210 - Earth's Tree News

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Today for you 36 new articles about earth's trees! (210th edition)

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Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com .

 

--British Columbia: 1) Marmots, 2) Save Egmont's water, 3) Save the

Firs along Koksilah River, 4) BC's land trusts, 5) Lands of Haida

Gwaii, 6) reforesting Beetle land,

--Washington: 7) State to log a tiny bit lass this year

--Oregon: 8) timber sale named Annie's Cabin, 9) BLM problems, 10)

Film about BLM,

--Massachusetts: 11) 900-acre parcel in the southern Berkshires saved

--New Hampshire: 12) White Mtn. NF Logging Challeng 13) New England Wilderness,

--Vermont: 14) Community Forest Collaboration

--USA: 15) terms of greenwashed exploitation, 16) Why no fire thinning results?

--Canada: 17) Alberta's oil sands, 18) Edéhzhíe, 19) W. Newfoundland

Model Forest,

--UK: 20) Lidar scans vegetation

--France: 21) Greenpeace speaks out to save the Congo

--Greenland: 22) Once was forested

--Ukraine: 23) best surviving riverine forests in Europe

--Guyana: 24) Exporting non-renewable forest logs is inherently flawed

--Ecuador: 25) Save Yasuni National Park

--Brazil: 26) Juruna peoples reclaim lost lands

--China: 27) a link between rapid city growth and rainfall patterns

--Bhutan: 28) existence of illegal felling

--Vietnam: 29) Grey-shanked doucs

--Philippines: 30) Tarsier Conservation Project

--New Zealand: 31) Greenpeace suppressing truth about their support

for logging rare unentered forests, 32) Gisborne to double in size

because of logging industry,

--Malaysia: 33) Plantation Industries Minister Peter Chin is a liar and a thief

--Indonesia: 34) Palm Oil Industrial Cluster, 35) plan to rehabilitate

1.1 million hectares,

--World wide: 36) risks of large-scale production of biofuels,

 

 

British Columbia:

 

1) Well, first of all, the public needs to know that wild-born

Vancouver Island marmots are now totally extinct, having passed away

into oblivion, without obituary, several years ago. That means that

all of the 200 marmots that are alive today are laboratory-bred

specimens which have been born and raised in captivity. These lab-born

animals are slated for release onto the empty former sub-alpine colony

sites with a hope and a prayer that they might somehow make themselves

at home again, re-occupy a cold and lonely burrow and reproduce. For

this purpose, the VIM Project has managed to secure some of the

naturally treeless meadows and ridges around their final Green

Mountain redoubt where wild Vancouver Island marmots made their last

stand on this Earth. Every year, the distribution of lab-bred marmots

over the extinct colony sites offers much-coveted PR photo-ops for

government and logging industry officials who are depicted cuddling

the cute animals as they are released. The second thing that the

public needs to know is that the protection and restoration of

critical Vancouver Island Marmot habitat is not part of the Recovery

project. Aside from several small sub-alpine colony sites above the

tree line which have been protected, the forested connectivity

corridors which once provided essential safe-access for marmots

between their many mountain-top colony sites are entirely unprotected.

Wild marmots once traversed the thickly forested valleys between their

colony sites to spread out their gene-pool to avoid inbreeding. Not

any more. These areas of marmot habitat are now dedicated as perpetual

logging zones, where having cleared the old-growth forests from the

valley bottoms to the tops of the mountains, the logging companies are

now stripping away second-growth down at the bottom again. The cutting

has been so voracious that the companies are now hacking into stands

of timber as young as 30 years old. One can see truckloads of these

'pecker-poles' any day on the Island Highway, headed for the ocean log

dumps from where they are exported in the round to feed American

saw-mills. http://www.ingmarlee.com

 

2) Watersheds are sensitive places. We've been kicked out of two of

them already on this trip. And if you think a couple of hikers might

do some damage to the drinking water, what do you think logging will

do? Here in Egmont, they're trying to stop the logging of their

drinking water watershed, currently a 100 year old second growth

forest. Check it out at http://www.saveourwatershed.com/ Almost all of

the forest around here is second growth. The big old trees left are

all on steep slopes, logged by helicopter - a dangerous and expensive

job. Talking to a faller for a heli logging company by Clowhom Lake,

I'm glad I'm not up there, balancing on a tiny board 30 feet up in the

air, reaching out to do tricky cuts with a 42 inch chainsaw… But the

economics for the tight-grained wood in those slow growing trees drive

the operation. Someone's getting rich from it. And as the faller says:

" It's all government bulshit " But it's a beautiful time to be paddling

these bays. Warm sunny days under bright blue skies, and dark starry

nights. Last night we paddled well into dark, watching some of the

most amazing phosphorescence I've ever seen. Along the shore, we

startled schools of small fish. They zipped away from our raft in

every direction, leaving glowing trails of bubbles behind them, like

underwater fireworks. It was awesome.

http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/blog/?p=127

 

3) Almost twenty years ago, two Vancouver Island loggers, Louie Van

Beers and Don Hughes, put down their chainsaws and refused to cut down

an exceptional stand of old-growth Douglas Firs along the Koksilah

River southwest of Duncan, BC. Due to their heroic actions, this

incredible stand - part of the 1% of BC's remaining old-growth Coastal

Douglas firs which haven't been logged yet - was voluntarily set aside

by the company of the day. However, TimberWest, the current owners of

the land, were moving to road and log in and around the Koksilah Grove

this past spring. However, the company now seems to be open to

negotiating a solution for the Grove, which we believe must be bought

and protected by the BC government. Find out about this incredible

forest and WRITE a BRIEF LETTER to Minister of Forests Rich Coleman on

whether you think the BC government must purchase these private lands

to protect this spectacular grove, and to also protect the remaining

old-growth forests on Vancouver Island and the Southwest Mainland! See

the Koksilah Old-Growth Photos (the second item in the Photogallery)

and Info on what YOU can do at:

http://www.wildernesscommitteevictoria.org/gallery.php

 

4) 2007 marks a milestone year for BC's land trusts. With over half a

million acres of lands protected by land trusts in British Columbia

(an area larger than the size of Greater Vancouver), these groups are

geared to be playing an increasingly important role in conserving BC's

natural and cultural features into the future. Since 1997, over 32

land trusts have formed across BC, working as charitable non-profit

organizations to protect BC's natural and cultural heritage. Land

trusts work with British Columbians to care for areas through

conservation covenants, land acquisition and stewardship agreements

with private landowners, businesses, other non-profit groups and

government . This year, the Land Trust Alliance of BC is celebrating

the successes of the groups and individuals involved in conservation,

and ensuring their sustainability by launching the Raising Awareness

of Natural and Cultural Diversity campaign. The LTABC has recently

received a $30,000 grant from the Vancouver Foundation, which will be

used in conjunction with $40,000 from the Real Estate Foundation of BC

and $25,000 from the Bullitt Foundation to provide support for- and

promote the work of land trusts in British Columbia. The outreach

portion of the campaign features communications with government,

professional groups, other non-governmental organizations and the

general public. The general media aspect of the campaign will be

centered on the People Protecting Places case studies developed by the

LTABC, which showcases examples from ten of the thousands of

individuals in BC who have left a legacy of natural and cultural

heritage in the Province. The professional outreach program will offer

individuals and groups the opportunity to network and learn from each

other- developing a strong conservation network for British Columbia.

