious man named Sidi A b d u lS a o u d . From an adjoining house came thesound of wo m e n ’s vo i c e s ,c ri e s , and beat i n gt a m b o u ri n e s ,m e r ging into a kind of incan-tation. I could not resist. Trying not to benoticed,I slipped into the courtyard of thehouse.

A group of common women, clad in

long black dresses, were dancing in acircle, keeping pace with an increasinglyquick, breathless beat. Their bodies mer-ging into a single whole, their hips rockedby a movement they could no longercontrol, projected an irresistible sensuali-ty.

A young man with hair as long as thewo m e n ’s and we a ring a tight gown wa sstanding in the middle of the circle andb e ating the rhythm with small cy m b a l s.Some of the women dancing around him

were playing tambourines.It was a zar ceremony—a ritual held

to remove a spell.The women had goneinto a collective trance to expel from theirbodies the demons that had possessedthem. It had become so intense that somehad collapsed and lay prostrate on theground.The young man leaned over eachone and whispered mysterious words intotheir ears and revived them.

I shall never forget that scene.It unex-pectedly introduced me,as if I were a tres-

passer, into the very heart of Old Cairo.If you take the road that today leads

from Fo s t at to the intern ational airp o rt ,you come to the foot of the great plateauand the overlooking Citadel built by Saladinin 1176.The impregnable silhouette of thissymbol of power abutting the Moqat t a nhills rises above the capital and keeps wat c hover it day and night. When Bonapart eentered Cairo in the last days of the 18thc e n t u ry, it was here that he installed hisa rt i l l e ry. It was from here that he shelled therebellious poor neighbourhoods.

Before the time of the illustrious Frenchg e n e r a l , the Citadel was the place where theTurkish gove rn o rs representing the SublimePorte were inducted in great splendour. Itwas here too that Mohammed Ali, seekingto take the reins of power in the early 19thcentury, invited all the Mameluke lords tohis son’s wedding—and then had themslaughtered to the last man.

One of the Citadel’s gates leads to the

Fatimid city, in other words the ori gi n a lC a i r o, Al Qahira, founded by Gohar theS i c i l i a n , who commanded the troops of thedynasty that conquered Egypt in 975.

The jewels of the Muslim city can befound there: Al Azhar Unive rsity and the A lHussein mosque, s u rrounded by dozens ofother mosques that are lit up and come aliveat night, calling to one another with the ebbingand flowing of the vast Cairo crow d .D u ri n gR a m a d a n , the month of fasting and of feastingt o g e t h e r , circles of believe rs chant praises totheir Creator in harm o ny. And mystic bro-therhoods from all over Egypt meet to singand dance their love of God until daw n .

I never tire of we aving my way withfriends at night through the latticework ofstreets and alleyways in this neighbourhoodwhere the soul of Cairo never sleeps.

A nything can happen on Al Bat i n i yaStreet.The first time I innocently turnedd own this street, at nightfa l l , a man came upto me and asked if I wanted some oil. I



I never tire of weaving my way with friends at night through the latticework of streets and alleyways in thisneighbourhood where the soulof Cairo never sleeps. A n ything can happen on Al Batiniya Street.



politely turned him dow n . “It is top quality,”he insisted.Why on earth should I want tobuy oil I didn’t need in the middle of thestreet? But I was intrigued by the gaze oft h at man who, while talking about oil,seemed to have something else in mind.When at last I figured out that he was talkingabout hashish, I ran away as fast as my legscould carry me. But that did not keep mefrom noticing other young people seatedbehind little tables offering passersby the

same sort of oil.All that happened a long time ago.This first visit to Cairo was followed by

m a ny others. For a long time, I dreamed ofliving in the Al Ghourieh quart e r.The seve r e dhead of Touman Bey,E g y p t ’s last Mamelukes u l t a n , was hung over the gate to this neigh-bourhood after the Ottoman Turks killedhim in the 16th century. A year earlier hisfat h e r , Sultan Al Ghouri , had been killedresisting the new conquerors.The quarter has

b o rne his name to honour him ever since.Al Ghouri e h ’s elusive charm lies, I think,

in the omnipresence of the past.The we i g h tof history can be felt in each narrow streeta n d ,e ven more so, in the faces of the peoplewho live there, which express, often uncons-ciously, the tranquil certainty that this hasa lways been and always will be their home.

I really discovered this neighbourhoodwhen I visited three artists who in the 1970srepresented the creative genius of Egypt’s



common people: the blind composer SheikI m a m , the poet Ahmad Fuad Negm and thel u t e - p l ayer Muhammed A l i . In their publicp e r f o rm a n c e s , these three men dared tovoice the anger of the poor, the outrage ofstudents and the dreams of a better lifet h at were embodied in those days by Ho ChiMinh and Che Guevara.

They lived in a shack that seemed in astate of imminent collapse.You had to bevery careful where you put your feet.Youmight be invited to have a cup of tea, butc e rtainly not a dish of grilled chops. I n s t e a dyou had to settle for the smell that wafted in

from a nearby stall.Such a neighbourhood can hold a

strange at t r a c t i o n . Something in the close-knit fa b ric of the bu i l d i n g s , in the vibra-tions of the passing crow d , excites thei m a gi n at i o n . You can almost guess whatthe interi o rs of the houses look like, e n t e rthe alcove s , share amorous e m b r a c e s ,follow the silent gaze of women behindthe musharabiehs.1

Fo rt u n at e l y, the women now go out

into the street, often draped in wide blackveils that are supposed to conceal theirbodies from intru s i ve eyes but actuallyemphasize their shapely curves.There is alanguage in the undulations of the femalebody that I never tire of learning.

Al Ghourieh leads into a street namedafter Al Hakim Bi Amr Illah (“He whog ove rns by divine decree”), the illustri o u sFatimid caliph whose mystic personality hasa lways baffled histori a n s. In this street you cane n j oy all the scents of the East, from per-fumes to medicinal plants. Here traditionalremedies for most known physical and psy-

1. In Arab architecture, balconies closed by lat t i c e-work allowing one to see without being seen.



c h o l o gical ailments can still be found.This street crosses another wo r l d - fa m o u s

t h o r o u g h fa r e , Khan Al Khalili Street, w h e r et o u rist coaches pour forth their passengers allyear round. H e r e , E g y p t ’s most skilfulcraftsmen display a dazzling arr ay of hand-made products in gold, s i l k , g l a s s , wo o d ,copper and ivo ry. All kinds of things are fors a l e — e ven dresses for belly-dancers.

A visit to the celebrated Al Fichawi cafe,where they provide you with a royal hookah,is a must for anyone who wants to claim theyreally saw Old Cairo.This coffee-house is amicrocosm of street life, an endless stream of

newspaper ve n d o rs , shoe-shine men, b e g-g a rs , street peddlers—as well as poets,n ove-lists and journalists of eve ry stri p e .

L a s t l y, this neighbourhood was long thehome of Egypt’s national glory, our coun-t ry ’s first Nobel Prize-winner for literat u r e ,Naguib Mahfouz. His best-known novelstake place in this spellbinding maze ofnarrow streets and dead-ends, where theh e a rt of the city beats and is haunted by hislarger-than-life pers o n a g e s. From theimmense fresco of characters in his nove l s ,w hy am I tempted to recall only the f u t u wa?They were men who, with panache, mas-

culine generosity and effic i e n cy, enforced ac e rtain order, e ven a certain justice, in theirn e i g h b o u r h o o d s. They formed a sort ofp e o p l e ’s police who stood up for the needyand the weak in the name of a chivalrouscode of honour.

To d ay, they have disappeared.And witht h e m , a whole wo r l d — t h at of Naguib Mah-fouz himself—which gave Old Cairo itssoul is disappearing from our lives.

As you will have guessed, I am uncon-solable. ■

P L A N E T


FROM VIET NAM TO RWA NDA: WAR’S CH A IN RE ACT ION◗ Fred Pearce

From destroyed vegetation to health hazards, the environment has been a systematic casualtyof recent wars and pays the price long after peace returns

◗ Freelance environmental writer and consultant forThe New Scientist

■C o n c e rn about the env i r o n m e n t a limpact of wa r fare began in earnest withO p e r ation Ranch Hand, the U. S .c a m-

paign to defoliate Viet Nam’s jungles and flu s hout guerrillas during the late 1960s.A m e ri c a nm i l i t a ry aircraft sprayed some 70 million litresof extra-strong herbicides, mostly a form u l a-tion known as Agent Orange, over the coun-t ry between 1962 and 1971,dousing 1.7 mil-lion hectares, often several times ove r. By theend of the wa r , a fifth of South V i e t n a m ’sforests had been chemically annihilat e d ,a n dmore than a third of its mangr ove forests we r ed e a d . Some forests have since recove r e d , bu tmuch of the land has turn e d , apparently per-m a n e n t l y, to scrubby gr a s s l a n d .

An unwarranted experiment in chemical warfare

From the start there was concern thatAgent Orange was toxic to humans as well ast r e e s. In 1964, the Fe d e r ation of A m e ri c a nScientists condemned Operation Ranch Handas an unwa rranted experiment in chemicalwa r fa r e . But the operation continued until as p ate of reports in 1970 and 1971 that A g e n tOrange was causing birth defects. S o o nresearch showed that 2,4,5-T, one of its twomain constituents,caused malform ations ands t i l l b i rths in mice and contained diox i n ,a by-product that turned out to be one of the mostpoisonous substances known to science.Itd i s rupts the body’s horm o n a l , immune andr e p r o d u c t i ve systems, and causes fat h e rs toproduce damaged sperm .

N ature has cleansed Vietnamese soils andve g e t ation of most of the diox i n , but the che-mical has lingered on in human blood, fat andbreast milk.According to Le Cao Dai, d i r e c-tor of the Agent Orange Victim Fund set upby the Viet Nam Red Cross, the breast milk

of women in former South Vietnam who we r eexposed to Agent Orange in childhoodcontains about ten times more dioxin thant h at of women in former North Vietnam ori n d u s t rialized nations such as the U. S .

Appalling birth defects among the chil-dren of veterans exposed during the war toAgent Orange and other pesticides are we l ld o c u m e n t e d .According to Professor HoangDinh Cau, the chairman of Viet Nam’s 10-80 Committee, which inve s t i g ates theconsequences of the use of chemicals duri n gthe wa r , tens of thousands of children area f f e c t e d . Common symptoms are limbstwisted in a characteristic way or missinga l t o g e t h e r , and eyes without pupils. A n dn ow there is gr owing concern that a thirdgeneration of children may be affected.

Although less well documented, I r a q iattacks on civilian populations of Iraqi Ku r-distan between A p ril 1987 and August 1988h ave had equally long-term effects. In the tow n

of Halabja,bombed over three days in March1988 with chemical and biological agents,about 5,000 to 7,000 people were immedia-tely killed and tens of thousands injured.T h efirst medical study of the at t a c k ’s long-termeffects was carried out by Dr Christine Gos-d e n ,a professor of medical genetics at the Uni-ve rsity of Live rp o o l . In a report to the UN Ins-titute for Disarmament Research, she detaileds e rious medical problems, including rare can-c e rs , congenital malform ations in children,i n f e rt i l i t y, m i s c a rri a g e s ,r e c u rrent lung infec-tions and severe neuropsychiat ric disorders.She noted that delayed effects such as the deve-lopment of cancers following exposure mayoccur five to ten ye a rs lat e r.

All wa rs produce environmental damage.Some is deliberate and for direct military objec-t i ve s.Clearly that cat e g o ry includes the defo-l i ation of Indochina—as well as the accompa-nying physical clearance of some 300,000hectares of forest using heavy tractors. O t h e r

One of the many Vietnamese children affected by their parents’ exposure to Agent Orange.

P L A N E T


d e s t ruction is equally deliberat e , but has a lessclearly military objective ,such as Saddam Hus-s e i n ’s sabotaging of Ku waiti oil wells at theheight of the Gulf War in 1991. His forcesattacked some 730 we l l s , setting some 630a l i g h t .M a ny continued to discharge oil intothe desert and thick black smoke into the airfor many months.The total release of oil wa sfinally estimated at 10 million cubic metres.Some 300 oil lakes at one point covered 50square kilometres of desert .

After Saddam threatened to set fire to thewe l l s , some scientists wa rned that the blacksmoke could rise high enough into the upperatmosphere to upset global climate systemssuch as the Asian monsoon.These fears prove du n f o u n d e d . But the local fallout of soot,c a r-cinogenic particles and acidic sulphur diox i d espread for hundreds of kilometres around theG u l f. Ku wait City experienced “darkness atn o o n ”comparable to the wo rst London smogsof the early 20th century, causing a rush ofr e s p i r at o ry illnesses. It took six months and$10 billion to stop the fires and repair thedamage to the we l l s. Some of the thick blackoil remains in hollows in the desert .

The war damaged the desert in otherway s. G r avel beds that once held the desertsands in check were fractured by thousandsof bu n k e rs ,weapon pits and trenches.And thetracks of tanks and trucks compacted fragi l esoils and killed ve g e t at i o n .The Ku waiti Ins-titute for Scientific Research concluded thatmore than 900 square kilometres of desertwere damaged by military vehicles and eart hm ove m e n t . The result has been more ero-s i o n , sand storm s ,a d vancing sand dunes anddiminution of plant life. The war releasedone million cubic metres of oil (out of the total10) into the Pe rsian Gulf, p a rtly from Sad-

d a m ’s sabotages but much of it from thebombing of strat e gic installations by the U. S .and others. It severely contaminated some400 kilometres of Ku waiti and Saudi coastlinewith tar, and destroyed shrimp fis h e ri e s.S t u-dies five ye a rs after the event revealed thatSaudi coastal ecosystems had largely reco-ve r e d , though turtle populations nesting onislands in the Gulf had not returned to theirf o rmer leve l s.

But much environmental damage in wa ris unintended “ c o l l ateral damage”.The detri-tus of munitions such as cluster bombs andland mines are a major long-term threat to env i r o n m e n t s.The U. S . dropped some 1.5million cluster bombs during the IndochinaWa r , containing an estimated 750 million

b o m b l e t s ,according to A rthur We s t i n g, a lea-ding historian on the environmental conse-quences of wa r. It dropped a further 60,000,containing some 30 million bomblets duri n gthe Gulf Wa r.They were left scattered acrossthe desert along with some 1.7 million minesplanted by the Iraqis. Most were cleared upa f t e r wa r d s. But this caused further damage tod e s e rt ecosystems as bomb disposal units plou-ghed up large areas of the desert .

Worldwide it is estimated that there are

some 65 million functional land mines strewnaround the countryside posing a threat toinhabitants and wildlife in 56 countries fromAngola to Nicaragua, E ritrea to Laos.A ny-thing bigger than a rabbit is likely to set themo f f.According to the Intern ational Commit-tee of the Red Cross, they kill around 800people and maim thousands more eachm o n t h . It estimates that Cambodia has 36,000amputees as a result, and Somalia 23,000.One of the more gruesome and unexpectedconsequences of the massive flooding in sou-t h e rn Mozambique in Fe b ru a ry this year wa sto flo at land mines left over after the coun-t ry ’s long civil war from known minefie l d sinto villages and fie l d s.

Refugees and deforestationA new concern is the long-term conse-

quences of the use of depleted uranium(DU)—a mildly radioactive and ve ry densem at e rial that weapon makers now put on thetips of munitions to penetrate tank arm o u r.About 300 tonnes of DU was dispers e dacross the bat t l e field during the Gulf Wa r.The environmental and human healthimpacts of the radioactive mat e rial left behindby these munitions remain unclear.T h e r eh ave been frequent claims that DU has rai-sed cancer rates in southern Iraq and causedIraqi soldiers exposed to it to father seve r e l yd e f o rmed babies. But so far no studies havec o n firmed this link.

The social dislocation caused by war is af u rther cause of environmental damage.Floods of refugees in particular can threat e nn atural resources such as water and forests.The Rwandan conflict and the events that itt riggered in the Democratic Republic of theCongo (DRC,ex-Zaire)became a major causeof deforestation in central A f ri c a .One casualtywas A f ri c a ’s first national park, the V i ru n g aN ational Pa r k , on the border between theDRC and Rwa n d a .The World Conservat i o nUnion (IU C N) reported that in six months, t h eR wandan refugees and Hutu soldiers fromcamps around the town of Goma in the DRChad deforested some 300 square kilometresof V i runga National Park in their search forfood and wo o d .At the height of the cri s i s ,t h eIU C N e s t i m ated that some 850,000 refugeeswere living within or close to the park and tookb e t ween 410 and 770 tonnes of forest pro-ducts out of the park daily. In the confusion,Z a i rian soldiers were raiding the park for tim-ber to sell to refugees and relief organizat i o n s.

Similar destruction became a feature ofcivil and cross-border conflicts across muchof A f rica in the 1990s. In March this ye a r ,the UN Environment Programme report e don the “ t r a n s f o rm ation of natural land andforest areas” with “ s e vere impacts on bio-d i ve rsity and water systems” in southern

Rwandan refugees in ex-Zaire have deforested areas in their search for food and firewood.

Worldwide it is estimated thatthere are some 65 millionfunctional land mines strew naround the countryside posing athreat to inhabitants and wildlifein 56 countries from Angola toN i ca ragua, Eritrea to Laos.

P L A N E T


The Pancevo oil refinery near Belgrade burning after NATO bombings in April 1999.

G u i n e a , f o l l owing the influx of some600,000 refugees from recent conflicts inn e i g h b o u ring Sierra Leone and Liberi a .Most of the refugees had hacked out forestto grow crops for food.

G u e rrilla armies do as much damage asr e f u g e e s ,p a rticularly when they have to liveoff the land or generate income to buy arm sfrom the plundering of natural resources inthe region where they are fig h t i n g .A rmies alsoh ave to eat , and for guerrilla armies “ bu s h-m e at ” is a frequent source of food. G u e rri l l awa rs in Cambodia and west and central A f ri c ah ave been sustained during the past decadethrough the cutting and sale of valuable hard-wood timbers.Wildlife suffers too.In the Hornof A f rica in the 1980s,Somali war bands we r efrequently behind the rampant poaching ofelephants for their ivo ry.War in Uganda in1979 killed off much of the country ’s bu s helephant populat i o n , and conflicts in A n g o l a

and Mozambique have since caused the who-lesale slaughter of elephants in those coun-t ries too.The Rwanda conflict and succee-ding guerrilla activity in the surr o u n d i n gr e gions through the 1990s saw the slaughter ofmountain gorillas in V i runga and elsewhere—a fact that understandably gained little at t e n-tion beside the massive slaughter of humans.

Silence on ChechnyaWar and the environment have , of cours e ,

a lways been linked. Some of the earliestb attles between city states in Mesopotamia5,000 ye a rs ago invo l ved the breaking ofdykes to flood fa rm l a n d . But the IndochinaWar was the first time scientists seriously pro-bed the effect of a major confli c t .The GulfWar was perhaps the first time those conse-quences were seriously addressed before theyh a p p e n e d , with experts (erroneously) fore-casting a global climate change if fire was set

to the oil we l l s. D u ring the Kosovo confli c t ,the environmental consequences of the bom-bing of fa c t o ries gained precedence in muchr e p o rting over the intended economic d a m a g e .There can be little doubt that thee nvironmental impacts of Russian militaryactivity in Chechnya and Afghanistan hasbeen as severe as that of the U. S . and its alliesin southeast A s i a , the Gulf and elsewhere.But far less is known as independent inve s-t i g ations have been notable only by theira b s e n c e . In Chechnya , the seve rity of the mili-t a ry battles and the physical destruction ofG r o z ny has been so gr e at that likely env i-ronmental damage such as pollution of wat e rs u p p l i e s , though of undoubtedly long-termi m p o rtance for rebu i l d i n g, has to date barelybeen remarked upon. The continuingc o n flicts in Afghanistan have made indepen-dent assessment of the impacts of 20 ye a rsof war there hard to purs u e . ■

T HE POL LU T ION OF THE BA L KA NS◗ Nevena Popovska and Jasmina Sopova

Air, soil and water were severely polluted by NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia last spring, raising fears of long-term effects on health

◗ Respectively journalists in Skopje (Republic ofMacedonia) and with the UNESCO Courier

■The Atlantic Alliance officially reco-gnized on March 21, 2000 that itused depleted uranium ammunition

in shells in Yugoslavia during the previousyear’s war. Kosovo and southern Serbiabore the brunt of these radioactive wea-pons, used for the first time during theGulf War in 1991.They release clouds ofuranium dust that contaminate water andthe food chain. Particles enter the humanbody through inhalation or ingestion,remaining there from one to three years,increasing the risk of steri l i t y, b i rt hdefects and cancer tenfold.

From March 24 to June 10, 1999,NATO warplanes flying close to 31,000s o rties bombed the entire Yu g o s l avFe d e r ation (Serbia, M o n t e n e gr o,Voivodina, Kosovo). Thousands of mis-siles were fired, some of which landed inneighbouring Bulgaria and Macedonia.

P L A N E T


Chemical industry

Fuel storage

Oil refinery

Industry

Electric powerplant

National park

National capital

Administrativecapital

Other cities

Airport

BELGRADE

SKOPJE

SARAJEVO

PristinaPodgorica

Sar Planina

Nis

Bor

PancevoFruska Gora

Novi Sad

Kopaonic

Kragujevac

SERBIA

BOSNIA ANDHERZEGOVINA

CROATIA

HUNGARY

ROMANIA

BULGARIA

REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

ALBANIA

MONTENEGRO

KOSOVO

VOIVODINA

0 60 km

Targeted sites with potential negative environmental impacts.

Tara

Furthermore, many pilots flying back totheir bases dropped bombs into theAdriatic Sea off the Croat, Slovene andItalian coasts. According to NATOsources, 1,600 cluster bombs, which arebanned by the Geneva Convention of 10October 1980, were dropped, releasing200,000 bomblets. Thousands have notyet exploded, becoming as dangerous asantipersonnel mines. They have alreadykilled nearly 200 Kosovars.

A year after the strikes,the real scale ofthe environmental damage has not beenclearly established.According to the jointUN Balkans Task Force (BTF)1, pollu-tion has severely affected four areas:Pancevo (20 km from Belgrade), NoviSad (the capital of Voivodina),Kragujevac(southern Serbia) and Bor (near the bor-der with Bulgaria).

