The Central American Vegetation/Land Cover Classification and Conservation Status consists of GIS coverages of vegetation classes (forests, woodlands, savannas, shrubs, grasslands, wetlands, rocks, sand, soils, inland waters, parks and reserves) for Central America, derived from 1-kilometer resolution Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery. This data set is produced by Proyecto Ambiental Regional de Centroamerica/Central America Protected Areas Systems (PROARCA/CAPAS), a conservation partnership of the Central American Commission on Environment and Development (CCAD), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), International Resources Group, Ltd. (IRG), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Winrock International (WI), and is distributed by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).
The second assumption is that there is something exceptional about Africa, that while other continents and peoples have got or are getting richer, Africans, for reasons we can think but no longer speak in polite company, choose to remain in poverty. Our capacity to see Africa as divergent lets us off the hook so we don’t have to understand our own complicity in the challenges various African countries face today. It also means we rarely rage as we should against the actions of the corporations and governments that profit from instability, corruption or even inexperience (African negotiators at the climate talks have historically been disadvantaged by their lack of experience and the expectation among western negotiators that they should be grateful with whatever they get).
If there is, then, no innate propensity for corruption, violence or poverty in Africa, then the narratives that fuel the stereotypes need questioning. One possible explanation comes from the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, who said: “The west seems to suffer deep anxieties about the precariousness of its civilisation and to have a need for constant reassurance by comparison with Africa.” Perhaps it’s not Africa that needs saving, but us.
Maybe your title can be Earthquake effects
Lord Jesus. Forgive our sins on god