In order to achieve this, the LTABC has recently signed as a

co-partner for the 2009 BC Land Summit, along with the British

Columbia Association Appraisal Institute of Canada (BCAAIC), the

British Columbia Institute of Agrologists (BCIA), the British Columbia

Society of Landscape Architects (BCSLA), the Planning Institute of

British Columbia (PIBC), and the Real Estate Institute of British

Columbia (REIBC). This work with conference partners along with LTABC

workshops this fall will raise awareness among professionals about how

to include conservation options into their professional practice.

http://www.landtrustalliance.bc.ca

 

5) The six-hour voyage to the Queen Charlotte Islands -- a

dagger-shaped archipelago just 30 miles from Alaska that's also known

as Haida Gwaii by its First Nations residents -- is a choppy affair,

with little to look at but dozens of sleepy, blanket-wrapped

passengers Yet as I grip the rail on the wind-whipped outer deck,

squinting blearily at the growing landmass ahead, a heightened sense

of intrigue creeps over me. It takes a certain type of person to live

on this remote clutch of more than 150 rocky islands, complete with

wild forests, random rain showers and howling winter storms that

regularly threaten to uproot the 5,000 locals and send them tumbling

back to the mainland. Fortunately, the elements calm in summer, when

curious visitors arrive by ferry from Prince Rupert or by plane from

Vancouver. We head up the short but steep Tow Hill hiking trail that

winds along wooden boardwalks through a dense canopy of moss-covered

cedar, hemlock and spruce trees. The air is cool and damp as my

jocular guide points out piles of shells dropped by feasting eagles

and " culturally modified trees " -- trunks where long strips of bark

have been removed by past generations of Haida for hat and basket

making. After 20 minutes, we reach the summit and are treated to a

panoramic view of a curving crescent beach backed by an enormous bog

that's thick with stunted, gnarly trees.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/322293_queen05.html

 

6) The $2.1 million planting program is targeted at areas that are not

being logged by companies, and is meant to address environmental

issues like water flows and animal habitat, as well as building a

future timber supply. " This is just the beginning of our reforestation

efforts in the Cariboo, " B.C. Forests Minister Rich Coleman said

Thursday. " We've done the mapping and the planning, and ordered the

seedlings. Now we are ready to get going on the ground, " he said. An

estimated 4,000 hectares will be planted in the Williams Lake and

Quesnel timber supply areas next summer. Preparation of planting

sites, including danger tree falling, will occur this summer. As well,

another 8,000 hectares of beetle-attacked stands will be surveyed

during 2007 in preparation for planting in the future. B.A. Blackwell

and Associates will administer the reforestation activities within the

Williams Lake and Quesnel areas. The work will be performed by both

private contractors and First Nations. In B.C., the companies that log

forests are responsible for replanting them. As a result of logging of

pine beetle-killed forests, it's estimated that forest companies will

plant about 12.6 million seedlings in the Williams Lake timber supply

area and another 26.5 million seedlings in the Quesnel area in 2007.

The beetle epidemic now covers more than nine million hectares in

north and central B.C., an area more than twice the size of Vancouver

Island.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=936\

97 & Itemid=159

 

Washington:

 

7) Regulators have agreed to slow the rate of logging in Western

Washington state forests by about 8 percent under a revised 10-year

logging plan. Tuesday's decision by the state Board of Natural

Resources sets the annual harvest on the region's state trust lands at

about 550 million board feet - down from the previous target of about

600 million board feet per year. The board, which tries to balance

forest income with sustainable harvests, set the higher logging level

in 2004. But that calculation was challenged in court by conservation

groups. The parties settled the lawsuit last year, after a King County

Superior Court judge rejected the state's logging plan, saying

officials did not adequately consider the environmental impacts. Some

1.4 million acres of state trust lands on the west side of the Cascade

Mountains are affected by the 10-year logging plan. Still unresolved

is a strategy for protecting the marbled murrelet, a bird that nests

in old growth trees.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20070704/NEWS03/707040353

 

Oregon:

 

8) The timber sale name, Annie's Cabin, comes from a cabin that sits

just north of Squirrel Creek on the east side of the Huckleberry

Trail. Jim Williams, Annie Miller, and her daughter, Squirrel, used

this cabin as their living room (a small trailer was next door) from

June 1992 until December 1993. They were BLM volunteers who worked to

improve the condition of the Molalla River Recreation Corridor. Jim's

presence made a big difference in the Molalla River Recreation

Corridor. He loved this area and worked hard to improve and protect

it. Jim spent his last days there and died in October 1993. Annie and

Squirrel left two months later. The cabin sits just 250 feet south of

Unit #6 of the timber sale. We need to continue to protect Jim's

vision! Annie's Cabin timber sale, a Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

proposal to thin 566-acres within the Molalla River Recreation

Corridor, contract has been rewarded to Freres Lumber Company. This

timber sale would severely impact recreational trails designated for

hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding created by volunteers.

Sensitive species such as Oregon Slender Salamanders, Red Tree Voles,

and Tall Bughane have been found within this timber sale project and

would also be impacted. Act now to contact Congresswoman Darlene

Hooley to tell her office to urge the BLM to cancel this timber sale.

16 of the 25 units of the Annie's Cabin timber sale either have the

Molalla River Recreation Corridor's Shared-Use Trail System running

through units or abutting the units with no buffers. This trail system

was created in the 1990s when the BLM closed 13 miles of logging roads

converting these roads into trails for hiking, mountain biking, and

equestrian uses. In 1994, the BLM approved the development of 12 miles

of additional single-track trails in partnership with volunteer

organizations. Thinning of Unit #2 would impact Amanda's Trail, Mark's

Trail, and Sandquist's Trail, three trails named for early advocates

and builders of the trail system. We need to protect and preserve the

scenic beauty of these trails that volunteers spent long hours to

create and maintain!