The Pa n c e vo petrochemical complexwas bombed approx i m ately ten times. Apress release by the mayo r , Srdjan Mirko-v i c, published in autumn 1999 in the Yu g o-s l av review Petroleum Te c h n o l ogy Quart e rl y,announced that the “direct strike on thedepot containing 1,500 tonnes of vinyl chlo-ride monomer (VCM) caused a fire thatbu rned eight hours and destroyed approx i-m ately 800 tonnes” of that carcinogenic sub-

s t a n c e . “When it bu rn s ,” s ays a Belgr a d ed o c t o r , “it gi ves off, among other things,c h l o r hy d ric acid,which causes chronic bron-c h i t i s , d e rm atitis and gastri t i s ; as well asd i ox i n , regarded as the wo r l d ’s most tox i corganic pollutant; and possibly phosgene,which was once used in chemical wa r fa r e .”

Mercury entersthe food chain

Ammonia depots used to make fertili-zer were also bombed. Had they not beenemptied beforehand as a precaution, theirexplosion would have killed any personwithin a 10-kilometre radius, as directexposure to ammonia is lethal to humans.The worst was avoided, but the ammoniawas released into the Danube, w h e r ewildlife was killed 30 kilometres downs-tream. In addition, “over 1,000 tons ofethylene dichloride and a few thousandtonnes of natrium hydroxide”were leakedinto the Danube, according to a report bythe Regional Environment Centre forCentral and Eastern Europe (REC).Since then, fishing has been abandonedand crop irrigation has become proble-matic. The river’s sandy bed has trappedheavy metals, which are toxic even insmall concentrations, for dozens of years.In addition to Yugoslavia, Romania andBulgaria are affected.

“The soil has been contaminated byapproximately 100 tonnes of mercury,”

s ays Pa n c e vo ’s mayo r. M e r c u ry is anextremely toxic metal that enters the foodchain and builds up in the human body,causing irreversible organ damage. TheBTF however found that eight tonnes ofthe substance had leaked from the petro-chemical plant and reported that “the airstrikes on the oil refinery caused an esti-mated 80,000 tonnes of oil and oil pro-ducts to burn. This would have releasedn oxious substances into the air.”According to Belgrade’s Public HealthInstitute, VCM concentrations in the airwere 10,600 times above the toleratednorm near the Pancevo petrochemicalplant. At the time, the wind was blowingfrom the west, sending the harmful fumesinto Romania and Hungary as well.

Black springand acid rain

The other three “ecological hotspots”suffered a similar fate. The Novi Sad oilrefinery was bombed a dozen times bet-ween June 5 and 9.Approximately 73,000tonnes of crude oil and derivative pro-ducts bu rned or leaked into pipes.Polluted underground water seeped intowells near the refinery, depriving the localpopulation of drinking water.

The strikes against the Zastava auto-mobile factory in Kragujevac “reportedlycaused extensive environmental pollu-tion, with damage to soil, water and air,”reports the BTF, which detected highl e vels of polychlori n ated bipheny l s(PCBs).Banned in the mid-1980s becau-se they are so toxic, these substances canstill be found in old electrical facilities.Very persistent, they bind with sedimentsin rivers and streams and degrade onlyafter many years.

PCB contamination and severe air pol-lution caused by emissions of sulphurd i oxide gas (which is especially hazardousfor asthmatics) were reported in Bor.Bombings of copper mines, the powe rplant and the hydrocarbon fuel depot nearBor also affected nearby Bulgari a . T h eS o fia newspaper 24 Hours r e p o rted thatbirds fell dead out of the sky and the clouds p r e a d , causing acid rain. At the samet i m e , fa rm e rs in Kosovo witnessed treeslosing their leaves in the middle of spri n g .

The entire food chain was affected,from livestock fodder—and, c o n s e q u e n t l y,m e at and milk—to fruits and ve g e t a b l e sintended for consumers. Chronic bronchi-t i s , a s t h m a , e c z e m a , d i a rrhoea and thy r o i dd i s o r d e rs have already been detected, bu tS e r b i a ’s officials would rather cover up thefa c t s. W h at seems clear is that the mosts e rious health problems are yet to come.■

1. The Kosovo Conflict.Consequences for the Environment and Human Settlements,UNEP-UNCHS, 1999.

W O R L D O F L E A R N I N G


■When Mexican teacher Jose A n t o n i oLopez Tercero was a student, h eregarded as quite plausible the idea

t h at velocity and potential energy are liket wo machines that can be stored in a cup-b o a r d . Back in those day s , he was led tob e l i e ve all kinds of outlandish things. H i sinnocence was caused not by readingG a b riel Garcia Marquez’s magic realistn ove l s , but by dozing through abstractp hysics classes. “They were aw f u l ,” r e c a l l sLopez Te r c e r o, who now teaches chemistryat the Escuela del Sur Institute, a seconda-ry school in Mexico City.

Today he tries to teach science in theway he would liked to have learnt it. Asoften as possible, he uses everyday objectsto help his students grasp abstractconcepts. A washing machine can illus-t r ate dispersion by centrifugal force;clothes show how to distinguish naturaland synthetic fibres; plastics aid the studyof oil derivatives; lemon juice and redcabbage bring acids to life, while televi-sion helps explain how electromagneticwaves work.

This approach represents a huge qua-litative change, at least in comparison towhat Lopez Tercero had to go through asa pupil. Back at secondary school, heremembers that “the teacher would arri-ve, announce a concept, write down a for-mula, and teach us how to solve problemsusing the lat t e r. All I did was wo r kthrough the formulas by replacing letterswith numbers.”

This traditional teaching method,based on the transmission of a body ofknowledge and the study of problemswith little relevance to many students, isstill practiced, and not just in Mexico.According to Jacob Bregman, a specialistin science education at the World Bank,“science education in developing coun-tries often relies too much on memoriza-tion of facts and not enough on learning

to understand the relevance of knowledgeand its application in the local context.”In the industrialized countries there ismuch greater emphasis on the problem-solving approach, decision-making, anddeveloping the ability to analyze and workin a team.

Failings in the educational systems ofThird World countries are particularlyalarming because economic developmentis increasingly linked to scientific andt e c h n o l o gical know l e d g e . But there isn ow a widespread desire for change,reflected in a wave of reforms in scientificeducation that have taken place aroundthe world in the last few years.1 And

though the reforms differ from countryto country, they have certain commonfeatures.

One of them is relating science to eve-ry d ay life, as Lopez Tercero does inMexico. As well as improving the learningp r o c e s s , this method makes studentsmore enthusiastic and genuinely interes-ted in science. In recent years, half of thegr a d u ates from the Escuela del SurInstitute have embarked on scientificc a r e e rs , 30 per cent more than theMexican school average.

Unearthing the practical end of knowledge

Relating science to everyday life alsomeans anchoring teaching more firmly inthe local context. Using problems thataffect the community, teachers endeavourto show the practical value of scientificknowledge in determining the causes ofspecific phenomena.They encourage stu-dents to come up with ways of possibly

SCIENCE TEACHING ’ SQU A N T UM LEAP◗ Asbel López

Teachers must prepare not only future scientists, but also citizens who will confrontunprecedented technological and ethical challenges in their lifetime

◗ UNESCO Courier journalist

1. Sylvia A.Ware (editor): Science andEnvironment Education,Views from DevelopingCountries,The World Bank, Washington D.C.,1999.

Paul Black and Myron Atkin (editors):Changing the Subject, London: Routledge with theOrganization for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD),1996.

Hands-on learning: in Namibia, students test the resistance of mudbricks.



preventing environmental catastrophes.Teachers are making “huge efforts in

their classes to treat problems which arerelevant to the students instead of usingabstract examples from textbooks,” saysBettina Walther, the co-ordinator of ascience education project in Tanzania’ssecondary schools. Launched in 1997,theproject involves maths teachers from 27schools, who focus lessons on develop-ment projects in the towns where theyteach. For example, geometry coursesmight be based on the practical case ofinstalling electricity and telephone linesto explain concepts while applied mathslessons look to using fertilizers and pesti-cides for learning various operations.

Even while looking at the stars, theseteachers base their classes on widely heldlocal beliefs. Peter Lesala, a science edu-c ation adviser to Lesotho’s secondaryschools, is writing a course on astronomythat will feature in his country’s curricu-lum. “The first thing I did,” he explains,“was to do some research into Basothobeliefs about the stars. My course willstart with a discussion of those beliefs.”

for the World Bank and director ofEducation and International Activities atthe American Chemical Society believesin science for all, not just for future scien-tists. “Those involved in reforming scien-ce education believe that science is tooimportant to be left up to scientists alone.The general public must have a muchbroader and more subtle understandingof science than they have at the moment.Problems of developing countries such aswater supply, health, industrial develop-ment or land use have to be addressed bypeople who understand the science andtechnology involved.”

In other words, the goal is to providebasic scientific literacy so that citizens cantake an active part in crucial debates onissues ranging from environmental pro-

Some science education projectsmight be inspired by a foreign model. Inthis case, the key lies in adapting themesto local conditions, as some teachers andstudents have done in a highly creat i ve wayusing “ C h e m C o m : C h e m i s t ry in the com-m u n i t y ” , a secondary school course draw nup by the Washington-based A m e ri c a nChemical Society, an organization dedica-ted to advancing knowledge and researchin the field of chemistry and relat e dsciences (see box ) .

Science for allUnderlying this reform trend is the

conviction that far more young peopleshould have access to scientific education.Sylvia Ware, author of several reports onscience education in developing countries

AN EX PERIMENT ON DENSI TY

Lemon, water, salt and a glass are all that Mexi-can secondary school teachers need to prove

that bodies float in denser liquids. A lemon is den-ser than water, for instance, which means that itsinks to the bottom if put in a glass of water. Byadding salt, the density of the solution gra d u a l l yincreases until it is greater than that of the lemon,which thus rises to the surface. (El Libro para el maestro. Quimica. “Teacher’s che-m i s t ry manual”, Educacion secundaria, Public Edu-cation Secretariat, Mexico, page 64, 19 9 4 ) .

During an in-service training workshop in the Philippines, teachers build a bridge model using local materials.



tection, to the use of genetically modifiedorganisms, to the new ethical dilemmasposed by modern biological discoveries.

Through activities like sorting garbage,protecting certain endangered animal andplant species and conserving wat e rr e s o u r c e s , science education can help traincitizens to be aware of their social respon-s i b i l i t i e s. One example is the Globo projectin Costa Rica, whose goal is to make stu-dents aware of environmental protectionby studying the El Niño climatic pheno-m e n o n .Young Costa Ricans measure tem-p e r atures and record rainfall levels in theirc o m m u n i t i e s.This dat a , g athered by relat i-vely complex instru m e n t s , is then used inm aths courses to draw gr a p h s , in the socialsciences to study the impact of floods oncommunities and in biology classes toexplain life cy c l e s.

Ware says the issue of “science for all”has been debated “from Argentina toZimbabwe”. The big question is how tomake scientific knowledge more acces-

sible to more students without loweringstandards in courses for those who willbecome the scientists of tomorrow. Theanswer is complex, requiring a systemthat is flexible enough to offer more pre-cise and in-depth knowledge to thoseplanning to follow a scientific career,while at the same time giving everybodyelse scientific training that allows them tofunction in society.

Although developing countries are farfrom having solved this issue, nations likeArgentina, Brazil and Chile have chosenthe route of specialization. In Chile, stu-dents in the first ye a rs of secondaryschool follow the same programme. Theaim is to give them a grounding for beco-ming well-rounded, socially responsiblecitizens. In the last two years, a streamedsystem offers two specializations: a tech-

nical and professional kind, aimed at trai-ning future employees able to compete inthe world market; and a more theoreticalscientific course that stimulates analyticalthought and strives to instil higher levelsof conceptual understanding.This streamis more specifically geared at studentsinterested in pursuing a scientific career.Using this mix,the Chilean model aims toensure the creation of a highly trainedworkforce that can respond to rapidchanges in the labour market, while at thesame time establishing a scientific com-munity which can carry out the technolo-gical innovations needed to modernizethe country’s economy.

Investingin teachers

These sorts of innovations may wellbe major advances, but according to Ware“you can’t just change the curriculumand expect things to change in the class-room.You have to work with teachers andhelp them become familiar with the newm at e rial and new ways of teaching.”U n f o rt u n at e l y, t e a c h e rs in deve l o p i n gcountries are in a precarious position,andare thus unable to assume natural leader-ship in the reform process.

In Chile, teachers work between 33and 44 hours a week in two or sometimesthree different schools. In Mexico, stu-dents—numbering up to 60 per class—are generally taught by dentists or doctorsretrained for the purpose, or by teacherswith more knowledge of classroom tech-nique than the subject they are supposed

to be covering. Neither students nor tea-chers stray far from the textbook. “Themain problem with science education inMexico is no longer the issue of pro-grammes or of textbooks; the weak pointlies in teacher training, which is practical-ly left up to fat e ,” declares V i c e n t eTa l a n q u e r , a chemistry professor atMexico’s Autonomous University. Whathe qualifies as a “big gap” still divideseducational plans and study programmesfrom the abiding reality of the classroom.

In Ware’s opinion, there is only oneway to fill this gap: “invest as much aspossible in teachers’ professional develop-ment.” While adapting the ChemComcourse for use in Russia, the AmericanChemical Society, supported by UNESCO,has also offered training workshops forteachers, even for those from the mostfar-flung towns in Siberia.As a result, thet e a c h e rs get to know the educat i o n a lmaterials and methods, as well as newevaluation tools that enable them to findout whether a student has simply learntconcepts by rote, or if on the other handhe or she has understood the ideas and isable to apply them in different situations.

E n o rmous public investment andresolute political will are required to gua-rantee this training in the long term.Given that the reform of scientific educa-tion in Mexico began only seven yearsa g o, and invo l ves 200,000 secondaryschool teachers and 600,000 teachers inprimary school, it is clear that the radicalchanges everyone is seeking will not hap-pen overnight. ■

CHEMISTRY IN THE COMMUNI TY

ChemCom is a chemistry curriculum written fors e c o n d a ry school students by the America n

C h e m i cal Society (ACS) in 1980. It attempts toenhance science literacy by emphasizing chemis-try’s impact on society. Despite being the worldleader in science and technology, the U.S. stillrecords generally unsatisfactory levels of scientificeducation—a fact which has worried government,teachers and parents alike. Since the late 1990s, thep r o g ramme has been used in schools in manyother countries, from the suburbs of Buenos Airesto towns in Siberia. It has been translated intoJapanese, Russian, Italian and Spanish, and a Fr e n c hversion will shortly be completed.

One 14-year-old student from Kra s n o y a r s k i iKrai in Siberia describes ChemCom’s methods asf o l l ows: “First, the teacher introduces a problem, forexample the pollution of a river, then we studentstry to find out what kind of scientific knowledge isneeded to solve the problem. But the most impor-

tant thing is that we consider several possibleapproaches and discuss them before making afinal decision.”

The subject of one of the ChemCom course units,“ Petroleum: To build? To burn?” is based on detailsfrom the U.S. context. But that was no obstacle to stu-dents from a rural Siberian school, the Bolshoi Ului,who made full use of the course for their own region—an oil-rich area like Texas. Two students went with theirparents to gather information on local oil productionfrom the Environmental Protection Committee inthe nearest town, Achinsk. Not only did they get thefacts they wanted, but the local media launched acampaign to collect and donate newspapers andmagazines to the students for their project, which hassince been titled: “Natural Resources in Bolshoi Ului:p r e s e rve them or use them?” ■

ChemCom’s internet site is athttp://lapeer.org/chemcom

Through activities like

sorting garbage, protecting

c e r tain endangered animal

and plant species and

c o n s e rving water resources,

science education can help

t rain citizens to be aware

of their social responsibilities.

http://lapeer.org/chemcom

Since the time of A r i s t o t l e, we have been trying to inventory the world’s

plant and animal species.Yet in the year 2000, this colossal task is now-

here near being achieved. It probably never will be, despite the efforts

of taxonomists and scientists prospecting for this “green gold” ( p p. 1 8 - 1 9 ) .

N a t u r e ’s riches are beyond measure and its mechanisms all the more dif-

ficult to grasp insofar as biodiversity is a broad concept, encompassing genes,

species and ecosystems (pp. 2 0 - 2 1 ) . But scientists are clear about one fact: t h e

unprecedented environmental damage caused by human activity is putting a

record number of species at risk of extinction (pp. 2 2 - 2 3 ) .

And yet, biodiversity is the very essence of life (pp. 1 7 ,2 4 - 2 5 ) .E c o s y s t e m s

provide a host of environmental services (pp.26-27) that make our planet habi-

t a b l e. Genetic diversity is key to assuring the world’s food supply and provides

a formidable gene pool for biotechnology, especially agriculture (pp. 2 7 - 2 9 )

and medicine (pp. 3 0 - 3 1 ) . It also offers a boon for eco-tourism (pp. 3 1 - 3 2 ) .

Yet it would be a grave mistake to think we can preserve biodiversity by trying

to isolate it. People are an integral part of this dynamic system. S u s t a i n a b l e

c o n s e r vation demands support for a global network of nature reserves invol-

ving local people closely in their management (pp. 3 3 - 3 4 ) . Seed and gene banks,

l i ke that of Kew Gardens in London (pp. 3 5 - 3 6 ) , are also gaining ground. B u t

managing the planet’s “green gold” is also sparking legal and ethical battles

beyond what anyone could have imagined in 1992,when the international com-

munity adopted the Rio Convention on Biological

D i v e r s i t y. ■

C o n t e n t sO p i n i o n

1 7 A necessary partnership with natureCatherine Larrère

1 | Nature under thre a t1 8 The lair of the batfis h

Timothy B. We r n e r

2 0 Uncharted territory

2 2 Doomed to early demiseE d ward O. W i l s o n

2 | Scientific truths

2 4 Too valuable for price-tagsSophie Boukhari

2 6 E c o s y s t e m s : our unknown pro t e c t o rs José Sarukhán

2 7 Genetic diversity and food securityGeoffrey C. H a w t i n

3 0 Out of the forest and into the bottleCécile Guérin

3 1 B o r n e o : reaping the fruits of ecotourismRobert Basiuk

3 | The next step

3 3 E c o p ro t e c t i o n : an international go-slowInterview with Seydina Issa Sylla

3 5 Kew turns over a new leafDavid Dickson

3 7 To w a rds a world conservation ethicsM . S. S wa m i n a t h a n


Fo c u s B i o d i v e rs i t y:a friendfor life

B i o d i v e rs i t y: a friend for life


The giant panda and the blue whale are sym-bols of a wildlife whose richness and diversi-ty we want to preserve, for the protection of

threatened species is one of the oldest ways ofprotecting nature itself.

But we now know that biological dive rs i t y,or biodive rs i t y, is a concept that refers not only to species but to the entire living wo r l d , f r o mgenes to the biosphere, the regions of the e a rt h ’s crust and atmosphere occupied by livingo r g a n i s m s.

Biodiversity is not static. It can be defined asa constantly evolving system. Scientists say itallows living organisms to adapt to environmentsthat change over time, thus ensuring the conti-nuity of evolutionary processes.

To d ay, human activities are acknowledged to be part of this, but for a long time people were seen mainly as agents external to nat u r e ,ones that upset biodive rs i t y. E f f o rts were made to preserve “ v i r gi n ” or “ w i l d ” n at u r a lspaces by keeping them separate from all humana c t i v i t y.

The power to destroyand sustain

It is a fact that human beings are the sourceof clear threats to nat u r e . Po l l u t i o n , e x c e s s i veh a rvesting of living species, the exterm i n at i o nof “ h a rm f u l ” s p e c i e s , and the fragmentation or destruction of habitats cause species todisappear and speed up the erosion of biodive r-s i t y. But since biodive rsity has been conceive dfrom a dynamic standpoint, humans have also come to be regarded as capable of sustai-ning biodive rs i t y, as has been shown in France in the wooded pasturelands of Normandy and Bri t t a ny. E ven tropical forests are often the fruit of a lengthy co-evolution between indi-genous populations and their natural e nv i r o n m e n t .

This power to both destroy and sustain biodi-ve rsity emphasizes the breadth of our responsibi-l i t y. Human beings are just one species amongo t h e rs , but one that exercises a part i c u l a r l ydemanding process of selection. No part of theplanet can now escape human activity, so the

idea of conserving nature as a whole is no longert e n a b l e .

However, we have to weigh up the conse-quences of our actions on the evolutionary pro-cess so that we can regulate them.The principleof the “sustainable management” of biodiversitysprings from this necessary partnership betweenhuman beings and nature.

But what are the yardsticks for such regula-tion? Perhaps the instrumental value of biodive r-sity—the goods and services it provides and thek n owledge scientists draw from it. But since wee n j oy nat u r e ’s beauty, we have to add in the aes-thetic or religious feelings it inspires.

The intrinsic value of nature

This leads us to the intrinsic or ethical valueof biodiversity. Nature has its own worth, inde-pendently of how it can serve people. All livingorganisms, through their existence and their useof complex, non-mechanical strategies to surviveand reproduce, have their own value. Beyondthat, biological diversity itself, because it is theproduct of evolution and also the condition for itscontinuation, has its own intrinsic value, as theopening lines of the Convention on BiologicalDiversity (Rio, 1992) acknowledge.

The human bias behind the instru m e n t a l i s tapproach has often been set against the ecologi-cal bias underlying the intrinsic value approach,as if a choice had to be made, as if eve ryone hadto die for the last wolf to be save d , or vice-ve rs a .But apart from the fact that such options are entirely art i f i c i a l , the two approaches can coexist, as soon as there is agreement about a dynamic and integr ated view ofb i o d i ve rsity as an evolving system that includesp e o p l e .

