The Florida Everglades was taken off the The World Heritage List by the Bush Administration. I hope the new sites that have been added in Iraq, Afghanistan & Iran, won't be damaged in the war.
Are the Republicans gearing up to save the Everglades once more for the election in 2008, or are there other plans....
During a Senate hearing about the Everglades this past Wednesday, Senator Nelson battled with a member of the Bush Administration over one word - a word that could translate into a loss of money and resources for the "river of grass." In early July a United Nations committee took the Everglades off of a list of endangered places.
The original draft of the UN document said the committee "decides to retain Everglades National Park on the list of World Heritage in danger."
However, the final report instead recommended the Everglades be "removed" from the list.
So what happened?
From this article:
"There's always been a kind of pressure from the Washington level to say, 'Okay, we've got a plan, now take us off the list,' " said Robert Johnson, director of the South Florida Natural Resources Center at Everglades National Park since 1995. "I think for the Bush administration, it was seen as a black eye to be on that list." Being taken off the list "gives people the impression that things are going well," when the restoration is actually decades away from achieving its goals, he said. For the past four years it has been the only American site listed as being in danger. Being on the list "focuses more international attention on what we do," Johnson said.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior Todd Willens was the leader of the U.S. delegation who made the motion to take the Everglades off the list. Until last fall, Willens was a top aide to former Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., a frequent critic of environmental laws and environmental groups. Willens said that making the change was not the result of some political agenda. In fact, it wasn't even his idea, he said. Instead, he said, before the meeting, representatives from some of the 21 other countries on the committee told him they wanted the Everglades off the list because of the 7-year-old restoration project.
So even though the National Park Service's own report recommended keeping the Everglades on the danger list, "I changed the last sentence of our report and said we wanted to be taken off, " Willens said.
SNIP
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It seems like only yesterday that Jeb Bush, in 2003, when the Bush Boys thought saving the Everglades was a good idea.
Tallahassee – Today, the Legislature is expected to redouble Florida’s commitment to Everglades restoration by appropriating a record $225 million to restore the River of Grass – more than twice the funding originally anticipated this year. In addition, the Legislature is also expected to approve $800 million in bonding authority over the next eight years to fund Florida’s ongoing commitment.
Governor Jeb Bush is the architect of the funding plan for the state-federal partnership that is accomplishing Everglades restoration. Since 2000, the State of Florida and South Florida Water Management District have invested nearly $500 million in the project. Including cash and bonds provided this year, Florida’s total financial commitment to restore water flow through the famed River of Grass now tops one-and-a-half billion dollars.
"In one of the tightest budget years in recent history, the Florida Legislature and Governor Jeb Bush doubled Florida’s financial commitment to ensure restoration remains on time and on budget," said Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David B. Struhs. "There should be no question about Florida’s commitment to Everglades restoration."
In February, Governor Bush and the Florida Cabinet transferred cash reserves into Florida’s land conservation programs, Florida Forever and Preservation 2000, to ensure money would be available to restore the Everglades. The Florida Legislature appropriated $200 million of these funds for Everglades restoration.
"Governor Bush is committed to saving the Everglades," said Struhs. "Florida is providing the money to make restoration a reality."
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The World Heritage Sites are specific sites (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. The programme aims to catalogue, name, and conserve sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity. Under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund.
From an article named "Everglades uproar brings change:
A Senate hearing looks at how a U.N. list was altered" we find this:
The Bush administration has changed its procedures for trying to remove U.S. sites from a United Nations list of endangered special places after the Everglades was struck from the list this summer, a State Department official said.
Gerald Anderson, a deputy assistant secretary at the State Department, made the statement at a hearing held Wednesday by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., into how and why the Bush administration asked the U.N. World Heritage Committee to remove the Everglades from its list of endangered environmental sites.
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There is a searchable database on the 851 cites listed on the World Heritage List. You can find it
here.
From the list are sites added under the Bush Administration. Here are a handful of recent additions:
IRAQ:
2003 Ashur (Qal'at Sherqat)
2007 Samarra Archaeological City
IRAN
2003 Takht-e Soleyman
2004 Pasargadae
2004 Bam Cultural Landscape
2005 Soltaniyeh
2006 Bisotun
AFGHANISTAN
2002 Minaret and Archaeological Remains of Jam
2003 Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley
At the link above, you will notice the Everglades is still listed. I don't know why it is because as far as I know, it has been delisted. Yet the website says that
The everglades, or River of Grass as the Native Americans called it is formed by a river of fresh water 6 inches deep and 50 miles wide that flows slowly across the flat expanse of land at the southern tip of Florida. In 1947, the Everglades National Park was established and now covers 1.4 million acres. Being geographically at the meeting point of several climatic zones, a diverse variety of plants can be found from tropical palms and mangroves to temperate ash and oak, and even cacti and yucca. It is also home to several threatened species including the manatee.
In other news today:
today:
Iraq to celebrate addition of Samarra to World Heritage List
By Ammar Imad
Azzaman, September 23, 2007
The Ministry of Tourism and Archaeology is to celebrate a decision by U.N.’s cultural organization, UNESCO, to inscribe Samarra’s ancient sites on the list World Heritage in danger.
Jassem Jaafar, the minister, said his ministry was planning a major festival to mark UNESCO’s decision. "The festival has to match the significance of Samarra as an ancient and holy Iraqi city," he said.
The city, 125 km north of Baghdad, is located on both sides of the River Tigris. It is surrounded by one of the most fertile plateaus in the country which the nearly 200,000 population has turned into orchards of vines, figs other fruits as well as vegetables.
I still don't know why it was removed but maybe drawing a little attention to it may help Senator Nelson.