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/07/361818.shtml

 

 

9) The following are just a few of the resulting assaults on forests,

our global cooling factories: 1) BLM's Western Oregon Plan Revisions:

a backroom sweetheart settlement with timber barons to axe old-growth

protections from 2.5 million acres of public forests; 2) Fish and

Wildlife's latest Spotted Owl Extinction Plan;; 3) Logging under the

guise of " fire prevention " ; 4) Forest biomass extraction; 5) Bogus

" restoration " on public lands, exploiting Latino immigrants. --- What

we propose is not the whole solution, only a missing part of the

solution: being radical inside the system. Now is the time to seize

the mounting concern over climate change. Now is the time to add more

uncompromising voices truly advocating for the people and the forest.

Now is the time to stop just playing defense and start scoring some

points. With public opinion overwhelmingly on our side, why are a

handful of timber barons calling the shots? One under-utilized tactic

to protect our forests is targeting the pocketbooks of the individuals

directly responsible for ecosystem destruction: the timber barons. The

boycott of Umpqua Bank, or StUmpqua (whose board of directors are the

most notorious clearcutters and pesticide sprayers in Oregon), has

already cost the bank tens of millions of dollars.

http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2007/06/21/views1.html

 

10) Directed and produced by Tim Lewis with technical direction by

Trip Jennings, Boom, Bust and the BLM premieres this month with

screenings in Ashland, Cave Junction, Roseburg, Eugene, Portland and

other venues across the Pacific Northwest. This documentary interviews

rural landowners, small-scale loggers, citizen surveyors and

conservationists who discuss their experience with the BLM and their

hope for the future. As the BLM prepares to release a draft management

plan in August, this film could not be more timely and relevant for

those who care about Oregon's forests, biodiversity, sustainable

management and the various uses of our public lands. The DVD includes

an interactive " action tool kit " to help people make their voices

heard throughout the WOPR process. Boom Bust and the BLM sheds light

on the BLM's Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) and the dubious

political wrangling behind it. The result of a sweetheart settlement

between the Bush Administration and the timber industry, WOPR seeks to

remove or severely weaken Northwest Forest Plan protections for

forests and rivers on 2.5 million acres of public land.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/07/361881.shtml

 

Massachusetts:

 

11) In one of the largest and most ecologically significant public

conservation deals in recent years, the state has acquired a 900-acre

parcel in the southern Berkshires that contains pristine old-growth

forest, including Eastern hemlock trees that predate the Pilgrims'

arrival at Plymouth. The $5.2 million purchase of Spectacle Pond Farm

followed protracted negotiations with its owners, a family divided

over whether the land should be developed or conserved. After one side

of the family sold its interest in the property to a developer and the

other side sold its interest to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the

state stepped in and cut a deal that will preserve it for future

generations. " It's a spectacular piece of property, " said Ian Bowles,

secretary of energy and environmental affairs, who announced the deal

yesterday. The 900 acres lie between the Otis State Forest to the

north and the Clam River watershed to the south. " Finding large blocks

of unprotected future conservation land is increasingly difficult, and

this is a really important parcel because it connects these properties

to the south and north in an uninterrupted corridor of habitat, "

Bowles said. Some of the hemlock trees on the property are among the

oldest trees in Massachusetts, said Bob Wilber, director of land

protection for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, which played a

critical role in securing the deal. " They sprouted out of the ground

about the time Shakespeare was writing, " he said. Though the land has

been on the state's radar for years, the purchase is a welcome

development for Governor Deval Patrick, who was criticized by

environmentalists earlier this year for failing to follow through on a

campaign promise to increase spending on parks maintenance by $10

million, although the Legislature ultimately came through with much of

that money. Patrick also remains under pressure from environmental

advocates to dramatically increase capital spending on land

conservation. The Spectacle Pond Farm deal ends a long quest by the

state, which has been eyeing the land for at least a quarter- century,

said Wilber.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/07/06/a_swath_of_berkshires_past_\

saved_for_future

/?p1=email_to_a_friend

 

New Hampshire:

 

12) A plan to allow logging in an off-roads portion of the White

Mountain National Forest is being blocked by national environmental

groups that fear it could set a bad precedent, even though local

conservation organizations had approved the plan. The objections of

two leading national environmental groups have forced the National

Forest Service to reconsider its approval of logging in so-called

" roadless areas " of the forest, frustrating local logging companies

that thought they had a deal. " The new forest plan was embraced by all

people at the table, and now after the fact, there are some people out

there with their own agendas, " said John Caveney , vice president in

charge of woodlands for Cersosimo Lumber Co., which has been taking

lumber out of the White Mountain forest for more than 25 years. " This

is going to be a big problem for us. It really spooks people. "

Conservation groups in New Hampshire said they have been unsuccessful

recently in trying to persuade the Sierra Club and the Wilderness

Society to drop challenges against the National Forest's plans to

allow harvesting of timber in areas that have few or no roads. " Their

feeling is if they give an inch in New Hampshire, they will have to

give a mile somewhere else, " said Will Abbott , vice president for

policy and land management at the Society for the Protection of New

Hampshire Forests , a 106-year-old organization that both preserves

land and promotes environmentally sensitive logging. The White

Mountain National Forest, established 96 years ago, is the largest

protected forest in New England; its 800,000-acre expanse is within a

day's drive for 70 million people. It has long had a hybrid purpose,

allowing loggers to harvest ash, white pine, sugar maple, and beech

trees on land that covers nearly half the territory, while skiers,

hikers, and bikers enjoyed its wilderness tracts over the other half.

The current battle over its use is rooted in the politically charged

debate on roadless areas in national forests.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/07/07/white_mountains_logging_pl\

an_hits_roadbl

ock/

 

13) ALBANY -- Sen. John Sununu helped two preservation groups

celebrate the protection of thousands of acres in New Hampshire's

White Mountain National Forest. Sununu joined the Friends of Sandwich

Range and the Friends of Wild River on Thursday to mark passage of the

" New England Wilderness Act of 2006. " The legislation was written by

Sununu and co-sponsored by Sen. Judd Gregg. It protects 34,500 acres

in the forest. " I am proud to have written this important law, but its

enactment required a team effort, " said Sununu, who hiked in the area

Thursday with group members. " Without the dedication of the Friends of

Sandwich Range, the Friends of Wild River, the Forest Service and many

other individuals and groups, we would not have achieved such an

important goal. " In a statement, Gregg also commended the cooperative

effort. " The inclusion of 34,000 acres of additional wilderness in the

Sandwich Range and Wild River will further enhance the central role

the forest plays in the quality of life for which New Hampshire is

well-known, " he said. As a wilderness area, the land is closed to

activities such as mining, logging, road construction, vehical traffic

and building construction.

http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO56561/

 

Vermont;

 

14) A researcher working for a consortium of Canadian and U.S. land

use groups started this summer collecting data to help towns make

better use of municipally owned forests. Lisa Cashel, a graduate

student at the University of British Columbia studying forestry, has

started getting to know Essex, Orleans and Caledonia counties by

reading town plans and meeting with county foresters. She learned that

some town lands are inaccessible and unmanaged, while others provide

hunting and fishing grounds, but otherwise go untapped for public use.