H owe ve r , the rise of genetic engi n e e ri n g,which treats genes as raw mat e ri a l , has put bio-d i ve rsity in quite a new light. It is now seen as ane n o rmous pool of resources to be speedily tap-p e d . As such, genetic biodive rsity is no longerabout the wise management of nat u r e . I tbecomes a source of profit and of conflict amongthose seeking to control it. ■

O p i n i o n

A necessaryp a r t n e rs h i pw i t hn a t u re◗ Catherine Larrère

◗ French philosopher and author ofLes Philosophies de l’environnement(“Philosophies of the Environment”;P U F, Pa r i s,1997) and Du bon usagede la nature (“Of the Good Use ofN a t u r e ” ;A u b i e r, Pa r i s, 1 9 9 7 )

Man is a rope stretchedbetween the animal and the Superman – a ropeover an abyss.Friedrich Nietzsche,German philosopher ( 1 8 4 4 - 1 9 0 0 )

Day 1: Nova Vi ç o s aAboard two fishing boat s , we ’re chugging through

the muddy wat e rs of the Caravelas River to the first sur-vey site at Nova Viçosa reef.Once out of the ri ve r ’s mouth,the blue water teems with coral reef animals that onlyl i ve in this part of the wo r l d .On our first dive , I descendpast a mat of anemone-like creatures commonly called“ b a b a - d e - b o i ” , or bu l l ’s slobber. B rush up against thisa n i m a l ’s mucus lining, and you instantly unders t a n dh ow it got its name.B e l ow this mat , I am surr o u n d e dby a number of ancient and endemic corals that makethis area such a pri o rity for global conservat i o n .

Over the next three weeks our team of leadingm a rine scientists will log about three dives a day todocument the bank’s marine biodiversity.

Days 2-3: Popa Ve rd eOur Brazilian fish specialist, R o d rigo Moura,s p i e s

a lemon shark and what will be one of only two sharksightings for the whole surve y.For the shark-wa ry thisis good news, but to a marine conservationist it iswo rri s o m e . Sharks are important top predat o rs in theo c e a n .R e m ove them and you can disturb the ecologi c a lb a l a n c e .Around the wo r l d , they are increasingly rare


◗ Director, Marine BiodiversityProgram,Centre for AppliedBiodiversity Science, ConservationInternational

from heavy demand particularly for their fin s ,m e at andl i ver oil. Fo rt u n at e l y, on this same dive I see a hugegrouper—longer than I am—which is a good sign.Large fish still thri ve in the wat e rs of A b r o l h o s.

Day 4: In the wake of Cabra lExactly 500 ye a rs ago, the Po rtuguese mari n e r

A l vares Cabral reported seeing lush tropical forestfrom the same spot where we are anchored. Our viewis ve ry different. L o g ging has destroyed all but about8 per cent of this unique forest, prompting Conserva-tion Intern ational to classify it as one of the wo r l d ’s top“ h o t s p o t s ”or pri o rity areas for conservation (see p.2 1 ) .

D e f o r e s t ation also takes its toll on the ecology ofcoastal wat e rs. Erosion unleashes a steady stream ofsediments that can “ c h o k e ” or even bu ry corals.M o s tof the corals found on the Abrolhos Bank appearadapted to the turbid conditions that would kill spe-cies in other parts of the wo r l d .We find one of theendemic coral,Scolymia we l l s i i, in a pit five centimetresb e l ow the muddy sea flo o r !

Day 5: C o r u m b a uWe are anchored directly across from the fis h i n g

village of Corumbau where local elders claim they oncebu rned coral to produce house paint.Elsewhere alongthe Brazilian coast, there are houses built of coralb o u l d e rs.These practices have been abandoned bu tcorals and other living marine animals are still har-vested illegally for sale in the curio trade. One of themost coveted is the Brazilian snail, S t r o m bus go l i at h ,which can reach lengths of 35 cm. D u ring our entires u rvey we will see only one individual.

Day 8: Pa re d e sTo d ay ’s destination is Brazil’s largest coral reef,

Pa r e d e s.At firs t , the reef looks barren but in creviceswe find several interesting fishes and corals wehaven’t yet seen during the survey.

At the bottom of a steep wall I see one of thewo r l d ’s strangest looking marine fis h e s : a bat fis h .Dull green and shaped like a swollen arr ow, the bat-fish not only swims but crawls along the sand like a rep-t i l e , using its fins as feet.

1 N a t u re under thre a t

The l a i r of the batfis h◗ Timothy B. We r n e r

Dive into the turbid waters of Bra z i l ’s A b rolhos Bank to explore the mysteries of its marine biodiversity with a team of leading scientists

Mussimila braziliensis, a coral species found only in Brazil, produces unique mushroom-likeformations known as chaperiões.



Day 13: California ReefAfter hours of searching, our boat ’s depth fin d e r

picks up California reef—between 20 and 35 metresd ow n . But it turns out to be well wo rth the search.Wrapped in a luxurious gr owth of gorgonian corals,t h er e e f’s pinnacles produce new records of corals andfishes for the surve y.W h at a surp rise to find several colo-nies of the coral species Po rites bra n n e ri with bright redtentacles—a sharp contrast from its usual drab brow n -and-white colour.

R e t u rning to our anchorage at Santa Barbara Island,we see boats fishing illegally well inside the boundary of theAbrolhos National Marine Pa r k .The morning before weradioed in the name and identific ation number of one ofthese boats to the park guard.T h at aftern o o n ,we heard an aval officer speaking by radio with the alleged offender,telling him that he shouldn’t get overly concerned as itwas only a “ t o u ri s t ”who provided the inform at i o n .

In the eve n i n g, we decide to check out the localn i g h t l i f e .Much like a submerged city, a coral reef hast owe ring structures of stone crawling with denizens,some of whom spring to life only when the sun sets.

Thousands of polychaete wo rms wriggle aroundour underwater lights in a reproductive frenzy know nas swa rm i n g . On certain nights of the ye a r , linked tothe lunar cy c l e , polychaete wo rms release masses ofs p e rm and eggs. If I keep my light on too long at a cer-tain spot, I began to feel these wo rms scurrying insidemy ear and brushing my fa c e .We have just observe dthe first known spawning event to take place in Brazilin Fe b ru a ry.

Day 17: A look at the edgeWe are as close as we will get to the edge of the

continental shelf.This is an ideal location for observ i n g“cleaning stat i o n s”. At certain rocky outcrops,small fis hawait the arri val of the larger fis h ,much like a pit crewin a motorcar race.The large fish swim up and stopwhile the smaller fish begin picking off their parasites.

Day 18: W rapping upThe whole team meets on deck to discuss our

p r e l i m i n a ry fin d i n g s. It looks ve ry likely that our fie l dcollections will reveal many new species, possiblyincluding 20 polychaete worms and many recordsfor this area, such as 20 new plant species and fivenew fis h e s.We have also discovered that a species ofreef coral once thought rare in Brazil, Stephanoco-enia michelenii, is actually common.

To our dismay, fish populations seem to befewer in number than expected and many of theindividual fish tend to be small.The closer we cometo fishing communities, the wo rse the situat i o nappears to be.

S e veral months of analysis remain before werelease our final conclusions.The next step will beto put this inform ation in the hands of conservat i o nmanagers. Beyond the mud-choked waters of theC a r avelas River lie essential areas of biodive rs i t y.Wecannot afford to lose them simply because wecouldn’t evaluate their extraordinary wealth. ■

Setting sail

For three weeks this past Fe b r u a r y, B razilian marine scien-tists and international conservation experts teamed up

to survey the Abrolhos Bank as part of the Rapid A s s e s s m e n tP r o g ram (RAP) set up by Conservation International, a nNGO based in Wa s h i n g t o n . RAP has launched a total of 29expeditions—exploring land,freshwater and marine envi-ronments—which have resulted in the discovery of hundredsof new species, improved biodiversity management by iden-tifying priorities at the local and global levels, and led to thecreation of six protected areas in five countries.

In contrast to the world’s two great areas of coral reefs—in the Indo-Pa c i fic and the Caribbean Sea—Bra z i l ’s coral reefsare not very rich in biodiversity, but they do harbour a largenumber of endemic species. The main focus of the A b r o l h o ssurvey was less on finding new species and more on helpinglocal managers understand how different parts of the bank com-pare in terms of biodiversity and environmental threat. M a n yof the sites we selected for our survey had never before beens c i e n t i fically inventoried.

The Abrolhos Bank is the single largest area of coral reefsin the southern A t l a n t i c ,covering about 8,000 km2 off the sou-theastern corner of the Brazilian state of Bahia. As far as wek n o w, there is no other place on earth where you can see a kindof coral reef pinnacle known as a c h a p e i r ã o, which look likegiant mutant mushrooms, overgrown with fans of fire coral andround knobs of endemic brain cora l .

Months of preparation went into the expedition.Wea-ther was a major concern because most of the bank consistsof loose sediments which are easily stirred up by wa v eaction and create underwater “ d u s t ”s t o r m s. Fo r t u n a t e l y, w eended up with 18 days blessed by sunshine and light winds.

In the coming months, our science team will be analy-zing the results to help us formulate a list of recommenda-tions and priorities for conserving the marine biodiversity ofthe Abrolhos Bank. ■

+ …http://www.conservation.org

The Dusky damselfish (Stegastes fuscus) is one of the many species found only in Brazilian waters.

Nature makes nothing inva i n .A r i s t o t l e,G reek philosopher (384-322 B. C. )

http://www.conservation.org


U n c h a r t e dt e r r i t o r yPa ra d o x i c a l l y, scientists know more about the stars in our galaxy than about the number of species living on Earth

Coined by American researchers in the mid-1980s, the term biodiversity has been in themedia spotlight ever since. It is a highly

complex concept which is still not widely unders-tood by the general public. For scientists,the areaof research it covers remains uncharted territory.

According to the Convention on BiologicalDiversity adopted in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in1992, biodiversity is defined as “the variabilityamong living organisms from all sources inclu-ding, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aqua-tic ecosystems and the ecological complexes ofwhich they are part; this includes diversity withinspecies and of ecosystems.”

In plain English, biodiversity is both an ideaand a physical reality. As an idea, it refers to the“variability” of living organisms, namely to theirability to evolve in space and time, to adapt andto survive.But it is also a physical reality, compri-sing all living organisms and the relationships bet-ween them. The concept of biodiversity can bebroken down into three different levels: genes,species* and ecosystems*.

S u rp rising as it may seem, scientists know moreabout the number of stars in our galaxy than theydo about the number of species living on Eart h .Taxonomists* have inve n t o ried approx i m ately 1.7 million living organisms—plants, animals and

micro-organisms (bacteri a , v i ru s e s , f u n gi , e t c. ) .But a host of others exist in nature and it’s any b o-d y ’s guess exactly how many. The most commone s t i m ates va ry between eight and 15 million, bu tsome range up to 100 million. It would appear thatthe environments with the highest number of ende-mic* species are humid tropical forests.

2,000 apple varietiesidentified worldwide

With the exception of mammals, the higherplants and birds, scientists are rather unfamiliarwith species—and so they are light years awayfrom understanding everything there is to knowabout genetic diversity. On the one hand, eachindividual in the same species possesses a multi-tude of genes that are responsible for its own cha-r a c t e ri s t i c s. Humans have approx i m at e l y100,000, and researchers have not yet identifiedthem all. On the other hand, genetic diversity isexpressed through the existence of distinct popu-lations within the same species. For example,some 2,000 varieties of apple have been identifiedworldwide. For thousands of years, humans havetaken advantage of genetic diversity to domestica-te wild species, particularly through cross-bree-ding. Today, biotechnology* allows scientists togo faster and further by creating new varieties oftransgenic* plants and animals.

In nature, species are not isolated but live inr e l ationship with larger ecological complexe s ,which make up, with their physical environment,the planet’s ecosystems. Here again, scientistsacknowledge that they know very little about howecosystems work (see pp. 26-27) and the role theyplay in the diversity of living organisms. ■

* These terms are defined in the glossary opposite.

+ …Biodiversity in Questions, a series of colour wallcharts forteachers and students, published by UNESCO/MAB in 1998.Global Biodiversity Assessment, UNEP/CambridgeUniversity Press, 1995.www.wri.orgwww.iucn.orgwww.conservation.org

Known and estimated total number of species

Species Known number Estimated total number Accuracy

Insects 950 000 8 000 000 poor

Fungi 70 000 1 000 000 poor

Arachnids 5 000 750 000 poor

Nematodes 15 000 500 000 poor

Viruses 5 000 500 000 very poor

Bacteria 4 000 400 000 very poor

Plants 250 000 300 000 good

Protozoans 40 000 200 000 very poor

Algae 40 000 200 000 very poor

Molluscs 70 000 200 000 moderate

Crustaceans 40 000 150 000 moderate

Vertebrates 45 000 50 000 good

World total (all groups) 1 700 000 12 500 000 very poor

Source : World Conservation Monitoring Centre ;Global Environment Outlook 2000 (UNEP, Earthscan).



The Earth’s 25 “ h o t s p o t s ”

What can be done to ensure that every dollar invested

in the conservation of biodiversity pays off? The selec-

tion of 25 “hotspots”,the most ecologically rich places on

the planet,is one step towards answering that question.

A team of researchers led by British scientist Norman

Myers (Oxford University) and the NGO Conservation Inter-

national made the selection.They hope that their choice will

lead to a worldwide conservation campaign focused on

the 25 sanctuaries. Most of the sites are in the tropics. F i v e

of them are in the Mediterranean region.Their conserva t i o n

will probably cost $500 million a year.

Ta ken together, the sites cover an area as large as

Greenland (1.4 per cent of the Earth’s surface) and may har-

bour 44 per cent of the Earth’s plant and 35 per cent of its

v e r t e b rate species.They do not include areas rich in endemic

species that are not yet under threat from humans. Fo r

e x a m p l e, the forest in French Guyana has a population

density of under five inhabitants per km2, but according to

a recent report by the NGO Population Action International,

the population density in the 25 “ h o t s p o t s ” is twice as

high as the world average.

Although this approach may be effective, it is not uni-

versally accepted by the scientific community. Critics argue

that too little is known about the geographical distribution

and richness of biodiversity to identify priority areas.They say

the 25 hotspots are too focused on tropical forests and

neglect deserts, m e a d o w s, t u n d ra and temperate forests, a s

well as the wealth of marine biodiversity. ■

G l o s s a r yBiotechnology: any technological application that uses

biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives

thereof, to make or modify agricultural or industrial

products or processes

Conservation: sound management of biological

resources, ensuring their long-term viability

Ex situ conservation: conservation of elements of

biological diversity outside their natural habitat

In situ conservation: conservation of ecosystems and

natural habitats, maintenance and reconstitution of

viable populations of species in their natural habitat,

and,in the case of domesticated and cultivated species,

in the habitat where their distinctive characters

developed

Ecosystem: a dynamic complex of plant,animal and

micro-organism communities and their non-living

environment interacting as a functional unit

Species: a group of organisms which are naturally

capable of interbreeding because of their genetic and

physical resemblance

Endemic species: species present within a localized

area (e.g.an ecosystem,island, or country)

Protection: prohibition or reduction of human activities

in natural areas in order to maintain biodiversity

Taxonomy: the study, designation and classification of

living forms

Transgenic: used to describe a living organism into

which genetic material has been introduced from

another species in order to cause new characteristics to

appear ■

CaliforniaFloristic

Province

Choco/Darien/

Western Ecuador

CentralChile

Tropical Andes

Brazil’sCerrado

Brazil’sAtlanticForest

Cape FloristicProvince

Madagascar

MediterraneanBasin

Caucasus

Indo-Burma

South CentralChina

Philippines

W. AfricanForests

Eastern Arcand Coastal

Forests ofTanzania/

Kenya

SucculentKaroo

Mesoamerica

Polynesia/Micronesia

Polynesia/Micronesia

NewCaledonia

NewZealand

SouthwestAustralia

Sundaland Wallacea

WesternGhats andSri Lanka

Caribbean

Plants seem to have been sownwith profusion over theEarth likethe stars in the sky toinvite man by way of pleasure andcuriosity to the study of nature.Je a n - Jacques Rousseau,F rench writer and philosopher( 1 7 1 2 - 1 7 7 8 )


In the Amazon Basin the greatest violence canbegin as a flicker of light beyond the horizon.There, in the bowl of the night sky, an approa-

ching thunderstorm sends lightning bolts thatilluminate the wall of the rain forest. Spear-nosedbats fly through the tree crowns, palm vipers coilin the roots of orchids, jaguars walk the river’sedge, and around them grow 800 species of trees,more than are native to North America. A thou-sand species of butterflies,six per cent of the enti-re world fauna, wait for the dawn.

About the orchids, we know little. About thefli e s , b e e t l e s , and fungi we know almost nothing.Rainforests like the Amazon with their my t h - i n s p i-ring plants and animals are still mostly unexplored.B i o l o gists believe that they shelter more than halfof the wo r l d ’s plant and animal species. Tr a gi c a l l y,they are being quickly torn down by human activi-t y. It is difficult to assess quantitat i vely the loss ofspecies there and elsewhere because we do notk n ow the precise number of species that exist one a rt h . Probably fewer than 10 per cent of themh ave even been gi ven a scientific name. A n dextinction is hard to observe .We don’t see the lastbu t t e r fly of its species snatched from the air by a

bird or the last orchid of a certain kind killed by thecollapse of its supporting tree.

We know from the fossil record that six gr e atextinction events have occurred in the past half bil-lion ye a rs.The latest of these eve n t s , caused by a gi a n tm e t e o rite strike near present-day Yu c atan (Mexico)65 million ye a rs ago, ended the age of dinosaurs.These catastrophes va riously obliterated 30 to 90 percent of the wo r l d ’s plant and animal species. A f t e r-wa r d ,e volution replaced the biodive rsity ve ry slow l y,d u ring periods of millions of ye a rs.

EquilibriumB i o l o gists agree that we are now in the earliest

stages of a seventh mass extinction eve n t , c a u s e dnot by an act of nature but entirely by human acti-v i t y.The current rate of extinction is generally esti-m ated to be 100 to 1,000 times higher than it wa sbefore the ori gin of modern humanity about half amillion ye a rs ago.Throughout most of the geologi-cal past, individual species and their descendantsl i ved for an average of roughly one million ye a rs ,and disappeared naturally at about one species permillion each ye a r. On a grand scale, new speciesreplaced vanishing ones at about the same rat e .N o

D o o m e dto early d e m i s e◗ E d ward O. W i l s o n

Many biologists believe we are in the midst of one of the great extinction spasms of geological history. This time however, human activity, not nature, is the culprit

◗ Professor of Science and Curatorin Entomology at HarvardUniversity and the winner of manyscientific awards in addition to twoPulitzer prizes for his books, inparticular The Diversity of Life(Harvard University Press, 1992),which inspired this text.

In Sumatra,Indonesia,a Kubu tribesman contemplates a calcinated forest area,used by generations for hunting and gathering medicinal plants.

Forests precede people.Deserts follow them.F rançois René de Chateaubriand,F rench poet (1768-1848)



m o r e . Not only has the extinction rate soared, bu talso the birth rate of new species is falling as thenatural environment is reduced by human action.

According to estimates by the World Conser-vation Union (IU C N) , about one quarter of the wo r l-d’s mammals and more than a tenth of its remai-ning birds are at a high risk of extinction. O n e - fif t hof all reptile species, a quarter of all amphibiansand as many as 34 per cent of all fishes (mostly fre-shwater species) are in similar jeopardy.And thesep r o p o rtions only refer to species we know relat i-vely we l l . In the less studied gr o u p s , more than 500insect species, 400 crustaceans and 900 molluscsare also threat e n e d , according to IU C N, figures thatare surely vast underestimat e s. F i n a l l y, about aneighth of the wo r l d ’s flowe ring plants are edgi n gtoward extinction.

Human demographic success has brought theworld to this cri s i s. Human beings have become ahundred times more numerous than any otherlarge land animal in the history of life. By eve ryc o n c e i vable measure, humanity is ecologi c a l l ya b n o rm a l . Our species appropri ates between 20and 40 per cent of solar energy captured in organicm at e rial by land plants. There is no way we cand r aw upon the resources of the planet to thisd e gree without reducing many other species tor a rity or extinction.

The leading cause of the decline is the des-truction of natural habitats to make more roomfor urban and farming areas and to extract tim-ber, ore, and other natural resources. Not manyhabitats in the world covering a square kilometrecontain fewer than a thousand species of plantsand animals. Patches of rainforest and coral reefharbour tens of thousands of species, even afterthey have been partly chipped away by humanintervention.

But when an entire habitat is destroye d ,a l m o s tall of the species specialized to live in it are destroye d .Not just eagles and pandas disappear but also thes m a l l e s t , still uncensused inve rt e b r at e s , algae andf u n gi , the invisible playe rs that make up the founda-tion of the ecosystem.

Celebrity pandasFor ye a rs ,c o n s e rvationists often focused on sav i n g

“ s t a r ” species like pandas as opposed to the entireecosystem in which they live . N ow, with a betteru n d e rstanding of the extinction process, they haveswitched gears by, for example, focusing on the needto protect particularly rich environments that containnumerous vulnerable species, r e f e rred to as biodi-ve rsity “ h o t s p o t s ” (see page 21).

The second major cause of extinction is theinvasion of alien species. When Polynesian voya-gers set shore in Hawaii around 400 A.D., theislands were a special kind of paradise.Their lushforests and fertile valleys contained no mosqui-toes, ants, poisonous spiders nor snakes or plantswith thorns or poisons. All these are now abun-dant. Human commerce introduced invasive spe-cies, deliberately or by accident. As the natural

habitats were decimated and the alien invaderspressed on, the original fauna and flora haveretracted. Most are now rare or extinct.

The third major cause of decline is pollution.Freshwater faunas and floras, for example, areespecially vulnerable to the increasing flood ofindustrial and agricultural pollution. The fourthagent of destruction, destined to rise in impor-tance in the future, is global warming, which itselfis the result of pollution by excess greenhousegases. Among the more fragile environments mostthreatened are the arctic tundras and the uniqueSouth African fynbos (scrubland) “trapped” onthe tip of the continent.

Shrinking rainforests Just how fast is dive rsity disappearing? We are fa r

from an exact answe r , except to say,“ c at a s t r o p h i c a l l yfa s t ” .Yet it is possible to get a handle on the ri c h e s te nvironment of all, the tropical rainforests. By loo-king at the rate of reduction of the forest area, we canroughly estimate the extinction rates of species.F i rs t ,we must dispel the myth of the regenerat i ve powe rof rainforests, which are actually among the most fra-gile habitat s. More than half of the area of the forests u r face worldwide consists of acidic and nutri e n t -poor soil.When the forest is cut and bu rned by fa r-m e rs , the ash and decomposing ve g e t ation flu s henough nutrients into the soil to support vigorousnew herbaceous and shrubby gr owth for two or threeye a rs. But as the nutrient levels decline, the land canno longer support healthy crops and forage. So thefa rm e rs must add fertilizer or move on to slash-and-bu rn the next patch of forest.

