Peace and the Environment

Sep 24, 2017 | Janet Edmond
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Today is International Peace Day and my mind is filled with thoughts of the many conflicts over natural resources around the world, many in critically important biodiversity areas. I wrote this blog in May 2017 but share it now considering the important concerns of today.   I kept wondering: What does one wear to a kidnapping? Should I wear my contact lenses or glasses? Do I wear flip flops or shoes that would allow me to make a quick dash? Pants or a dress? These and many more questions swirled around my head when the early morning phone call came in about the terrorism alert that the US. Embassy in Manila had posted on May 9, 2017. Phillip, the CI Security Director, said that intelligence sources had credible information about planned abductions of US and UK citizens in the resort areas of Palawan, Philippines, around the popular tourist attraction, the underground river. Per our colleagues, May is the month of relatively calm waters in this area, so the rebels from the remote islands south of Palawan are known to take to their state-of-the-art speedboats and raid resort areas in search of foreigners to capture for ransom.