China's Need to Feed

     China is the world's largest largest consumer of wheat and rice - they have 1/5 of the world's population to provide for with only 8% of the world's farmland. This percentage is only becoming smaller because farmlands are giving way to rapid pace industrialization and urbanization. Inevitably, China has had to rely more on imported grains to feed its livestock and people. China's soaring economic growth with limited agricultural resources means the also growing challenge of meeting consumption. By 2022, China's grains imports will have doubled from 4% of the world's global total (297 million tons), as will have their beef imports. This benefits exporters like the U.S., Argentina, Brazil and Ukraine (for corn and wheat), Thailand, Pakistan, and Indonesia (for rice). Just this November, Brazilian Agriculture Minister Antonio Andrade announced that there was a 10 million ton surplus in corn that will hopefully be exported to China. With China's expanding economy and population, it will come to depend more heavily on foreign markets for imported food supplies.

     China is not the only nation who has to worry about food security, as do other nations with developing economies in South America and Asia. The world population will only continue to grow leading to more land development and less space to grow food and raise livestock. Although China wants to protect its farmers and has had high import tariffs on grains in the past, its quotas for low tariff imports are rising. I would think that this will only continue in the future as China's demands for food are increasing and their meat consumption rates are rising. The effects industrialization is having on what were traditional farmlands is bleak, and perhaps China should look at food production efficiency and greener methods of farming.

Works Cited:


Bloomberg News (2013, November 8). Brazil Seeks China Corn Imports of 10 Million Tons Amid Glut - Bloomberg. Retrieved November 24, 2013, from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-08/brazil-seeks-china-corn-imports-of-10-million-tons-amid-glut-1-.html

China’s Grain Imports Seen Surging as Global Crop Prices Decline - Bloomberg. (2013, July 4).
Retrieved November 24, 2013, from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-05/china-s-grain-imports-seen-surging-as-global-crop-prices-decline.html

 Reuters (2013, September 27). UPDATE 1-China keeps 2014 import quotas for grains, cotton at this year's levels| Reuters. Retrieved November 24, 2013, from http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/27/china-grain-imports-idUSL4N0HN2HW20130927

Syrian Army Takes Control of Qara

This past Friday the Syrian army launched an offensive against rebel forces in the city of Qara.  They carried out a series of air strikes and helicopter attacks in order to gain control of the city, which had been in the hands of rebel forces for almost a year now.  Qara lies 60 miles north of Damascus, and by taking control of the city the Syrian army has taken control of the road linking the coast to the capital.  This new development has caused an increase in the amount of violence in the city and nearby areas.  The local media has released very little information regarding the aftermath of the attack, but they have led on that "a large number of terrorists" have been killed.

This new development in the conflict between Syrian government forces and various rebel factions has created an increase in violence within the country, particularly the Damascus region.  The city itself has seen an increase in violence, as well as the nearby suburb regions, which are known to house many rebel forces and rebel supporters.  This strike is a clear indicator of the fact that the violence between the two forces will not be coming to an end any time soon.  Many Syrian citizens are fleeing the region in order to escape the increase in violence.  It is believed that nearly 10,000 people fled to Lebanon after this strike, joining the estimated 800,000 refugees forced from Syria due to the conflict.



Syrian army Captures Key Town of Qara From Rebels.  BBCNews.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25006486

High Hopes, Big Disappointments? Only Time Will Tell.

           Earlier this week TEPCO began its riskiest clean up effort at Fukushima to date. On Monday, the process of “delicately removing about 1,500 sets of radioactive fuel rods from a storage pool inside a damaged nuclear reactor building” began in Reactor Four (“Japan Starts Riskiest Work,” 2013).  After successfully removing the fuel rods, technicians will work in “finding and extracting the melted fuel within the broken reactors, [and] demolishing the buildings and decontaminating the soil” (West, 2013).  TEPCO estimates that this painstaking clean up process should take 30 to 40 years (“Japan Starts Riskiest Work,” 2013). That is assuming that there are no other mishaps and accidents, which have been plaguing cleanup efforts since 2011.