In prehistoric times, the great forests—thegreenhouses of planet Earth—covered 14 to 18million square kilometres. Only about half of theoriginal area remains. Much of the destruction isrecent, with about one million square kilometrescleared every five to ten years. If this destructionrate continues, a quarter or more of the remai-ning rainforest will be gone by 2025.

N ow let’s conservat i vely assume that the forestspresently shelter 10 million species and focus exclu-s i vely on the impact of deforestat i o n .We wo n ’t eve nconsider species lost to over-hunting or those erasedby new diseases, alien weeds and animals such as rat s.Within these cautious parameters , 27,000 species aredoomed each ye a r. In other wo r d s , 74 will disappearor start their descent to endangered status eve ry day,three each hour.

If rainforests are as rich in diversity as mostbiologists think, their reduction alone will elimi-nate at least five to ten per cent of all the specieson earth. I think that a far greater number of spe-cies are on the edge, perhaps irreversibly so.

Clearly we are in the midst of one of the greatextinction spasms of geological history. Humanityneeds a moral awakening together with all of thescientific and technological ingenuity it can bringto bear, in order to avoid impoverishing the pla-net for all generations to come. We can, we mustfind the way. ■

The Russian forests aregoing down under thea x .Millions of trees arep e r i s h i n g , the homes ofwild animals and birdsare being laid to wa s t e,the rivers are dwindlingand drying up,wonderful scenery isdisappearing never tor e t u r n . (…) The climate is ruined,and every day the earth is growingpoorer and moreh i d e o u s.Anton Chekhov,Russian writer (1860-1904)


Too valuable for price-tags◗ Sophie Boukhari

Why should biological diversity be protected? Scientists are putting forth many new answers : some to convince the public and decision-make rs and others they consider scientifically valid

Eve ry week it seems, b i o l o gi s t s , a n t h r o p o l o gists ore nvironmental scientists publish studies with a newreason explaining why it is vital to slow down the

depletion of biodive rs i t y. For example, in early Marcht wo A m e rican scholars , James Kirchner and Anne We l l ,wrote in the British review N at u r e t h at , after an era ofmass extinction, it took nature much longer than anyo n ehad previously thought to reach its current level of ri c h-ness and dive rs i t y.

If humans continue destroying wild habitats at thec u rrent pace, not only will we cause a major new crisis inthe history of life, it will take nature at least 10 millionye a rs to recove r.T h at stunning argument bemuses somes c i e n t i s t s , who say that in just five million ye a rs , H o m os a p i e n s and the other large ve rt e b r ates will have gone theway of the dinosaurs. So why care about what happensafter that?

“The question is not what will happen to tigers 10million ye a rs from now,” s ays Michel Bat i s s e ,who hel-ped set up UNESCO’s biosphere reserves and is on theboard of directors of the non-governmental organiza-tion Conservation Intern at i o n a l . “ T h e r e ’s no doubtthey will no longer exist. But what about 100 ye a rsfrom now? W h at we need is to find good reasons toprotect biodiversity in the next few centuries.”

The tempestuous debate over the “ va l u e ” of biodi-ve rsity is sometimes skewed by the need to convince atany price. Genuinely alarmed about the scope of thedestruction,some experts have taken up “ideological”positions, says Talal Younes, executive director of theI n t e rn ational Union of Biological Sciences. “ T h e ythink any argument that can help put the messageacross is good,whether or not it is scientifically valid.”

The values most commonly invoked to raise publicawareness are economic and aesthetic. “The Westernpublic pictures biodiversity like Noah’s ark, with thegiraffe and the sequoia,the parrot and the tulip,” saysBatisse. In the industrialized countries,where wilder-ness has become a rare, h i g h l y - p rized commodity,people are willing to take action so that their gr a n d-

children will have the chance to see elephants roa-ming free.

But Peter Bri d g e wat e r , director of UN E S C O’s eco-l o gical sciences division, thinks biodive rs i t y ’s aes-thetic value is relat i ve .“ People living in cities in NewZ e a l a n d , for example, think that whales are in gr e atdanger and should be protected from hunters. B u tInuit in Alaska will tell you that whales are an impor-tant part of their diet and that they should be allowe dto sustainably hunt whales.Who is right? ”

A gene poolfor biotechnology

The aesthetic argument works with a cert a i nsegment of the general public, but it falls short ofc o nvincing decision-makers.“When ministers holda meeting, you have to demonstrate the economica d vantages of preserving biodive rs i t y,” s ays Bat i s s e .T h at task is all the harder because gove rn m e n t ssometimes deri ve tremendous economic benefitfrom the destruction of ecosystems, e s p e c i a l l yforests,and they are under pressure from powerfullobbies (the timber and paper industri e s , f o rexample). Researchers reply that biodiversity is aboon for the tourism industry (see pp. 3 1 - 3 2 ) ,h e l p sto cure illnesses (pp.30-31) and to feed people atlittle cost (pp.27-29) and constitutes an inestimablegene pool for biotechnology.

In the past several ye a rs , scientists have alsocome up with a battery of figures aimed at puttinga monetary value on the services ecosystems pro-vide for human societies (see pp. 2 6 - 2 7 ) .A group ofA m e rican scholars estimates their wo rth at $319billion a year in the United States (5 per cent of theU.S.GDP),and nearly three trillion dollars a yearwo r l d w i d e . The leading ecological economist,R o b e rt Costanza, has published other estimat e sassessing the total value of services rendered bybiodiversity at $33 trillion a year—more than theGDP of all the world’s countries combined.◗ UNESCO Courier journalist

2 S c i e n t i fic truths



While these figures might hit home, m a ny scien-tists consider them to be totally off the mark. PeterB ri d g e water goes even furt h e r , arguing that theattempt to put price-tags is not only a “ waste oftime” but dangerous. “The economically-mindedpeople are setting up a system of discri m i n ation byc o n s i d e ring some species and ecosystems to bevaluable (because they provide ‘ p r o fit a b l e ’s e rv i c e s )and deeming others worthless. Ecological systemsare not built-up on the basis of discrimination butc o - o p e r at i o n .They must be considered as a whole.”

B ri d g e water says biodive rsity is too valuable to bee va l u at e d . It is priceless because it guarantees the secu-rity of the human race. It would be idiotic,he say s ,t od e s t r oy ecosystems which make air breat h a b l e , the cli-m ate tolerable,water drinkable and soil fertile (see pp.2 6 - 2 7 ) .To those who argue that technological pro-gress will offset environmental damage,he retorts thatthe costs would be exorbitant.And technological solu-t i o n s , he adds,will not hold up in the long run because,unlike nat u r e , they will be incapable of adapting toc h a n g e .W h at ’s more, adds Jeffrey McNeelly, of theWorld Conservation Union, the most advanced tech-n o l o gies are based on mechanisms observed in livingthings—an additional reason to take care of them. I n s-tead of pitting nature and technology against one ano-t h e r ,b i o d i ve rsity specialists are counting on an allianceb e t ween them to better manage the environment andto develop ecological engi n e e ring (which would makeit possible, for example, to restore the functions of ad e graded tropical forest).

Last but not least, they say, i n s t rumentalist argu-ments pale in comparison to the only one that reallym at t e rs : b i o d i ve rsity is the essence of life. “ W h at isl i f e ,when you get down to it?”asks Robert Barbault,director of the French Institute of Basic and A p p l i e dE c o l o g y. “It is what lasts. And it lasts because it

adapts to changes in the environment by dive rs i-f y i n g . A host of species has continued demonstra-ting this for over four billion ye a rs. Humans are nod i f f e r e n t , e ven though they are more sophisticat e d .They face the same problems: e at or be eat e n . P r e-d at o rs try to kill as much prey as possible and preyt ries to escape from predat o rs.T h at leads to co-evo-lution based on genetic and behavioural va ri a b i l i t y.I t ’s a race that never ends,” s ays Barbault.“ D i ve rs i t yis the ve ry reason for the success of living pheno-m e n a , and therefore for our own existence.” But ifliving things have always adapted, w hy wo rry now ?Most specialists are cat e g o ri c a l : to regenerat e , l i f eneeds time and space, t wo things it no longer hasbecause of the pace and scope of the damage causedby people.

Becoming awareof our interdependence

Because of its biological and technological pro-gr e s s , Homo sapiens are jeopardizing their own we l-fa r e .The present environmental cri s i s ,s ays RobertBarbault,has the advantage of helping to raise theWe s t e rn individual’s awareness of our connectionswith nature,which has long been considered as ane x t e rnal entity to be tamed. “ We ’re beginning tounderstand that our planet must be managed and,c o n s e q u e n t l y, to think about the new civilizat i o nwe want to build.The ability to conceive a projectis precisely what sets us apart from other species.Wewill have to change our behaviour, especially dietand technology, and our mentalities.We must havea different, more ecological vision of the world andbe more aware of our interdependence with allother living things.” And perhaps, a touch morehumble. ■

In Madagascar, an Antandroy tribesman holds the fossilized egg of an elephant bird (Aepyornis maximus), a species thatbecame extinct about 500 years ago.

The Earth is our mother,the eagle our cousin.The tree draws blood from us and theg rass is growing.Our ancestors told us:Now that we have doneall these things, y o umust watch over them and ensure that they aref o r e v e r.It is in this way that human beingsbecame the custodians of the planet.Gagudju account of cre a t i o n( A u s t ra l i a )


In my view, b i o d i ve rs i t y ’s fundamental value isneither aesthetic nor economic but env i r o n-m e n t a l , e ven though most people are largely

u n aware of this.The value of biodive rsity is oftenmeasured in terms of the number of speciesliving in a gi ven area. But the interactions bet-ween the many species in an ecosystem, and bet-ween them and the env i r o n m e n t ’s physical andchemical components are also ve ry import a n t .This highly intri c ate web of relationships makesan ecosystem more valuable than the sum of thespecies it contains.

Ecosystems perform services that are essentialfor the survival of the human species. They fixcarbon in the atmosphere and produce oxygen,protect soil from erosion and keep it fertile, filterwater and replenish aquifers, provide pollinationand anti-parasite agents and so on.

The first two of these services are closely rela-ted to each other. They result from photosynthe-sis, whereby green plants, starting with algae,absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) and emit oxygen.For millions of years, the balance between the

various gases in the atmosphere remained stable.But with the coming of the industrial revolution,humans began burning increasing amounts offossil fuels. Today, three billion tonnes of carbonbuild up in the atmosphere each year, and naturalecosystems can no longer absorb all these emis-sions—especially since they are disappearing atan alarming rate. Deforestation alone releasessuch tremendous amounts of CO2 and othergases, such as methane, that it has become thesecond-leading cause of global warming.

Storing freshwater, protecting soil and kee-ping it fertile are three other closely related func-tions. Ecosystems are veritable “freshwater facto-ries”. They absorb rainwater and slowly filter itthrough the soil before draining it towa r d sstreams, rivers, lakes and underground aquifersthat supply us with the precious liquid.When thevegetal ground cover is degraded, the water cycleis disrupted. Rain strikes the bare earth, washingaway huge amounts of nutritional substances.Reservoirs, lakes and rivers silt up and terriblemudslides, such as those that recently ripped

E c o s y s t e m s, our u n k n o w np ro t e c t o rs◗ José Sarukhán

How ecosystems work and what part they play in biodiversity remain a mystery.But we do know that they perform a host of invaluable services for the human species

◗ Director of the Ecology Instituteat the University of Mexico City,president of Diversitas, aninternational biodiversityprogramme sponsored by UNESCO

and the International Council forScience

Nickel mining in New Caledonia has severely eroded the upper parts of certain massifs and has had a devastating impacton the environment.



For thousands of ye a rs , fa rm e rs have used thegenetic va ri ation in wild and cultivated plants tod e velop their crops and raise new breeds of live-

s t o c k . Genetic dive rsity gi ves species the ability toadapt to changing env i r o n m e n t s , including new pestsand diseases and new climatic conditions. P l a n tgenetic resources—that component of genetic dive r-sity of actual or potential use to humanity—prov i d ethe raw mat e rial for breeding new va rieties of crops.

◗ Director General of the Rome-based International Plant GeneticResources Institute, devoted topromoting the conservation anduse of plant genetic resources

T h e s e , in turn ,p r ovide a basis for more productiveand resilient production systems that are better ableto cope with such stresses as drought or ove r gr a z i n gand can reduce the potential for soil erosion.The useof genetic dive rs i t y — o n - fa rm , through field experi-m e n t ation or in sophisticated gene transfer proce-dures—remains arguably the best route to securi n gour food and that of our children.

Although science has made enormous strides in

through Central A m e ri c a , Mexico andMozambique, kill thousands of people and causeincalculable damage.

Uncertain reaction to climate change

Despite years of research, scientists still knowvery little about how ecosystems work. We aregenerally incapable of predicting how they willreact to certain transformations in the environ-ment, especially climate changes. Nor do weknow any more about whether a species presentin a given environment is superfluous or “repla-ceable”,even when it is very rare. Likewise, we donot know which key species are indispensable tomaintaining an ecosystem, with a few exceptionssuch as pine forests, where that tree is obviouslythe dominant species.

We know even less about the part biologi c a ld i ve rsity itself plays in maintaining ecosystems andthe services they perform . One simple example is ahighly dive rs i fied forest that absorbs carbon diox i-de—a vital function, as we have seen, for limitingglobal wa rm i n g . Suppose the forest is cleared tomake way for a single-crop forest. The service willstill be perform e d , perhaps even better at firs tbecause yo u n g, fa s t - gr owing trees absorb moreC O2 than old ones, which regenerate slow l y. B u tw h at will happen in the long term? After seve r a ld e c a d e s , the consequences of the loss of biodive r-sity will probably be felt. Replacing many specieswith a single one will have certainly depleted thesoil and, in the long term , s l owed down the forest’sgr owth and consequently its ability to absorb CO2.

More generally, diversified ecosystems seemmore productive. Specialists remain wary abouttheir conclusions, but today they believe that bio-

diversity helps ecosystems to resist alien speciesand diseases and to recover faster in the event ofdisruption. In the face of doubt, and to find outmore about them, it is better to preserve as manydifferent ecosystems as possible.

A costly lesson for New York City

Most people take it for granted that ecosys-tems will carry on performing services withoutreceiving anything in return. They think naturewill continue benefiting humanity, no matter howmuch damage is done.The survival of organismsother than our own species is perceived as a frillthat future generations can live without.

These preconceived ideas are wrong and dan-g e r o u s , as the city of New York has recently cometo realize.The city’s water has always enjoyed sucha good reputation that it was sold throughout then o rt h e a s t e rn United Stat e s. Its quality was due tothe Catskill Mountains’ n atural puri fic ation sys-t e m . But that ecosystem has suffered so much fromp o l l u t i o n , especially fertilizer run-off from fa rm s ,t h at by the late 1990s New Yo r k ’s water had beco-me undri n k a b l e . The city planned to build a puri-fic ation plant, whose cost was put at between sixand eight billion dollars , not including the $300million in yearly operating costs—an astronomicalbill for a service that had always been free! T h ep rice was so staggering that the city eve n t u a l l ydecided to restore the Catskill Mountains’ d e gr a-ded environment at a cost of only one billion dol-l a rs.

This story clearly illustrates where our interestsl i e . We must preserve ecosystems and the condi-tions that enable our planet to ensure the surv i va lof Homo sapiens o r , at least, the short - t e rm mainte-nance of our current quality of life. ■

Genetic diversity and food s e c u r i t y◗ Geoffrey C. H a w t i n

Maintaining a diversity of crops and varieties is a key to survival for millions of farmers living on impoverished land

It should not bebelieved that all beingsexist for the sake of man.On the contrary,all other beings too have been intendedfor the sake of somethingelse.Moses Maimonides,t h e o l o g i a n , Jewish philosopherand doctor (1135-1204)


improving the world’s ability to feed itself over thepast three decades, we cannot afford to rest idle.Nearly 800 million people in the developing wo r l ddo not have enough to eat.1 In these regions, therural poor represent about 73 per cent of the peopleliving in pove rt y. They often live in marginal orunsuitable fa rming areas, such as zones with salinesoils, arid conditions, or degraded or hilly areas.Often isolated from other fa rms and far from urbana r e a s , m a ny poor fa rm e rs have barely benefit e dfrom agricultural developments elsewhere. In manycases they do not have access to commercially bredhigh yielding crop va ri e t i e s. D i ve rsity flo u ri s h e sand remains important under such conditions.

Selections and breedingPoor fa rm e rs are well aware of the relat i o n s h i p

b e t ween the stability and sustainability of their pro-duction systems and the dive rsity of crops and cropva rieties on their lands.Their management and useof a dive rse range of plants has often helped them tos u rv i ve under the most difficult conditions. By gr o-wing a range of different crops, fa rm e rs have a betterchance of meeting their needs.These might be cropst h at mature at different times or that can be easilystored to help to ensure a stable food supply throu-ghout the ye a r.They may also help fa rm e rs prov i d ea nutritionally balanced diet for their fa m i l i e s ,e x p l o i tdifferent environmental niches that exist on theirl a n d , or dive rsify their income sources.

I m p o rt a n t l y, the genetic dive rsity contained in dif-ferent va rieties provides fa rm e rs with options to deve-l o p, through selection and breeding, new and morep r o d u c t i ve crops that are resistant to pests and diseases.The result may be a vast range of local va rieties of cropsgr own by fa rm e rs in any one area. In the A n d e s ,f o re x a m p l e , fa rming communities use about 3,000 dif-ferent va rieties of potat o e s , and in Java fa rm e rs mayplant more than 600 species in a single home garden.

Not respecting dive rsity can incur high costs: i n1 8 t h - c e n t u ry Ireland, where potatoes were the onlys i g n i ficant source of food for about one third of thep o p u l at i o n , fa rm e rs came to rely almost entirely onone ve ry fertile and productive va ri e t y, which prove dsusceptible to the deva s t ating potato blight fungus.The resulting famine caused the death or emigra-tion of more than 20 per cent of the population.

The value of diversity goes well beyond its abi-lity to support stable production systems in margi n a le nv i r o n m e n t s. As the wo r l d ’s human populat i o nri s e s ,e nvironmental problems (desert i fic at i o n, d e f o-r e s t at i o n , e r o s i o n , e t c.) are intensifying. C l i m at ec h a n g e , p a rticularly global wa rm i n g, could bri n gabout drastic changes in the location of the wo r l d ’sa gr o - e c o l o gical zones. Fa rm e rs will require new cropva rieties capable of producing under dive rse condi-t i o n s , without adding ever-increasing amounts of fer-t i l i z e rs and other agr o - c h e m i c a l s. Because of thelimited scope for gr owth in the wo r l d ’s cultivat e da r e a s , each new generation of va rieties will have to bemore productive than its predecessors.

Much has been written about the use of genetice n gi n e e ring in plant breeding. M o d e rn moleculartechniques can be used to transfer genes from oneliving organism to another or to change the geneticm at e rial within to produce more desirable traits.Genetic engi n e e ring has enormous potential to helps o l ve problems that have proved intractable usingc o nventional breeding approaches, such as deve l o p i n g

North AmericaCranberryJerusalem artichokeMuscadine grapeSunflower

Andes/SouthAmericaCashewCayenneCocoaGroundnut/peanutLima beanManiocPepperPineapplePotatoPumpkin

Mexico/Central AmericaAvocadoCommon beanMaize/CornPapayaPecanSweet potatoTomatoTabasco pepperVanilla

BelgiumBrussel sprout

MediterraneanAsparagusBroad beanCabbageCauliflowerCeleryCommon grapeGlobe artichokeMintOatParsnipSugar beet

North AfricaCattleMarjoram

1. See the Food and Health Organization’s 1999 Report onthe State of Food Insecurity in the World.

CaribbeanGrapefruit



crop va rieties with in-built resistance to key pests anddiseases and tolerance to stresses such as drought.H owe ve r , the possible impact of these techniques,p a r-ticularly on human health and the env i r o n m e n t , i sgiving rise to fierce worldwide debat e .

Take the case of banana and its close relativep l a n t a i n ,t wo of the developing wo r l d ’s most impor-tant crops.Their improvement is hindered by thesterility of most cultivars, a problem that can beaddressed through genetic engineering. It is now

possible to transfer gene constructs, such as thosea s s o c i ated with disease resistance, directly intovarieties with other desirable characteristics, dras-tically reducing the need for pesticides. Currently,many crops are sprayed more than 40 times withfungicides to control the devastating banana andplantain disease,Black Sigat o k a .The first transgenicbanana and plantain plants have been producedand are now undergoing testing.

To d ay, research on genetic engi n e e ring is focusedon the development of commercial va rieties of thewo r l d ’s major crops of interest to industrialized fa r-m e rs. M a ny of the staple crops of importance to poorfa rm e rs in developing countri e s , such as cassava ,b a n a-n a s , beans and ya m s ,h ave received relat i vely littleat t e n t i o n .This situation is likely to continue as plantbreeding is increasingly pri vatized and biotechnologybecomes the fa s t - gr owing province of pri vate indus-t ry. M e a n w h i l e , the high costs of the new technolo-gies are quickly exceeding the capacity of many, if notm o s t , public research institutions—both in deve l o-ping and developed countries—to support them.T h u s ,for the time being, increasing agri c u l t u r e ’s role in thed e velopment of the wo r l d ’s poor is likely to continue todepend on the identific at i o n , maintenance and use ofgenetic dive rs i t y. ■

+ …Website of the International Plant Genetic ResourcesInstitute: www.cgiar.org/ipgri

India/Indo-MalayaBlack pepperBreadfruitCardamonChickenChickpeaCitronDwarf wheatLimeMangoMoth beanRiceSafflowerSesame

Near EastAlfalfaBarleyCabbageEincorn WheatFigGoatHazelnutLeekLentilPeaPigPlumRyeShallotSheepSpelt wheatSugar beetSweet cherry

Horn of AfricaBlack-eye peaBread wheatCastor beanCoffeeCowpeaDate palmFinger milletMustardOkraPearl milletSorghumYam

EuropeanSiberian RegionCattleChicoryGooseberryKaleLettuceLicoricePearWatercress

Central AsiaAlmondAppleCarrotCommon grapeCucumberGarlicOnionRhubarbSpinach

East AsiaBuckwheatChiveFoxtail milletGinsengLitchiMulberryPeachRadishSoybeanSweet orangeTeaTurnipWater chestnut

Southeast AsiaApricotBananaCinnamon and CassiaCloveCoconut palmEggplantIndian almondLemonMung beanSugar caneTangerine

To market in Pe r u :f a r m e rs in the Andes cultivate up to 3,000 potato varieties.


molecular biology, they have begun designingtailor-made drugs. Knowing the shape of a givenbiological “lock”, they use computers to designthe molecular “key” that may trigger the mecha-nism resulting in a cure. This method works intheory, but in practice it is extremely complicatedto create ex nihilo an artificial substance that is notfound in nature. Hence the advantage of combi-ning natural molecules that result from 4.5 billionyears of evolutionary development.

