RE: More U.N. on Chernobyl Aftermath

[Ruth Sponsler <jk5554@YAHOO.COM>]

This is another story about the U.N. report with

Chernobyl.  It seems to be a little more accurate than

the BBC story, and actually refers to a possible idea

for restoring self-sufficiency to that region, rather

than the welfare system.  Interestingly, it came from

Planet Ark and Reuters.



Hmmmm....ecotourism is something normally done in

lush, green, tropical regions where one can see

brilliantly-colored butterflies, frogs, big epiphytes

clinging to trees, relax on a hammock, etc.



However, the Chernobyl exclusion area has had 16 years

of non-presence of humans and I would expect there to

be large populations of deer and other local animals

there now, just due to lack of human intrusion and

lack of hunting.



It would make sense to conduct ecological succession

studies there.     

               

~Ruth "too" aka Ruth Sponsler

                

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14435/story.htm

                                           



===================================================

UPDATE - UN sees Chernobyl area as eco-tourism

hot-spot





UNITED NATIONS: February 8, 2002



UNITED NATIONS - The area around Chernobyl, site of

the world's worst nuclear accident nearly 16 years

ago, should be promoted as an eco-tourism destination,

a U.N. report suggested this week. 



 The world body's latest study of the human

consequences of the tragedy found the international

community was gradually losing interest in providing

financial aid to the area and said more attention

should be paid to its economic development.



It called on the international community to explore

with Ukraine, Belarus and Russia "the possibilities

for promoting specialized ecological tourism and for

maximizing the contribution that these areas can make

to the preservation of international biodiversity."



All visitors except scientists and a few elderly

people who have insisted upon returning to their homes

are now barred from going within 20 miles (30 km) of

the disaster site in Ukraine.



While radiation levels remain dangerously high in much

of the vast area poisoned by the deadly cloud of

radioactivity released in the April 1986 explosion at

Chernobyl, some areas are now safe and the

near-absence of human activity has enabled local plant

and animal life to flourish.



Yet "little attempt had been made to exploit the

reduction of human disturbance to the ecosystems and

cultural landscape in a positive way, and the current

national plans for biodiversity protection and

cultural preservation hardly refer to this potential,"

the report said.



The zone is anything but a nuclear desert.



  EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITY



"It sounds odd, but the restricted areas have actually

developed over the last 16 years or so into an

extraordinary environmental opportunity," said Kalman

Mizsei, an official of the U.N. Development Program

(UNDP).



"The natural environment has returned there," he told

a

news conference. "It is a huge area that is very

natural, with lots of wildlife and unique types of

animals."



U.N. officials said it was time to stop viewing

Chernobyl as a crisis zone and start helping it help

itself.



"By continuing to treat (area needs) as emergency

problems, we probably have exhausted the funding

available," said UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch

Brown.

"A self-sufficiency approach will be the next

chapter."



The report was prepared by the UNDP and the U.N.

children's agency UNICEF with help from the World

Health Organization and the U.N. Office for the

Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.



It said poverty and unemployment "blight the lives of

people still living in the contaminated areas and of

those who have been evacuated." It estimated that some

7 million people are now getting some form of

Chernobyl-related aid.



While radioactivity levels are gradually declining,

some 100,000 to 200,000 people living in the vicinity

nonetheless "are facing a complex and progressive

downward spiral of living conditions," the report

said.



That group includes those living in severely

contaminated areas, those without jobs and those made

sick by the accident, including the many who have

developed thyroid cancers.



While a long-predicted surge in leukemias has never

developed, some 2,000 thyroid cancers have been

diagnosed and other types of cancer are expected to

emerge in the years to come, the report said.



It estimated the number of thyroid cancers would keep

rising, eventually reaching 8,000 to 10,000 cases.



"While thyroid cancer can be treated, all of these

people will need continuing medical attention for the

rest of their lives," it said 



                Story by Irwin Arieff 



                REUTERS NEWS SERVICE 



-



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