Mauritania could lose its capital city at sea (OneWorld.net)

NOUAKCHOTT, June 28 (IPS)-over the past five years, water has been running off the ground under those parts of Nouakchott, undermining the foundations and turning in some areas of the Mauritanian capital marshes uninhabitable.

Tabara Gaye, a widow living near this coastal town, Socogim PS told IPS that her house collapsed near the 20 June. She is demanding urgent help from the Government before the rainy season this year to pay for and the cost of building embankments against the waters.

In 2007, limited flooding has been reported in several places during the rainy season. But in January 2011, residents were forced to flee their homes, when water began to invade the different neighborhoods, including Baghdad, Sebkha Socogim, and Las Palmas. Murmurs of discontent gained strength until the clamor for compensation from the Government and private developers that threw out the sites now submerged spurred the Government to act.

Mauritanian President Mohamed Abdelaziz personally visited the site in April and established an inter-ministerial Committee to examine the problem, but the Committee has yet to report.

Retiree Moktar Kane, a victim of the floods, says, "I spent 35 million ouguiyas (about 138,000 dollars) for the purchase of a plot subject to flooding. My neighbors and I, a total of 476 families need a leak of waste water discharge and runoff ... or want substantial compensation. "

Compensation of Kane and its neighbours is out of the question, according to developers, Iskan (the name means accommodation in Arabic). "The lots have been allocated in 1982 and the water table, then, was two meters," says Technical Director of Iskan, Med Ali. "All of Nouakchott is located below the water table. Only the Government can resolve this. "

Recent Government studies suggest that nearly 80 percent of the total surface area of Nouakchott could become submerged in less than a decade--to 20 years. One scenario involves the disappearance of the city around 2050.

The Director of environmental services, Ould Lefdal says simply, "Nouakchott lies in a depression 50 cm below sea level. The sea is advancing towards the city at a rate of 25 meters per year. "

Banimou Tlayor, from local non-governmental organization action for rational management of the environment, says that the port city has changed the shape of the coast and that any rise in sea level exposes Nouakchott to flooding.

Moreover, the pumping of water from the River Senegal, a rise of groundwater corresponding to sea level rise in the Atlantic and the absence of an adequate drainage are all playing a role.

Bamody Diakità ©, the Coordinator of Nouakchott of special programme to protect the city, says that 120,000 cubic metres of water from the River is dealt to the fresh water supply of the city, but much of this is lost to leaks in the antiquated network. Says this, alongside the lack of a system of sewers and storm drains, is aggravating the phenomenon of rising waters below the city.

Another contributing factor is derived from the use of sand for the construction, which-according to Diakità ©-opened 18 infringement in coastal dunes that protects the Interior from the high seas.

The Government spent eight million dollars for the program, the money goes towards restoring the duna coast as well as plant a greenbelt of protective vegetation.

Several studies carried out to assess the best way to plug gaps in coastal dune. "The project more feasible-dredging the seabed to reinforce the duna-will soon be put out of the race," said Coulibaly. He recognized the serious deterioration of the natural environment near the port of Nouakchott where 15 kilometres of the coastal bar was destroyed by wind erosion; a Chinese company is building a dam.

But Dr Marico Demba, head of coastal adaptation to climate change project in West Africa, funded by the United Nations fears that responds to calls for greater resources of Mauritania owns.

The situation-its severity made very late-is precarious. Residents of Nouakchott fear for the future of their capital. Everything depends on the climate change and global warming, says Lefdal.

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Steel big ticket project human barricade stops India (OneWorld.net)

BHUBANESWAR, June 24 (IPS)-fourteen Satikanta Sahu loves going to school, but these days, he prefers to spend time manning the barricade and facing down the policemen in Sandy coastal village of Govindpur India State of Orissa.

While his mother and their neighbors are embracing the sands ground to form a human barricade 24 hours on 24, Sahu works committees, bringing their drinking water and occasionally shouting slogans.