Recent successes have confirmed the value ofusing substances from nature. The discovery ofcy c l o s p o ri n , an immunosuppressant, in aNorwegian mushroom has led to decisive pro-gress in preventing the rejection of transplantedorgans. Researchers working for the Americanpharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. have recentlydetected a chemical component in a Congomushroom that acts like insulin and may be usedto make the much sought pill for diabetes. At thesame time, in vitro methods for detecting activemolecules have evolved. Pharmaceutical compa-nies have giant robots capable of testing up to100,000 samples a day.

Calling on local healers

N e ve rt h e l e s s , in practice the road leading fromplant to drug is still extremely long and fraught withu n c e rt a i n t y. F i rs t , samples must be collected in stra-t e gic places, where pri m a ry forest surv i ve s.They arel o c ated in “ c o u n t ries in the inter-tropical zones ofA f ri c a , South A m e ri c a , Asia and the Pa c i fic,” s ay sT h i e rry Séve n e t , research director at the FrenchInstitute for Natural Substance Chemistry.

In the field, biological prospectors are follo-wing three different and complementary leads.Scientists collecting plants at random bring backas many samples as they can for screening byrobots. But the traditional knowledge of localhealers can narrow down the search. Folk reme-dies have led to the development of several drugs,starting with quinine and digitaline. Researchingin the South Pacific, American ethno-botanistPaul Cox recently studied a stem of Homolanthusnutans that Samoans prepare for the treatment of fevers. Chemists scrutinizing the plant foundthat it contains a known molecule, prostratine,which acts upon the Aids virus. Lastly, using the

In Madagascar’s Isalo mountain range, t h eguide stops. At his feet, a tiny flower displays itspink petals. “This plant is good for cancer,” the

man says proudly. Long consumed to relieve hun-ger, the Madagascar periwinkle was first descri-bed by the French botanist Etienne de Flacourtin 1645.Then, in the 1960s, it was discovered tobe effective in treating cancer.

Humans have always found substances innature to relieve their suffering and cure their ills.In developing countries, 80 per cent of the popu-lation relies on traditional remedies extractedfrom plants to treat illnesses. Some “modern”d rugs that contain a single active ingr e d i e n trather than a mixture of substances owe theirexistence to natural biodiversity. Morphine, qui-nine, digitaline and 116 other drugs made fromplants are in widespread use, according toAmerican pharmacologist Norman Farnsworth.An estimated two-thirds of the drugs sold inpharmacies are of natural origin. They accountfor some $30 billion in sales every year.

There is an urgent need for therapeuticresearch to find new treatments that can be help-ful in fighting recent, emerging diseases such asAids as well as overcoming resistance to currenttreatments for cancer,malaria and bacterial infec-tions. Researchers are following several leads,such as gene therapy, which is still in its earlieststages, and drug design. With the advent of

O u t of the forest and into the bottle◗ Cécile Guérin

Pharmaceutical companies are taking an increasing interest in plants, insects and bacteria. B u tf rom nature to clinical trials, the road is a long one

Collecting species: a “bioprospector”on the job in Costa Rica.

◗ French science writer

N a t u re ’smedicine chestRelieving pain18171: morphine is extractedfrom poppy flowers.Treating inflammation1829:aspirin is extracted fromwillow bark.Regulating heartbeat1868:digitaline is extractedfrom digitalis.Fighting malaria1820:quinine is extracted fromcinchona bark.1972:artemisine is extractedfrom artemisia.Preventing the rejection oftransplanted organs1970:cyclosporin is extractedfrom a Norwegian mushroom.Fighting cancer1958-1965:the derivatives

vinblastine and vincristine areextracted from the Madagascarperiwinkle.1971:taxol is extracted fromthe Pacific yew.1980:taxotere is extractedfrom the European yew.

1 . Dates refer to the isolation of theactive ingredient, usually 10 to 15years before the drug is marke t e d .



chemo-taxonomic approach, scientists probe spe-cies from the same family already reputed forcontaining useful substances.

Once the samples are gat h e r e d , chemists takeove r ,extracting and purifying substances from the rawm at e rial in order to produce mixed or pure che-mical components.T h e n , the extracts are tested tod e t e rmine whether they are biologically active .At thiss t a g e , the screening process is extremely thorough.G e n e r a l l y, a single molecule is kept out of 10,000compounds analysed. A l t o g e t h e r , it takes 15 to 20ye a rs from the time the plant is gathered in the forestto the final clinical trials conducted before a drug canbe marketed.

Profit-sharingP h a rmaceutical research is sluggish and

u n c e rt a i n , while the threats to biodive rsity arei rr e ve rsibly and rapidly gaining ground (see pp.2 2 - 2 3 ) . In the face of this urgency, which coin-cides with rising interest on the part of resear-c h e rs , prospecting projects are being deve l o p e d ,despite the increasingly strong constraints on thei n d u s t ry. Before the 1992 Earth Summit in Riode Ja n e i r o, We s t e rn laborat o ries—the only onest h at can afford to invest huge sums in research—drew from the biodive rsity of the Southern coun-

t ries without giving them anything in return . B u tin the past ten ye a rs or so, these countries havedemanded a share of the profits—and pharm a-ceutical companies are beginning to listen. I n1 9 9 1 , for the first time, Merck & Co. paid ove rone million dollars to INBIO, Costa Rica’sNational Institute for Bi o d i ve rs i t y, to gain accessto the country ’s genetic resources. If a drug isd e ve l o p e d , the institute will receive between twoand six percent of profit s , of which half must bee a rmarked for the preservation of national parks.In five other projects carried out by the UnitedS t ates with South A m e rican and A f rican coun-t ri e s , U. S . u n i ve rsities are co-operating with localo n e s. It remains to be seen how the indigenouspeople who help in the selection of plants will ber e m u n e r at e d .

In the shadows of the wo r l d ’s big pharm a c e u t i-cal companies, smaller local laborat o ries have joi-ned the green gold ru s h . M a d a g a s c a r ’s Institute ofApplied Research has begun a study of 12,000n at i ve plants. Working with France’s Natural Hi s-t o ry Mu s e u m , the institute has identified a sub-stance that strengthens the effectiveness of chloro-quine against malari a .With a bit of luck, this plantfrom the S t ry c h n o s family will follow the same trailblazed by the Madagascar peri w i n k l e . ■

B o r n e o : re a p i n g t h efruits of ecotourism◗ Robert Basiuk

The Iban people are highly dependent on the riches of the forest for their survival, and tourism has become an addedincentive to protect this wealth

Since they settled in the Malaysian state ofS a r awak over 400 ye a rs ago, the Iban havemade the surrounding rainforest their super-

market and hardware store, tapping the tremendousva riety of plants, animals and raw mat e rials fortheir food,medicines, dwellings and rituals.

This region of nort h we s t e rn Borneo is identifie das one of the wo r l d ’s most biodive rs i t y - rich areas. I t sresources are so important to the Iban that local cus-t o m a ry laws stipulate taboos against felling cert a i nt r e e s , killing va rious animals and cutting forestareas containing valuable fruits and constructionmaterials.

The traditional Iban dwelling is the longhouse, as e m i - p e rmanent structure housing 20 or more fa m i-lies in separate living apart m e n t s.Their main live l i-hood is from fa rming (hill ri c e ) , fis h i n g, s m a l l - s c a l er e a ring of live s t o c k ,g at h e ring of jungle produce and

occasional hunting. Until recently, r e s i n s , r at t a n s ,animal products and scented wood were among thei m p o rtant items exchanged for non-forest goodssuch as steel and cloth. Demand for some productshas ceased and with it their value as a barter tradei t e m . Transition towards a cash economy has alsochanged the needs of the villages.While supplies ofr attans and sandalwood have diminished, t o u rism hasemerged as a new market for biodive rsity over the pastten to fifteen ye a rs.

Ulu A i , established by the Kuching-based ope-rator Borneo Adventure, is one example of a newg e n e r ation of tourism products promoting the intri-c ate relationship between the rainforest and itsdwellers. The Ulu Batang Ai is a remote, unspoilta r e a : the ri ve rs are tree-lined and clear and thelandscape is rugged with steep hills giving rise tomany waterfalls.

◗ Canadian biologist who has livedin Sarawak (Malaysia) since 1983.Mr Basiuk has served as a wildlifeofficer for the Sarawak NationalPark,held various senior positionswith the state tourism board andhelped to set up Borneo Adventure.Since 1998,he has worked as aconsultant on a variety of projectsrelated to tourism and naturalresource management.


B e yond the Ai ri ver are the Lanjak Entimau W i l d-life Sanctuary and the Batang Ai National Pa r k ,e s t a-blished to protect the last wild population of orang-u t a n .While the Iban living in this area are reasonablys e l f - s u f ficient in terms of food and can manufa c t u r emost of their daily necessities from local mat e ri a l s ,t h e ydid not—until recently—have a steady cash income asthe distance from markets makes cash crop fa rm i n gand market gardening unfeasible.

Premium orang-utanThe village was first approached in 1986, s h o rt l y

after Borneo Adventure had been formed, to see ifits inhabitants would be interested in receiving visi-t o rs in their longhouse.The arrangement proposedwas that the village would provide transport ,g u i d e s ,food and accommodation and Borneo Adventurewould bring in the touri s t s. From the start , t h eproject aimed to bring visitors to experience the lon-ghouse and up-ri ver lifestyle and to provide anincentive for the community to conserve the localwildlife—in this case cash earned from taking tou-rists on jungle hikes.

The area is prized for its orang-utan populat i o n ,a totally protected species although sporadic hun-ting by outsiders has occurred in the past.Whilelocal fa rm e rs would not harm the orang-utan them-s e l ve s , they were reluctant to protect them from out-side hunters, as they can cause extensive damage.Because local village guides are tipped over andabove their daily wage when orang-utan are seen,longhouse people now view this species as a preciousc o m m o d i t y, keeping track of their movements andinforming authorities if hunters are believed to bein the area. A secondary benefit has been the re-kindling of traditional stories and lore concerningthe links between the Iban and the orang-utan,which are often referred to as “grandfathers”.

The village invo l vement in tourism has also bene-fited other wildlife in the area. Fish catches haver e c overed from the pre-tourism days when one of thefew sources of cash income was to sell the fish tod ow n - ri ver bu ye rs.With no control over catch rat e s ,the stocks were in danger of being depleted—and witht h at an important source of protein and reve n u e .With a reasonably steady altern at i ve cash flow fromt o u ri s m , stocks have now been stabilized.

In 1999, 26 families received over RM 300,000($82,000) in touri s m - r e l ated pay. In addition to thewages earned as guides,b o at dri ve rs and cooks, as we l las rental for the guesthouse, the village people alsoe a rn money selling traditional handicrafts such aswoven blankets ($10,000 in 1999).This income hasalso allowed the village to break out of the subsistencea griculture cycle and dive rsify their economy to includemore efficient cash crops.The reduced demand forexpansion onto new land means that less forest is cut,u l t i m ately providing more habitat for wildlife.

The project receives about 1,000 visitors a ye a r ,considered a threshold number.Villagers are gra-dually taking on more managerial roles, such asove rseeing quality control. Fe a ring that they couldlose a valuable source of income and employ m e n t ,they are also intent on ensuring that the land sur-rounding the longhouses is secured and managed bythem. They recently presented a proposal to thegovernment of Sarawak to this effect.Their desireis to have the state land area beyond the longhouseland and before the existing National Park offi-cially designated as village conservation land to bemanaged for tourism by the village.

As of today, the government has not answeredtheir proposal. In the meantime, visitors are stillenjoying the experience of the lush, tropical Ibans u p e rmarket and sightings of wild orang-utan are onthe rise. ■

In Sarawak,the Iban people welcome some 1,000 tourists every year into their longhouses.

Species that go extinctare lost forever. This isnot like Jurassic Pa r k .Stuart Pimm,British biologist (1949-)



The 1992 Rio Convention on Biological Diversitygives priority to in situ conservation in protectedareas. Why?

The key aim is to conserve all the ecologicale l e m e n t s — p l a n t s , a n i m a l s , soil and wat e r — a swell as the interactions between them, whichmaintain the evolutionary process. This kind ofapproach is crucial in poor countries, which rare-ly have the means to put together ex situ conser-vation projects such as gene banks,zoos and bota-nical gardens. It also guarantees access to data onnatural resources and to the results of researchcarried out on their territory.

Why is it a good idea to create physical land linksbetween different parks?

E l e p h a n t s , for example, m i gr ate from dry areasto wet ones as they need to. If you try to stop them,you threaten their survival.Protected areas shouldbe linked by corridors that allow species to movearound and also permit genetic exchange betweenwildlife from different regi o n s. More and morereserves these days straddle national borders.

What are biggest threats to protected areas?Lack of intern ational co-operation and sup-

p o rt . A f rican gove rn m e n t s , which can no longersatisfy the basic needs of their populations, havedowngraded the importance of protecting nature.In many countri e s ,d e c e n t r a l i z ation of authority tor e gional bodies has complicated park managementtoo.You can’t create new parks in Africa any more

E c o p ro t e c t i o n :an international g o - s l o wP rotected areas are the key to conservation policies. But how should they be run? Fo rSeydina Issa Sylla ◗, lack of international co-operation is the biggest pro b l e m

3 The next step

◗ Co-ordinator for West Africa ofthe NGO Wetlands International

Villagers in Senegal’s Niokolo Koba park are closely involved in the management of this biosphere reserve.


The world of pro t e c t e da re a s

Under the 1992 Rio Convention,a protected area is “a

g e o g raphically defined area which is designated or

regulated and managed to achieve specific conservation

objectives”. This broad definition covers all kinds of situa-

t i o n s. The World Conservation Union (IU C N) , the main orga-

nization working on the development of protected areas,

identifies six situations, ranging from uninhabited reserves

dedicated to scientific research (the A n t a r c t i c , for example)

to the countless parks run by local populations.

There are more than 30,000 protected areas world-

wide, covering 8.83 per cent of the surface of the planet.

Most of them are no bigger than 10 km2 and are isolated,

fragile zones in areas where nature has been subjected to

human needs.A quarter of that total area (3.3 million km2)

has been classified as having exceptional value under

s e v e ral international agreements, including the Ramsar

Convention on Wetlands (1971), UNESCO’s World Heritage

Convention (1972),the Statutory Framework of the World

Network of Biosphere Reserves set up by UN E S C O s i n c e

1976,and various European Union directives.

Some kinds of ecosystems are better preserved than

o t h e r s. G rasslands in temperate zones, as well as lake s,

tend to be ignored in the world of conservation in favour of

islands and tropical forests. What’s more, as IUCN says, too

many reserves exist only on paper. This is not really surpri-

sing in view of the meagre $6 billion the world sets aside

each year for in situ conservation.

About $2.3 billion more would be needed to adequately

protect all the reserves. Governments could come up with

this money, say scientists and ecologists, simply by abolishing

certain environmentally unfriendly subsidies to farmers and

industrialists that amount to more than $1,000 billion annually.

■

and existing ones are short of eve ry t h i n g, e s p e-cially staff.

Protected areas are also under pressure fromp o p u l ations whose resources are getting scarcerbecause of pove rty and environmental changes.These people are looking for new farmland, fire-wood and animals to hunt. The introduction ofoutside species like the sparr ow, which was unknow nin sub-Saharan A f rica before 1978, is another des-tabilizing element, because they come to occupy thee c o l o gical space of nat i ve species and end up dri v i n gthem out. Package tourism and urban expansion areother big threat s , though they are less important inAfrica than elsewhere.

Why do you campaign for involvement of localpeople in managing reserves?

C o n s e rvation efforts have sometimes fa i l e dbecause it was long believed that nature could bec o n s e rved without involving people. But at t i t u d e sh ave changed over the past two decades, thanks lar-gely to the influence of the poor countri e s. P r e s s u r eon resources is constantly increasing, and local peoplesee parks as obstacles to deve l o p m e n t . So we have toc o m p e n s ate these people. Instead of investing in theprotected area itself, viable projects must be fundedin the surrounding area. S e veral approaches havebeen tested, such as UN E S C O’s biosphere reserve s ,o fwhich there are now 368 in 91 countri e s.

What have been the results?Mixed,because of lack of money. But two pro-

jects in Senegal have proved that we were on theright track.The Popenguine Reserve,for example,is the first in the world entirely run by wo m e n ,who live in eight nearby villages. They maintainthe park, grow food for market, manage stocks ofcereals and fuel, organize visitors ’a c c o m m o d at i o nand act as tourist guides.At the begi n n i n g, in 1987,they agreed to help the gove rnment run the park inexchange for permission to continue gat h e ri n gmedicinal plants there.They worked for 10 yearswithout asking for a penny in payment. Then in1 9 9 7 , a three-year $400,000 programme funded bythe European Union and the French Nicolas HulotFo u n d at i o n , made it possible to start deve l o p m e n tprojects. Now the women are independent.Theyp atrol the reserve , looking after its conservat i o nand benefiting from the income from tourism.

For one success, t h e re seem to have been a lot off a i l u re s. Some people are calling for protected are a sto be privatized. What do you think about that?

H ow can we stop the pri vate sector from try i n gto improve their own fortunes? The Fazao Reserve ,in Togo, was privatized in 1990.The wildlife therei m m e d i ately began to be sold. T h at ’s a seri o u sm at t e r.T h e r e ’s no altern at i ve to part n e rship betwe e nthe state, conservation organizations and the localp o p u l at i o n . But we have to go further in the field ofparticipation. ■

Interview by Sophie Boukhari,UN E S C O C o u r i e r j o u r n a l i s t

Mapping a biosphere re s e r v e

Core area

Buffer zone

Transition area

Human settlements

Research station orexperimental research site

Monitoring

Education and training

Tourism and recreation

R

M

E

T

R

R

EM

T

T

C o n s e r vation meansdevelopment as much asit does protection.T h e o d o re Roosevelt,former U. S. p resident ( 1 8 5 8 - 1 9 1 9 )

G u e r re et paix des l a n g u e s



For thousands of Londoners , the Royal BotanicGardens at Kew are best known as a favouritepicnic spot on the edge of the city, famous for

their picturesque Palm House and Chinese pagoda,their unri valled collection of plants and their exten-sive, highly manicured lawns.

The novelty of the gardens, when they were esta-blished in the 18th century, was the way in whichthey combined the function of cultivating a wide

Kew turns over a new leaf◗ David Dickson

At the hub of the British Empire, Kew Gardens once scoured the world for plants.Now its Millennium Seed Bank puts it in the vanguard of international conservation efforts

◗ British scientific journalist,newseditor of Nature magazine

va riety of plants with an aesthetically pleasing land-s c a p e , a sharp contrast to the formality of the plantcollections that preceded them.

This remains their charm today.V i s i t o rs canwander through a selection of carefully selected andindividually labelled trees, and shrubs and flowe-ring plants from all over the wo r l d .These range fromm a s s i ve rhododendendron bushes from China, t r o-pical palms grown in a spectacular Victorian glass-house,to the smallest alpine flowers in a specially-built rock garden.

Kew played an influential role at the heart of theB ritish Empire in the 19th century, when it actedas a central clearing house for trees and other plantsd i s c overed in one part of the empire that could bep r o d u c t i ve l y, and often profit a b l y, gr own in ano-t h e r. By the end of the 19th century, Kew was recei-ving over 2,500 packets of seeds a year from aroundthe wo r l d , and exporting more than 3,500. O n ec u r ator wrote that as a result of Kew’s 19th-centuryactivities the world had been “pretty well ransac-ked.”

Biopiracyin an imperial light

It was as a result of Kew’s effort s , for example, t h atrubber plants from South A m e rica were transferr e dto highly productive environments in Southeast A s i a .Less controve rs i a l l y, Kew officials also arranged forthe transfer of cinchona, source of the anti-malari a ld rug quinine, from its nat i ve Andes to malari a - ri d d e nareas of A s i a .“In the mid-19th century such activitiesr e flected the then global superp ower encouraging theuse of plant resources,” s ays Kew’s director, Pe t e rC r a n e .“ To d ay they would be seen as pure biopiracy.”

Although Kew’s imperial role ended with thecollapse of the empire early in the 20th century, it conti-nued to play a major role as a research institution, p r e-s e rving and cataloguing plants from across the wo r l d .

But it was only in the final decades of the cen-t u ry that concern for the preservation of biodive r-sity placed Kew back at the centre of the politicalstage as one of the focal points of global ex situ e f f o rt sto preserve the planet’s biodiversity.

In an ideal wo r l d , all living organisms would be pre-s e rved in their natural habitat—a strategy known as i ns i t u c o n s e rvat i o n .But a va riety of fa c t o rs ,from the needsof researchers for easy access to the fact that many plantsand animals are threatened with extinction in the wild,

In the famed tropical greenhouses of the world’s largest botanic garden.


h ave led to the gr owth of ex situ s t r at e gi e s.Perhaps the clearest evidence of Kew’s new role

in supporting global conservation efforts is the Mil-lennium Seed Bank currently under constru c t i o nat its outstation atWakehurst Place,a 200-hectaree s t ate in West Sussex.When completed later thisyear,it will be the largest in the world dedicated toc o n s e rving the seeds of world plants. Its long-termaim is to collect and conserve 10 per cent of thewo r l d ’s seed-bearing flora (about 24,000 species)mainly from arid drylands by the year 2010.

The bank will make seeds available both forresearch purposes and for reintroduction into the wild.In Bri t a i n , seeds of the starfru i t , a small white flowe rt h at has almost died out were collected and stored atWa k e h u rst and samples sent to Kew for DNA fin g e r-p ri n t i n g .Plants gr own successfully from the seeds aren ow being reintroduced in their natural habitat .

