Latest comments posted about The great green land grab on ChinaDialogue en-gb http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/1774-The-great-green-land-grab http://staging.chinadialogue.net/images/cdlogo.gif http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/1774-The-great-green-land-grab Turning private ownership into a tool for conservation can help at the margins of the problem, but let's not forget the global scale of ecological unsustainability and the speed of response required - yesterday would be good! So think bigger. Switch the modern presumption that ownership includes a right to exploitive commodification into a new ethos of guardianship by an international treaty that reinterprets all ownership of the Earth's surface as a duty of care to future generations. This would reintroduce the indigenous view that we belong to the land rather than the other way around. That is the culture compatible with long-term survival of civilisations. It only seems utopian because we take for granted the practices that are driving us to the brink. James Greyson Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:22:46 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/1774#comment-8948 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/1774#comment-8948 There is nothing wrong with wealthy people's donations for environmental protection, if an agreement could be reached between those wealthy people, via conservation organizations, and local governments. A monitoring system should be established to reject ecological colonialism, ensure developing countries' rights and benefits, as well as eliminate the worries in these countries. Meanwhile, conservation organizations as "agencies" should bear a double responsibility: carrying out the evaluation of ecological significance and cultural significance, and making the decision-making process public. Moreover, they should make a commitment to coorperation with government for the settlement of indigenous people. Since this new phenomenon is going to become more popular, more regulations should be rolled out to take control. Making everything public would make things much easier when carrying out regulations. Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:20:09 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/1774#comment-7129 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/1774#comment-7129