4 News March 13th 2013 ¢ Over the Edge MALALA YOUSAFZAI NOMINATED FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE HANNA PETERSEN NEWS EDITOR Malala Yousafzai, now 15, is being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize after she was shot in the head by the Taliban on her way home from school in October of 2012. This makes her the youngest nominee for the Nobel peace prize in the history of the award. Yousafzai was targeted by the Taliban because of her education and women’s rights activism. She survived the attack and was flown to 66 Britain for specialized care, after having the bullet removed from her skull by surgeons in Peshawar. Surgeons in Britain then replaced part of Yousafzai’s skull with a titanium plate and inserted a cochlear implant to restore hearing. In an interview recorded before the surgery, Yousafzai said, “Today you can see that I am alive. I can speak, I can see you, I can see everyone and I am getting better day by day. It’s just because of the prayers of people.” “And because of all these prayers,” continued Yousafzai. “God has given me this new life, a second life. And I want to serve. I want to serve the people. I want every girl, every child, to be educated. For that reason we have organized the Malala Fund.” The Malala Fund has been set up by international organization Vital Voices, which helps give women a voice to promote prosperity and peace in their communities. The Malala Fund aims to get every girl in the world into school by the end of 2015. In addition, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, appointed Malala’s father as a UN special advisor on global education. At the age of 11 she began writing a blog for the BBC about her life under Taliban rule, in Mingora in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, and her views on education for girls. The New York Times followed her posts and produced a documentary film following her and her family’s struggles under the militant rule. If today, their voice goes unheard, then coming generations will go without basic human rights Ziauddin Yousafzai, Malala’s father, ran a school for girls in their home town and has been an advocate for educational change in Pakistan for many years. “Malala and all other female human rights activist must be heard seriously and sincerely,” says her father. “If today, their voice goes unheard, then coming generations will go without basic human rights and sublime values which men and women have been striving for centuries to achieve.” In recognition of her courage to speak out and her advocacy, Yousafzai was awarded the National Peace Prize in Pakistan in 2011 and was also nominated for an International Peace Prize in the same year. Malala Yousafzai is one of 259 nominees for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. Her fellow nominees include former U.S. President Bill Clinton for his charitable work and Russian Punk band Pussy Riot who were jailed for performing a protest against President Vladimir Putin. STUDY CALLS FOR ANCIENT FOREST TO PF BE NAMED AW Th 1) | a HANNA PETERSEN NEWS EDITOR New research led by UNBC is recommending the Ancient Forest, or more specifically the area surrounding the “Ancient Forest Trail” about 130 km east of Prince George, be named a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Ancient Forest is remarkable because it is the inland home to many giant red cedars that are usually found in wet costal forests. Citing the fact that these cedars have been reduced to less than four percent of the more than 130 thousand square hectare bioclimatic zone east of Prince George, the research indicated that these stands of ancient red cedars and surrounding biodiversity are “globally significant” and require the protection and status afforded other rich areas of scientific and cultural value deemed World Heritage cites. The Ancient Forest, accessible by trail from Highway 16, is a small pocket of forest home to these massive western red cedars (some estimated to be over 1000 years old) and to an internationally significant diversity of lichen and fungi. The study was published in the BC Journal of Ecosystems and Management, went through extensive peer review, including by forest industry professionals. The article points out the benefits such classification would bring, such as diversification of the regional economy by building upon a regional tourist attraction, which has already developed at the area. “Having this published in a leading forestry journal sends a strong message of support, and should provide critical guidance to the provincial government,” says the article’s lead author, UNBC Ecosystem Science and Management Professor Darwyn Coxson. “There is much precedence to point to of ancient coastal rain forests being named World Heritage Sites, such as Haida Gwaii in BC, and Olympic National ORLD HERITAGE SITE. Park in Washington State, but in many sceintific and cultural respects, the Ancient Forest is of even more value due its extremely rare location so far north and so far inland.” The area was known for generations to First Nations and other local communities, was flagged for harvesting in 2006. UNBC students and researchers played a role in ensuring the public was notified of the cultural and scientific value of the area and the Forest was later declared off-limits to logging. Since then, multiple UNBC researchers and classes have visited the Ancient Forest Trail site to study the region’s biological systems. “Many people in BC still do not realize the social and cultural value of this forest,” says Dr. Coxson, who co-wrote the study with UNBC Environmental Planning professor David Connell, and Trevor Godward of the University of British Columbia. “Becoming a Provincial Park and then a World Heritage Site will ensure the long-term protection of the ancient cedar stands, which to date, have been cared for by local community groups.” To benamesa UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Forest must first be names a provincial park. The Government of Canada must then recommend the site to UNESCO. “UNESCO states that, for a site to be considered for a World Heritage status, the area must ‘represent significant on- going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals,” says Dr. Coxson. “We suggest that the immense cultural and biological values represented by this area meet these criteria.” The report recommends the BC Government extend the boundary of nearby Slim Creek Provincial Park to include the area surrounding the Ancient Forest Trail. THIS AD WILL BE SEEN BY | - AT LEAST 1,000 PEOPLE. 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