Roger Smith, head of Kew’s seed conservat i o nd e p a rt m e n t ,s ays that one of the goals of the seedbank initiat i ve is to achieve Bri t a i n ’s conservat i o no b l i g ations as signat o ries to the 1992 Convention onB i o l o gical Dive rsity (CBD) “in a way that reducesc o u n t ri e s ’l e a rning curve invo l ved in setting up theirown collections and allows them to have the insu-rance policy of seed collections under our control.”

The CBD requires anyone taking plant samplesout of a country to enter a formal agreement spe-cifying the conditions under which this is beingd o n e , and in particular the compensation that ac o u n t ry can expect to receive if a commercial appli-c ation is eventually developed from the plant.

Informed consentThis compensation could, for example, take the

f o rm of an agreed share of the royalties resultingfrom the licensing of a patent based on the plant’sgenetic propert i e s.A hypothetical case might be thatof a plant discovered in the Amazon shown to havep owerful anti-cancer propert i e s. Pa rticularly in lightof their previous reputat i o n , Kew researchers arekeen to be seen to meet CBD requirements.

A greements are currently being negotiated withc o u n t ries around the world on the conditions underwhich seed specimens can be collected and added tothe bank. N ations that have already signed upinclude Mexico, South A f ri c a ,N a m i b i a , M o z a m-b i q u e ,Ve n e z u e l a ,M o r o c c o, E g y p t ,S y ria and Leba-n o n . Often this means reaching agreement on crea-ting two parallel collections. One is located in thec o u n t ry concern e d .The second, “ b a c k - u p ”c o l l e c-tion will be held at Wa k e h u rst Park while remainingaccessible on request to the depositing country.

Smith says that the need for a binding agr e e-ment on what Kew can do with the seeds that itstores can cause problems, for example when ac o u n t ry lacks any formal mechanism for prov i d i n gthe “ p rior informed consent” for obtaining data onits plants as required under the CBD.

The same desire to use Kew’s knowledge ande x p e rience is reflected in a separate initiat i ve to har-monize procedures for access to seed and germ-plasm collections around the world.

Conservation w o r l d w i d e

For mammals,b i r d s, reptiles and amphibians, the standard

form of e x - s i t u c o n s e r vation is in zoological parks. Th e r e

are currently an estimated 500,000 living creatures in zoos

w o r l d w i d e. Some species such as the Californian condor now

only exist in zoos. Others such as Przewa l s k i ’s horse and the

Pere David deer have only survived because they were pro-

tected in zoos. They are now being released back into the

wild.

The main forms of ex situ plant conservation are botanic

gardens (for whole specimens) and germplasm and seed

b a n k s. Botanical Gardens International, a non-govern-

mental organization, estimates there are 1,500 botanic

gardens worldwide, containing at least 35,000 species,

over 15 per cent of the world’s total. Some put the estimate

as high as 70,000 to 80,000 species.

Most botanic gardens are in the industrialized nations

(only 230 are in tropical countries, despite their greater plant

d i v e r s i t y ) . Many seed and germplasm banks are linked directly

to botanical collections.Others are owned by multinational cor-

p o ra t i o n s, which use them as source material for developing

new plant va r i e t i e s. One survey found that 88 per cent of

plant-breeding companies keep their own store of genetic

r e s o u r c e s.

A third major source of seed and germplasm samples are

university departments and the research institutes forming

the Consultative Group on International A g r i c u l t u ra l

Research,funded through the World Bank. ■

A guide to zoos worldwide:http://www.mindspring.com/~zoonet www_virtual_lib/zoos.htmlA complete list of arboreta and botanical gardens can be found on:http://www.helsinki.fi/kmus/botgard.html

As a result of this initiat i ve , r e p r e s e n t at i ves of14 botanic gardens in 11 countries agreed at a mee-ting in Beijing last year to adopt a common set ofp o l i cy guidelines setting out their commitments ona c q u i ring and conserving genetic resources, on theuse and supply of such resources, and on the sha-ring of benefits arising from their use, for example bycommercial organizations.

The new pri o rities that make up Kew’s curr e n tagenda are ve ry different from those which determ i-ned its influence a hundred ye a rs ago.“The last thingwe want is to be accused of being biopirat e s ,” s ay sS m i t h .“ We must not deny that we ever did it. But wemust acknowledge that that world has gone.” ■

+ …The Royal Botanic and Millennium Seed Bank:www.rbgkew.org.ukCommon Policy Guidelines for Botanic Gardens:

The recognition of the fact that the wildlife of the worldis irreplaceable but isbeing rapidly destroyedis necessary if we are to realize in time that areas must be setaside where,in the ultimate interestsof mankind as a whole,the spread of man mustt a ke second place to the conservation of other species.Julian Huxley,British biologist,first dire c t o r- g e n e ral of UN E S C O

( 1 8 8 7 - 1 9 7 5 )

http://www.mindspring.com/~zoonet

http://www.helsinki.fi/kmus/botgard.html


G u e r re et paix des l a n g u e sB i o d i v e rs i t y: a friend for life


To w a rds a worldconservation e t h i c s◗ M . S. S wa m i n a t h a n

The Rio convention marked the first major international step towards the sharing of biodiversity based on the principle of social fairness

It has become commonplace to say that theC o nvention on Biological Dive rsity (CBD)adopted during the Rio Summit in June 1992 is

an important landmark in integr ating the pri n-ciples of ethics and equity in the use of biodive rs i t y.To stem the increasingly rapid decline of biodiver-sity, it was necessary to take action, and quickly,without waiting for the scientific community togather further knowledge. First and foremost, theCBD was an acknowledgment of this urgent need.

It entered into force in December 1993 and so fa rhas been rat i fied by 177 Stat e s — but not by the UnitedS t at e s.This agr e e m e n t , the only one of its kind,sets upa framework for worldwide action aimed at ensuri n gthe conservat i o n , the sustainable use and—a note-wo rt hy development—the fair sharing of biodive rs i-t y ’s benefit s. More specific a l l y, the CBD focuses on thed e finition and the financing of conservation policies,access to genetic resources,N o rth-South technologyt r a n s f e rs stemming from the use of those resources,and trade in genetically modified organisms (GMOs).In part i c u l a r , it acknowledges that poor countri e scannot meet their commitments to preserve biodi-ve rsity unless the developed nations provide themwith access to biotechnologies and the related fin a n-c i n g .B i o d i ve rsity will unavoidably be depleted throughove ruse if the current co-existence of unsustainable life-styles and unacceptable pove rty continues, and if themeans of subsistence of families putting strains onresources are not strengthened.

The CBD has first and foremost been an effec-t i ve awareness-raising tool. Political leaders , t h emedia and the general public now know that takingfrom nature without restraint jeopardizes humani-t y ’s securi t y.M a ny states have changed their nat i o n a ll aws to create or strengthen mechanisms to managebiodiversity.The convention has also lent supportto the idea that preserving species with their nat u r a lhabitats and enlisting the local people’s support inmanaging them are vital priorities.

The convention has also prompted over 130 Stat e sto adopt a protocol last Ja n u a ry 29, 2000 in Montreal(Canada) on biosafety in order to regulate intern at i o n a ltrade in GMOs.The negotiations led to a stand-off bet-

ween the European Union and the “Miami Group”,consisting of the leading GMO producing countri e sled by the United Stat e s , Argentina and Canada.According to the text eventually adopted, c o u n t ri e sm ay oppose GMO imports deemed hazardous for thee nvironment or health by invoking the principle of pre-caution—in other wo r d s , without necessarily hav i n gi rrefutable scientific proof that they are dangerous.H owe ve r , the issue of whether the protocol ove rri d e sthe rules of the World Trade Organization (the W TO,which so far has not recognized the principle of pre-caution) remains to be settled.Only a specific disputebrought before the W TO will show whether the pro-tocol has any teeth.

The CBD has certainly enabled progr e s s , but thefunding of conservation projects is far from gua-ranteed.Development aid has been steadily decli-ning since 1992.The Global Environment Fa c i l i t yin charge of, among other things,managing inter-n ational financing for biodive rs i t y, has received anddistributed about $2 billion in 10 years.

Protecting traditional knowledgeLastly and, most import a n t l y, scant political

e f f o rt has been focused on guaranteeing a fair shareof biodive rs i t y ’s benefit s. M a ny developing countri e scontinue to denounce what they call “ b i o p i r a cy ”b ythe gove rnments and companies of the Nort h ,which collect their biological resources for com-mercial purposes.There is an urgent need to takesteps that would acknowledge and compensate theinestimable contri bution of indigenous rural fa m i-lies to the conservation and improvement of the pla-net’s genetic resources.

T h at task requires changing intellectual propert yru l e s.They are currently being revised in the frame-work of the Tr a d e - R e l ated Aspects of IntellectualP r o p e rty (TRIPS) agr e e m e n t , which regulates bio-technology patents and new va rieties of crops.T h esystem in force,based on individually-owned pri vat ep r o p e rt y, is unsuitable for protecting indigenousp e o p l e ’s collective traditional know l e d g e .The Wo r l dIntellectual Property Organization (WIPO), w h i c hhas launched a study on the need to recognize theirri g h t s , is likely to help identify altern at i ve solutions.N e x t , the intern ational community must carry out ac rucial task: drafting and adopting a protocol ona gr o b i o d i ve rsity that would protect traditional know-ledge and fa rm e rs ’ rights over plant genomes. ■

◗ Holder of the UNESCO-Cousteau chair in Ecotechnology, chairmanof the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (Chennai,India),author of I Predict: A Century of Hope-Harmony with Nature andFreedom from Hunger, East West Books Pvt.Ltd,Chennai,1999.

E T H I C S


P r o fit and solidarity have stoppedgiving each other the cold shoulder andare becoming part n e rs explains JuanPina, a Spanish journalist who specializesin the social economy. “We are headingtowards a set of ethics more attuned toreality, in which profit stops being a kindof necessary evil linked to greed,while thepublic good stops being the exclusive res-ponsibility of politicians.”

Alongside credit cards whose issuersand users contribute a fixed amount ofmoney or a percentage of takings togroups like the Red Cross, Greenpeace orAmnesty Intern at i o n a l , a number of“ethical banks” h ave set up shop inEurope, Japan or Canada, and are measu-

■The jobs and wages of millions ofpeople throughout the world dependindirectly on a bell which at four

o’clock every afternoon marks the end oftrading on the Dow Jones, the index ofleading shares on the New York stockexchange. Almost two billion dollars shifteach day from one continent to another atstaggering speed. Speculation can makealmost every currency tremble, and fewtrading floors are shielded from an abruptslump in value. But people’s desire to livein a better world is increasingly affecting acommodity that,whether we like it or not,determines our lives: money.

ring their profitability more in socialterms than by pure financial gain. Thebasic message which these banks try tospread is that, through no extra effort, thesmall or large amounts of savings thatmany people deposit each month in theirbank accounts can be used to furthertheir ideals. And that this can be donewithout abandoning the guarantees offe-red by traditional banking: s o l ve n cy,interest, readily available cash and goodreturns.

The slogans of some of these banks aremore than explicit: “The highest interestis that of eve ry b o d y,” announces ana d ve rtisement for the Italian EthicalBank. “Are you content to turn a blind

T HE BATTLE F OR AN ET HICAL BUCK◗ Lucía Iglesias Kuntz

Ethical banks that include socially responsible investments in their bottom line are winningsupport from people who share their ideals

◗ UNESCO Courier journalist

A fair trade boutique in Belfast: making sure producers get a fair end of the deal.

E T H I C S


eye to the way your money is being used,or are you ready to put your principlesinto practice?” the UK Co-operat i veBank asks its potential clients. “ T h eCitizen’s Bank’s mechanism is value-dri-ven, rather than by economic growth ande f fic i e n cy,” declares a pamphlet fromJapan’s Citizen’s Bank.

Historical roots

The roots of modern ethical invest-ment can be traced to the United Statesin the 1920s. The Methodist Church,which until then had regarded the stockexchange as a shady gambling den, deci-ded to start investing, but only on condi-tion that it would not put money into the

liquor trade or get involved in the bettingindustry. But social investment did notcome into its own until the 1970s.

During the Viet Nam War, groups ofcitizens decided to boycott the firm thatmade napalm gas, which had beendeployed in the Vietnamese jungle, cau-sing terrible physical deformities in affec-ted communities. From then on,c h u r c h e s , f o u n d ations and unive rs i t i e ss t a rted to ask themselves what theirmoney was being used for. Nowadays,ethical considerations are found in a widespectrum of bank products: from “ethicalinvestment funds”, which look very close-ly at the companies they buy shares from,excluding those with unacceptable busi-ness activities or a proper wage or socialp o l i cy ; to current accounts that offerinterest lower than the going market rate,but promise to invest some of their profitsin development projects. Likewise, ethicalinvestment institutions come in all shapesand sizes. Some work like normal banks,with branches, cash machines and che-quebooks. Others are more like mutualfunds or credit co-operatives, such as theFrench NEF (Nouvelle EconomieFraternelle), which since 1988 has beenlending funds solely to teaching, organicfarming and health projects.

In keeping with the Internet era, seve-ral banks base themselves largely incy b e rs p a c e . One of them is Italy’sUniversal Ethical Bank, which opened itsdoors for business in Padua just over ayear ago, and now has offices in Brescia,Milan, Rome, Florence and Modena. Itspresident, Fabio Salviato, speaks proudlyof having assembled in a short time fundstotalling $4.5 million used to finance 250projects in Italy and abroad. “Our sloganis defence of the poor. In the Third World,of course, but also in Italy, where approxi-mately seven million people live below thepoverty line,” says Salviato. His bank spe-cializes in social investments made in foura r e a s : the co-operat i ve sphere—funda-mental in a country like Italy, which has

deciding which kind of development itwill be. I don’t accept that the only crite-ria guiding investment policies should be‘giving money to those who already havemoney.’ I believe the right policy is to givemoney to those who do good things, evenif the return is less. That’s why I’m amember of an ethical bank.”

Ethical investment, Rinaldo adds,“is aconcrete response to criticism of our eco-nomic system, which is centred on maxi-mizing profit.This is the start of a revolu-tion, a real revolution based on each oneof us, showing that it’s possible to buildan economy that is also based on valuessuch as the common good, conservationof the environment, peace, respect formarginalized people. In short, an econo-

more than 4,000 co-operatives,the volun-tary sector, the environment and interna-tional partnerships.

“Above all,” Salviato says, “we financeNGOs with micro-credit projects inAlbania and Macedonia. In Guatemala,we’ve helped set up a small communitybank in the town of Chajul, which pro-duces coffee to sell to businesses whichagree to fair trading. The return we payon deposit accounts is the same as theItalian rate of inflation, which oscillatesbetween two and 2.5 per cent, while theinterest we pay on current accounts is oneper cent, somewhat less than the goingmarket rate. But the account’s adminis-tration costs are also lower than those inconventional banks.” This is made pos-sible in large part by the thousands ofvolunteers from other non-profit organi-zations who were behind the creation ofthe Ethical Bank, and which have currentaccounts and credit needs.

Two thousand registered groups and10,000 people now have savings in theEthical Bank. E nvironmental engi n e e rLoris Rinaldo is one of the bank’s custo-mers. “I strongly believe that the econo-my, much more than politics, is control-ling world development,” Rinaldo says,“and that banks have a crucial role in

my centred on people.”Clearly not everybody is as keen as

Rinaldo. In an Internet discussion forumon ethics and the economy initiated byCanada’s Citizens Bank, there were seve-ral comments along the lines of “congra-tulations for your intelligent marketingc a m p a i g n , but I’m not interested inbanks’ ethical opinions. I would preferthem to concentrate on giving the clientbetter service at lower cost.”

Reconciling different views

It is also worth asking whether ethicalinvestment, which on one side owes itsexistence to people’s aspiration to live in abetter world, might also become part ofan image campaign waged by traditionalbanks desperate to capture this new andsocially conscious client base. G u yHooker, the director of Britain’s EthicalI nvestment Co-operat i ve , b e l i e ves that“people are choosing ethically soundinvestments and ethically sound banksbecause they have become collectivelyconscious of the power of their money,and because in many cases they get bettercustomer service.”

The idea of what is moral is obviouslynot the same for eve ryo n e . Some of us

Each time members of Canada’s Citizens Bank use their credit card, the bank donates about 10 cents to Amnesty International or Oxfam.

‘I strongly believe that the economy, much morethan politics, is controllingworld development, and thatbanks have a crucial role in deciding which kind of development it will be.’

E T H I C S


might think it appalling that a bank fin a n c e sbusinesses which deal in arm s , though theywould not think it so bad if the funds werelent to tobacco companies or to politicalp a rt i e s. L i k e w i s e , some might prefer tofinance literacy programmes rather thans ave-the-whale campaigns or fair banana tra-ding projects. With these discrepancies inm i n d , a number of banks, including the Tri o-dos Bank created in the Netherlands in 1980with affil i ates in Belgium and Bri t a i n , o f f e rtheir clients the option of directing theiri nvestment to specific areas, such as organicfa rming or the development of solar energyprojects in countries of the South.

Bank spokesman Thomas Steinerexplains how his bank tries to reconcile dif-ferent viewpoints: “Our offices in Belgi u m ,the Netherlands and the United Kingdomdo not work like McDonald’s, which isexactly the same in eve ry country. Our Bel-gian partner has a certain Belgian flavo u r ,and emphasizes social development projects;in the United Kingdom we focus more onhelping charitable organizat i o n s ; and in theNetherlands our main concern is the env i-r o n m e n t .”

When the time comes to hand outloans or choose companies that will recei-ve funds, the Dutch bank applies verystrict standards. “Like any other bank, wemake loans. The criteria we use beforedeciding whether to grant them are ‘posi-tive’; anyone who asks us for money mustbelong to one of the areas in which wework: nature, the social economy, non-profit organizations, culture and develop-ment co-operation. We only lend moneyto projects that comply with these positi-ve criteria. On the other hand, we have

investment funds. We invest the moneythat our clients entrust us with on thestock exchange through criteria we call‘negative’.We invest only in firms with nolinks to nuclear energy, arms or tobacco.”After 20 years of existence, Triodos has aportfolio of 40,000 savers and 4,000 sha-reholders.

The goal of transparency

Tr a n s p a r e n cy is a prized goal for ethicalb a n k s , including Switzerland’s BanqueA l t e rn at i ve Suisse (BAS), which in ac o u n t ry where the law protects bank secrecyannually publishes the names of people andbusinesses that have received its loans as we l las details of the sums invo l ve d . C i t i z e n sB a n k , owned by the Va n c o u ver City Sav i n g sCredit Union, C a n a d a ’s largest credit union,goes one step further. As part of its com-munity donations programme, clients arei nvited to suggest groups which they believedeserve a share of a fund.The suggestionsare classified into four groups according tothe area in which they fa l l . Clients are theni nvited to vote on which groups shouldr e c e i ve 50 per cent of the fund, 25 per cent,15 per cent and 10 per cent,and funds area l l o c ated according to the results of thep o l l . In 1999, for instance, clients voted todonate $17,700 to the Canadian CatholicOrganization for Development and Peace,which fights against pove rty and injustice inthe world through its partner groups in 50countries. Second place went to FrontierCollege, a group of university volunteersa c t i ve in literacy progr a m m e s , w h i c hreceived $9,000.“This procedure involvesan extern a l l y - fa c i l i t ated advisory committee

c o m p rised of NGO leaders and bankmembers and staff,” explains Gillian Dus-t i n g, the bank’s public relations director.T h eCitizens Bank also pledges to reply within24 hours to all queries about its ethicalstandards sent by e-mail, while its websitehosts a chatline on ethical inve s t m e n t .A f t e rthree ye a rs in bu s i n e s s , the Canadian bankhas deposits wo rth over $680 million, w h i l eits pre-tax profits in 1998 were almost threemillion dollars.

Credit and ethical banking

The power of ethical banks in the wo r l deconomy is still small,though it is growingyear by ye a r. According to figures publi-shed by EIRIS, a research group on ethicalfinance, the total volume of ethical fundsi nvested in the United Kingdom rose from$3,300 to $4,100 million between Ja n u a ry1999 and January 2000.The Organisationfor Economic Co-operation and Develop-ment (OECD), meanwhile, recognizes thatalthough ethical banks “ h ave had some suc-c e s s , they are far from changing the at t i t u d e sof conventional banking institutions”. I nOE C D’s opinion, the banks’ main at t r a c-tion is that they offer social firms an alter-native response to the problems of gettingcredit.

David Perry, head of the MarkkulaCentre for Applied Ethics at California’sSanta Clara Unive rs i t y, c o n c u rs that“such banks are sometimes the onlymeans of obtaining loans for people withno credit history and no major assets. Andthey often combine loans with training instarting and running businesses, whichcan be extremely helpful to folks with noexperience in commerce.”

As for the future,G i ovanni A c q u at t i ,p r e-sident of the Milan-based financial co-ope-r at i ve MAG2 and a leading proponent ofethical finance in Italy for the last 20 ye a rs ,b e l i e ves it will “depend less on the invo l ve-ment of public authorities like the Wo r l dBank or the European Commission, a n dmore on the strength, courage and resourcest h at we use in personally convincing peoplet h at they should behave in a different way.We have a lot of work to do, and we mustn’tlose hope.And I never do.” ■

+ …Citizens Bank of Canada: www.citizensbank.caTriodos Bank: www.triodos.nlBanca Etica Universale: www.bancaetica.com.Banque Alternative Suisse: www.bas-info.ch

Triodos Bank supports the Flemish campaign for the prevention of HIV/Aids. Here, stands set up in Antwerp(Belgium) on World Aids Day, December 1999.

S I G N S O F T H E T I M E S


■It is a phantasmagoric world. WhenEuropean trave l e rs discove r e dAngkor in the 19th century, they

were astounded by the grandeur and themy s t e ry of the temples, c overed withsculptures of “airy figures stifled and cru-shed by the forest,” in the words of theFrench writer Guy de Pourtalès. “I havebefore me,” he wrote,“not only an emptycapital but 700 years of unrecorded histo-ry. And death’s most dreaded prodigy:s i l e n c e .” The silence that enve l o p e dAngkor when it was abandoned in the15th century seemed immutable, bu tappearances can be deceptive.