         

         TEPCO’s cleanup efforts are “costly, risky and dependent on technologies that have yet to fully develop” (West, 2013).  And as the Associated Press points out, “Nobody knows exactly how much fuel melted…or where exactly the fuel went – how deep and in what form it is” (West, 2013). It seems that many unknowns and challenges lie ahead for Japan in this cleanup effort. The project is a huge undertaking and one that the world will be watching very closely.

Japan Starts Riskiest Work at Fukushima Nuclear Plant (2013, November 18). Voice of America. Retrieved from http://www.voanews.com/content/japan-begins-removal-of-fuel-rods-from-fukushima-nuclear-power-plant/1792153.html

West, Broc (2013, November 20). Uncertainties Abound in Fukushima Decommissioning. Fukushima Update. Retrieved from http://fukushimaupdate.com/uncertainties-abound-in-fukushima-decommissioning/

Japan's Nuclear Disaster Heats Up

There was another disturbing announcement coming out of Japan this week, adding even more bad news to the already serious environmental disaster that began in March of 2011, when a 9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami destroyed the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.  Japan is no longer in a position to keep the promises made in 2010 by the previous government to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, which escalates global warming.  The harmful effects to our environment caused by an increase in greenhouse gas emissions are producing an alarming crisis of climate change.  Many environmental scientists agree that this “makes extreme weather events, possibly including the devastating typhoon that hit the Philippines last week, more severe and more frequent” (Tabuchi, 2013). 

This announcement coincides with international talks taking place in Warsaw this week being led by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in an attempt to reach a global agreement on reducing the ever-increasing threat of a changing climate.  Japan is one of the top five polluters in the world, and their goal had been to lower emissions a full 25 percent from what it was in 1990, and now they estimate the rate will probably increase to about three percent by 2020.  However, in just one year without nuclear power, from March 2012 through March 2013, Japan’s rate of carbon dioxide emissions has been measured at fourteen percent higher than it was in 1990.  All of Japan’s fifty nuclear reactors have been shutdown since the earthquake and tsunami damaged four out of the six reactors at Fukushima, resulting in a massive nuclear meltdown and explosions that released radioactive material into the atmosphere. 

Unfortunately, because Japan had been relying on nuclear power to provide thirty percent of its total power needs, and because they had not developed other renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power, they have no other options besides making this grim announcement, and to go on polluting our environment.  In order to make up for the energy deficit created by taking all of its nuclear power plants offline, Japan has been forced to rely on other sources of energy.  They have been importing more fossil fuels and restarting old power stations that run on either coal or gas.  Now, Japan is releasing more carbon dioxide into the environment, increasing the possibility of even more catastrophic events like Typhoon Haiyan that killed thousands of people in the Philippines and left possibly millions without shelter, food, or safe water. 

TEPCO cut corners when it built the Fukushima nuclear power plant, and is another example of an irresponsible and greedy corporation that was left unregulated and unwatched, allowing it to do whatever was most profitable at the time.  Despite the fact that it sits right on the coast of Japan, in a part of the world prone to earthquakes, safety measures were severely deficient, including a seawall designed to hold back waves up to only about nineteen feet that had no chance of keeping the tsunami, which rose to an estimated 46 feet, from crashing down over the entire site.  Now, we are all paying the price for what TEPCO failed to do when it built the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

References

Tabuchi, H. and Jolly, D. (2013, November 15). Japan backs off from emissions targets, citing Fukushima disaster. The New York Times. Retrieved November 15, 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/world/asia/japan-backs-off-from-emissions-targets.html

Fackler, M. (2011, June 1). Report finds Japan underestimated tsunami danger. The New York Times. Retrieved September 2, 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/world/asia/02japan.html

Mexico City Considers Legalizing Marijuana

The violence and chaos in Mexico will not be solved easily or quickly but this week Mexico City considers legalizing marijuana, partially. It’s unclear what this change in policy would do to curb the drug war violence and to improve the economy but many speculate it could help significantly, if wide reforms were made in drug policy. Currently, carrying a small amount of marijuana is legal in Mexico City but this new law would make it legal to carry just over an ounce of weed. Aspects of drug reform in other countries include the legalizing of growing and selling marijuana but those aspects have not been proposed in Mexico city yet.

