Happy 90th Birthday Nelson Mandela, Madiba

Lawyer, 1993 Nobel Peace Prize winner, African National Congress warrior, President of South Africa, prisoner, Madiba all are factual monikers of a fierce freedom fighter celebrating his 9oth year upon Earth. Twenty seven of his years were spent imprisoned in the harsh conditions of Robben Island, aka Mandela University, until his release in 1990. Nelson Mandela comes from a storied African royal line and waged a revolution on behalf of all. From fighting the oppressive racist colonial system of apartheid to convicted prisoner 46664 at the former leper colony to Truth And Reconciliation as president of South Africa is the arc of a tremendous story on behalf of humankind. Friend of Kings, Queens, Oprah & Noami, The Elders, soccer fans, Oliver Tambo & Walter Sisulu, Bill & Hillary Clinton, former archbishop Desmond Tutu, Winne Madikizela-Mandela his second wife and mother of his children plus a host of other people well known and those not.

FREE NELSON
MANDELA!!! was a battle cry in both the United States and in South Africa. Collegiate protests helped force mega multinational companies home based in the USA divest in South Africa. Before he died of AIDS, humanitarian and tennis star Arthur Ashe protested outside the South African embassy and was arrested at an anti apartheid rally in 1985 making a poignant plea on behalf of ridding South Africa of the evils of apartheid. As Africa suffers with stigmas orphans and a prodigious lack of resources to fight AIDS, Nelson Mandela's humanitarian foundation has taken up the cause even as he lost his own son to the disease early in 2005.

Born on July 18, 1918 the man of experiences has a Birthday Message to everyone. He along with his wife, Graça Machel, are celebrating in his home filled with exuberant grandchildren today in Qunu, South Africa. Nelson Mandela's presents include busts, books with amazing illustrations - the one I love and treasure is Mandela - and wall portraits from famous artists of him. All were tributes to him. No matter the year, Nelson Mandela sports the coolest patterned shirts on the planet! An artist for his statue in Parliament Square, famous for protests by the People, in London near Westminster Abbey and Big Ben has him wearing one of his iconic shirts. Ninety years young and still the height of hip.

"There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer poverty," Mandela said.

"I am sure for many people that is their wish," he said. "I also havethat wish that I spent more time (with my family). But I don't regret it."

"This is my property. When I am here, I feel I own something," he said.

In Johannesburg, children celebrated with birthday cake at the offices of the foundation Mandela founded after stepping down as president in 1999, and his African National Congress unfurled giant banners featuring his image at its downtown headquarters.

In 1994 as he was sworn in as South Africa's president Nelson Mandela was 77 years young. It is also his tenth wedding anniversary to Graça making it a joyous occasion on several accounts. She is married to a world icon who is beloved. Nelson Mandela has forgiven those who trespassed against him in a graceful and public way. Nelson Mandela's enormous legacy will burnish always, just for that heroic act alone.

Nelson Mandela's autobigraphical work of immense worth, tremendous insights and of literary note is the acclaimed
Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela by the wonder of the world himself. Nelson and my father make me proud! Madiba magic!

World Heritage Sites Face Fire & Danger

Spread throughout 185 countries are 851 sites (660 cultural, 166 natural, and 25 mixed properties) holding significance to the world community with an United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO designation as a World Heritage Site. Headquartered in the cultural enrichment treasure trove of Paris, France on Place de Fontenoy under the stewardship of Japan's Kōichirō Matsurra since 1999, UNESCO is responsible for oversight of 58 field offices, plus a glittering array of strategic partnerships with institutes and cultural centers sprinkled around the globe. (Cueva de las Manos in Argentina, Persepolis in Iran, Pyramid Kheops in Egypt, Shinto Itsukushima Shrine Japan sites)

Acquiring UNESCO's seal is an arduous process that takes years of dedication and diplomacy plus a tremendous case put before multiple rounds of votes from 193 member states and 6 associate members. After accusing UNESCO of being a proxy for the developing world against first world prosperous nations, the US rejoined in 2003. Singapore and the United Kingdom returned as well.

In Russia's bone snapping cold Siberia, the world's largest 25 million year old lake with more freshwater than all of North America's Great Lakes combined is being affected by rising water temperatures. Disturbing results comprising a study based on 60 years of analysis from three generations of Russian scientist and present day American translators and scientists featured in the journal Global Change Biology. Those are serious natural impediments to maintaining the unspoiled biodiversity Lake Baikal is famous for having in an undeveloped area of the world. Lake Baikal earned the votes to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 with exceptional natural features like Shaman Rock. (photo Nicholas Rodenhouse)

Lake Baikal, situated in a remote area of Siberia, had been thought to be one of the most resistant lakes to climate change but a new study has found "significant" warming of surface temperatures.

Changes to the lake are important to monitor as it is home to 2,500 plant and animal species, with most found nowhere else in the world.

"Increases… have important implications for nutrient cycling and food web dynamics," the scientists warn.