A fa bulous archaeological site, t h i sgr e at stone skeleton is also a living place, atonce the realm of divinities and a city ofm o rt a l s , where eve ry d ay business is stee-ped in customs from a prestigious past.

Tales of a nine-headed serpent

Between the 9th and the 14th centu-ries,Angkor,the capital of the kingdom ofCambodia, grew up between the Kulenhills and Tonle Sap, the Great Lake. Atthe height of its power, the kingdomincluded parts of present-day Thailand,Laos and Viet Nam. Over the centuries,kings who practiced religions that camefrom India, Hinduism and Buddhism,erected monumental stone temples wherethey honoured their gods. They also builtan elaborate hydraulic system comprising

huge reservoirs (baray) linked to a net-work of canals, dikes and moats.

Only one contemporary description ofAngkor’s former splendour has survived.It was written by a member of a Chinesediplomatic mission, Chou Ta-Kuan, whoa rri ved in A u g u s t , 1 2 9 6 . His vividaccount includes anecdotes about thedaily life and customs of Angkor’s inhabi-tants. He wrote that every night in a gol-den tower, the king had to mate with anine-headed serpent that took on theappearance of a woman. In the palace,bare-breasted women “as white as jade”wore their hair in a bun.At the other endof the spectrum, the commoners weredescribed as “rude, black and very ugly”.The nobles were carried about in gold

palanquins and dressed in preciousfabrics whose patterns were an indicationof rank. They lived in houses with leadand tile roofs, while those of “the com-mon people were covered only with that-ch”. Farmers tilled their fields on thebanks of the great lake. In the dry season,when the waters receded from the floodedforest around the lake, the farmers camedown from the hills and grew rice.

When the Siamese conquered andplundered Angkor in 1432, the king andhis court left the devastated city. Theforest overran the ruins. Wooden buil-dings and writings on latania leaves andscraped hides disappeared, victims of thedamp climate and insects.

In the late 19th century, archaeologists◗ French ethnologist who has been working at Angkor(Cambodia) for the last seven years.

T IMEL ESSA NGKOR◗ Fabienne Luco

A fragile thread of continuity connects life around the ancient capital of the kingdom of Cambodia to the distant past

Angkor Wat: realm of divinities and city of mortals.

1.The precise functions of these hydraulicengineering works have given rise to considerabledebate.As well as providing water for irrigationthey reflected the symbolic role of water within anarchitectural cosmogonic conception in which thetemples are an earthly representation of the cityof the gods surrounded by the oceans. Thisirrigation system has for the most part eitherdried up or been filled in.The only operationalsection is the western baray which has beenrepaired and today still provides water for somedry-season rice-fields.



p ower of at t r a c t i o n .The topographical conditions provide

an ideal setting for modern dwellings. Inthe past, people left a profound imprinton the earth by building networks ofroads and dikes as part of a water mana-gement system. The plain is still shapedby vestiges of these large-scale enginee-ring works. In search of high ground thatwill escape flooding during the rainy sea-son, Cambodian farmers find the terrainhighly suitable for building their homes.

How long has the current populationlived in the area and what is the nature oftheir relationship to Angkor? Unfortun-ately, there is little information on the sizeand location of ancient villages. The fewrecent local writings vanished during thetorment of the Khmer Rouge period.AndFrench explorers in the late 19th centuryconsidered the temples more importantthan the people who lived around them—only five or six villages seem to have beenrecorded.They consist of groups of two toten houses built around squares in theheart of the forest.

Do the local people consider them-selves heirs of the Angkor tradition? Theirhistory is obscure; village memory goes

back no further than two or three genera-tions. A few scraps of ancient history havecome down to us orally, but it is impos-sible to establish with certainty whetherthey are real or imaginary, history ori n t e rp r e t at i o n . The building of thetemples is said to have taken place in amythical period peopled by figures whowere half-divine, half-human. The villa-gers believe that these imposing monu-ments can only be the work of divinitiesor of people who came from elsewhereand knew much more about architectureand sculpture than they do.

The legend surrounding the founda-tion of the temple of Angkor Wat tells thestory of Preah Ket Melea, son of the kingof heaven and a mortal woman.The divi-

began deciphering the inscriptions andscenes depicted in the bas-reliefs carvedin the stonework of the temples, whichcontributed precious information to theirunderstanding of historical timelines andmyths, battles and aspects of everydaylife, including hunting, fishing, marketingand habitat.

Today, life in nearby villages is muchthe same as when it was captured in thoseancient sculptures. The wooden wheel-barrow that squeaks as it is pushed rounda corner is identical to one on a bas-relief.The vendor dozing in front of her stall atthe market in Siem Reap, the provincialcapital (population 75,000) seven kilo-metres from Angkor, is resting in thesame position as her distant ancestordepicted by a sculptor. On the basin ofSrah Srang, located in the heart of the siteand bordered by two villages, the fisher-man casting his net makes the same ges-ture as his counterpart of seven centuriesago.

More than an outdoor museum,Angkor is home to religious and rural liferevolving around the temples. Inside col-lapsed sanctuaries and more recently-built Buddhist pagodas, smoke fromincense threads its way heavenward befo-re statues of ancient gods and theBuddha. At the threshold of a temple oron a heap of loose stones, the eye comesto rest on cigarettes, rolled betel leavesand candles set down by an anonymoushand. They are offerings to one of themany neakta, land spirits who often dwellin Angkor’s statues.

A celestialarchitect

One of these spirits, Ta Pech, lives in ahuge termite nest in the southern pavilionof the first wall surrounding Angkor Wat.Ta Pech has a reputation for malevolence.According to a monk, “People say thatwhen an aircraft flies over Angkor,it mustmake three turns around Ta Pech; other-wise, there is a chance it may crash intothe lake. If you give Ta Pech wine andcigarettes, he can also divulge winninglottery numbers.”

Other signs of human activity can be readin the present landscape.The grid pat t e rn ofnearby rice paddies appears behind the screenof ve g e t ation that cloaks many of the temples.Not always visible from the tourist routes, ascore of villages can be made out throughgr oves of sugar palms. They are home tosome 22,000 people in a 300 square-kilo-metre area. Such a high population density onan archaeological site is due as much to thelie of the land as to the temples’ e c o n o m i c

nities said they were disturbed by thesmell of Preah Ket Melea and asked hisfather to send him down to Earth. Theking acceded to their request, offering hisson the opportunity to have an exactreplica erected on Earth of any edifice inheaven with the help of Preah Visnukar,the celestial architect whom villagers stillinvoke whenever a building is construc-ted. A modest man, Preah Ket Meleachose the stable. An ox was released ontothe plain of Angkor and the place where itlay down was designated as the site forAngkor Wat.

Ebbs and flowsof memory

From the orally-transmitted past, vil-lagers above all recall the wars against theSiamese and the Chams, a people fromChampa, a vanished kingdom that waslocated in the centre of present-day VietNam, and the accompanying raids andforced displacement of populations. “WeCambodians are accustomed to wa rs.When you look at the bas-reliefs, you seem a ny battle scenes from the days ofAngkor. Since then, those images haveconstantly repeated themselves,” says afarmer. The scenes depict distant timescalled boran (“ancient”, in Khmer), ormuoy roy chnam (“100 years”). Nobodycan accurately date them, as this com-ment by a villager illustrates: “My fathersays the temples were there when he wasborn.They must be very old.”

By and large, the local people have dif-ficulty imagining that a connection mayexist between them and the people whobuilt Angkor. However, in a village northof Angkor Thom there are reports offamilies who claim to descend from thekings of Angkor. In the early 20th centu-ry, they still lived in small, tumbledownwooden hovels at the foot of the royalpalace. After the French began restoringthe temples, they had to move north.Their current living conditions are thesame as their neighbours’, but they enjoya certain recognition.“Like the king, theyhave the power of life or death over thevillagers,” says one local resident.

Today, Angkor’s hydraulic system nolonger functions and farmers use rain towater the rice paddies which are still theireconomic mainstay. Due to the lack ofirrigation and the poor quality of thesandy, clay-filled soil, there is only onemeagre harvest a year (less than onetonne per hectare). Complementary acti-vities are necessary, such as fishing, mar-ket gardening, palm sugar production,sales of handicrafts to tourists and work

ANGKOR

Phnom Penh

0 100 km

ThailandLaos

Viet Nam

Gulf of Siam

Tonle Sap

SouthChina

Sea

Siem Reap



on the temple restoration projects.Technical jobs such as motorcycle, radioand television repair and battery-chargingare also emerging.

A n g k o r , t h e n , c r e ates jobs for the localp o p u l at i o n . In the late 19th century, a f t e rFrench explorers recognized the temples’h i s t o ric and artistic va l u e , ve g e t ation wa scleared away and stones that had lain half-forgotten in the middle of the forest resur-fa c e d . In 1907 the Angkor Conservat i o nA u t h o rity (the French archaeologi s t s ’ f o r-mer headquart e rs and the present sculptu-re storage site) began restoration wo r k .T h efew villagers who lived within the templecomplex itself were hired as “ c o o l i e s ” . B ythe late 1960s, over 1,000 people we r eworking on the site.

The touristrevival

Before March 1970, when a coupd’état toppled Prince Norodom Sihanoukand war came to Cambodia, the localpeople had begun crafting small, hand-made wooden items, including musicalinstruments (flutes and violins), toy ox-c a rt s , k n i ve s , a xes and fin e l y - w r o u g h tcanes. They started making and sellingthese objects anew when tourists beganstreaming back in the early 1990s. In1999, the estimated number of visitorswas put at 350,000, a figure expected totriple by 2005.

The people living on the site seldomenter the temples, even when they areclose to home. “We’re just farmers. Iheard my grandfather say that during theAngkor epoch,folks like me were not allo-wed within the walls of the capital,Angkor Thom,” says one villager. “Onlyn o b l e s , civil servants and merchantscould venture inside. It was the same forthe temples: only priests and dignitariescould enter them.”

These are something more than remi-niscences of a bygone age. Today, reli-gious rituals in the temples are celebratedmainly by masters of ceremony who cometo honour the neakta. Local people wor-ship these spirits, especially in the vil-lages, by calling upon a medium incarna-ting the supernatural beings. Most of thetokens of devotion laid in front of the sta-tues in the temple of Angkor Wat havebeen left by tourists from other parts ofCambodia and Asia on a religious pilgri-mage to the site.Local religious activity isc o n c e n t r ated in more recently bu i l tBuddhist pagodas. Especially numerouswithin the walls of Angkor Thom, thepagodas were built near the temples as away of honouring new divinities in theshadow of the old. Continuity in Angkorcan still be felt in the local people’s dailylives.

As peace returns and Angkor gears upfor major tourism deve l o p m e n t , the people

living there must meet new challenges ands t rike a delicate balance. Villages along theroad-embankments are gr owing rapidly, a n dsettlement has become dense in some form e r-ly scattered communities.This is a direct out-come of the population gr owth that followe dthe Khmer Rouge period (1975-1979).To d ay,there are five children in the average fa m i l y,and half of all Cambodians are under the ageof sixteen.

Rice paddies are steadily encroaching onthe bushy plain. Angkor is protected by royaldecrees which limit the expansion of farm-land and the cutting of firewood.Traditionalsecondary activities, such as palm sugar andcharcoal production, are now seldom practi-ced. In Angkor, many issues remain unresol-ved, including preservation of the temples(especially from plunder), protection of thee nv i r o n m e n t , ru n away population gr ow t hand the development of tourism.

The loss of traditional values, acceleratedby opening up too fast to the outside world,is another cause for concern. The chain oforal transmission broke down during theKhmer Rouge period, and it has provedimpossible to revive some ancient traditions.Television, now in every village, is speedingup the loss of cultural identity. It is vital tos ave A n g k o r ’s architectural heri t a g e , bu tequally important to protect its intangibleheritage: the tales, legends and place namesthat only local people know. ■

Modern times: Angkor’s challenge is to strike a balance between preserving its heritage and coping with expanding tourism.

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would draw their attention to social andcultural issues instead of bombarding themwith Western pop culture,” says Ahamed.

The idea for a television network focu-sing on env i r o n m e n t ,d e velopment and cul-ture was first raised in a conference of SouthAsian broadcasters in 1989, a proposalwhich was welcomed by UN E S C O. But itwas the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 thatactually paved the way for setting up ana l t e rn at i ve television unit.The Non-Gove rn-mental Organizat i o n s ’ (NGO) forum atRio gave the mandate to the W I F, which hasbeen in the field of development commu-nication in Asia since 1980.

The W I F, funded mostly by Norwe gi a nand Swedish aid agencies, set up the netwo r kin Colombo where it has a full-fle d g e dmedia centre.YATV was launched with aninitial investment of about $18 million. It isa business enterp rise with 51 per cent ow n e dby the WIF and 49 per cent by pri vate inve s-t o rs , mostly multinational corp o r at i o n s.

For WIF, Asia was the obvious place tolaunch an alternative network. Half of ther e gi o n ’s three billion inhabitants are under

2 4 , hence the tremendous impact of televi-sion. In addition, there were no televisionn e t works or channels dedicated to pro-grammes dealing with social and environ-mental issues.

YATV started with one-hour we e k l yp r o gr a m m e s , based mostly on inform at i o nabout developmental issues provided bythe United Nations and NGOs. In 1996 thenetwork started producing seven different30-minute programmes broadcast each day,focusing on a wide range of subjects.To d ay,on ave r a g e , about 15 hours of YAT V ’s pro-grammes are shown every week on terres-t rial and satellite channels throughoutAsia—such as India’s Doordarshan Metro( D D 2 ) , Pa k i s t a n ’s PTV Wo r l d , N e p a l ’sNTV, Malaysia’s RTM, Bangladesh’s TenNetwork,Thailand’s ITV and Channel 5,and Viet Nam’sVTV 2.

Despite this wide geographical spreadand with an estimated viewership of about250 million people,YATV producers admitthat they have not yet conquered a massa u d i e n c e . Without a channel of its ow n ,this will be diffic u l t . Recent surveys estimat e

■To a first-time visitor it might look likea journalism school or a college campus.Walking along the corri d o rs of Yo u n g

Asia Television Netwo r k ’s (YATV) head-q u a rt e rs in the Sri Lankan capital,C o l o m b o,one can find yo u n g s t e rs in casual clothesoccupying newsrooms and studios. In A s i a ’svast and expansive electronic media wo r l d ,YATV may sound like one more televisionc o m p a ny trying to be successful with enter-tainment-only progr a m m e s.

Not so.The netwo r k ’s young crew is put-ting together entertainment progr a m m e sbased on Asian cultural and social va l u e s ,e nvironment and sustainable deve l o p m e n t .“ YATV is a network for Asian yo u t h . O u rmotto is ‘infotainment and edutainment’.It is a combination of education and infor-m ation with a lot of entert a i n m e n t ,” s ay sH i l my A h a m e d ,m a n a ging director of YAT Vn e t wo r k .

S t a rted in 1995 by the Worldview Inter-national Foundation (WIF) and some pri-vate inve s t o rs ,YATV produces progr a m m e st h at are broadcast on television channels inc o u n t ries all over A s i a , including Sri Lanka,India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh,Thai-land, Laos,Malaysia and Viet Nam.

An estimated viewershipof 250 million people

The Asian satellite television boom inthe early 1990s opened up new opportu-nities for many channels and companiesproducing programmes for localaudiences, triggering a race for maximumviewership. This eventually led to manyAsian television networks opting for theshortcut method of making or buyingp r o grammes based only on entert a i n-ment. According to YATV officials mostof these programmes lacked creativity andimagination, and were simply imitationsof Western television programmes.

“There was a crying need for an alter-n at i ve television, especially for yo u t h ,w h i c h

ASI A’S ALT ERN AT I V ET EL EV ISION◗ Ethirajan Anbarasan and K J M Varma

An Asian broadcasting network run by young professionals focuses on social andenvironmental issues

◗ Respectively UNESCO Courier journalist and Colombo-based journalist

A young crew: recruited from across Asia, the network’s journalists and technicians are on average 24 years old.

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t h at about 30 million Asians watch YAT V ’sp r o gr a m m e s. “This is not a mass appealprogramme. We cater to a niche audiencewishing to see more meaningful and quali-t at i ve programmes than watching MusicTelevision (MTV),” says Ahamed.

But even getting this far has not been asmooth ride.YATV has had to battle withgiants like the STAR TV network and we l l -established television companies from otherAsian countri e s. They soon realized thatonly by being innovat i ve and different fromother playe rs could they gain viewe rs ,e s p e-cially among youth.

To begin with,YATV recruited yo u n g s t e rswithout any experience in television journ a-lism and trained them to make progr a m m e s.To d ay, it manages a crew of about 120 yo u n gmedia professionals drawn from va rious A s i a nc o u n t ries—the average age being 24.

“We asked our young team membersw h at type of programmes they would like tosee and how they would go about makingthem.This helped to develop a style of ourown,” says Ahamed.Apart from few high-level positions, young people, between 18and 25 handle editorial planning, r e s e a r c h ,w riting and fil m i n g, making YATV a uniquetelevision network in the region. In short,these are programmes made by yo u n gAsians for young Asians.

YATV programmes are characterized bytheir fashionable and creat i ve camera wo r k ,their animated and art i c u l ate presenters and

their extensive use of computer gr a p h i c s ,s t i l lnot ve ry common among many Asian pro-d u c e rs. The Pan-Asian background of theprofessionals is also an asset in making pro-grammes that attract yong people from dif-ferent countri e s.

But slick presentation aside, young vie-we rs are attracted by Made-in-Asia qua-lity programmes dealing with sustainabled e ve l o p m e n t , wo m e n ’s rights and morei m p o rtantly their own culture and tradi-tions. “Previously no producer thought ofmaking programme series on Asian folkmusic, dance and arts,” says Parthiban, a23-year-old producer atYATV. Slowly butsurely YATV programmes have gainedp o p u l a ri t y. Within a year after its incep-t i o n ,YATV gained entry into the top twe n t yof Sri Lanka’s favourite programmes.

Advancingthe cause of women

N ature Calls is a popular YATV pro-gramme now shown in many Asian coun-t ri e s. It looks at environmental problems fromthe rainforest of the Amazon to the plains ofTanzanian Serengeti, from the peaks of theH i m a l ayas to the coral reefs of the Maldive s.The programme presents stories show i n gour common heritage and highlights the needfor a balance between exploiting and conser-ving resources.

A recent N ature Calls focused onancient irri g ation systems and organic fa r-

ming techniques practiced in the A s i a nr e gion for centuri e s. It also discusses howe c o - f riendly traditional fa rming techniquescould help to improve env i r o n m e n t a lconditions in the regi o n . A feature on Eco-wa rri o rs profiles leading env i r o n m e n t a lactivists who are invo l ved in the struggle tos ave our planet.

Another popular progr a m m e , Space toL e t, tackles a wide range of social issues ofc o n c e rn to wo m e n , including educat i o n ,e m p l oy m e n t , h e a l t h c a r e , s e x u a l i t y, r e p r o-d u c t i ve ri g h t s ,a b o rt i o n , and discri m i n at o rypractices like the dow ry system, a rr a n g e dm a rriages and female circumcision. I td o e s n ’t just look at “ wo m e n ’s issues” bu trises to the challenge of conveying wo m a n ’sviews and takes a firm stand against cert a i npractices upheld in the name of tradition.

The YA Tri b e aims to celebrate A s i a ’sd i ve rs i t y. A special segment of the progr a m-m e , The Gong, is devoted to promoting tra-ditional Asian musical forms and art i s t s , a swell as exploring the fusion betwe e nE a s t e rn and We s t e rn form s. View to Te l l p r e-sents folk tales and my t h o l o gical stori e spassed on from one generation to another,keeping this intangible heritage alive amongthe yo u n g .

“The Asian focus of the progr a m m e sappeals to me a gr e at deal because there is somuch to learn and relate to from our ow nr e gi o n ,” s ays Chri s t i n e , a housewife inC o l o m b o.

Learning the ropes: over sixty YATV trainees have moved on to secure jobs with Asia’s major television networks.

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In the past three ye a rs , young people fromN e p a l ,I n d i a ,B a n g l a d e s h , Pa k i s t a n ,M a l ay s i aand the Philippines have trained and workedalongside Sri Lankans at the production head-q u a rt e rs in Colombo.After gaining a few ye a rse x p e rience at YAT V, trainees often move onto other mainstream netwo r k s.To d ay, over 60of its trainees have landed jobs in almost allthe major television networks in Asia.

“At YATV I feel that I am doing somethingt h at has the potential to make a difference, t oe m p owe r , to inform , to show that someonec a r e s ,” s ays 22-year-old Robin Dav i d , a nIndian media professional who produces YAC a f é, a programme on Asian music, c o o k e ryand fashion.

To ensure that programmes include contentfrom countries across the regi o n ,YATV has pro-duction centres in Nepal, I n d i a ,B a n g l a d e s hand Malay s i a , along with a network of stri n g e rsin Pa k i s t a n ,T h a i l a n d , the Philippines and Sin-g a p o r e .The programmes are mainly producedin English and either dubbed or subtitled in dif-ferent languages.

In addition, Pakistan Television’s satellites e rvices provide an Urdu ve rsion of the pro-gramme N ature Calls to Bangladesh and theGulf Stat e s.V i j ay - T V, a satellite televisionchannel in southern India, broadcasts a Ta m i lve rsion of N ature Calls. An Astro Satellite T Vcable and satellite services provide Malay s i awith Bhasa Malaysia and Tamil ve rsions of thep r o gr a m m e I - Z o n e, dealing with youth issues.

YATV is about to make its debut in China.Chinese Educational Television (CETV) hasa greed to broadcast YAT V ’s two progr a m m e son N ature and Culture.YATV officials say thatthese programmes will be adapted to Chinesev i e we rs.With the new deal the channel hopes

to broaden its audience substantially.YATV mostly buys airtime from terr e s-

t rial and satellite networks preferably at pri m etime in order to attract the largest possiblea u d i e n c e . Income is generated mainly by pro-gramme sponsorship and adve rt i s i n g .S o m en e t works buy programmes directly or enterinto a cost-sharing or co-production arr a n-gement with YAT V.

Recently organizations such as UNICEF,the Asian Development Bank,S ave the Chil-d r e n - N o r way and WHO have started spon-s o ring programmes on children’s ri g h t s ,d e m o c r a cy, sustainable development andn at u r e .O p e r ating with an annual budget of$3 million,YATV made modest gains for the

first time in 1999 and hopes to turn a gr e at e rp r o fit this ye a r.

