218 - Earth's Tree News

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Today for you 35 new articles about earth's trees! (218th edition)

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

 

--British Columbia: 1) Ecosystem-based scamanagement and monumental cedars,

--Washington: 2) Weyco gets caught breaking the law again

--California: 3) Angora fire burned houses because of thinnings, 4)

Roseburg clearcuts,

--Montana: 5) Gallatin NF timber sale approved minus roads

--Northern Rockies: 6) White Pine grows Grizzlies,

--Colorado: 7) Bird Habitat prevents disease, which increases pine

growth by 1/3rd

--North Carolina: 8) only man, and modern biotechnology, can make super trees

--Maine: 9) North Woods and the Forest Ecology Network challenge Plum

Creek Timber

--USA: 10) public lands worth as much as Disneyland? 11) Voices for

Public Lands, 12) From Clearcutting to Camping, 13) inefficient

accounting of timber sales,

--Canada: 14) International Union of Forest Research Organizations

--UK: 15) Stump gardens, 16) clearing a forest for Metal tree to

promote green thinking,

--Hungary: 17) 8 million year old cypress tree unearthed

--Kenya: 18) Mapping and planting

--Malawi: 19) Deforestation

--Congo: 20) million acres to fall for Chinese oil palm plantation,

21) tribes use GPS,

--Ethiopia: 22) Tree planting stats

--Tanzania: 23) help us stop illegal logging, 24) Thuggishness in our

country, 25) Forest officers bullied by corrupt government leaders,

--India: 26) Planting 10 million trees in a single day

--South East Asia: 27) Economic development calls for forced removal

of indigenous,

--Thailand: 28) Army calls for crackdown on burgeoning illegal deforestation

--Philippines: 29) 25-year ban on all logging activities

--Sarawak: 30) Penan leaders get a tiny bit of official backing, 31)

Identifying key areas requiring " drastic improvement " for Penan,

--Indonesia: 32) Dayak tribes oftenset up blockades, 33) Huge

development for tourists,

--Australia: 34) you need a licensed for the water your plantation uses?

--World-wide: 35) Isoprene production from trees

 

British Columbia:

 

1) Lands Minister Pat Bell summoned reporters to his Victoria office

Tuesday to announce the next step forward in forest management in B.C.

" Ecosystem-based management, " is the name. Bell signed a ministerial

order imposing the ambitious new objectives on major forest operators

on the south-central coast. The affected area stretches from opposite

Port Hardy northward to Bella Coola, some two million hectares in all.

Or " three and a half Prince Edward Islands, " for those who, like the

minister, prefer to measure progress in ecosystem management in

equivalents of Canada's smallest province. The latest order follows on

last year's landmark Coastal Land-Use Decision, itself the result of

several years negotiations involving the province, coastal communities

and some high-powered environmentalists. But where that announcement

laid out broad preservationist goals for what environmentalists

persist in calling the Great Bear Rainforest, this one takes things

down to the finer detail of logging and land use plans for the

south-central part of the region. The order -- a dozen pages of

objectives, plus five schedules -- covers protection of riparian

zones, flood plains, fisheries watersheds, forested swamps, upland

streams and so forth. There are also procedures for protecting a red

list of 32 plant communities that are considered to be " rare or

threatened, " and a blue list of 44 that are of " special concern. " Plus

the ministerial order extends another kind of protection to

" monumental cedars, " those used by natives for totem poles and

ceremonial canoes. The objective being to " maintain a sufficient

volume and quantity of monumental cedar to support ... present and

future cultural use. " The working definition covers western red and

yellow cedars a metre in diametre or more. Given that it takes 180 to

230 years to grow trees to those dimensions, the stock is not easily

replenished. How many monumental trees are there? How many need to be

protected? Smith says native leaders are reluctant to be pinned down

on a number for protected trees. Their elders fear any limit would

open up pressures to log monumental cedars that were not protected.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=1e985f4d-de9a-4b07-a\

822-d6719b8d0144

 

Washington:

 

2) A federal judge Wednesday temporarily blocked Weyerhaeuser from

cutting trees on its own land in southwest Washington, saying state

logging rules weren't doing enough to protect threatened spotted owls.

The injunction appears to be the first time a judge has stopped timber

harvesting on private forest land in Washington because of the tiny,

skittish owls, which have declined sharply across the Northwest since

being protected by the Endangered Species Act in 1990. The ruling

effectively bans Weyerhaeuser from cutting trees on up to 56,000 acres

in four areas between Olympia and Portland, though a spokesman said

the company actually had planned to log only a small portion of those

lands. The decision stems from a lawsuit filed by Seattle Audubon

Society and the Washington Forest Law Center, an environmental firm.

The groups had complained for years that the state was allowing timber

companies to log forested areas deemed crucial to the owls' survival.

