Obama signs bill creating new nat'l park in Calif.

 Thursday, January 10, 2013

SOLEDAD, Calif. (AP) - California's Pinnacles National Monument, a 40 square-mile site that includes caves and towering volcanic rock formations popular with climbers, became the country's 59th national park on Thursday.

President Barack Obama signed the bill creating the park in Washington.
The Central California area holds cultural significance for several Native American tribes and is also home to the endangered California condor.
A condor re-establishment program has been in place at Pinnacles since 2003. Every fall, captive-bred condors are released into the wild.

In 2010, for the first time in more than a century, a condor chick successfully hatched there. The park now manages a population of 32 free-flying condors. Other wildlife includes bobcats, cougars, coyotes and wild turkey.

The site was declared a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908.

The bill to make it a national park was introduced by California Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein in the Senate and by Democratic Rep. Sam Farr and Republican Rep. Jeff Denham in the House.

The park designation will help increase the number of visitors and boost area tourism, Boxer said.

The legislation also renames the current Pinnacles Wilderness as the Hain Wilderness after Schuyler Hain, an early conservationist whose efforts led to the establishment of the monument.

Mobilizing Diaspora To Invest In Africa

PRESS RELEASE

AFRICANS IN DIASPORA

Two weeks ago, Africans in the Diaspora (AID) launched its “New Year, New AiD” campaign to mobilize $30,000 from the Diaspora and friends of Africa for African social change organizations. Today, the organization announces that it has received a pledge for a $10,000 matching grant, contingent upon its ability to identify 100 new supporters.

Africans in the Diaspora (AiD) is harnessing the power of the Diaspora to support Senegal’s Synapse Center, which connects youth to jobs; Nigeria’s Physicians for Social Justice, which brings healthcare to rural communities through a mobile health clinic program; and Kenya’s WEM Integrated Health Services, which establishes women-owned financial institutions.

AiD has attracted investments from Diaspora Africans within the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Each individual has a different motive for investing in the campaign. Olabukunola Williams, who invested in all three organizations, says:

“I just got back from a trip to Chad and I got to see again the obstacles local organizations face and the dynamism and doggedness they show in the face of these obstacles. They are the true heroes because they see a need and they do everything and more in their power to meet that need. It is honestly an honor to invest in organizations that reflect the best that our continent has to offer and remind us of our best selves. “

Friends of Africa have also played a role in the campaign. Anjali Alimchandani describes her reason for investing as:

"After years of being disillusioned by the neo-colonial nature of international 'development,'
I'm finally seeing a model I believe in--a model that is actually sustainable, empowering, visionary--a development model with integrity. AiD is giving us the opportunity to re-define "development," to reclaim the process and the power."

The “New Year, New AiD” campaign is the first fundraising campaign for AiD, which launched its platform in October 2012. AiD aims to cultivate the practice of strategic social investment and philanthropy among the African Diaspora. Through its Funds platform, the organization ensures the flow of resources to African social change organizations from all citizens invested in an empowerment model of social change.

With the matching grant, the campaign has mobilized over $15,000 of its $30,000 goal. The organization aims to raise the remaining amount over the next 26 days. You can follow the progress at:

africansinthediaspora.org, @aiddinnovations, and facebook.com/AfricansintheDiaspora

Africans in the Diaspora (AiD): A nonprofit organization, Africans in the Diaspora envisions a self-reliant, socially and economically just Africa. Through its, Funds, Connections, and Voices programs, the organization harnesses the skills, resources, and ideas of Africans to advance social and economic change on the continent. The funds program mobilizes financial resources to support African organizations directly. On the Voices blog, AiD showcases the significant contributions of Africans in development and philanthropy. Connections, which will launch next year, will match volunteers and organizations according to expertise and need, respectively.

Nigeria Seeks $1.5 Billion From China For Rice, Cassava

Akinwumi Adesina. Image: Wikipedia


BY ELISHA BALA-GBOGBO

ABUJA (BLLOMBERG)--Nigeria is holding talks with the Export-Import Bank of China for a $1.5 billion loan to boost processing of rice and cassava in Africa’s most populous country, Agriculture Minister Akinwunmi Adesina said.

The loan is being sought on “concessionary terms at a 2 percent interest rate with a repayment period of 20 years,” Adesina said in an interview yesterday in Abuja, the capital. “We want to reduce our import dependency.”

Part of the loan will fund the procurement of 100 large- scale rice mills, with a combined capacity to process 2.1 million metric tons of rice a year, from Chinese companies, Adesina said. The rest will be devoted to expanding capacity for processing cassava into flour to substitute wheat flour and reduce imports, he said.

Nigeria, which has more than 160 million people, spends $10 billion annually importing rice, wheat, sugar and fish, according to the Agriculture Ministry. While the country grew enough food to feed itself in the 1960s, it is now the world’s largest importer of rice and sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest importer of wheat and sugar.

The government will provide “single-digit interest rates for all agriculture loans” from next year, Adesina said. At least 10 million mobile phones will be distributed to farmers in 2013 to provide weather and market information as well as extension services on the use of inputs including seeds and fertilizer, he said. Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose to 11.7 percent in October.

Investment Commitments

Africa’s top oil producer is also expecting an additional $500 million in funding from the World Bank, at least $250 million from the African Development Bank and an $80 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development to fund agriculture next year, according to the minister.

The government’s strategy is to help small-scale farmers, who produce most of the country’s food, with access to credit and improved farming methods while encouraging private investments in large-scale farming. At least $8 billion worth of investment commitments in agriculture were secured by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration this year, Adesina said.

Food production rose by about 8.1 million tons, or 41 percent of its 20 million-ton four-year target, this year, creating a buffer food stock against floods, he said.

In September, Nigeria experienced its worst flooding in decades leaving farms, food stores, highways and oilfields inundated. At least 363 people died and 2.2 million were displaced, according to figures from the National Emergency Management Agency.

The government started a dry-season rice farming program last month, helping farmers cultivate 330,000 hectares (815,000 acres) of land with an estimated output of 1.8 million tons expected, Adesina said.