Along the Curonian split on a small peninsula in Kaliningrad, Russia, tourism is sought at a site known for pristine beaches and a haven for avid bird watchers. Governors are rubbing their hands in glee at the vision of a million tourists a year invading the area bringing untold caches of rubles to but a few and unthinkable incremental destruction to what made it a WHS first. In irony worthy of scalding derision the government promises to use the money on environmental projects.

Fire is a constant worry as evidenced by Spain and Italy's recent April spate of WHS sites facing fiery embers, ash, smoke or destruction. Armed with fixed wing aircraft and water carrying helicopters, Spanish firefighters are defending Garajonay National Park on the Canary Island of La Gomera. Strong winds have pushed the raging fire to destroy almost 1800 acres or 700 hectares of farmland and forests. One of the last island forests in Europe with magestic evergreen specimens of laurel leaved trees, many over 40 meters, teeming with bats lizards, frogs and endemic pigeons earned UNESCO's approval as a WHS.

On the list since 1997 as a main family residence and a core part of the Royal House of Savoy, Castello di Moncalieri, in Piedmont, a fire burned several royal apartments filled with priceless artifacts and a fair number of floors in the watch tower. A crisped castle built in 1100 and a destroyed armory are deeply regretted losses by the head of UNESCO on the 4th and 7th of April. Canadians gasped in horror as one of their beloved WHS structures, Voltiguers de Québéc, became engulfed in flames. Québéc City's famed drill hall and armory, built in 1887, received its heritage designation almost century later in 1985. Canadian firefighters and the sites archivists were able to save the majority of the buildings treasures. (Reuters photo of Quebec fire)

After a united world begged to stop it, one of the biggest crimes against a UNESCO site was the malevolent Taliban's detonation of a bomb blowing up the world's two biggest 5th century Buddhas in Bamyan Afghanistan. Today, near the precious remnants of the stone figures, more explosions cracked the remain of the Bhuddas. These over 100 foot Buddhas sat along the Silk Road until international wanted terrorist Mullah Omar ordered their destruction via dynamite.

The two statues, chiseled about 400 yards apart into a cliff face also teeming with ancient cave shrines and paintings, were created when Bamiyan was a major center for Buddhism. The Taliban dynamited the Buddhas in March 2001, deeming them idolatrous and anti-Muslim. It was one of the regime's most widely condemned acts.

Brendan J. Cassar, chief of UNESCO's cultural program in Afghanistan, which includes conservation of the World Heritage Site at Bamiyan, said the agency had yet to establish if the blast caused damage. But he expressed concern.

"We were not informed about the explosion," he said in Kabul. "This is something we should be consulted on."

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years locked up as an ANC rebel in maximum security prison Robben Island. Many tourists to South Africa make the trek to see where an imprisoned African man spent his time practicing the arts of forgiveness for the abomination of apartheid to maintain white rule. From atop Tabletop Mountain, the island is clearly visible. His triumph to become the internationally revered 11th president of South Africa on 2 May, 1994, forgiving malicious captors and petty presidents alike, earned him a Nobel Peace Prize forged in the hard labor of Robben Island. A former leper colony as well, Robbens Island and its museum list as a cultural WHS site, a testament to Nelson Mandela and human endurance, has now fallen into a state of disrepair where the animals are starving amidst a rabbit infestation and the buildings crumbling.

A tour of the sites just by their images make my heart ache for what is lost or we are in great peril of losing through fire, poor management and neglect. It is our history and the world's legacy showcasing the unique and the Utopian about human endeavor. Disappearing World: 101 of the Earth's Most extraordinary and Endangerd Places by Alonzo C. Addison is an exceptional tour of some of the sites in the book released 8 weeks ago.

The Elders Seek Peace with Madiba Magic

An esteemed group of World Leaders gathered together Wednesday, on Nelson Mandela's birthday, to begin working on Peace as The Elders. Slowed by physical age, yet filled with the eternal spirit of Peace, the fighter for social justice lent his presence to the auspicious gathering. Mandela is the source of the wise and generous Madiba Magic.

Among The Elders & Nobel Laureates

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest which garnered her a prominent empty chair honoring her absence. None of The Elders has a formal role or government mandate, but they have global connections and clout, which the group will leverage to wage Peace.

Learning more about The Elders is a Google click away, yet nothing gives profound insight quite like what is revealed inside a book's pages. Some of the bibliography of notable books on or by the group include: The Long Walk to Freedom a riveting and detailed Nelson Mandela's autobiography (plus I must mention the brand new Shades of Freedom describing the Apartheid Movement in rich and painful detail with an extended foreword from Nelson Mandela), Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter, God Has A Dream by Desmond Tutu. Banker to the Poor is Muhammad Yunus's autobiographical contribution to the fascinating world of micro-finance. Mary Robinson the former United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights was the seventh president of Ireland and serves on several high profile and powerful global initiatives and boards.