Getting people to manage timber and preserve town forests is an

important part of land conservation, she said. Otherwise, the land

might be sold off privately or clear-cut to generate cash. " Some lands

were set aside when towns were established. Some are acquired by tax

delinquency, " Cashel said. " This collaborative I'm working with is

working on a feasibility for a forest fund to provide loans and grants

for these communities. " Cashel, a New Jersey native, is a field

researcher for the Community Forest Collaborative formed by a

three-year affiliation among The Quebec-Labrador Foundation, The Trust

for Public Land and The Northern Forest Center. The goal is to " expand

existing and potential town-owned forest and community forests. "

Cashel said her efforts focus first on the Northeast Kingdom where

most towns do not have management plans in place. Many town plans

include an interest in keeping public spaces open, but many also use

boilerplate language, suggesting an active plan is not in use. It is

up to her to find out, perhaps by the end of summer. Then, she plans

to help develop workshops promoting land management for municipally

owned property where uses would include hunting, fishing, trail

building and other recreational uses, as well as timber harvesting.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070706/NEWS02/70\

7060307/1007

 

USA:

 

15) Words such as " conservation easements " , " working forests " ,

" working landscapes " and " traditional uses " promote a positive image

of destructive practices and nature exploitation. George Lakoff warns

when you are arguing against the worldview of the other side, do not

adopt their language, yet even environmentalists now regularly

celebrate the " working landscape " and actively support " traditional

uses " and so forth. So we have " working forests " that are logged and

managed to produce wood products. They are forests that will never

acquire old growth characteristics, are laced with roads, and often

subject to herbicides to reduce brush and other manipulations that can

hardly be called benign. Yet, through the subversive use of the term

" working forest " logging the forest has come to be equated with

" protecting " the land even though throughout most of the " working

forest " region, the biggest threat to forests comes from being worked

over-i.e. logged. Many of these " working landscapes " are " protected "

by what are called " conservation easements " . Most of these easements

should be more properly termed " open space " easements because in many

cases on-going destructive commercial resource exploitation

practices-logging, ranching, and/or farming--are permitted, and

indeed, sometimes even encouraged. And the only thing that is

prohibited is usually subdivisions. Natural ecological processes,

wildlife, soil, water, and a host of other values often are degraded

and may be not be conserved at all. Open space is valuable, but open

space isn't necessarily the same as good wildlife habitat, nor does it

always protect biodiversity and landscape scale ecological processes.

People need to beware of the subtle but unspoken meaning behind word

choices. Words do matter. Many of the terms coined to describe

resource extraction activities like " working wilderness " and " working

forest " are designed to change public perception of resource

extraction. These terms are used to hide or disguise the real

environmental degradation that often accompanies resource extraction,

and to create a more favorable public perception of these practices.

http://www.newwest.net/index.php/topic/article/working_wilderness_and_other_code\

_words/C38/L38/

 

16) If thinning reduced fire risk, then the last few years of the

Forest Service going in and tackling the high risk spots, as they

claim, isn't working for some reason. Could it be that thinning, while

reducing fuel, also reduces the fire deterrent known as water? Perhaps

thinning, and taking away fuel, simply turns surrounding trees INTO

fuel. Decreased canopy accompanied by more arid conditions in general

make many tinder boxes, forest service " efforts " at fire suppression

notwithstanding. Since they ARE getting more frequent, it is safe to

say that a few hundred national forest service employees operating a

day, setting small piles on fire, are not keeping up with the growing

fire danger. I often wonder if they aren't actually exacerbating it.

After all, a dense forest retains moisture. A sparse one does not.

Let's not forget, however, just how rampant arson is in our public

lands. Since the salvage rider passed, such instances have

skyrocketed. More fires means more profit for timber industries and we

all know that the Forest Service, subsidiary of the Department of

Agriculture, serves primarily as a launderer for funds spent on those

corporations. In other words, the forest service loses money and

taxpayers pay the difference. Recently, just a few miles from where I

live, exist some of the most intensive fire suppression efforts that I

have seen anywhere. If these methods work, it ought to be the very

last place, of any that I have been, for a fire to start. However,

just last week a fire did go up and it grew to several thousand acres

in just a few hours. Anecdotal? Sure.

http://eeng.net/CS/blogs/smileycoyote/archive/2007/07/07/534.aspx

 

Canada:

 

17) The open pit mine plunges 250 feet deep and ranges over a couple

of square miles, carved out of pine and spruce forest by gigantic

machines that operate 24/7, even in the dark of winter at 40 below

zero. This is the heart of Alberta's oil sands, a remote Florida-sized

region where moose, bears and beavers inhabit watery woodlands atop

the world's largest proven petroleum reserves outside Saudi Arabia.

The unusual deposits — where oil is locked in the tarry soil rather

than pooled beneath the surface — are yielding a bonanza of investment

dollars, government revenue and jobs. Almost half of Canada's oil

production comes from the oil sands — and the energy industry

estimates that enough oil can be economically extracted to fill the

country's needs for three centuries. The vast majority of Canadian oil

exports goes to the United States, and the Bush administration sees

the remaining resources as America's best hope for reducing dependence

on Middle Eastern oil. " No single thing can do more to help us reach

that goal than realizing the potential of the oil sands, " Energy

Secretary Samuel Bodman said during a visit last July. The benefits

may be great, but the toll on other natural resources is also

enormous. Separating petroleum from sand burns so much natural gas

that the enterprise is becoming the largest source of greenhouse gas

emissions growth in Canada. The oil sands lie within a major intact

ecosystem, the boreal forest covering almost a third of Canada's land

mass.

