Disappearing Forests of the World..

FAO Forestry statistics




FAO Forestry work with statistics in the following areas:



• Global compilations of comparable statistics 
  
  • annual report on production, trade and consumption of forest products and  import / export of forest products (ForesStat-FAOSTAT) and;
  • every fifth year report on forest resource statistics (Forest Resources Assessment);
    
  • Country support for collection of forest resource statistics aimed at improving the country capacity for planning and policy development (National Forest Monitoring and Assessments).

Superstruct field report from DCAR - the Democratic Central African Republic, a self-governing conurbation of refugee camps and transient resettlement areas running on a mix of high and low technology.

We are having some problems down here. “Technological solutions for social problems” is harder than it looks some times.

Minimally Invasive Education Experiment

The “Minimally Invasive Education” experiment has resulted
in a new technology and a new way for children to learn. In 1999, in an experiment
conducted by Dr. Mitra a computer connected to the Internet was embedded into
a slum wall and left for unsupervised use by children. The experiment suggested
that children, irrespective of their social, ethnic or educational identity,
can learn to use computers by themselves, thereby closing the much discussed
“digital divide”.

“Using the Minimally Invasive Education Method, six to thirteen
year olds can teach themselves to use computers regardless of their social,
economic, ethnic and even linguistic status”, said Dr Mitra. “We
always underestimate their abilities,” he added.

Dr Sugata Mitra with a group of children at the NIIT Minimally Invasive Education Technology kiosk set up for Delhi Government at Madangir, New Delhi.

This unique discovery was verified in intensive testing by Mitra and his team,
throughout India. In villages located in remote areas from Kashmir to Kanyakumari,
researchers reported hundreds of children teaching each other to use computers
through NIIT’s “Minimally Invasive Education Kiosks.”



The computers are provided in safe, public, outdoor spaces through innovative
technologies developed by the CRCS. All activities at these kiosks are monitored
remotely through the Internet from Delhi.

NIIT is now making this technique available to the world through “Hole
In the Wall Education Limited” (HIWEL).

NIIT’s “Minimally Invasive Education” kiosk technology is
available to village students in Cambodia thanks to the efforts of the Indian
Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). The Indian Council for Cultural Relations
(ICCR) has been entrusted with this task to source the technology from HIWEL
to build “Minimally Invasive Education” Kiosks in villages in Cambodia
in 2004, as a gift for the children of Cambodia from the Government of India.

People from South Asia, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, and from Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and the Philippines, are entering the Gulf states for the oil economies, he said.

Immigrants from Latin America are entering Canada and the United States, while immigrants from the Middle East and Africa are entering Europe, Cohen added.

The formula also was based on data from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.