U.S. District Court Judge Marsha J. Pechman did not agree to the

groups' request that the state stop issuing logging permits anywhere

in the state in areas considered important for owls. But, said Peter

Goldman, director of the law center, " this opinion issues a very stern

warning to the state. The state should not draw comfort from this. "

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003817464_owls02m.html

 

 

California:

 

3) Today I visited the Angora fire which burned several hundred homes

by South Lake Tahoe a few months ago. I photographed many of the homes

that had burnt down. It was remarkable how many of them were burned to

the ground with live trees surrounding them or trees that were

scorched by the house fires not the crown fires. I also saw where

there had been fuel treatment--i.e. logging--to prevent the spread of

fires--but this did not protect the homes as expected. I'm finding

more and more evidence to suggest that thinning does not prevent the

spread of big fires under severe fire conditions. And since the

majority of all acreage burned annually occurs in the few big fires,

the policy of massive thinning as proposed by some in the Bush

Administration as the " solution " does not seem to work in practice. I

had a nice conservation with a " surviver " of the fires. His house

didn't burn at all, but his neighbors burned to the ground. He told me

his neighbor had firewood stacked all around the house--and it was

surface fires--small flames that burned most of the homes in this

fire. To read more about Angora fire go to FUSEE web site

http://www.fusee.blogspot.com/ below is one comment from the web site.

Also contrary to prevailing beliefs that fuels reduction treatments

stop wildfire spread, the Angora Fire spread through areas that the

Forest Service had completed fuels reduction projects within the last

six years--in some places, fuels treatments had been completed as

recently as three months ago. This point, too, cannot be overstated:

much of the flank where the Angora Fire entered into the residential

area, the wildfire had spread through a fuels treatment unit. There is

some evidence that the wildfire spread more rapidly as it burned

inside the fuels reduction units, mainly because the thinned areas

were more exposed to the sun and wind, and this increased mid-flame

wind speeds and rate of fire spread. wuerthner

 

 

4) Staff members of Roseburg Resources Co. gathered with residents of

Schulmeyer Gulch and members of the Chamber of Commerce on Sunday

morning for a tour of the Schulmeyer Gulch woods where logging

operations will begin in the next few years. " You have to look at how

they're doing and ask, 'Can we do better than that?' When many of

these trees are only growing a quarter of an inch in the last 10

years, we're a long way off from the healthy conditions we want. " Once

the logging is done and the brush is cleared away, foresters will go

back into the area and plant new trees from local seed - seed that has

been taken from the best existing trees and is used to reforest the

area. Pine, Douglas fir, white fir and incense cedar trees will be

replanted. Warshawer told tour participants that the cost of such

replanting could reach up to $500 an acre for preparing the site and

replanting. That shows, Duguay said, that Roseburg isn't just going in

and clearcutting everything without thinking of the financial

implications involved. " We have to look 10 or 20 years into the future

to see how we can best replenish the woods, " Arnie Hultgren, Roseburg

head forester, said. " It's a natural process that takes decades to pay

off, but it's worth the investment to us. " It is also important that

the company use existing infrastructure, Duguay explained. Old

bulldozer work is still present along roads and access points, and

those will be used to avoid constructing more than they need to, he

said. In order to be more efficient, feller buncher machines will be

used instead of bulldozers this time around as well. After the logs

are taken to the veneer mill, the treetops and small unmerchantable

trees will be taken to a power plant in order to reduce fuels,

Hultgren told participants on the tour.

http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/articles/2007/07/31/news/doc46af5879b8cef165905610.\

txt

 

Montana:

 

 

5) A federal judge on Monday said a plan to log up to 2,500 acres to

reduce forest fire dangers in the Gallatin National Forest can

proceed, but blocked the construction of any new logging roads across

prime grizzly bear habitat. A plaintiff in the case described the

mixed ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy as a " victory

for grizzly bears, " while a U.S. Forest Service ranger said the ruling

would affect only a small number of acres and not hamper the agency's

overall objective. The Forest Service's fuels reduction project south

of Big Timber is designed to slow major fires and give people a chance

to flee along the area's sole evacuation route. By removing stands of

fast-burning conifer trees and allowing less-flammable aspen to grow

in their place, the service hopes to reduce the intensity of future

fires within a corridor of recreation homes and campgrounds along the

main fork of the Boulder River. The agency was sued last year by the

Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council, which

claimed the plan violated rules to protect grizzly bears and other

wildlife. In his decision, Molloy agreed with the plaintiffs that

roads should not be built inside about 1,000 acres of the project that

are considered prime grizzly bear habitat. The judge rejected the

environmental groups' arguments to also stop logging in those areas.

Forest Service District Ranger Bill Avey said his agency was " real

happy " with the ruling. " The judge doesn't constrain us from anything

but the road building, " he said.

