My blood chills...

by Inge Skliros
(Brandon, MB Canada)

As and addendum to my previous note...I have just visited the Zambezi Seaway Project website and I was shocked beyond belief at what I read there.

It is so blatantly obvious that those in favour of this project have only commercial interests in mind and have never set foot on the sandy banks of the Zambezi. Money, money, money and only money drives these people and their interests.

To liken this project to the St. Lawrence Seaway is an admission of obvious ignorance about the Zambezi River Valley and its wildlife treasures. One comment I noted was unimaginable! "One has only to look at the Industry and Cities that have sprung up due to the St Lawrence Seaway. China has now prioritised such projects spending 22 billion dollars on one seaway project alone in the best interests of export earnings and development."

These people actually view the springing up of cities along the waterway as a POSITIVE development?!?!? Can you imagine cities around Mana Pools? And praising the Chinese for developing the Three Gorges Dam is like praising Hitler for the Holocaust!

In the March 25, 2008 issue of the Scientific American, "Chinese officials staged a sudden about-face, acknowledging for the first time that the massive hydroelectric dam, sandwiched between breathtaking cliffs on the Yangtze River in central China, may be triggering landslides, altering entire ecosystems and causing other serious environmental problems—and, by extension, endangering the millions who live in its shadow."

But they went ahead with the project anyway. The Zambezi Seaway Project further claims that "...It would be unnecessary, and counterproductive for the region to engage in lengthy and costly feasibility studies." They figure if it could be done in China, it can be done in Africa.

It's only a matter of money. There is no mention whatsoever of the environmental impact of this project on the people, the wildlife and the eco-system of the region. That does not seem to be an issue in their estimation. In fact, they believe - wrongly - that the project will draw tourists to see the 'wonders' of commercial barges going up and down the Zambezi. Have you heard of anything quite so absurd??? It is glaringly obvious that this project is primarily profit driven, and nature and wildlife be damned.

I am so angry I could spit!