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Hurricane Season
The annual hurricane season brings
with it the fury of nature: a combination of powerful
winds, giant ocean waves and torrential rains that
almost every year leave their mark somewhere in the
Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico or even farther north
along the coast of the United States.
The force unleashed by this meteorological
phenomenon causes reactions that range from alarm
to outright fear. Although hurricanes are inevitable,
society tries to reduce the damage they cause, implementing
preventive measures. One of the most important tools
is information, and the Internet
plays a key role in its dissemination.
In cyberspace there are numerous
websites that track the evolution of hurricanes and
tropical storms in the area of the Atlantic Ocean
where, says webpage Stormcarib,
the season extends from June 1 to November 30.
Information about the nature
and characteristics of hurricanes also abounds,
and the web surfer can also find multimedia applications
that show the behavior
of a hurricane once it has formed.
One of the most complete websites
is the National
Hurricane Center of the U.S. National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which complements
its information with satellite images, recommendations
for action in emergency situations, and an archive
with extensive information about these meteorological
phenomena.
The English word "hurricane"
originates in the name that the Taino Indians, a native
Carib population, gave these powerful storms: hurakán.
According to the definition given
by the website Infoplease,
hurricanes are cyclones in which wind speed surpasses
119 km (74 miles) per hour. Although the term is used
only for such storms in the North Atlantic, the phenomenon
also appears in other parts of the world, and in the
Pacific is known as a typhoon or a tropical cyclone.
The energy produced by the movement
of a hurricane in one day is the equivalent of all
the energy that would be consumed in the United States
in six months, says another hurricane-dedicated Internet
site.
U.S.
NOAA: National Hurricane Center
Puerto
Rico: huracan.net
Stormcarib:
Caribbean Hurricane Network
What
is a hurricane?
Hurricanes:
On-line guide
Encyclopedia
Infoplease: hurricanes
Yahoo!
Special coverage: Hurricane Season
Montreal Protocol on
Ozone
On environmental issues, the
nations of the world seem to have a hard time reaching
consensus, except in the case of the Montreal Protocol,
which has become the symbol of the fact that treaties
can be effective in solving problem created by humanity,
in this instance, the deterioration of the Earth's
atmospheric ozone layer.
The Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone
Layer was signed in 1987 and currently some 180
nations have pledged to comply with reduction
targets in the production and use of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbon
gases), halons and methyl bromide, whose presence
in the atmosphere is considered the main cause of
the thinning of the ozone layer.
Coinciding with the World Day
for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, Sep 16, the
preliminary conclusion of a scientific
study (PDF file) about the problem were released.
The experts
say the signatory nations are complying with the Montreal
Protocol and that the ozone layer could begin to recover
by the end of the decade, but warn that continued
compliance with the international treaty is essential.
The problem of the thinning ozone
layer became a public issue in the early 1980s, and
in 1983 world leaders signed the Vienna
Convention, the first legal instrument to promote
actions for preserving the ozone layer. But at that
time, it was not seen as an urgent issue. Just 20
countries participated.
With time, the problem of the
ozone hole that appears regularly over Antarctica
became more widely known. Scientists warned that the
thinning of the ozone layer would allow excessive
ultraviolet rays to reach the Earth's surface, a threat
to all life forms on the planet.
The Montreal Protocol entered
into force in 1989 when 29 countries plus the European
Union, producers at the time of 89 percent of the
ozone-depleting substances, had ratified the treaty.
Today, one of the key aspects
of the Protocol is the participation of developing
countries in meeting the reduction targets. Developing
nations have until 2010 to halt all use of materials
that are damaging to the ozone layer.
In addition to the Ozone
Secretariat of the United Nations Environment
Program (UNEP), the Protocol has given rise to other
entities, such as the Multilateral
Fund, which helps poor countries implement the
technological conversions necessary to replace the
use of ozone-depleting gases.
The United Nations Development
Program (UNDP)
and the World
Bank also have projects oriented in this direction,
towards compliance with the targets established in
the Montreal Protocol.
The
Montreal Protocol, 1987
Vienna
Convention, 1985
UNEP:
Ozone Secretariat
Nations
party to the conventions on protecting the ozone layer
Multilateral
Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol
UNDP's
role in Montreal Protocol
WMO:
Ozone Bulletins
World
Bank and the Montreal Protocol
OzoneAction:
info on the state of the ozone layer, 2002
EPA
scientific study on the ozone layer
Disarmament
Disarmament campaigns are almost
always identified with the objective of peace. But
there is another argument for working to reduce weapons
worldwide: the nearly 900 billion dollars spent every
year on weapons and arms research mean fewer resources
are available for sustainable development, and thus
threaten the environment.
The United
Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs issued
a warning shortly before the World Summit on Sustainable
Development, alerting the international community
that the rise in military spending shifts important
financial, material and human resources towards non-productive
sectors.
Furthermore, the trend of spending
more on weapons -- reaching levels not seen since
the Cold War -- also implies a latent threat to the
environment and to the social and economic development
of nations, says the UN
disarmament entity on its Internet site.
Global efforts for disarmament
target weapons of mass destruction, like nuclear bombs,
and conventional weapons alike. Concern about this
topic is evident on the Internet,
where numerous web sites provide information about
different groups' strategies and mechanisms aimed
at halting the arms race.
There are international agreements
on disarmament and weapons non-proliferation, such
as the Tlatelolco
Treaty signed by Latin American countries that
the region will not accept nuclear weapons. Nevertheless,
regional conflicts proliferate around the world, and
some are even global in scope, and could potentially
involve nuclear arsenals, even more harmful than their
manufacture or trade.
Disarmament issues also cover
small and light weapons, of which there are an estimated
500 million existing around the world, according to
the Brazilian web site Desarme.org. Each year, such
weapons are used in killing a half-million people,
200,000 of whom are victims of homicide, other crimes,
suicide and accidents.
United
Nations & Disarmament
UN:
Disarmament mission
UN
Institute for Disarmament Research
UNIDIR
disarmament links
NGO
Committee on Disarmament
Agency
for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America
and the Caribbean (OPANAL)
The
Acronym Institute
Nuclear
Disarmament Partnership
Yahoo!:
web sites about disarmament
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