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/07/31/news/state/35-timber.txt

 

Northern Rockies:

 

6) Biologists including Tomback have known for only a few decades that

the high fat content of whitebark pine nuts helps grizzly bears fatten

up for winter's hibernation. The bears raid squirrel middens or caches

of stored whitebark pine nuts in the fall, adding on the layers of fat

that will get the bears through long winters, and improve the odds

that grizzly mothers will have successful pregnancies. Grizzlies are

attracted up into the high country, away from people, where the

whitebark pine dominates the timberline with its spreading canopies

and wind-battered trunks and limbs. Yet when whitebark pine nut crops

fail or do poorly, grizzlies tend to abandon the high country in

search of food. That means trouble for bears and people alikeIn and

around timberline, the whitebark pine would be replaced by

shade-tolerant conifers -- if fires didn't periodically remove the

conifers and give the whitebark pines an opening. Fire suppression in

the post-settlement era has meant fewer fires and thus fewer

opportunities for regeneration of whitebark pines. That means fewer

young whitebark pines and a majority of older, mature whitebark pines.

That sets the stage for problem No. 2: white pine blister rust, an

exotic species native to Eurasia and inadvertently introduced to

western North America in 1910 near Vancouver, British Columbia. The

blister rust attacks the family of five-needled white pines, Tomback

said, entering through the needle stomata, growing into branches and

stems, then erupting as spore-producing cankers that kill the branches

and end cone production. Blister rust can take up to a decade before

it kills a tree -- a slow-moving but relentless cataclysm. As the

fungal disease spreads south and east, it leaves behind " ghost "

forests, Tomback said -- stands of dead whitebark pine and mortality

rates of 90 percent or higher. Blister rust has already spread to

southern California, east through Idaho and Montana, south to Colorado

and Nevada. It is already present in the greater Yellowstone

ecosystem, Tomback said. A recent inventory says 25 percent of

whitebark pines in the Yellowstone ecosystem have rust. " It takes out

cone production first, " years before the tree dies, Tomback said.

Yellowstone grizzlies really don't have a high-calorie substitute for

the loss of whitebark pines to blister rust.

http://bulletins.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=bulletin.read & messageID=408176\

7858 & MyToken=f

beb4bd3-6e00-4bc8-9dd2-ba3e6fc650d7

 

Colorado:

 

7) Hanging upside-down to gobble insects from pine boughs, chickadees

and other birds do pine forests a great service - helping trees grow

faster. by as much as a third, according to a new study. Fewer aphids

and other sap-sucking bugs plague the trees when birds are around,

said Kailen Mooney, a doctoral graduate from the University of

Colorado at Boulder. When birds are excluded from branches, those bugs

thrive, he found. " It's that old saying, 'The enemy of your enemy is

your friend, " ' said Mooney, who will become an assistant pro fessor at

the University of California at Irvine this fall. " Birds are

beneficial to pines, " he said. " To see the forest, you need to look

beyond the trees. " A CU doctoral graduate says birds such as

chickadees, like the one show here, and nuthatches are " beneficial to

pines. " (Special to The Post / Bill Schmoker) For three years, Mooney

maintained net bags on the limbs of some ponderosa pines in an

experimental forest west of Colorado Springs. Chickadees, nuthatches

and warblers couldn't get a grip on the branches and tended to stay

away from those trees, he said. After three years, trees with birds

grew about a third more wood than nearby birdless trees and 18 percent

more " foliage, " or needle mass, Mooney reported in the latest issue of

the journal Ecology. The study is the first to report indirect effects

of birds on trees in Western pine forests, Mooney said. The trees

weren't infected with pine beetles, he said. The findings - that birds

such as chickadees and nuthatches help trees grow - should be

considered by anyone worried about the health of Colorado's forests,

Mooney said. http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_6511918

 

North Carolina:

 

8) It may be that only God can make a tree. But only man, and modern

biotechnology, can make super trees - trees that have been genetically

engineered to grow faster, produce more wood on less land, thrive in

unfamiliar climates and be processed more easily into wood or paper

once they are cut down. Super trees are the business of ArborGen

http://www.arborgen.com/ , a South Carolina company that says

improving the genetic makeup of purpose-grown trees - that is, trees

grown for paper, wood or biofuels - will help conserve " native forests

in all their diversity and complexity for future generations. " Yes,

ArborGen, like so many companies today, is painting itself green -

although it has run into a buzzsaw of criticism from the likes of the

Sierra Club. " Genetically engineered trees pose unpredictable and

unnecessary threats to the environment, biodiversity and human

health, " says the Stop GE Trees Campaign http://www.stopgetrees.org/ ,

an alliance of environmental groups which is based in the village of

Hinesburg, Vermont. We'll hear from the, er, tree-huggers, in a minute

but first a bit about ArborGen. Formed in 2000, ArborGen is a joint

venture of three forest products companies, International Paper

http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=IP & source=story_quote_link