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-fg-oilsands8jul08,1,1618099.s\

tory?coll=la-n

ews-environment

 

18) On June 20, 2007, the Government of Canada extended the interim

protection for Edéhzhíe (the Horn Plateau) in the Northwest

Territories until October 31, 2008. Edéhzhíe, a vast 25,000 sq km area

of Boreal wilderness in the Mackenzie Valley, is rich in wildlife

including Boreal woodland caribou. It is also an important source of

water, and an area of great cultural importance to local First Nations

people. The extension will allow more time to complete the studies and

management plan needed to establish a National Wildlife Area to

protect the site. CPAWS welcomes this initiative by Environment

Minister John Baird, following up on his January 2007 commitment to

advance protected areas in the Northwest Territories. " We urge the

Government of Canada to move quickly to take further steps to protect

three other NWT sites that have also been long identified as requiring

protection -- the South Nahanni Watershed, the Ramparts wetlands, and

Thaydene Nene in the Akaitcho region of the NWT, " says CPAWS NWT

Executive Director Daryl Sexsmith. These are all areas that local

First Nations, CPAWS and other conservation organizations, and the

territorial and federal governments agree are important to protect

from industrial activity to conserve the NWT's delicate ecological

balance and honour First Nations cultural history. As a signatory to

the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework, CPAWS supports the goal of

protecting at least half of Canada's Boreal forest in a network of

parks and other protected areas, with carefully managed development

permitted only in the remainder. In the NWT, we are calling for

complementary regional networks of protected areas to serve as the

foundation for a sustainable environment that serves the long-term

interests of NWT residents and all Canadians.

http://cpaws.org/news/archive/2007/07/cpaws_welcomes_federal_step_to.php

 

19) The city is helping invest $36 million in a water treatment

facility in the coming years, but before they do, they're spending a

little cash to make absolutely certain the water's worth treating. In

association with the Western Newfoundland Model Forest, the city has

undertaken a process to develop a watershed management plan. Tina

Newbury, watershed management planner with Model Forest, is drafting

the document. She said a watershed management plan is a guiding

document about the use of the watersheds that feed the drinking water

system in the Corner Brook area. Newbury said the plan will likely

evolve over time, but will include several key components including a

characterization report which is an attempt to describe everything

about the watershed from the soil conditions, hydrology to current

uses. " We're looking to the public to help with the characterization

report, how they use the watershed, how many times per year for

different activities — dog walking, skiing, snowmobiling, ATV use, all

that's important — that'll make up a component of the characterization

report, " said Newbury.

" From this it will aid in the decision-making. The public attitudes

and values toward what kind of activities should be allowed in the

watershed, industry recreation and what have you, will help guide

decision making down the road when the city goes to implement the

plan. http://www.thewesternstar.com/index.cfm?pid=114

 

UK:

 

20) The technology, called lidar, bounces laser beams off the ground

from an aircraft 3,300ft (1,005m) above and records the minute

differences in time it takes for the light to return to build up a

three-dimensional picture of the landscape beneath the trees. The

system uses specially designed computer software to distinguish

between the laser light bouncing off leaves and the light bouncing

back from the ground. The technology dates back to the 1960s but it is

only in the past five years that it has been sufficiently well

developed to allow archaeologists to start mapping land covered by

forests. It is expected to reveal thousands of previously unknown or

unmapped ancient settlements, fortifications, farms and features in

Britain over the next decade. Lidar is a laser version of radar, and

was tried out at Welshbury in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire,

where an Iron Age hill fort was known to be hidden by trees. With the

trees stripped away by lidar, the embankments of the hill fort were

clearly defined. About 12 per cent of Britain is covered in woodland.

Lidar has the potential to uncover every archaeological feature still

hidden by trees and undergrowth. Three forest regions have been

surveyed so far with images from the 280 sq km (108 sq miles) of the

Forest of Dean and 42 sq km of Savernake Forest in Wiltshire complete

and the data from part of the Wyre Forest still being analysed.

Scientists from the Forestry Commission are leading the project in

partnership with the University of Cambridge, English Heritage and

local authorities. Peter Crow, of Forest Research, said that the

system had already revealed hundreds of archaeological features, many

of them previously unknown both in location and purpose.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2039647.ece

 

France:

 

21) A group of Greenpeace climbers are perched on top of a set of

cranes in the port of La Rochelle on the French Atlantic coast.

They've been there since Wednesday night and as well as admiring a

no-doubt magnificent view, they're also preventing a ship unloading

its cargo of timber which has come from the Democratic Republic of

Congo (DRC). The company logging the timber, Lebanese-owned Trans-M

(another snappy corporate name!), has been given titles spanning

746,000 hectares of the DRC forest but this is in breach of the

logging moratorium set up in 2002. Supposedly, no new contracts are to

be issued and existing ones aren't to be renewed or extended, but

somehow Trans-M have managed to set up shop and ship rainforest timber

back to Europe. The current blockade is only the latest action our

continental offices have taken to prevent Congolese timber coming into

the EU. Over the past few weeks, imports of DRC timber were stopped in

by volunteers in both Antwerp in Belgium (the link isn't in English,

but there is a subtitled video and a great slideshow) and Salerno in

Italy - it's demand for tropical timber in Europe and around the world

drive the destruction of the forest in Africa. After 45 hours on the

crane, the climbers have returned to Earth after being forced down.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/forests/congo-timber-ship-blocked-20070706

 

Greenland:

 

22) The purpose of the research was to see if it was possible to study

and date organic matter in ice cores, not to examine current theories

of global warming. But Sharp is aware that any discussion of past

climate change resonates in current debates. You can think about the

ice sheet as a natural freezer, " Sharp said. " It's picked up organic

material as it overrode the landscape when it was first forming and

then it's preserved it at low temperatures for apparently hundreds of

thousands of years. " Enough organic matter matter was found in that

10-centimetre-wide window on the past to date the ice to between

450,000 and 800,000 years old. Scientists also found enough residue to

isolate DNA preserved in those frozen bits and identify the organisms

it came from. The picture that emerged would have been familiar to

anyone walking today's northern forests. Spruce, pine, alder and yew

trees were all identified. Birch and aspen were also likely present.

So were with familiar plants like yarrow, chickweed, fescue grass and

saxifrage in " meadow-type communities " complete with butterflies,

moths, beetles, flies and spiders. July temperatures would have

averaged above 10 degrees Celsius; winter would have rarely dropped

below -17. This first peek under an ice sheet to examine the land

beneath has rearranged scientific understanding of Greenland's

climatic history. Models have suggested the island was ice-free as

recently as 116,000 years ago, which now seems unlikely given the age

of the DNA Sharp and his colleagues found.

http://canadaeast.com/ce2/docroot/article.php?articleID=24584

 

Ukraine:

 

