Very well so Dr. Jaiteh.. The problem of overpopulation, land water, economy and governance are not unique to Gambia. These have to be managed on a continuous basis. I strongly believe that governing is a major central piece to making any head way or otherwise on these areas. The more conscious a government is about these issues the more likely their impact can be effectively managed... Thus the reason continuous advocacy for a responsible government is always on top of my list. Any government that focuses on entrenching itself in power, preoccupied with putting down opponents is much more likely to not even pay attention to such issues. Am sure when you ask the Gambian President about these issues he will refer you back to colonial problems rather than confronting the issues as the man in charge... Gambia is grossly mismanaged and we are going from bad to worst since there are no sound policies to confront such long term issues.. I look forward to reading more on this subject. Happy Friday Demba On Thu, May 29, 2014 at 8:27 PM, Malanding Jaiteh <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Demba, the Burama I know does not take no for an answer but i will advice > that we narrow the focus of the discussion and take on population, land > water, economy and governance separately, if we are to be effective. > > Some will argue that if you deal with governance the rest will fall in > line. > Jefferson put it nicely when he said we are all endowed with the right to > life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. > > Even China had to adopt these principles (yes in baby steps) before they > became the world's factory. > > IMalanding Jaiteh > > > -------- Original message -------- > From: Demba Baldeh > Date:29/05/2014 20:37 (GMT-05:00) > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [G_L] What's Our Make-up & How Was/Is It Managed > > Interesting questions Burama. I guess with the land, population density, > agriculture, forestry etc.. Dr. Jaiteh can help us. Him and I had a similar > discussion that looked at our overpopulation, agricultural land and > erosion. He is with us here and may have done some modern approach research > into such data... Dr. can you help us with some insights? These are good > observations... For me we are poorly managed but record keeping, reliable > statistics are an epidemic problem. > > It would be interesting to look at population, resources vs economic > development. China comes to mind with over a billion people but their > economy and standard of living continue to improve.. Yet there is arguably > no Democracy in China.. How do we reconcile those contradicting > approaches... Does a nation have to have Democracy and them to develop? How > about human rights? Interesting and stimulating questions.. > > Thanks > > Demba > > > On Thu, May 29, 2014 at 7:52 AM, Burama Jammeh <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > >> Estimates has it that at the dawn of independence we were less than 1/2 >> million people. Today extrapolated estimates put us at 1.7million people. >> Estimated average density of about 125 people/km >> >> Area - about 11K sq. km >> Water surface - 1300 sq. km >> Rainfall - about 800-1000mm >> >> Human capital - high school? Undergraduate? Graduate? >> >> Foreign financial/cash aid ? >> Foreign food aid ? >> Foreign developmental aid including NGOs ? >> >> Forest cover - 4800sq.km this includes shrub and savanahs in 2010. >> Substantially more even in late 70s. Still waiting for someone at the Dept. >> on the earlier numbers. 66 national parks with 34000ha >> >> Agricultural land - 6650sq. Km >> >> Notice that there are overlaps in the area estimates water + forests + >> agriculture leaves nothing for settlements. That's understandable from >> classification but settlement areas is a significant land use that should >> stand alone. >> >> Estimates indicates 55% of all Gambians live in the urban area. If urban >> area is GBA which excludes Brikama we are in serious trouble. Regardless we >> are already in serious trouble. The answers are in the health statistics - >> WHO estimates of 2010. >> >> Economic data / formal and informal sector. >> Government formed the bigger chunk of the formal. Bad record keep if any. >> How is the informal sector captured is everyone's imagination - tailors, >> carpenters, cottage industries, agriculture, etc. >> >> Social statistic - population, birth, dead, vehicles, passports, ID, etc. >> >> How are decisions made? Have you ever listen to the famous finance >> minister budget speeches with impressive numbers of growth? I would >> estimate an average of 3% growth since I started following. How then are we >> so poor? Why then the economy essential excludes larger portion of our >> people? You can ask 1 million questions! >> >> Can we manage a nation democratically without fact based information? >> Imagine if you remove a registration place from a 2014 white T/Corolla and >> place on another of the same specifications. How can we tell which one it >> belongs? How many of us has multi passports or IDs without any reference to >> the earlier issues? The same is true for birth records. No record of dead >> as far as I know. >> >> We have a systemic problem and not a person problem. It can only be fix >> by cultural reorientation and not simply reshuffling the deck of cards. >> >> Are we after all POOR or Poorly MANAGED? >> >> I simply have an idea on the how. >> >> Regards >> >> Burama >> ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To >> unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web >> interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html >> >> To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: >> http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact >> the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >> [log in to unmask] >> ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ >> > > > > -- > *"Be the change you want to see in the World"* > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To > unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web > interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html > > To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: > http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the > List Management, please send an e-mail to: > [log in to unmask] > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To > unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web > interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html > > To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: > http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the > List Management, please send an e-mail to: > [log in to unmask] > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ > -- *"Be the change you want to see in the World"* ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