, MeadWestvaco

http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=MWV & source=story_quote_link

, and New Zealand-based Rubicon. http://www.globaljusticeecology.org

 

Maine:

 

9) Two conservation groups opposed to a massive development in the

Moosehead Lake region filed a motion Friday with the Land Use

Regulation Commission seeking to have the developer's zoning petition

dismissed. LURC, which serves as the planning and zoning agency for

the state's unorganized areas, lacks the legal authority to approve

Plum Creek Timber Co.'s " concept plan " for its land in the Moosehead

Lake area, according to Restore: The North Woods and the Forest

Ecology Network. The groups said LURC can't approve a plan that will

prevent anybody -- LURC, the Legislature or the citizen-initiative

process -- from changing it over the 30-year life of the plan. The

motion is the latest turn in Plum Creek's proposal to create Maine's

largest subdivision. For the development, the company is seeking a

zoning change on 420,000 acres in the Moosehead region as part of a

30-year plan to develop nearly 1,000 house lots and two resorts. Jym

St. Pierre, director of Restore: The North Woods, said his group and

the Forest Ecology Network asked two attorneys to analyze LURC's legal

power in approving the plan. Their conclusion, he said, was that LURC

doesn't have the authority to grant a landowner a 30-year exemption

from zoning changes. Under the current proposal, the zoning of the

land couldn't be changed for three decades without approval from both

LURC and Plum Creek, he said. " Unless and until LURC has clear

legislative authorization to give away its ability to make zoning

changes that may be necessary over the next three decades, the Land

Use Regulation Commission should immediately stop processing Plum

Creek's rezoning petition, " St. Pierre said. Luke Muzzy of Plum Creek

said Friday that the company is simply following a process established

by LURC. There have been several other concept plans in the 20- to

30-year range that have been approved by LURC since the 1980s, he

said. http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=123557 & ac=PHbiz

 

USA:

 

10) " Isn't a day on public lands worth as much as a day at

Disneyland? " The comparison is false and the question does not deserve

a response. One can not, and must not, equate nature with artifice. It

is wrong to price nature using artifice as a comparative reference

point and yet this has all but become the accepted norm. For the mass

market to which the recreation industry has pitched it's message, the

Disneyland comparison has raw nature coming up short. Nature needs to

be improved upon, experiences need to be packaged and adventure needs

to be made predictable if this Nature-Disneyland comparison is to hold

true. In other words, Nature must be Disneyfied. When reading the

appended article about Balacci's new " Take It Outside " initiative,

please remember that there is no such thing as " Nature Deficit

Disorder " . NDD is an idea put forth by not by a psychologist or

qualified medical professional, but by a newspaper reporter, Richard

Louv. It was recreation industry that successfully transformed the NDD

idea and Mr. Louv himself into their self-serving public relations

campaign. Perhaps this quote from the appended article will help

explain why this was so. The hyping of the recreation industry's

Richard Louv (Brand) - Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD) campaign has

taken an interesting twist with Maine Governor John Baldacci recently

announcing: " We don't have to fly to Disneyland. We have Disneyland

all around us. " That statement is obviously false but it is a concept

we hear with growing frequency. The recreation and tourism industry

leaders who dictate public lands recreation policy and who have long

been engaged in the 'Corporate Takeover of Nature and the

Disneyfication of the Wild', find it beneficial to equate nature with

artifice.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2007/08/01/olympic_gold_medalist\

s_governor_te

ll_mainers_take_it_outside/

http://www.wildwilderness.org

 

 

11) A new national coalition of conservation and sporting groups is

forming called Voices for Public Lands (VPL). Wilderness Watch is one

of five groups that originated the idea to create VPL. All member

groups are encouraged and welcome to actively participate in the

coalition, as described below. The inspiration and foundation of VPL

is a Declaration of Principles for Public Lands. VPL's goal is to

support and strengthen the conservation communities' efforts across

the nation by offering a coalition name that member groups can draw

upon to show there is broad national support for their own local or

regional efforts, and also to demonstrate broad support for good

legislation and policies at the national level. I hope you will take a

moment to review the announcement below and consider signing your

group on as a member of Voices for Public Lands! This is a positive

and promising opportunity to lend many voices of support to both local

and national public land conservation efforts around the country!

Please let me know if I can answer any questions.

http://www.voicesforpubliclands.org

 

12) " The New Economy of the West: From Clearcutting to Camping, " shows

that increasingly, western communities depend on public lands for

jobs, economic growth, and vitality. Some key findings in the report:

1) One in twenty Americans rely in some manner on outdoor recreation

to make a living, 2) In 2006, outdoor recreation in the West generated

$61 billion and 617,186 new jobs 3) Communities that are closest to

federally-protected public lands show the strongest economic growth

Despite their importance to the regional and national economy, today,

western public lands face threats from many fronts. Oil and gas

drilling, runaway logging, and global warming all jeopardize the

future of recreation in the West, and the long-term economic benefits

that accompany it. Oil drilling, for example, fragments wildlife

habitat and destroys hunting opportunities. By and large, the report

shows, the oil industry imports highly-skilled workers from other

parts of the country, employing few local workers. Oil companies also

turn to counties to fund services like road repairs and waste

disposal, while doing little to boost jobs and income locally.