This policy change is being proposed in order to curb some of the violence in Mexico but Mexican Drug War violence is so widespread and ingrained in Mexico it is hard to imagine this law having much of an effect. Perhaps if there is a total drug reform in Mexico, making all aspects of the drug trade legal and transparent it would go further in preventing drug cartel violence. This would be a long and uphill struggle but may be the only solution to the growing number of drug war deaths and violence. Though cartel’s primary source of income is drug trafficking things like human trafficking, prostitution and smuggling arms are also huge aspects of their business, which may also be curbed with progressive drug laws. Legalizing drugs in Mexico, perhaps more than marijuana, though other drugs are not being discussed right now, would most likely make it harder for drug cartels to do their business, as most citizens would prefer legal avenues to buy weed over illegal. It would also lower the cost of drugs, therefore giving less incentives for people to work in the illegal drug business. In order for this law to be successful against the drug war, it will need to slowly integrate the current illegal drug avenues into legal business, allowing for transparency and cooperation. There is no way to know for sure if marijuana legalization would go far in helping curb drug war violence but at this point, in the chaos the drug war has caused, people are working towards anything that will help.

1. A push in Mexico City to legalize marijuana use. Fernando Gómez Mont and Jorge G. Castañeda. Washington Post online. Retrieved 13 November, 2013 from http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-07-26/opinions/40864659_1_marijuana-use-mexico-city-colorado-and-washington-state

China in the South China Sea

                With the plans set for their first deep-water natural-gas project in place, China is one step closer to not only reducing their reliance on foreign energy, but also lessening their usage of heavily-polluting coal. Having an oil reserve this close to home, especially in close proximity to the powerhouse shipping infrastructure of Southern China, comes to a relief to the PRC, seeing how tensions continue to rise throughout the South China Sea. Being that the drill points are in undisputed territory, China does not have to worry about starting yet another dispute over maritime sovereignty rights.

The addition of an offshore drill site, coupled with the new gas and oil pipelines running through Burma, will help China to lessen the amount of large tankers it has to send through the highly dangerous and congested Strait of Malacca. This was not only economically smart, but also militaristically sound; giving China a strategic advantage in national defense. Over 80% of China’s gas imports must pass through the strait, which if blockaded could starve China of its ability to defend itself. While the majority of its fuel currently must still pass through the strait, relieving even the tiniest of pressures can have a huge impact, especially when it comes to powering the World’s factory.

 

References:

China media: Burma gas pipeline. (2013, October 21). BBC News. Retrieved November 15, 2013, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24605706

Hall, S. (2013, November 14). China Prepares to Open Its First Deep-Water Gas Project. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 14, 2013, from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB100

Syrian War Showing No End

On Thursday, Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, announced that his army would remain in Syria “as long as necessary” (Cowell, 2013). Hezbollah has been providing military aid and support for the Syrian government throughout the civil war. Nasrallah’s reasoning for this alliance is speculated to be due to the Sunni led rebel forces and their alliance with Al Qaeda. This war has said to have “deepened the polarization between Sunnis and Shiites in many parts of the Middle East” (Cowell, 2013). Many of the alliances have been formed based off Sunni- Shiite conflict, as was evident with support from Shiite led Iran for Al Assad’s regime.

            Based on this information, it is evident that the conflict does not have a foreseeable end to the Syrian Civil War. The conflict seems to be drawing in more outside players, which may prolong the war. This war has already taken “110,000 lives and forced millions of Syrians to flee their homes” (Cowell, 2013). Now that the issue of chemical weapons has been resolved, international intervention by the U.N. doesn't seem likely. There has been word of possible peace talks in Geneva, however with the current events this may not be plausible. This war threatens to drag neighboring countries into the conflict, causing the issue to worsen.

Cowell, Alan. , & Barnard, Anne. A. , (2013, Nov. 14). Hezbollah chief says his forces will stay in syria. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/world/middleeast/syria.html?_r=0