Its slogan scolding the Government of Orissa for plot to wipe out their village to give way to a steel plant of 12 billion dollars. The plant, to be built and operated the South Korea Pohang Steel Company (POSCO), will have a capacity of four million tonnes and is advertised to be the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India, the third largest economy in Asia.

The Government of Orissa said that the plant needs a total of 3.719 hectares, of which only about 150 acres are private land, the rest being forest land and Government. But the 150 hectares which are highly controversial, because they are home to 613 households which will move the plant.

These families are concentrated in Govindpur and the nearby village of Dhinkia, where they make a living growing betel leaves.

At the forefront of the protest are women and children, Sahu. "I love going to school. But I've been here for many days now, because this is our livelihood, "she says. "We want POSCO to return. We will not allow the designs of Naveen Patnaik (Chief Minister of Orissa) succeed. "

As India tries to attract foreign investment and industrialization, faces resistance from villagers and farmers are reluctant to part with the land on which they are rooted. According to a study last year by the Chamber of commerce leader ASSOCHAM, delays in land acquisition are threatening investment by 100 billion dollars, while they are stalled at least 22 large-scale projects in steel 82 billion dollars due to protests by farmers and activists.

While continuing the protest by over 2,000 people against POSCO, the Government of Orissa has distributed more than 800 police to the site.

The villagers, under the umbrella of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (Ppss, which means to resist POSCO group) have formed a barricade at three levels, at the entrance of the village and keep a vigil round-the-clock.

The Government of Orissa has called the move by acquiring a Peaceful process. The protesters and activists say, however, that the Government is forcing them fraudulently handing out a huge number of police officers in the area.

"The total 3.719 hectares needed for the project, 2.958 hectares is land of the forest for which we requested clearance from the Ministry of environment of the Federal Government," Minister of industry of Orissa, Raghunath Mohanty told IPS.

"About 608 hectares have surfaces (Government). We need to acquire only 152 acres of private grounds, where approximately 613 families are displaced, "informs Mohanty.

While the Government has decided to temporarily halt land acquisition in the face of protests, the villagers say they fight to their last breath and keep constant vigil. From Jun 8 onwards, over 400 students joined the protest, meeting with more than 2,000 women and elderly members. Now, activists are planning hold classes in the first line, so that students can keep complaining and not lose their studies.

"The Government calls a program of acquisition of the land of peace, while the truth is that meetings are in blue printing and administration is preparing to enter Govindpur forcefully," says the Chief Ppss Prashant Paikray.

Activists fear that the Government is planning a repeat of Kalinganagar, another area in the Jajpur district of Orissa. There, in January 2006, tribal people protested the construction of a steel plant from India's Tata Group and iconic were shot by police, causing the deaths of 12 people.

"Why is the Government and the State upset over the so-called largest FDI, when we have for future generations we remain happy and prosperous with our vibrant economy of pan (betel), mina (fish) and dhan (paddy) without any project so that promises only to destroy everything around us?" asks Abhay Sahoo, one of the leaders of the protest movement.

"This is an area of the country where the forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006 has seriously violated and various Government appointed commissions corroborated that, ' says Sahoo.

This year, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh of India gave the go-ahead to POSCO project under certain conditions. Yet a Panel established by the Ministry itself suggested last October that the project violated coastal regulations and laws the rights of the forest.

The four-member Panel, headed by former Secretary of the environment, Meena Gupta India probed the matter and differed in their opinions. But the majority of the three members of the panel recommended the withdrawal of the clearance of environmental data to POSCO in 2007.

Most of the Group of experts said POSCO-India Pvt. Ltd. has not been able to deal with all matters relating to notifications of coastal areas and has identified a number of serious lapses and breaches, including the Suppression of the facts.

Later, in a press release, POSCO said "never violated any law or the procedure to obtain any Government clearance required for anything."

"After five long years of MOU (Memorandum of Understanding), we were not able to start any task, thanks to our efforts to get all the necessary legal clearances before starting any operation," said POSCO.

While POSCO seems to have overcome the obstacle of environmental clearance despite the opinions of the Panel, for now, only human barricades and unyielding resolve stand in way of POSCO villagers.

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