 |
USA Edition | Today Is Monday, May 20, 2013 |
|---|
Serving The Public Interest Without Fear Or Prejudice
|
|---|
|
|
Newsroom Magazine's principal mission is to credibly and responsibly inform readers about the world in which we live.
Skeptical Editing
What we present as fact is to the best of our knowledge true and sufficiently revealed to be relied upon.Relevancy
What we publish is selected based on its news value and/or its national or global relevance to responsible citizens and those who seek to govern them.Probity
What we publish is chosen to provide meaningful insight into, or clearer perspective about the world in which we live.Fidelity To Fact
The foundations upon which our mission rest are fairness, accountability, responsibility and fidelity-to-fact.Public Interest
Serving the public interest without fear or prejudice rests upon our collective commitment to a clearly defined code of ethics, and consistently applied journalistic standards and editorial practices.The journalistic mechanisms by which we stand and to which we commit our reputation are credibility, relevancy and probity.
Searchable Repository
Fulfillment of our mission rests, in part, on Newsroom Magazine's searchable and globally visible repository of everything we publish.Our mission requires that we record and index reports, findings and official statements about the role of government(s) in the world in which we live that are based upon editorial selection predicated upon credibility, relevancy and probity.
Governmental Content
To fully understand what government is doing, or failing to do, depends on a broad range of information about world and national issues and events. We focus on national and international stories -- most of which are related to U.S. government actions, decisions, legislation, regulation and military matters.Spin And Propaganda
Government generated news and information is no more forthright, or accurate, or fair, or complete than any other source of information whose content is intended to support, explain or spin a single viewpoint. Governmental news releases, statements or testimony is by definition propaganda -- no matter how much substantive information surrounds it.Information That Matters
Newsroom Magazine does not edit or modify government provided information, but we do consciously select and publish content that contains explicit information worthy of being permanently visible online.What Government Says Matters
While our editors seek to publish government-sourced information for its factual foundations we knowingly publish, from time to time, governmental materials that are egregiously overstated, highly politicized, slanted to administration policy, or simply foolish or misguided.Unvarnished Reality
What we publish is intended to provide the reader an unfiltered glimpse of government. We offer neither support for that which is best, nor criticism of that which is not. Our job is to validate that the source materials published by Newsroom Magazine are legitimate government delivered information.The government, department, agency, or authority to which the content is attributed is solely responsible for the credibility, accuracy and fairness of what they said and how they said it.
World Wide Reference
Being an on-line publication means that the immense indexing capabilities inherent in our database(s) makes our content a repository of news and information that is easily accessible by anyone, anywhere and any time.Responsible Adults, Skeptical Editing, Thoughtful Commentary
Those who form, select, edit, oversee, manage and/or author Newsroom Magazine content are charged with fulfilling our mission by way of a narrative, opinion, commentaries, essays, editorials, news analysis, and stories about the human condition and/or the American Experience.Supplemental Content
Narrative content published by Newsroom Magazine is supported, when and where appropriate, by utility resources including definitions of terms or words that appear in both narrative and news content and/or logical definitions and constructs.Newsworthy Content
In fulfillment of our mission we pledge to be responsible, credible and journalistically sound so that we might deliver newsworthy information and materials including that which reveals government in its own words absent fear or prejudice.
Deforestation deprived Kenya’s economy of 5.8 billion shillings ($68 million) in 2010 and 6.6 billion shillings in 2009, far outstripping the roughly 1.3 billion shillings injected from forestry and logging each year,” according to a UNEP news release on the joint UNEP-Kenya Forest Service (KFS) study.
New York
Cost Of Deforestation In Kenya Far Exceeds Gains From Forestry And Logging, UN Joint Study Finds
New York, Nov 5 2012
A landmark study of Kenya’s high-elevation forests shows that the economic cost of deforestation in the East African country exceeds national gains from forestry and logging by more than four-to-one, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.
“Deforestation deprived Kenya’s economy of 5.8 billion shillings ($68 million) in 2010 and 6.6 billion shillings in 2009, far outstripping the roughly 1.3 billion shillings injected from forestry and logging each year,” according to a UNEP news release on the joint UNEP-Kenya Forest Service (KFS) study.
The economic impact of Kenya’s five montane forests – called ‘water towers’ as these forests store water during the rainy season and release it slowly, thus ensuring water flow during dry periods – are assessed in the study, entitled The Role and Contribution of Montane Forests and Related Ecosystem Services to the Kenyan Economy.
In his comments on the report, UNEP’s Executive Director, Achim Steiner, recognized rehabilitation work Kenya has undertaken in the Mau Forest Complex, one of the so-called water towers.
“Kenya is today underlining its determination to be among a group of pioneering countries putting its nature-based assets at the centre of its sustainable development ambitions,” he said.
“The findings of this report are based on the best international analytical methods and the latest environmental and economic evidence,” he added. “It is these kinds of cutting-edge assessments that are inspiring more and more countries in Africa and beyond towards the opportunities presented in a transition to an inclusive Green Economy.”
Ongoing work by KFS, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and international partners has additionally found that the contribution of forests to Kenya’s income is undervalued by 2.5 per cent, according to UNEP, which added that this means that forests actually account for an estimated 3.6 per cent of Kenya’s gross domestic product.
The UNEP-KFS report is being launched to coincide with the beginning of the Kenya Water Towers, Forests and Green Economy National Dialogue. It says the five water towers – Mount Kenya, the Aberdares, Mount Elgon and Cherangani complete the list – provide more than 75 per cent of the country’s renewable surface water resources annually, by feeding more than 15,800 million cubic metres of filtered rainwater to rivers and lakes each year.
However, deforestation has occurred from activities such as unregulated charcoal production, logging of indigenous trees, marijuana cultivation, cultivation in the indigenous forest, livestock grazing, quarry landslides and human settlement.
“Between 2000 and 2010, deforestation in the water towers amounted to an estimated 28,427 hectares, leading to reduced water availability of approximately 62 million cubic metres per year,” UNEP stated.
Since Kenya’s economy is highly vulnerable to water availability, inflation spiked above 10 per cent on three occasions between 2000 and 2010, “each time driven by drought combined with increasing crude oil prices and weaker exchange rates,” UNEP said.
Private consumption accompanying a doubling of household demand within the last 10 years has largely driven deforestation, the environment agency noted.
“Fuel wood and charcoal represent the most important energy source for the population, at 75 per cent, and the forestry sector creates both formal and informal job opportunities, especially in rural areas,” UNEP said.
However, it added, while forest products bring in one-off cash to the national economy, they also “encourage illegal deforestation activities and create huge economic damage through the loss of regulating services.”
According to UNEP, the report found that the “cumulative negative effect” of deforestation on the economy through a reduction in regulating services was an estimated 3,650 million shillings per year, which was “more than four times the cash revenue of deforestation.”
While UNEP recognized Kenya’s efforts to expand rehabilitation programmes in all water towers, it also highlighted various report recommendations calling for more action.
Among them is a call for sustainable forest management that UNEP said included selective thinning regimes, protection against uncontrolled settlements, adequate allocation and policing of water withdrawals, and improved management of degraded land.