Gujarat Lions

As of 2015, the Gujarat government's lion census had counted only 523 Asiatic lions left in the vast area between India and the Middle East. The lions roam around a 22,000 sq. km region, but within that region their is only one protected area called the Gir sanctuary. The Gir sanctuary's ecosystem is only capable of supporting 300 lions. The remaining 200, or so live outside the sanctuary and are vulnerable to conflict with humans. Although the lions and human are vulnerable to conflict with one another, the author of the article writes that between April and May 2016 three people died and 184 lions have died since 2016 and only 30 of which were due to unnatural causes. The government has been trying to balance the need to protect the lions with the needs of protecting local farms and villages as well. The government plans to create a new sanctuary in a 109 sq. km area in the districts Amreli and Bhavnagar districts, where lions have also been known to roam around.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-45636746
 Lion outside of the Forrest areas, according to the BBC article.

The picture below is where Gujarat is located and the Gir Santuary.

Sikhs in America

W. Kamau Bell is the host of a show on CNN called "United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell" and this article is sort of an overview of what he learned about Sikhism while filming episode 2 of season 3. He travels around the U.S. interviewing members of the Sikh community, in this particular article quotes from Raghunandan Johar, president of the Guru Nanak Mission of Atlanta, and Navdeep Singh, a policy advisor to the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, are included. They both describe the Sikh faith as inclusive, generous, and loving.

According to the article there are 700,000 Sikhs living in the United States, but there are 25 million worldwide, most live in India. Sikhism is the fifth most popular religion in the world and is more than 500 years old. Singh said that the first gurdwara, temple, was built 100 years ago in California. "Gurdwaras around the world variously incorporate clinics, schools, guest quarters and community centers, which Sikhs say is a sigh of the religion's values of service and equality" writes Steve Almasy, the writer of the article. The episode and this article really allow for viewers and readers to learn about the Sikh religion because it is often misunderstood.

Also, in class today I was mistaken about the episode taking place in Lodi, it takes place in Yuba city.

Link:
https://www.cnn.com/2012/08/05/us/religion-what-is-a-sikh/index.html   

The Khonoma Tribe's Conservation of Environment and Tradition

In Nagaland, a north-eastern Indian State, the Khonoma Tribe has been able to retain there way of life  for centuries in this secluded, rural area. Hunting is a key component to their culture as evident by their tradition of hanging animal heads inside their homes, though the village chose to give up that key component of hunting nearly 20 years ago. As the article states, tribespeople gave up hunting in 1993 and started a campaign after discovering that grey-bellied Tragopans became an endangered species.  These birds were primarily killed for consumption. The campaigns efforts to save Tragopans were successful in that they resulted in the village council sectioning off 20 sq km as a no hunting zone, and later in 1998 this area was named the Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary, which was later followed by the councils decision to ban any type of environmental exploitation. The Khonoma still believe in the skill and courage that hunting represents, but now they are more ecologically sensitive and take great pride in the ecological diversity that surrounds them. They respect the environment even in their agricultural practices by not using any chemicals and by using irrigation and terraced farming, so they can still live off the land, but not completely drain it. Lastly, the article ends with a quote by the chairman of the sanctuary about his people that "our life, tradition, and culture are very much dependent on nature and its habitats and we are determined to protect them."

Picture: Sayan Hazra

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-45328322

UN Security Counil Briefed on the Situation in Myanmar

This article that was published on August 28 summarizes what was discussed during a United Nations Security Council briefing by the UN chief, Mr. Guterres who was joined by actress Cate Blanchett.  This briefing follows, as stated in the article "an independent UN investigation into alleged human rights abuses carried out against the mainly Muslim Rohingya and which called for the country's military leaders to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide and war crimes." (news.un.org).  Guterres had visited refugee camps in Bangladesh in July where he spoke to refugees to understand, from the perspective of the people being persecuted, what the current humanitarian crisis is since the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in June by the UN and Myanmar authorities.
According to Mr. Guterres, no efforts by Myanmar authorities and leaders have been made "in reconstruction, reconciliation and respect for human rights necessary for all communities to live improved and resilient lives in Rakhine state." (news.un.org) In fact, Myanmar officials have been impeding Organizations abilities to help the situation and they have physically impeded journalists from being able to report on the plight of the Rohingya and hold Myanmar leaders accountable by arresting them. As a side note, just a few days ago two reuters journalists were sentenced to seven years in prison.  I hope the international community continues to pay attention to Myanmar and hold its leaders accountable because there is so much human suffering in the world that if one crisis can be rectified then the world stands to benefit.
Photo by UNHCR/ Andrew Mconnell


Link:
The UN article
https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/08/1017952

About the two journalists
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-journalists/myanmar-court-jails-reuters-reporters-for-seven-years-in-landmark-secrets-case-idUSKCN1LJ09E