Meanwhile, recreation and tourism provide a long-term, locally-based

source of jobs and income. In Colorado's Roan Plateau, hunting alone

generates nearly $4 million a year. " Public lands drive the

tourist-based economies in our western states. If we protect special

places like Colorado's Roan Plateau and New Mexico's Valle Vidal,

they'll provide a source of income and enjoyment for generations to

come, " Murphy said. " The heart of America's wild legacy lies in the

forests, mountains and deserts of the West. Unchecked logging, oil

drilling and mining no longer have a place on our last remaining wild

lands. We have a choice to make, between treating our public lands as

a giveaway to special interests, or as a gift to our children and

grandchildren. "

http://www.sierraclub.org/wildlegacy/downloads/2007publicwildlandsreport.pdf

 

13) A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study released today

shows that the Forest Service's current accounting system is not

providing its field managers the data needed to properly manage timber

sales, Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) announced

today. Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and

Bingaman, who chairs Senate Energy, jointly requested the report.

" This study shows clear mismanagement at the Forest Service, " Harkin

said. " The inefficient accounting methods currently being used give us

no way to track and audit individual timber sales. This puts forest

managers in a tough situation when trying to figure out where they

need to allocate resources and is particularly concerning given the

difficult budget constraints on the federal government and the

important national forest health challenges that have arisen in recent

years. I will continue to work with Sen. Bingaman on legislation to

address this problem. " " Like in so many other cases, this

Administration has obfuscated the true costs of its policies, and once

again, the result is poor management, unintended consequences, missed

opportunities and wasted tax dollars, " Bingaman added. " I intend to

address this long-running problem legislatively in hopes of correcting

it once and for all. " Without critical cost information, managers

" cannot compare actual expenditures on sales with planned

expenditures, identify potential inefficiencies across sales, or

identify resources available for redirection to another sale if

needed. " Managers also have found such information critical to provide

information on timber sales to the timber industry, Congressional

requesters and the general public. (GAO-07-764) is available on the

GAO website.

 

Canada:

 

14) Sault Ste. Marie is hosting arguably the largest concentration of

accumulated forestry knowledge in the world this week. Nearly 100

scientists and researchers have gathered for a twice-a-decade

conference to look at ways of improving forest management.

Specifically, the International Union of Forest Research Organizations

is looking at the practice of managing " complex stands, " forests that

are as much as possible left with a variety of different tree species

and ages in an effort to maintain sustainability. " Years ago, they

never would have done that. " The " slow " shift over the last two

decades or so in Canada is partly due to public pressure and partly to

technological advances that no longer require clear-cutting, said

Newton, a research scientist at Natural Resources Canada's Great Lakes

Forestry Centre here. " Volume and economics are being complemented

more by managing for other values that the public demanded, like

scenic values and biodiversity. " Non-forest products in the boreal

forest, such as mushrooms and the cancer-fighting paclitaxel compound

found in the yew plants, are also becomingly increasingly recognized,

he said. Although the practice maintains biodiversity of plant and

wildlife, it also " complicates our life " in mathematically creating

models for forest managers to use, he added.

http://www.saultstar.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=634048 & catname=L\

ocal%20news & cl

assif=

 

UK:

 

15) Stump gardens, or stumperies, gained popularity in the Great

Britain during the Victorian Age. It seems the popularity of these

gardens is once again on the rise. A stumpery consists of a number of

stumps of various sizes (roots included), in various stages of decay,

often turned upside down, or sideways, and arranged and planted in a

way that mimics a natural forest setting. A stump garden can be

created on even the smallest scale, with just one or two stumps.

Stumps with roots intact are best, and the more gnarly, the better.

Arrange the stumps in a well-shaded corner, add soil, a dash of moss,

a sprinkling of woodland flowers, a few well-placed boulders and a

heaping helping of ferns, and you have a recipe for a magical element

or centerpiece in the garden. Another twist on using large root-laden

stumps is to invert them, partially bury them in the ground for

stability, and then dress the exposed roots with moss and hanging

planters.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070728/NEWS01/707280302\

/-1/NEWS

 