23) " Ukraine has the best surviving riverine forests in Europe. The

forests are of high biological importance but are much threatened as

Ukraine develops, " a media release for WFN quoted Edward Whitley,

Founder and Chairman of the organization, as saying. " We owe it to

future generations to try to conserve these last great forests, and

Bohdan's work is leading to a greater balance between development and

habitat protection. " In addition to Ukraine, Prots has conducted

scientific research in several other countries, including Great

Britain, Austria, Germany and South Korea. He began a five-week pilot

study in the Transcarpathian wetlands in 1997 with his partner and

project leader, 57-year-old Dr. Anton Drescher, a conservation

ecologist at the Institute of Botany, Karl-Franzens University of Graz

in Austria. These initial expeditions uncovered several earlier

unexplored habitats in Transcarpathia and Ukraine, as well as a

species of orchid previously not known to exist in Ukraine. Prots

lacked funding to continue his work in the region until 2002, when the

WWF-UK, a global conservation organization, agreed to allocate funds

for the project. Heading a team of 25 specialists, including

botanists, zoologists, and soil experts, Prots conducted research from

2002 to 2006 on the Transcarpathian riverine forests and wetlands,

concluding that the habitats were some of the last and largest of

their kind and were home to hundreds of rare plants and animals. The

area researched by Prots has the largest ash-oak old-growth forests in

Central Europe, aged at between 150 to 250 years old, and its ash

trees are the biggest in the world, reaching heights of 46 meters and

153 centimeters in diameter. Prots dubs the forests " jungles " due to

the density and remarkable size of the trees. Riverine forests gain

their nutrients when the area's surrounding rivers flood, delivering a

rich mixture of nutrients to the trees and plants. With the abundant

water and nourishment supplied by the floods, the trees are able to

grow closely together, like those in jungles, without having to

compete with each other for nutrients. According to a WWF article from

April 2006 featuring Prot's work, riverine forests are the most

diverse of all European ecosystems, and also the most vulnerable, with

only a few highly threatened areas remaining on the continent, the

largest of which are in Transcarpathia.

http://www.kyivpost.com/nation/26903/

 

Guyana:

 

24) Exporting non-renewable forest logs is inherently flawed. First, a

given production level can be achieved at low or high costs. Second,

profits on the activity is not calculated where production occurs.

Third, tax-exempt status and absence of mechanisms for re-investment

in Guyana has not generated the required milling capacity. Full costs

of production, including the imputed cost of a tree, environmental

costs, internal forestry monitoring costs, and the costs of replanting

and replenishing depleted stocks of logs are not explicitly considered

under intra-company export-sales maximization. Guyana would have been

much higher on the development ladder if manufactured products were

exported rather than logs. Guyana needs economic transformation to

move it forward as an exporter of manufactured products from its

limited stock of hardwood and softwood. Indeed, new directions in

granting tax incentives must be charted soonest, with a focus on a

network of domestic manufacturing and forestry management capacity

development. Exporting logs is anti-development in terms of human

capital development and a network of sustainable inter-industry

development in Guyana-non-forestry products, tourism, and high valued

manufactured products. The alarm that Forest Products Association is

sounding had shifted Guyana's forestry sector into being a primary

producer since 1989. FPA clearly advocates using tree-cutting capacity

to export Guyana's limited supply of logs and wait until such time

that it has milling capacity to become a player in more lucrative

manufactured products markets. This is a costly delay for Guyana. New

investors or investments are needed now. Marketing logs cannot fulfil

development promises or plans.

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_letters?id=56523863

 

Ecuador:

 

25) Indigenous communities from Yasuni National Park, home to some of

the most biodiverse primary tropical rainforest on the planet, sent a

message to the world today pleading to save the park from devastation

by the oil industry. Lead by Ecuador's Vice President Lenin Moreno

Garces, nearly 100 people joined together to spell the words " Live

Yasuni " in the heart of this pristine National Park as a helicopter

carrying photographers hovered overhead. The images will be sent to

the world feed for the Live Earth event tomorrow (June 7, 2007,) a

series of televised concerts from cities around the world organised by

former US Vice President Al Gore to highlight the threat of global

warming. The Yasuni images form part of several Live Earth events

focusing attention on the plight of the Ecuadorian Amazon:

http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=3048

 

Brazil:

 

26) Mercifully, the roads we saw were all overgrown with several years

of undergrowth. Clearly the loggers are long gone, at least from this

area. Whether this is the result of effective government enforcement

action or simply because all of the most valuable trees have been

removed is open to question. As we moved down the river, Paulo, our

Juruna boatman, pointed out the locations of old Juruna villages,

including the place where he was born and spent his childhood. Two

centuries ago, this part of the river was the domain only of the

Juruna, a peaceful ethnic group who built their villages mainly on the

many islands. But they were constantly attacked and harassed by the

belligerent Kayapo, who hounded them upriver. When German ethnologist

Karl von den Steinen navigated the river in the 1880s, the Juruna

still held out. He traded with them for replacement canoes for his

expedition, and Juruna boatmen helped him with their incomparable

knowledge of the river. By the 1940s, when the government-sponsored

Roncador-Xingu expedition began to build contact with the Indians in

the area, the Juruna had been driven far upriver into Mato Grosso

State. Today, many Juruna live in the towns of Pará State, but there

still remain several traditional villages inside the Xingu Indigenous

Park, the largest of which is Tuba Tuba. We found the Juruna to be

very sympathetic and supportive, and they have a great sense of fun;

in Tuba Tuba, Sue danced with the women well into the night. The

Juruna want to return to their old areas, in what is today the Kayapo

reserve of Mekragnoti. Nowadays the ethnic groups have a more peaceful

relationship, and the Kayapo support the proposal. This would reunite

the diaspora of Juruna spread out over two states back in their

original home in Pará, removing them from the misery of life on the

fringes of the frontier towns and reinforcing and rebuilding the

strong traditional culture we witnessed in Tuba Tuba. With their

colourful festivals and clearly identifiable body paint and

decoration, the Juruna could become a symbol of Pará's integrity and

culture.

http://ipcst.wordpress.com/2007/07/04/jurunas-and-kayapos-22nd-june-2007/

 

China:

 

27) For the first time, scientists have used satellite images to

demonstrate a link between rapid city growth and rainfall patterns, as

well as to assess compliance with an international treaty to protect

wetlands. The results have been published in two studies co-authored

by Karen Seto, assistant professor of geological and environmental

sciences and a fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at

Stanford University. " The exciting thing is really for the first time,

using a time series of satellite images, we can monitor Earth in a way

that we haven't been able to, " Seto said. " It's not just about urban

growth or wetlands—it could be about desertification or

deforestation—but it's really just this issue of human modification of

the Earth. " In one study, published in the July online issue of the

journal Global Environmental Change, Seto and her colleagues showed

that inclusion in an international environmental agreement did not

significantly improve the health of a coastal mangrove habitat in a

wetland preserve in Vietnam. In the second study, published May 15 in

the Journal of Climate, the researchers found that rapid urban growth

has caused drier winters in the Pearl River Delta of China. Both

findings are based on an analysis of satellite images of Vietnam and

China, which NASA has been collecting through its Land Remote-Sensing

Satellite (Landsat) Program for more than 30 years.

http://www.stanford-b.com/blog/?p=42

 

Bhutan:

 

