My Big Fat Green Wedding

Interestingly, more and more couples are turning their weddings "green"...
Below are some extracts from an Independent article!

• The dress came from Oxfam, the food was organic, and the guests had to offset their air-miles
• conflic-free diamonds
• a fashionable wedding website instead of sending out massive paper invitations
• no flower shipped in from Kenya...
• a gas-converted Bentley for the couple to be driven around
• fairtrade food...
• gifts: training of school teachers...
• an eco-friendly wedding trip

Congo: Idiot rebels shoot silverback gorillas

Report just in from the African Wildlife Foundation:

January 19, 2007 — By African Wildlife FoundationKIGALI, Rwanda — African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has learned from the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) that insurgent forces led by the dissident General Laurent Nkunda have invaded Virunga National Park's south sector in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and killed at least one silverback mountain gorilla.
This area serves as precious habitat for six groups of endangered mountain gorillas habituated for tourism and five lone silverbacks that are also monitored daily. A total of 82 individuals reside in this sector.
Hostilities forced ICCN's park staff and their families to flee the park's Jomba, Bikenge and Bukima patrol posts on December 20, 2006. This left the park and its mountain gorilla population extremely vulnerable.
On January 11, 2007 rebel insurgents succeeded in shooting and killing a silverback. The silverback, named Karema, was formally a member of the Lulengo Group, but had been solitary for the last few years. Unfortunately, due to continuing insecurity, ICCN rangers were only able to access the park and verify the killing on Monday January 15. These rangers acted at tremendous risk to their own lives.
A second silverback mountain gorilla was killed, though authorities have yet to identify the individual.
General Nkunda was a commander in the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD), a main rebel group which controlled most of eastern Congo during the country's five-year civil war. Nkunda dissidents continue to conflict with both government forces and local people in addition to the national park. As recently as November, Nkunda's forces attacked DRC troops in eastern posts; this fresh fighting forced more than 10,000 Congolese people to flee into Uganda.
International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP - a coalition of AWF, Fauna and Flora International and World Wide Fund for Nature) officers on the ground continue to work tirelessly with park authorities to collect information about this loss and other potential damage. However, the situation in the area remains extremely tense and unstable. Contact Info:
Amy Wiedemann African Wildlife FoundationTel : 202-939-3333E-mail: awiedemann@awf.org
Website : African Wildlife Foundation

FRANCE JOINS UNEP’S TREE PLANTING CAMPAIGN

FRANCE JOINS UNEP’S TREE PLANTING CAMPAIGN UNEP has launched a second appeal to the international community to join its global tree planting campaign, “Plant for the Planet: the Billion Tree Campaign,” from France, with several French partners endorsing the initiative. The campaign, which seeks to help mitigate climate change and encourage environmental action around the world, has to date recorded over 157 million tree planting pledges globally, including 5.5 million in France.

WSF2007 Kenya

The 7th World Social Forum is in full swing in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the first time this event is organised on the African Country. Over 50.000 participants have descended to Nairobi for a massive 1200-sessions programme that takes place in the Kasarani/Moi Sports Stadium to the North of the city. Over 21 themes will be debated by participants from more than 140 countries. The WSF, with its origins in the Battle for Seattle attempts to unite civil society representatives in a parallel event that takes place at the same time as the World Economic Forum in Davos: the objective- to propose Another World is Possible. Apart from the fact that much of the debate is off-axis and borderline-metaphysical, it is a quintessential showcase of poverty and struggles. Hosting the WSF in Africa is a brave decision, and although there is lots of complaining on logistical matters, it must be noted that overall this event illustrates the wide diversity of movements, opinions and brings to the world tribune the huge misery and inequalities faced by the larger part of the Earth's population. The local Kenyan population expresse high hopes that may be clouded by the lack of concrete action plans and high-level government commitment to the agenda of the WSF. Mobilizing public opinion and networking remains therefore the key objective. A photoreportage is available on http://www.flickr.com/photos/wacondah/

Wiels Contemporary Art Museum - Brussels (opens May 25 2007)

a brand new Contemporary art museum will open this May 25 in the former WIELS Breweries, near the Brussels Midi Train Station:

interesting article on Cafébabel.

21-01-07: Manifestation Surréaliste: pour le rattachement de la Belgique au Congo

't is ne keer iets anders dan Wallonië bij Frankrijk, St-Genesius-Rode bij Brussel of Vlaanderen bij Nederland...

Foreign Policy: The Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2006

Insightful comments from this story: Foreign Policy: The Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2006: "The Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2006"