YATV recently started dealing with sen-sitive political topics through programmeson Sri Lanka’s long-drawn-out ethnicc o n fli c t . S at h i ( Awareness) in Sinhala andV i l i p p u ( Awakening) in Tamil are the net-wo r k ’s responses to the perceived apat hy,insensitivity and resignation of a large num-ber of people to events in the country.P r o-d u c e rs put the blame on a lack of awa r e n e s sabout the needs and experiences of thosemost affected by war.

“It was not easy in the beginning ash a r d - l i n e rs from both sides were not happy,”s ays Sulochana Pe i ri s , a 26-year-old pro-ducer in charge of Sathi.

Opening upa dialogue

The two progr a m m e s , telecast nat i o n a l l y,look at the need for initiat i ves to be taken byboth communities to achieve peace andr e c o n c i l i ation in Sri Lanka.For the first time,Sinhala viewe rs get the Tamil pers p e c t i ve ofthe conflict through one programme whilethe other gi ves Tamil viewe rs the Sinhaleseside to this 25-year-old saga.

“It has a good response from the yo u n gp e o p l e .This is the reason why we want tocontinue with it,” says Nimal Perera,newsdirector of the Talashine Network Ltd(TNL),a private channel in Sri Lanka.

N ow YATV is looking beyond Asian bor-ders. As a first step they want to produce as h ow called Planet A s i a, a compilation of itsbest programmes,aimed atWestern coun-t ri e s , to raise awareness among yo u n gpeople of the issues facing their Asian peers.YAT V ’s future plans include entering theEuropean ethnic television market.T h r o u-ghout Europe there are many ethnic Asianchannels trying to cater to immigrant com-munities.

With their success, do they hope tofight Western culture? “No it was not ouraim. We know that it is difficult to fightthe likes of MTV culture,” says Ahamed.

■

+ …Worldview International Foundation (WIF) is an independent, non-profit organization withheadquarters in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1980, ithas consultative status with many United Nationsagencies. WIF operates a network of MediaCentres in Asia and the Middle East.

Useful website: http://www.lanka.net/yatv

W EBSI T EOF THE MON T Hh t t p : / / w w w. u n e s c o . o r g / v i r t u a l - l i b ra ry

A selection of UNESCO books are now entirelyavailable online and free of charge. This vir-

tual libra ry is part of the Organization’s newefforts to make books available to the widestpossible public using the latest developments inc o m m u n i cation technology. Though presentlylimited as to the number of titles, many in this fir s tselection of works are out-of-print. The majorityare concerned with world heritage sites, completewith photographs and maps. This experimentalproject plans to add more titles on a regularbasis. Arctic languages or Simon Bolivar, Hué orGorée, the choice is yours. On your bookmarks!

■

The network makes extensive use of computer graphics, still a fairly rare practice in Asia.

http://www.lanka.net/yatv

I N T E R V I E W


Paris has Japanese, South Korean, Malian andMoroccan designers, but few people from theSouth have achieved the rank of “couturier”.

Fashion design now exists in eve ryc o u n t ry in the wo r l d , but I am only thethird designer from the South—after A z z e-dine Alaïa of Tunisia and Oscar de la Rentaof the Dominican Republic, for the Bal-main fashion house—to have achieved therank of couturi e r , recognized by their peersof the Pa ris haute couture professional tradeb o d y. Until now, t h at distinction wa sreserved for Western designers from coun-tries with a more developed fashion tradi-tion. I was lucky enough to start out at atime when haute couture was opening up tonew talents and encouraging new fashionhouses that were able to express a part i c u l a raesthetic sensibility despite their limitedfinancial resources. So I didn’t suffer fromchauvinistic ostracism, in fa c t , it was just theo p p o s i t e . From Italy’s Schiaparelli to Spain’sB a l e n c i a g a, haute couture has alway sembraced people from different countri e s.Because Pa ris is in a class of its ow n . It is nomore French than New York is A m e ri c a n :i tbelongs to the world. On the other hand,Pa risians are so uptight and demandingt h at you have to be really talented to expressyourself here.

Do you consider fashion a form of artisticexpression?

The couturier is not an art i s t , but acraftsman with his or her own sensibility. N oa rtist is expected to change so fa s t ,c r e at i n gtwo collections a year. And then, fashioncomes with commercial obligat i o n s. M ywork provides a livelihood for a whole team:I don’t have the right to run out of inspira-t i o n . So people shouldn’t imagine us asegotistical artists bullied around by fin a n c i a lb a c k e rs. Fashion is an artistic industry resul-ting from compromise rather than tension.D e s i g n e rs and their financial backers knowt h at they have to move ahead together.

OCIMAR V ERSOLATO’S H Y BRID CRE AT IONSThough too pricey for the average consumer, Brazilian couturier Ocimar Versolato interweavesmulticulturalism and sensuality to create designs that match women’s dreams

I N T E R V I E W


D e s i g n e rs can no longer make their wil-dest dreams come true and then just for-ward the bill,like they used to.

If fashion is not an art, then what is it?Fashion designers and couturi e rs appre-

hend the subconscious life of our societiesand go on to represent it with their own par-ticular sensibility.There is a crucial need forfashion to maintain this transparent channelto people’s sub-conscience, in order tou n c over their hidden desires and gi veexpression to them.That ’s why we don’tlook at our surroundings the way othersdo. Our minds are fast as rockets and welook at eve rything through emotional,impassioned eye s. I admire the speed ofvideos that gi ve you a maximum amount ofi n f o rm ation in a minimum amount of time.N ow that ’s a truly contemporary language!

How do you justify haute couture prices?An evening gow n ,which is entirely sewn

by hand so that all the stitches are inv i s i b l e ,requires hundreds of hours of highly specia-lized wo r k .Add to that the employe r ’s pay r o l lexpenses and ove r h e a d ,and I have to sell it foraround 80,000 French francs ($13,300).

In spite of the high prices, is haute couture aprofitable business?

My fashion house, like many others ,l i ve soff the patronage of approx i m ately fif t y

c u s t o m e rs. We aren’t losing money, but wea r e n ’t making much, e i t h e r. M a ny housestake advantage of the prestige associated withfashion to sell perfumes and accessori e s ,which are more immediately profit a b l e .I ’ verefused to do that : you cannot exercise a crea-t i ve activity with nothing but the profit motivein mind. If I want to communicate the imageof my creation to customers , I must absolu-tely not ruin that image by launching, f o re x a m p l e , a shampoo with my name on it.O ryou have to justify your approach.Mine start s

at the top: I began with haute couture,d e ve-loped luxury ready-to-wear clothes and laun-ched my line of jeans,a lways sticking as closeas possible to my customers ’n e e d s

Your dresses follow the outlines of an idealwoman: the Versolato woman. Do yourcustomers look like her?

I’m surp rised to see how much my cus-t o m e rs resemble each other both because oftheir age—between 18 and 40—and cha-r a c t e r.They are self-confident women who

A MODEST STA RT

Ocimar Versolato was born to parents of Italianorigin in 19 61 near São Paulo, Brazil’s industrial

capital. Deprived of an income following the deathof his father, an industrialist, his mother opened upa sewing workshop patronized by the cream of SãoPaolo society. Unlike his five brothers and sisters,young Ocimar fell in love with the business.

Since there was not yet a place to study fashionin Brazil, Versolato went to architecture school,but soon dropped out and started a successfulbusiness making accessories that he sold to ready-to-wear shops. In 1987 he left for Paris after mee-ting Marie Rucki, director of the prestigious Berçotfashion design school, where he enthusiasticallytook classes.

The young Brazilian perfected his training duringa four-year stint with the designer Hervé Légerbefore launching a luxury ready-to-wear line in1993. Staged with the help of a few friends and a3 , 0 0 0 - f ranc budget ($500), his first show of eveningg owns won him many offers. Versolato joinedLanvin, where he designed women’s ready-to-wearfor two years, introducing jeans to the venerablehouse’s collections. Funded by Pessoa de Queiroz,a Brazilian trust, Versolato set up a workshop on thePlace Vendôme, where he presented his first hautecouture collection in 1998. His label–which makes,among other things, ready-to-wear, and lin-gerie–has changed hands several times and is cur-rently finding new backers. ■

Diaphanous drapings in Rajasthan (India): doesn’t every woman invent her own style?

I N T E R V I E W


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do not feel inhibited about showing theirb o d i e s. By choosing my light clothes, w h i c henhance their character, they feel like theyare reaching the perfect balance that defin e selegance.These women come in sneakersand jeans. They put on an evening gown.And suddenly their postures, their at t i t u d e sand even their faces change.They feel beau-t i f u l , t h e y ’re no longer the same. I enjoythe fact that haute couture enables me toh ave direct contact with my customers ,which would hardly be possible in ready-to-we a r , where the only people designers eve rmeet are buyers.

Too many people cannot afford hautecouture...

To offer eve rybody the pleasure of ap u r c h a s e , I have created a line of jeans star-ting at 400 French francs ($67).To d ay, t h eh e a rt of dreams—haute couture—is on tele-vision when the two annual collections takeplace.In my view, having access to dreamsis more important than possessing the itemt h at nurtures them.When I arri ved in Pa ri s ,I had a very tight budget.And yet I visiteda rt galleri e s , examining eve rything I wa n t e dto buy without paying any attention to theprice, but trying to picture what it wouldlook like at home. I t ’s the same with clothes.You can’t afford to buy eve rything yo uwant, but you should at least be given thechance to see what’s out there and savourthe dream inspired by these fashions.

Even though fashion has become aninternational industry, do the dresses you designfor your customers reflect your origins a little?

They attempt to express the nat u r a lseduction which has free rein in Brazil. M yf e l l ow citizens are open, smiling and fri e n d l y.

They want to seduce eve rybody all the time.My dresses bear the mark of a country wherepeople are not ashamed of their bodies.W h e-ther or not they have perfect looks,B r a z i l i a n sl i ve almost naked six months a ye a r ,we a ri n gjust a pair of shorts or small items. I discove-red that in Europe, on the other hand, t h ebody had to remain hidden. Its cultural tra-dition advises against displaying a less-than-perfect chest or we a ring a mini-skirt if yo ud o n ’t have pretty knees.The couturier in meis trying to treat these traumas.

Brazil is a mixture of ethnic and religiousgroups. Does your fashion reflect culturaldiversity?

I remember two Arab princesses. Them o t h e r , who was rather stri c t , got upsetwhen she saw that her daughter was inter-ested in a see-through dress. Until I offeredto add a bodysuit to gi ve a layer of cove ri n g .The cultural dive rsity expressed by myfashions consists, among other things, ofo f f e ring sensuality to those who are depri ve dof it because of their culture. As for ther e s t , I’m impervious to race, except when Ican use it as a source of inspiration.I desi-gned an haute couture collection based onthe theme of multicultural melange, dres-sing Japanese like A f ri c a n s , A f ricans likeR u s s i a n s , and these amusing twists we n tover we l l . For fashion is a world unto itself,f r e e , without prejudices—and thereforeopen to all kinds of mixing.As an interna-tional form of expression, fashion musti n t e gr ate all cultures. My team includesB r a z i l i a n s ,I t a l i a n s , Japanese and Germ a n s ,whose skills round each other out.

Do people in Brazil and the rest of SouthAmerica keep up with your career?

HAUTE COU T URE

In 18 58, Charles Worth of Great Britain, EmpressEugénie’s couturier, moved to the Rue de la Pa i x

and, towards the end of the nineteenth century,presented his creations on living models. “HauteCouture”, which stood apart from hand-madegarments by its luxurious nature, quickly beca m ea form of expression practiced by all the greatnames in fashion history, including Poiret, Chaneland Balenciaga. Industrial production methodsbased on American Taylorism developed in the1930s and 1940s, and by the 1950s hand-madegarments entered the era of mass production:ready-to-wear was born.

At the same time, haute couture prices conti-nued to climb, partly to factor in expensive labourcosts. Meanwhile, its clientele steadily declined.By the 1980s, haute couture was being exhibitedin museums, raising it to full-fledged art formstatus. Based exclusively in Paris and, secondarily,in Italy, where Versace and Valentino have theirown ‘Alta Moda’ lines, haute couture designerspresent two collections a year including approxi-mately 60 pieces per couturier, which makeheadlines in newspapers’ fashion sections aroundthe world. Although haute couture is in the redtoday, its prestige allows companies to sell lessexpensive but more profitable items like ready-to-wear, handbags, fra g rances, watches and eye-glasses.

Haute couture sales may not be rising involume, but overall the fashion market is expan-ding by leaps and bounds. The most powerfulgroups are Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren of theUnited States, followed by France’s LV MH (Dior,Givenchy, Lacroix) and, far behind, Italy’s Armani,Gucci and Prada. These companies are still verydiscreet about their profits. For comparison’ssake, French designers and couturiers recordedsales of 20 billion francs ($3.3 billion) in 19 97, asopposed to 16 billion ($2.6 billion) for CalvinKlein alone. ■

I N T E R V I E W

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I have n ’t worked at becoming a sort of starin South A m e ri c a , but fame is part of myp r o f e s s i o n .For example, I didn’t think anyo n ehad ever heard of me in Buenos A i r e s.So I wa stotally surp rised when television journ a l i s t sthere got in touch with me.They consider meSouth A m e rican rather than Brazilian,a n d ,a ss u c h , a representat i ve of A r g e n t i n a .

Does Brazil have an innovative, lively fashionscene?

The reality is that too many people there,as elsewhere in the southern countri e s ,m a k ec o p i e s. More accurat e l y, copies of copies ofc o p i e s. But Brazil is a country where any-thing is possible.D i rt poor provinces exist nextto highly developed metropolises such as SãoPa u l o, where luxury can find some expre-s i o n .And Brazilians, like any other people,a r eable to show the world their particular senseof aesthetics. I’m delighted that Brazilianfashion designers have made headway andn ow have the courage to show themselve s.B u tthey have neither the know - h ow nor the stan-dards to be intern ationally successful.They aren a i ve to the point of designing a whole col-lection with a flat pat t e rn , a simple sewingmachine and an overcast machine1. T h e i rclothes don’t have any vo l u m e , roundness ors o p h i s t i c at i o n .Nobody ever taught them howto make a well-tailored jacket.

How can they get out of this dead end?Brazilians are curious by nat u r e , a n d

they want to learn .I ’d like to help them bye n c o u r a ging a transfer of techniques. I nF r a n c e , labour in the fashion industry is in

s h o rt supply, highly specialized and expen-s i ve , while tens of millions of people areu n e m p l oyed and looking for work in Brazil.By training some of them in France,we ’d alsofind a long-term way of improving technicalskills and raising standards back in Brazilwhich could make quality shoes and clothesfor all the designers in the wo r l d .

Are you advocating globalization?I t ’s already here.To d ay, you can design a

g a rment here, assemble it there and embroiderit somewhere else.So yo u ’re better off makingthe most of what eve ryo n e ’s best at .After thewa r , s m a rt people in ove rp o p u l ated Indiaopened small embroidery fa c t o ri e s. To d ay,almost all the embroidery sold around theworld comes from India, and the quality canbe as good as it is in Pa ri s.

Have other developing countries specialized inother techniques?

Right now, e ve rything is incredibly cen-tralized in Europe—or in Japan, a countryt h at can be considered We s t e rn . But Chinahas developed techniques for silk, of whichit is the world’s leading producer. One dayit will probably have the same stat e - o f - t h e -art technology as Europe. And when thatd ay comes, the other countries will tremble.

Does Brazil have any women fashion designers?Most of the neighbourhood designers

are men, but Brazilian women have nevercome up against any obstacles to enter thefashion industry. Each one is a designer inher own right.Gifted with an innate senseof gr o o m i n g, they know how to dress fora ny occasion without falling into stereo-types or ridiculous clichés.

Do women prefer being dressed by men?Male designers gi ve themselves the

freedom to be more daring than their femalec o u n t e rp a rt s , simply because they don’thave to wear what they create.Their aes-thetic sense blossoms without restraint andtheir customers , who don’t hesitate put-ting on eight-centimeter heels to look beau-tiful, prefer aesthetics to comfort.

What’s your state of mind when you designyour collections?

C o u t u ri e rs are wrongly described ash e a rtless and inaccessible. On the contrary,like all creat i ve individuals, they are ve ry sen-s i t i ve and try to defend their fragi l i t y. I fthey want to sell dreams, they must find animage of the world that expresses happiness.So it really doesn’t matter whether theykeep their feet on the gr o u n d . C l o t h i n gdesigned by a couturier is different fromo r d i n a ry ready-to-wear because of the fee-lings it conveys. During a fashion show, adress has just 30 seconds to express a wholeuniverse.

Have you used your fame to serve usefulcauses?

I’ve staged a fashion show that peoplehad to pay to see,with the $20,000 in pro-ceeds going towards the construction of abuilding for children with cancer. R i g h tnow, I’m working with the photographerSebastião Salgado on a reforestation project.The funding will come from a show I’m hel-ping to put on. ■

Interview by Jacques Brunel, j o u r n a l i s t ,contributor to Le Monde and V o g u e, and René

L e f o r t , director of the UN E S C O C o u r i e r.1.An overcaster is a machine used to stitch theedges of two pieces of fabric together.

VOLUME 5.

Sustainable Development andEnvironmental Managementof Small Islands. W. Beller; P. d’Ayala; P. Hein (eds)340 FF/ 51.83

VOLUME 8 .

Biohistory: The Interplaybetween Human Society and the Biosphere - Past and Present. S. Boyden. 380 FF/ 57.93

VOLUME 15.

Brazilian Perspectives on Sustainable Developmentof the Amazon Region. M. Clösener-Godt; I. Sachs (eds)410 FF/ 62.50

VOLUM E 1 8.

Biodiversity in Land-InlandWater Ecotones.J. Lachavanne; R. Juge (eds)380 FF/ 57.93

VOLUM E 2 0.

Forest Biodiversity Research,Monitoring and Modeling:Conceptual Background and Old World Case Studies.F. Dallmeier; J.A. Comiskey (eds)600 FF/ 91.47

VOLUME 2 1.

Forest Biodiversity in North, Central and SouthAmerica and the Caribbean:Research and Monitoring.F. Dallmeier; J.A. Comiskey (eds)690 FF/ 105.19

MAN AND THE BIOSPHERE SERIESUNESCO Publishing/Part h e n o n

O R D E R S :U N E S C O P U B L I S H I N G7, place de Fontenoy, 75732 Paris 07 SP, FranceFax: +33 1 45 68 57 37Internet: www.unesco.org/publishingE-mail: [email protected]

WORLD BIODIVERSITY SERIES ON CD-ROMUNESCO Publishing / ETI (Expert Center for Taxonomic Identification of the University of Amsterdam)

Easily accessible, high-qualityinformation on the environment

UNESCO PUBLISHING

Marine Mammals of the WorldCD-ROM, PC or Mac 393 FF/ 59.91A complete overview of sea mammals intheir natural environment with adescription of their lives and behaviour,particularly addressed to teachers, whale-and dolphin-watchers, environmentalists,zoologists and ocean-lovers. Containsdetailed full-colour drawings, spectacularunderwater photographs, call-sounds formost species, an interactive identificationkey and distribution maps.

Fishes of the Nort h - e a s t e rnA t l a n t i c a n dt h e M e d i t e rr a n e a nCD-ROM, PC or Mac 1,180 FF/ 179.89CD-ROM version of UNESCO’s best-selling book for ichthyologists all over theworld. Presents up-to-date information on 1,265 fish species, with a fully illustratedidentification key, drawings, full-colourillustrations, photographs and distributionmaps. The text is hyperlinked to anillustrated glossary defining more than 500 scientific terms and to over 5,000bibliographical references.

Birds of EuropeCD-ROM, PC or Mac 288 FF/ 43.91A must for birdwatchers and scientists,who will find in this complete interactivemultimedia system a unique inform a t i o ns o u rce for more than 400 bird species.Contains full-colour drawings of birds andtheir eggs, summer and winter distributionmaps and a pictorial field guide for easyi d e n t i fication. Users may listen to samplesof each bird call and test their knowledgeof birds’ habits and calls by means of aq u i z .

Five KingdomsCD-ROM, PC or Mac 393 FF/ 59.91A full multimedia information program forthe general public interested in the Eart h ’sb i o d i v e r s i t y. Presents data on 92 phyla, withexamples from selected genera. Includes500 illustrations, QuickTime videos,drawings and a glossary of 700 scientifict e rm s .

Marine Lobsters of the WorldCD-ROM, PC or Mac 393 FF/ 59.91A must for specialists and the fis h i n gi n d u s t ry. Describes more than 140 lobsterspecies with detailed drawings, full-colourp i c t u res, an illustrated interactivei d e n t i fication key and world distributionmaps. Hyperlinked text to an illustratedg l o s s a ry defining more than 300 scientifict e rm s .

Plant Resources of South-East AsiaCD-ROM, PC/Mac 590 FF/ 89.94Describes about 100 important vegetablesand gives a brief description of 125species of minor importance. Also lists800 species that yield vegetables as a by-product only.

Turtles of the WorldBy R. W. Barbour1999Mac, ISBN 92-3-103700-5655 FF/ 99.85An update and extension of Ernst andBarbour’s standard Turtles of the World(1989) with many unique colourphotographs. About 40 new species havebeen added and the taxonomy has beencompletely revised. New distributionmaps, interactive identification key,literature references, hyperlinked text andan illustrated glossary defining about1,000 terms. Suitable for all scientificlibraries and for anyone appreciating thebeauty of nature.

m a n y v o i c e s o n e w o r l d

P u b l i s h e din 27

l a n g u a g e s

In the next issue:

Fo c u s :

Wo m e n :taking on the political bastion■ Landmarks of the women’s movement■ Swedish nurses go to court■ I ra n : mobilization with a veil■ India divides over quotas■ R e d rawing the lines in South Ko r e a ’s e l e c t o ral battle■ United States: loud voices, weak results■ Do women change politics?

Fe a t u res include■ Return to Chiapas■ A clean tide for the Rhine■ Homeschooling moves into the public spotlight■ Gypsies in Europe: u n ravelling the ra c i s m■ I n t e r v i e w : Margarita Salas, the human face of science

The UNESCO Courier is available on the Internet:

www.unesco.org/courier

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