28) Haa dzongkhag, with its pristine forests has always been a source

of quality timber, particularly the blue pine. But there is widespread

suspicion of the existence of illegal felling and supply. The number

of sawmills in the dzongkhag shot up from one in the mid 1990s to 13

in 2006. Applications for eight more sawmill licenses await approval

of the forestry division. The existing of a huge number of the

sawmills and the urgency among residents to open even more were

indicative of the illegal practices in the district, according to Haa

dzongrab, Jamba Tsheten. There are no existing rules that give the

forestry division or the dzongkhag administration the authority to

limit the number of sawmills in a district. " The individuals put up

for licenses, the dzongkhag environment committee approves it after

which the application goes to the district forest officer and

ultimately to the environment commission, " said the dzongrab, adding

that the dzongkhag had no authority to check illegal timber felling or

transactions. According to dzongkhag and forestry officials, the rural

timber allotment, where timber is sold at a subsidised rate, was

exploited the most and constituted almost about 80 percent of timber

illegally used. The other form of illegal practice was cutting trees

in the early morning hours. Rural people are provided timber for

construction once in 25 years but the entire allotment was not always

fully used. So some amount of the rural allotment ended up in sawmills

sold at a rate higher than the subsidised rural rate. This was the

reason why the amount of sawn timber at sawmills were unrealistically

much more than the logs bought at the auctions would have produced.

Exploitation had reached a level where people from the same family

officially created separate thrams to be entitled to rural timber.

According to the forest range officer, Tshedar, rural timber in Haa

was sold at Nu. 50 a cubic feet (cft) while at the auctions the prices

shot up to over Nu. 200. This left the buyer with a high profit

margin, and the buyers were usually the sawmills, according to forest

officials. Sawmills also received illegal cut timber. " People have

power chains and there are roads, which were once used by forestry

development corporation limited, leading into the forests, " said

dzongrab Jamba Tsheten.

http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News & file=article & sid=8706

 

Vietnam:

 

29) Grey-shanked doucs are tree-dwelling colobine monkeys with orange

faces and tufts of whiskers. These primates face an uncertain future

due to hunting and habitat loss. A 2006 IUCN assessment determined

that 65 percent of Vietnam's primate taxa are Endangered or Critically

Endangered, making the country one of the highest global priorities

for primate conservation. A WWF survey team discovered the new douc

population while studying the region for possible future creation of a

new protected area. Tran Khanh Duong, who led the most recent surveys,

was trained through CI's Primate Conservation Training Course operated

in collaboration with Hanoi University of Science, the University of

Colorado-Boulder and the Frankfurt Zoological Society. He then

received a small grant and mentoring to run the surveys, showing the

impact on primate conservation and career development from such

training and funding programs. Tran Khanh Duong, trained through CI's

Primate Conservation Training Course, received a small grant and

mentoring to run the recent surveys, showing the impact on primate

conservation. " When I gave up economics to pursue my passion for

wildlife, I never dreamed that I would be able to make such an

impact. " Duong said. " I look forward to continuing my work at the site

to ensure that this population is protected. " The doucs are located in

the proposed " Central Quang Nam Species and Habitat Conservation

Area " , which the Quang Nam Forest Protection Department (FPD) hopes

will receive full legal protection by the Provincial People's

Committee. Establishment of this protected area will protect the

globally important population of grey-shanked doucs, along with a herd

of elephants that live in the lowland forests to the south. The

grey-shanked douc has only been recorded in the 5 Vietnamese provinces

of Quang Nam, Kon Tum, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, and Gia Lai. Less than

1,000 of these creatures are believed to still exist, and up to now,

only one other population with more than 100 animals was known.

http://www.fastlanetransport.ca/blog/rare-discovery-%E2%80%93-grey-shanked-douc-\

monkey/offbeat-

news

 

Philippines:

 

30) Tagbilaran City -- BOHOL's alienated settlers who have owned the

lands as their own since 45 million years ago now finds a wider home:

some additional 167 hectares of forest lands about to be declared

their sanctuary. Community and Environment Natural Resources Officer

Samuel Racho bared this during the weekly Kapihan sa PIA, a week after

the country formally closed the environment month celebration. The

planned protection zone declaration set to be launched July 12 was

long due and has been a Department of Environment and Natural

Resources priority since the Philippine Tarsier Conservation Project

took off, Racho said. He however said not until Congressman Edgar

Chatto interceded for the tarsier conservation did the funds for the

declaration get in. The declaration further expands the ranges of the

rare tarsius, one of the oldest surviving primates that have retained

its form since then. Endemic to the greater Mindanao faunal region

which encompasses the islands of Bohol, Samar, Leyte, Mindanao then

connected by the land bridges, the tarsier has since drastically

reduced its population because of poaching, intrusion of human

activity in their ranges and their critical adaptation to conditions.

An animal belonging to the primate family mammals is scientifically

called tarsius syrichta because of its elongated and well-developed

tarsals than can propel them about four meters away. " If these rare

endangered animals have been here for quite some time, it would be a

shameful thing if we lose them in our generation because of neglect, a

Boholano conservationist said upon learning of the news. The

conservation area declaration puts new interest into the otherwise

timberlands of Corella and Sevilla where a forest shared by four

barangays is identified. Tarsiers consider secondary forests as its

home. Racho named portions of barangays Canangcaan and Canapnapan of

Corella and Can-agong and Abucay Norte of Sevilla within the protected

area. http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12 & fi=p070706.htm & no=59 & r= & y= & mo=

 

New Zealand:

 

31) The US-based 'e-activist' network Ecological Internet has launched

a letter-writing campaign aimed at Greenpeace, asking them to withdraw

their support for FSC-certified 'ancient forest logging'. The campaign

demands that Greenpeace publishes a report on 'problematic' FSC

certificates, which is believed to have been under investigation by

the green group for many months. The new campaign is specifically

directed at Grant Rosoman, of Greenpeace New Zealand, who is asked to

resign as Chair of FSC's international Board. Greenpeace's forest

activists worldwide are also being targetted, and are likely to

received many thousands of protest e-mails. Ecological Internet's

Action Alert asks " What body of ecological science and experience does

Greenpeace have to support its stance? " of supporting FSC. " Critical

questions " such as this, it says " remain unanswered " . Ecological

Internet (EI) is one of the largest e-activist envionmental networks

worldwide, and is home to portals on a range of subjects, including

the Forest Conservation Portal, probably the most comprehensive source

of topical information on forests available on the internet.

http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2007/07/02/Greenpeace_attacked_for_supporting_\

FSC__call_for

__suppressed__report_to_be_published

 

32) A prediction that Gisborne would double in size in 10 years as the

forestry industry expanded was made yesterday by Eastland Wood Council

chief executive Peter Farley. This would be the only place in the

country that would happen, he told the Tairawhiti Development

Partnership and Minister of Transport Annette King. He urged the

Government to extend the regional development road funding programme

which was due to finish at the end of this financial year. The

forestry upsurge boom had been predicted for years and people were

sick of hearing about it. However, the long-predicted " wall of wood " (

not really a wall but a wave) was starting to arrive. One advantage

forestry had was that the harvesting dates could be postponed for

years if necessary. But that could not be done indefinitely or the

wood became too big for modern equipment to handle. In the current

difficult market conditions some people were harvesting wood that was

not economical in order to maintain the infrastructure for when more

major processing occurred. There were about 1700 people employed full

time in forestry now when the annual harvest was about one million

tonnes. That would rise to three million tonnes and the rise could not

be deferred much longer. Forestry would directly employ at least 4000

people in Gisborne and the demand for all services including things

such as schools would take off with consequent increases in employment

and population. Other sectors of the local economy, particularly

tourism and retirement would also contribute significant growth.

