Virus threatens industry hopes for recovery

Latest forecasts from PATA for international arrivals to Thailand and the Asia Pacific region contain some very modest grounds for optimism – but the spread of the Type A (H1N1) influenza virus is posing yet another serious threat to the travel and tourism industry.

Updates produced Monday July 13th from PATA’s Strategic Intelligence Centre indicate that Southeast Asia will this year suffer a fall of around four percent in international arrivals compared to 2008. PATA has also revised forecasts for all Asia sub-regions for 2010. The initial prediction of a growth of some 12.7 percent in international arrivals for Southeast Asia has been downgraded to 6.8 percent (compared to 2008).

But there is every chance that the continuing spread of the Type A (H1N1) influenza virus will further undermine the confidence of business and leisure travellers and prompt drastic preventative measures by national governments and other public and private sector organisations that will also hinder cross-border traffic.

PATA remains in close contact with its members, industry stakeholders and authoritative bodies such as the World Health Organization and the UNWTO on this vital issue.

"It is clear that we must now apply the knowledge, expertise and lessons learned from the SARS crisis of 2003 and recent outbreaks of the Avian Influenza A/(H5N1). PATA is ready to work closely with its members and the wider travel and tourism community to ensure that the industry is ready to deal with this latest challenge," says Association President and CEO Greg Duffell.

Source: PATA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
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Dancing Whale and Dolphin

Rain Forest - Ambient Music Video

Save Rainforests - Save Lives

Barack Obama in Berlin

Dear Friends,

let us help to build a new world order including the Protection of the Amazonas Rainforest and other Rainforests on our lovely world too !

Brazilian artist's open letter on the Amazon deforestation

We just celebrated the smallest Amazon Rainforest deforestation rate of the past three years: 17 thousand square kilometers. This corresponds almost to the half size of the Netherlands. We have already been able to destroy 16% of the total rainforest area, which corresponds to twice the size of Germany and three areas corresponding to the state of Sao Paulo.

We do not have a reason to celebrate it at all. Amazon is not planet's lung, but renders services to Brazil and to the world. This green vastness extending over five million square kilometers is a thermal layer generated by nature to prevent the sunrays from reaching the ground, and thus enabling the existence of the most luxuriant forest on earth, which helps to regulate the planet's temperature.

It has been tilted in its exuberance, raped by unscrupulous lumberjacks, who set its emerald coverage on fire, giving way to foreigners that humiliate the forest by planting pasture or soybean over its centenary chestnut-tree ashes. In spite of the extraordinary effort for conservation unit implementation as an alternative for the sustainable development, the deforestation continues.

Even after Chico Mendes' blood having sealed the men/nature pact, as well as the rubber latex extractor and Indian, even after the forest people alliance "for the right to maintain our forests untouched, as we need them for survival", even after several sagas full of heroism, death and passion, the Amazon deforestation continues.

As in the past, we consider the Rainforest as being an obstacle to progress, an area that has to be subdued and conquered. An enormous land stock that might be turned into low production pastures, soybean plantations and vegetable species to be used as alternative fuel or even inexhaustible wood, fish, gold, mineral and energy sources.

We are people with no responsibility at all. The deforestation and burning are symbols of our incompetence to understand the susceptibility and instability of the Amazon ecosystem and how to deal with it.

A country that possesses 165.000 square kilometers of abandoned or semi-abandoned deforested areas might double its grain production without having to fell one single tree. Without the forest the soil will be of no avail. It is urgent that we become responsible for managing our natural resources' leftover.

Thus, from our point of view, the only reasonable proceeding to diminish the almost irreversible deforestation effects, is given under § 4 of Article 225, of our Federal Constitution:
"The Brazilian Amazon Rainforest (...) is a national inheritance, and its use will be performed within law requirements, which assure the environment preservation, even with regard to the use of its natural resources".

Having its enforcement to be implemented on municipal, state and federal levels, thus assuring THE IMMEDIATE INTERRUPTION OF THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON RAINFOREST DEFORESTATION. NOW!

Time has come to visualize our trees as monuments of our culture and history.

WE ARE FOREST PEOPLE!