16) As a symbol of a council's green credentials, a tree, no doubt,

seemed the natural choice. But plans approved for a 21 ft tall metal

sculpture version, surrounded by floodlights in cleared woodland, have

left local taxpayers less convinced. The creation, called Tree

Stories, is part of a £12 million " Greening for Growth " initiative to

improve the environment of Stoke-on-Trent. But angry locals have

likened it to the Blackpool Illuminations. " The council tells us how

to cut our energy use - then they do something like this, " said Donald

Pass, who lives near Forest Park, where the metal tree is to be

erected. " They talk green but fail to practise what they preach. " A

spokesman for the council said the extensive lighting was necessary to

ensure visitors to the park did not walk into the sculpture. " This

fabulous sculpture and plaza will make for a stunning entrance into a

great park full of facilities, which will benefit everyone, " the

spokesman insisted. In all, 20 trees will be removed to make way for

Tree Stories. The council said it planned to plant more elsewhere in

the park. The Sunday Telegraph reported earlier this month that local

authorities were spending more than £100 million a year to hire 3,500

" carbon-reduction advisers " and other workers charged with combating

climate change.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/29/nstoke129.xml

 

Hungary:

 

17) Hungarian scientists said Tuesday that they have discovered a

group of fossilized swamp cypress trees preserved from eight million

years ago that could provide clues about the climate of pre-historic

times. Instead of petrifying – turning to stone – the wood of 16

Taxodium trees was preserved in an open-cast coal mine that is now

allowing geologists to study samples as if they were sections cut from

a piece of living wood. " The importance of the findings is that so

many trees got preserved in their original position in one place, "

Alfred Dulai, geologist at the Hungarian Natural History Museum said.

" But the real rarity about these trees is that ... their original wood

got preserved ... they did not turn into stone. " The trees, which

stand four to six metres tall and 1.5 to 3 metres in diameter, were

found when miners started to remove a deep layer of sand at a mine in

the north-eastern village of Bukkabrany to get at deposits of lignite.

The trees date back to the late Miocene geological period at a time

when the Carpathian basin – present day Hungary – was a freshwater

lake surrounded by swamps. The trees were found on top of the lignite,

capturing one of the last moments of these swamps, Mr. Dulai said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070731.wfosstrees0731/BNSto\

ry/Science/home

 

Kenya:

 

18) GIS expert Peter Ndunda, is currently running a mapping program

with the nongovernmental Green Belt Movement in the Mount Kenya and

Aberdares forests. He told SciDev.Net that his project has mapped

these regions to determine loss in forest cover over time. " Having

identified forested and non-forested areas, we have mapped out areas

that need urgent intervention. With support from local communities, we

have planted trees which we are monitoring using high-resolution

images to determine their survival, " he said. According to Ndunda, the

project has resulted in increased forest cover, improved soil quality

and better management of water resources. Planting trees in higher

ground, from which water flows down to rivers, helps stabilise the

local climate and regulate water flows. He added that by

rehabilitating the forests, ecosystems have been preserved. And

involving local communities in forest management has provided them

with an income, along with education in the sustainable use of

watersheds. Ndunda says the project will soon be extended to the

Cherengany, Mau and Mount Elgon forests in Kenya, as well as to the

Congo Basin forest. Forest communities themselves are also using

technology to monitor their forest. In anticipation of payments under

the Clean Development Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol, communities

near the Aberdares and Mount Kenya forests are assessing the number,

species and width of trees, along with the amount of canopy cover, to

determine the amount of carbon sequestered.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200707270851.html

 

Malawi:

 

19) " Deforestation threatens ecological stability and food production

in Malawi " and the solution reduces Global warming Life in rural

Malawi depends on trees. Almost 100% of their total energy use is

supplied by trees. Sometimes they use a little paraffin for lighting.

Therefore firewood is the number one priority use for trees.

Unsustainable harvesting has contributed to severe deforestation,

which causes environmental degradation and often desertification,

destroying wildlife and habitats. For the people living in these

areas, deforestation results in hunger, thirst and fuel shortages. The

increased soil erosion and reduced retention of rainwater seriously

damage subsistence farmers' ability to grow enough food to eat and to

sustain their livelihoods. And lack of firewood affects people's

health and nutrition because of the cost of cooking food.

If managed in a sustainable fashion, trees can provide long-term

environmental and economic benefits for those willing grow them. Trees

absorb carbon dioxide, fertilise soil, prevent erosion, and help to

absorb rainwater, whilst at the same time providing fuel, food,

fodder, compost, building materials and even medicines from their

wood, leaves and fruit. t is possible to reverse the trend towards

deforestation. The communities working with Wells for Zoe are doing

this work already. Last year they planted 20,000 trees and we have

great plans for the future.

http://wellsforzoe.wordpress.com/2007/07/29/trees-can-do-it/

 

Congo

 