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article.asp?aid=10147 & iid=767 & sud=27

 

Malaysia:

 

33) Aliran is dumbfounded by Plantation Industries Minister Peter

Chin's assertion that tropical rainforests in Malaysia have not been

cleared to plant oil palm in the last 10 years. The Minister was

defending the plantation industry from allegations that plantations

destroy rainforests and wildlife habitat, increase greenhouse gas

emissions and lead to a loss in biodiversity. " I would like to

reiterate here that Malaysia is not destroying rainforests for palm

oil production, " he was reported as saying. This is patently false and

the Minister is obviously ill-informed or misinformed. We would like

to refer him to Sahabat Alam Malaysia's recent press statement. The

environmental group recently revealed that, between 1999 and 2002,

three huge plantation projects, largely located within the Bakun

catchment area, were approved by the Sarawak state government. The

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports for the projects,

covering an area of 320,000 hectares, were approved between 2000 and

2003, the group pointed out. Apart from this, we would like to ask the

Minister when the forest for the ASSAR (Amanah Saham Sarawak)

Plantation at Lg Urun was cleared for oil palm. This plantation has

only been in production since 2004, and there are substantial areas

that are still not yet fruit bearing. This means these areas couldn't

have been cleared more than ten years ago - unless the land was left

empty for around three to four years, which would have been very bad

plantation practice indeed. http://www.aliran.com/content/view/265/11/

 

Indonesia:

 

34) The last time an application was made to clear a part of mangrove

forest within a 150ha site, the trade-off was 35 times bigger. It was

for the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster development project in Lahad Datu

two years ago and the Forestry department approved it on condition

5,000ha of mangrove forest was gazetted as reserves by the government.

In revealing this, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said Sabah has

the most extensive coverage of mangroves at 341,000ha or 60 per cent

of the total in the country. Of the total, nearly 320,000ha have been

gazetted as mangrove reserves in the state, he said but stressed that

despite all the efforts there was a need to have greater public

involvement as partners in conservation. " The tsunami disaster that

hit the Southeast Asian region in December 2004, and the Solomon

Islands three months ago have created greater awareness and concerns.

" Mangroves were found to have minimised damages in such disasters and

it is pertinent for us to preserve or plant more for it to act as

natural buffer zones, " he said at the launch of the state-level

mangrove tree planting and other suitable species ceremony in

Meruntum, Lok Kawi here. Musa also launched a book entitled " Sabah's

Mangrove Forests " which was published by Forestry Department.

Meanwhile, state Forestry Department director Datuk Sam Mannan said

over the last 100 years, only about 10 per cent of Sabah's mangrove

forests had been cleared.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/National/20070706080620/Article/in\

dex_html

 

35) The government announced Friday a plan to rehabilitate 1.1 million

hectares of a 1.4 million-ha slab of land it now admits was badly

damaged as a result of a massive peatland project in Central

Kalimantan in the 1990s. " The peatland project was designed to convert

forested areas into paddy fields. Though it was not based on any

environmental study and has resulted in negative impacts on the

environment as well as the regional social structure, " the head of the

Center of Forestland Use at the Forestry Ministry, Dwi Sudharto, told

a media conference Friday. Between 1996 and 1997, the government

initiated the land conversion project by building 187 kilometers of

primary water channels, which connected two rivers in that area: the

Kahayan and Barito rivers. The project, which resulted in uncontrolled

forest fires, produced only 30,000 ha of paddy fields. The government

ended the project in 1999. Early this year, President Susilo Bambang

Yudhoyono issued a presidential instruction on the rehabilitation of

the area. The eight-point instruction orders 15 departmental and

regional offices to provide funds for the land reclamation and

reforestation project from the state budget, the regional budget and

other untied funding sources. " The peatland project has threatened

several species of rare plants, such as Ramin and Nyatoh, with

extinction, while the building of the primary water channel has

changed the local waterway system, " said Dwi. He added that logging

carried out to clear the peatland forest for rice planting activities

had decreased the ability of soil there to absorb water, which caused

flooding in the rainy season and fires in the dry season. The 1997

fire in Kalimantan, he said, contributed the highest quantity of

carbon ever witnessed anywhere in the world. The project also opened

the door for illegal logging in the region, he said.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/misc/PrinterFriendly.asp

 

World-wide:

 

36) An overwhelming majority of governments, including Norway, Sweden,

Germany and Indonesia expressed serious concerns about the risks of

large-scale production of biofuels to forests, ecosystems, indigenous

peoples and local communities at a meeting of a UN scientific advisory

body on biodiversity in Paris this week. Several governments called

for a precautionary approach to biofuels. A large number of NGOs and

Indigenous Peoples Organizations from around the world present at this

meeting also expressed their concerns and called for a profound

scientific assessment of the risks of biofuels and a moratorium on all

forms of financial support to biofuels pending the outcomes of this

assessment, based on the precautionary principle. " The island where I

live, Marajo island in the Amazon delta, is expected to drown in the

coming 30 years due to global warming, but the Brazilian government is

only pushing false solutions " , says Edna Maria da Costa e Silva of the

Cooperativa Ecologica das Mulheres Extractivistas do Marajo. " My

government [brazil] claims they support development, but they do not

support my community in producing sustainable bio-oils for local

consumption, they only support large-scale agrofuel production for

urban consumers. " she added. At the Paris meeting, Brazil blocked the

consensus of countries to develop a process to begin to address the

negative impacts of biofuels, which are already being felt in numerous

locations around the world. At the same time, Brazil's President Lula

is touring Europe to promote biofuels as a green solution to climate

change. " There is a clear strategy of the Brazilian government to

block any consideration of the social and environmental impacts of

agrofuels, as this may interfere with their commercial interests " ,

adds Mateus Trevisan of MST, the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement.

Trevisan continued, " They are only promoting large monocultures and

defending the interests of sugar cane companies and biotechnology

corporations like Syngenta, which has representatives on Brazil's

delegation here. This strategy is not going to benefit the Brazilian

people. " Orin Langelle langelle