£200k funding for Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh to save Tanzanian forests

Discussion in 'Gardening News RSS Feeds' started by Botanic Gardens, Feb 9, 2016.

  1. Botanic Gardens

    Botanic Gardens Guest

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    The Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh has been awarded £200,0000 to begin a new project saving Tanzanian forests.

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  2. WeeTam

    WeeTam Total Gardener

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    Heres an idea. Root out the corrupt Tanzanian officials who are turning a blind eye to the illegal logging thats going,and no doubt taking bribes for doing so.


    Simple advice that will save you chucking away another £200,000 Pounds . Africa is a fast growing huge economy with its own monies skills and educated peoples that doesnt need to have patronising westerners throwing money at them. Just saying.
     
  3. longk

    longk Total Gardener

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    Then you clearly know nothing about their president!

    And you clearly know even less about Africa!
     
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    • WeeTam

      WeeTam Total Gardener

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      Then its up to the people of Tanzania to get rid of their president if they are the problem. And by the way Tanzanias economy is booming,growth of 6-7& pa.

      Many Africans from all over the continent are sick of being labeled as victims in need of help from do gooder westerners who like to keep throwing money at them which in reality never gets to the man/woman/child that may need it. The UK gave £13 Billion in foreign aid last year. We even gave money to China and India. India said they dont want our aid but yet we gave them £250 million in aid because we know better than them.
       
    • longk

      longk Total Gardener

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      .........................
      They did last autumn when John Magufuli (spelling?) was elected. One of his main (and apparently sincere) aims is to rid government (local and national) of corruption.

      Yup - it's in the top 15(ish) of GDP growth figures. But 6 or 7% of sod all still adds up to sod all. There are four African nations in the top 10 and in each case almost 50% or more are still living in poverty ($1.25 per day adjusted for local buying power). So no, Africa is not a huge economy. Ignore GDP growth figures and look instead at GDP per capita figures for what they are. The DRC has the third (or second? Not totally sure) fastest growing economy on the planet yet the GDP per capita is less that $1000 per annum.

      And there are millions who are grateful for it and tens of millions facing famine in the current drought who desperately need it.

      Bless! That's a quid a year for every person in India living on less than $1.25 per day.
       
    • WeeTam

      WeeTam Total Gardener

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      Oh well youd better just keep blindly giving your money (and others peoples money) to one cause after another and continue peddling the myth that Africa is a basket case and needs continuous pity and aid .

      If the west was willing to open up free trade with Africa instead of bombarding it with tax deductable aid the people would be a hell of a lot better off.

      Ive seen Nigerians being interviewed on the matter and they are sick of people in the West labelling them as all being malnourished and unable to do anything for themselves. Their offended by the Wests continual stereotyping of them.

      But no, people choose to continue to take the moral high ground and consider themselves better than everyone else because they want to keep giving money to a problem they are partly responsible for.
       
    • longk

      longk Total Gardener

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      If the west and the rest of the developed world stopped buying up or leasing huge chunks of the prime arable land in Africa then the African people would have a better chance. Instead we use this land to grow crops to export back to these countries along with the profits. The result of this land grab is that thousands of subsistence farmers are evicted from their lands into total poverty.

      I apologise. I was under the impression that you had visited Africa and talked to the people yourself, my mistake.
      Interesting that you quote Nigeria. It is after all one of the few (partial) success stories since the discovery of vast oil reserves. Yes, their are considerably more Nigerians who do not need help than is the norm on the African continent.

      You're correct, colonialisation and the mess made of granting independence has a lot to answer for.
       
    • WeeTam

      WeeTam Total Gardener

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      The free trade im refering to is giving Africa as a whole the ability to manufacture finished goods and export freely without facing crippling import duties. At the moment they can mostly only export raw materials which doesnt give high yields and limits employment possibilities.

      Yet you chose to automatically stereotype them as only being poor subsistence farmers .

      We clearly have different ideas on this so I`ll leave it at that and frankly cant be bothered with your condescending remarks.
       
      Last edited: Feb 11, 2016
    • longk

      longk Total Gardener

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      Do you mean the EU/ACP agreement (which allows developing countries to import manufactured goods, raw materials, foods etc into the EU free of all taxes except local GST/VAT) or do you mean that we scrap GST/VAT on these imports as well?
      If we vote to leave the EU we'll need to put our own version of the EU?ACP agreement on the statute books.
      I cannot help but agree with you that it would be good to see developed nations helping to put the infrastructure in place on the continent to allow more industry but I doubt that will happen.

      My only reference to subsistence farming was the thousands who have been displaced by the land grab. On a continent of a billion or so people I'm not sure that constitutes stereotyping.

      I'm sorry that you feel that I was condescending as that is never my intention. I simply make my arguments based on my own beliefs and what I know (which I do qualify in brackets if I'm not totally 100% on what I say).

      With a handshake and a smile I'll leave it at that too.
       

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