A SINKING FEELING

By Nick Lanigan

As the Environment Secretary meets with farmers, water companies and wildlife groups to discuss the possibility of drought across the UK, Britain is left anticipating summer water shortages severe enough to warrant hosepipe bans. Although there may seem to be no shortage of soggy ground at the moment, this is largely due to melting snow and in fact, Britain is coming to the end of the second of two extremely dry winters in a row.

Coincidence, some might shout – but if these developments are considered alongside other signs of global warming, they become hard to ignore. Researchers in Wales have recently estimated that up to three quarters of the Severn Estuary’s mudflats could disappear within the next 100 years due to rising sea levels. This may sound alarming, but Britain is certainly not in the worst position regarding disappearing land; some small island nations are under threat of being completely submerged if sea levels continue to rise at their current pace.

In 2009, President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, in the Indian Ocean, drew international attention to the plight of his country by holding a meeting of his government underwater, using scuba diving equipment and waterproof documents. Although little more than a gimmick, the meeting had a very serious message – despite being only one-fifth of the size of Greater London, the Maldives has a 300,000-strong population, and if the islands sink, where should they go?

In more recent times, it seems that these warnings have not been heeded – and a group of island nations are taking a more hard-line approach. President Johnson Toribiong of Palau, a tiny Pacific island, announced recently that an expert advisory panel has been convened to bring the matter before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. They will argue that if nations with a high carbon output will not reduce their emissions willingly, they should be forced to, on the grounds that they are violating the islanders’ right to statehood; an accusation that it seems difficult to deny, given that the activities of the developed world are causing these countries to physically disappear.

Does a hosepipe ban still seem so serious? It seems that for us in Britain, it is time to consider the people for whom climate change represents a daily worry about survival.

Siobhan O’Sullivan Editor

Conflict Brewing In The South Atlantic

By Jordan Grantham

2012 is the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, though difficulties between the UK and Argentina have surfaced in its wake. The recent situation was sparked by the decision of Mercosur, a South American trading bloc including Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, that they will no longer allow ships flying the Falkland Islands flag to enter their ports. The announcement in late December 2011 is in support of Argentina’s sovereignty over the islands, which they call Las Malvinas. Argentina accused the UK of breaking international laws in 2010 by allowing oil exploration, which is but another of the disputes brought about by the conflict of sovereignty. The Foreign Office stated that there was no justification for the motion of Mercosur that prohibits 25 boats, which fly the flag of the Falklands, from entering the bloc’s ports.

Both parties perceive each other to be performing manoeuvres against each other; from the Duke of Cambridge’s arrival in the islands to Argentina renaming its top football league after the General Belgrano warship sunk during the Falkands war. The escalation has led to Argentina’s foreign minister Hector Timerman lodging a formal complaint to the UN in New York, in response to what Argentina considers the consequent militarisation of the islands. Timerman reported that the military presence in the Falklands is to increase “four fold” including the deployment of HMS Dauntless, the Royal Navy most powerful warship, and claims of the Admiralty sending Trident nuclear missiles to the South Atlantic. The Ministry of Defence maintain that the military presence is only routine and that the submarines in the region are not capable of carrying such warheads.

Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has said that the two nations must stop escalating the conflict over the islands that are roughly 300 miles from the Argentinian coast and 8,000 miles from Britain. Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the Falklands will remain in British hands “as long as they want” and that their right to self-determination will be upheld. Indeed polls continue to show an overwhelming majority in favour of British reign. The Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has riled the support of other neighbouring countries saying that it is not just an Argentinian cause, but that it has become one of Latin America.

By Elaine Goodfellow

On February 10, as President Assad’s army continued attack on the besieged city of Homs, two large blasts were set off in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, in which the most populous governorate resides. It is still unclear who is to blame for the attack as both soldiers and civilians were caught up in the bombings. However, it is believed to be the worst violence in the country since the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s government, and the worst violence in Aleppo in over a decade.

This increased threat to the lives of civilians has been drawn nearer the eyes of the UN. After the February 4 th veto by Russia and China of the UN’s resolution to aid Syria, rejecting the resolution as “unbalanced,” western countries have made clear that they believe said veto only encourages the Syrian government to continue with its violent regime. The resolution was supported by all 13 other members of the Security Council and was described as a “Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system.” The choice to veto the resolution, made by Russia and China, has put their politics under close scrutiny. Russia argued that to pass the resolution was to choose sides in a civil war. However, it is known that Moscow holds Syria as its greatest ally in the Middle East, housing one of its naval bases as well as being a customer in the Russian arms dealings. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said “unfortunately, yesterday in the UN, the Cold War logic continues… Russia and China did not vote based on the existing realities but more a reflexive attitude against the West.” In its defence, Syria says that it is being targeted by its neighbours and by the West, stating that its “hostile neighbours are providing diplomatic cover for an armed insurgency steered from abroad.” Syrian UN envoy, Bashar Ja’afari, denies that Syrian forces have killed any civilians, saying that “no sensible person” would launch such attacks during a period in which the Security Council was set to discuss his country. UN discussions will continue in order to pass a resolution on Syria to avoid any further turmoil within the country.