20) To some it may sound like the ultimate nightmare, others see a

great sign of hope: a Chinese company, ZTE International, is to invest

US$1 billion in an immense 3 million hectare oil palm plantation in

the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with the aim to produce

biofuels. The vast Central-African country formerly known as Zaire is

a potential bioenergy 'superpower' which could supply a large part of

the world's fuel needs. But it faces some hard choices. Congo is home

to the world's second largest undisturbed tropical rainforest, an

invaluable hotspot of biodiversity and carbon sink that is

increasingly under pressure from (illegal) logging operations. A rush

into the biofuel sector could threaten these ecosystems further. On

the other hand, if managed carefully, the biofuels opportunity could

help lift the Congolese people - who rank amongst the poorest in the

world - out of dire poverty and revive the DRC's economy. Last year,

with the aid of the international community, the country held its

first democratic elections since independence in 1960, bringing Joseph

Kabila to power. In the east of the country, the war over mineral

resources rages on, despite the presence of a large UN peace keeping

force. Congo is only slowly waking up from the nightmare it

experienced over the past decades. Everything has to be rebuild, from

the state apparatus and the economy to social and health services,

from schools and hospitals to roads and railroads. In this immense

country the size of Western Europe there are only 300 kilometres of

paved roads...

http://biopact.com/2007/07/dr-congo-chinese-company-to-invest-1.html

 

21) Before 2006, the Mbendjele people had no say in logging activities

in their part of the forest, and commercial loggers often cut down

trees of significance, for example ones used for caterpillar

gathering. But consumers in the developed world are increasingly

demanding that their wood is harvested in a socially responsible way,

which means logging companies must engage with local people. So the

logging company in the Mbendjele region, Congolaise Industrielle des

Bois, started a project to help the Mbendjele map the forest using

global positioning systems (GPS). The Mbendjele used a GPS-linked,

palm-pilot-style device to record the significance of different areas,

for instance, areas used for hunting, gathering, social and religious

gatherings and farming. Since mapping began in June 2006, the logging

company says it has mapped this year's logging area in a third of the

time it would take with traditional mapping. They have pledged to

respect the Mbendjele's trees, and say they can do so without harming

their profit margins. The pygmies have been busy with new technology

in other ways too. They've set up a community radio station, called

'Bisso na Bisso' ('Beween us' in the Lingala language), giving them a

voice and access to information on planned logging.

http://www.scidev.net/gateways/index.cfm?fuseaction=readitem & rgwid=4 & item=Featur\

es & itemid=636 & l

anguage=1

 

Ethiopia:

 

22) The National Millennium Council disclosed on Sunday that it has so

far planted about 460 million indigenous trees through out the

country, 400 million more than it planed to.The council had originally

planed to plant 60 million trees until the end of June. But with

active the active participation of the people in the campaign, this

remarkable achievement was made possible, has been obtained, Seyoum

Bereded, director of the National Millennium council said speaking at

the Addis Ababa Millennium Secretariat board meeting held at the

Municipality, Regional wise, Amhara planted 213 million, the highest

number of trees planted followed by Oromia, which planted 196 million

trees. Southern Nations Nationals and Peoples planted 22 million trees

and Tigray 20 million trees; according to the director. " Unless the

act of cutting trees is blocked, the problem of deforestation couldn't

be solved. Alternative sources for fuel and construction have to be

considered parallel to the plantation activity. Houses shouldn't be

constructed with woods, " stressed the Mayor. The biggest threat of

deforestation doesn't come from the ordinary fire wood carriers seen

in Addis; it comes from Investors engaged in construction and

household manufacturing activities, according to the Mayor. The Addis

Ababa Millennium Secretariat on its part has assessed its past five

months of report and discussed on its future strategies with members

of the Millennium board.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200707310519.html

 

Tanzania:

 

23) The Tanzanian Revenue Authority is to send a team of experts to

" beneficiary " countries China, India, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates

and Singapore to solicit their co-operation in stopping illegal

logging. A recent report by Traffic International says that Tanzania

that loses an estimated $58 million annually in timber revenue due to

poor governance and rampant corruption in the forestry sector. TRA for Taxpayer Services and Education Protas Mmanda told The

EastAfrican that the Authority's Commissioner General would lead the

team of experts to the countries to work.The report, Forestry,

governance and national development: Lessons learned from a logging

boom in southern Tanzania, documented alarming levels of corruption,

illegal logging and exports of forest products from Tanzania.

According to the report, in 2004 and 2005, timber royalty losses

amounted to $58 million per year. Up to 96 per cent of potential

timber royalties were lost by central and district governments due to

under-collection — entire district council budgets could have been

increased several times over. On the other hand, China, for example,

imported 10 times more timber from Tanzania than is recorded, implying

a 90 per cent loss of revenue from this source. " It's a national

tragedy, " said Traffic's executive director, Steven Broad, during the

launch of the report. We're now in a situation where the Tanzanian

forestry sector is deeply dependent upon donor funding despite having

the potential to be self-sufficient from timber revenues. "

http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/news30070710.htm

 

24) There is a kind of thuggishness and criminality in our country

which politicians explain away as the veneer of 'peace and

tranquillity'. Amani na utulivu. It isn't. It is just plain crime.

Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Jumanne 'Jimmy' Maghembe said

recently in the Tanzania's (not there) capital of Dodoma that he has

received a list of business people involved in illegal logging. Jimmy

said he could not touch some of those on the list because " they were

presidential appointees " Just like himself. The thugs in suits are in

his ministry and in the forest department. Don't know how we, the

wananchi, should read that. Are we being told that if you are

appointed by the prez, then you are above the law? Because if that is

the case, I want to weep for my beloved United Republic of Bongo. The

prez appoints nearly everybody, ambassadors, regional commissioners,

district commissioner and even district goat herders. That is just too

much power to bestow on one man. There hardly are any checks and

balances in our country. Look, we have to grow up, as a country. When

people are bullied, sooner or later they will rebel. It is natural. If

someone pushes you to the wall, you shout a 'Banzai!' And there is no

way backwards. Jimmy implied that those thugs in suits will not be

touched. But if a group of officials in his ministry, in cahoots with

so-called businessmen, rape our country are we to keep quiet? Felling

logs illegally is tantamount to raping our country. Are we to keep

quiet because they are presidential appointees? Remember a country is

an extension of the mother. That is why most societies will die for

their motherland. Now we see that there are people who will sell their

own mothers to get money. They are pimping our country! They are

prostituting our country!

http://www.dailynews-tsn.com/page.php?id=7938

 

25) Fear of being mistreated like one of their colleagues, has

rendered forest officers in Kasulu, Kigoma Region fail to fight tree

felling done by villagers and refugees, The Guardian has learnt.

Speaking at a workshop on energy mainstreaming last week, Kasulu

District Commissioner Saidi Bwanamdogo said there had been no reported

cases of deforestation for disciplinary actions ever since the

transfer of the former Jovin forest officer, Sapora. He explained:

`Councillors ordered Sapora`s transfer to the DCs office recently

where he was assigned normal duties because he was against the illegal

cutting of trees and the burning bushes.` Saidi narrated that

villagers were promised by the constituency`s Parliamentarian that

whoever voted for him would be permitted to use the reserved forests,

adding that the promise made the villagers to be defiant in accusing

Sapora that he was taking bribe. `I am against the transfer of Sapora

because he was determined in his work. He was also confident and a

couple of cases were being reported. However, the remaining officers

in the field are afraid of loosing their jobs,` said the DC. The DC

also accused the councillors of not consulting him whenever they make

sensitive decisions that affected the people in the district. The

District Forest Officer, Ahmed Sadik said that Sapora`s transfer had

affected the whole programme to end deforestation in the area. `The

situation is getting worse by the day,` lamented the DC. The United

Nations Development Programme Representative, Bariki Kaale criticized

the move saying: `Experts are trained to work accordingly to ensure

that forests are not damaged.` He expressed his dismay to hear that

forest officers were barred without any proper reason,` said Kaale. At

least 46 per cent of the said forests has been destroyed through

deforestation and the burning of bushes causing the area to turn into

a desert. http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2007/07/27/95234.html

 

India:

 

26) India's most populous state planted more than 10 million trees in

a single day Tuesday as part of an environmental awareness drive,

authorities said. Farmers and students were mobilised to plant the

record number of trees across the northern state of Uttar Pradesh,

home to 160 million people. " In fact, we have overshot the target, "

said state forestry chief V.N. Garg in the capital Lucknow, who said

the final figure was still being calculated. " Our target of planting

ten million trees was overshot because of the overwhelming response we

received. " Less than a tenth of the state's landmass is under forest

cover, compared to the national average of 23 percent. Garg said

thousands of farmers and students planted 60 percent of the trees,

with the Uttar Pradesh forestry department accounting for the rest.

India's record was previously held by the southern state of Tamil

Nadu, where more than 850,000 trees were planted in one day in 2006.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Indian_state_plants_10_million_tree_07312007.html

 

South East Asia:

27) The governments of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have embarked on a

massive economic development project in the vast region (triangle

area) of their countries. The " master plan " was adopted in agreements

reached between the Prime Ministers of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia at

their 3rd summit in 2004 and ratified by the three countries on 28

November 2004. The triangle area encompasses over a hundred thousand

square miles in the region bordering these three countries and has

already resulted in deforestation and the forced removal of indigenous

Degar Montagnards from their ancestral lands. Endemic levels of

corruption exist at every level of government in these three countries

and environmental exploitation and land rights exploitation has

negatively affected the indigenous peoples throughout the region.

Deforestation is continuing at unprecedented levels in Cambodia and

Laos as these countries turn a blind eye to illegal logging,

permitting officials at the highest levels of government to reap

massive profits from deforestation. Global Witness has directly

implicated the Cambodia government in this abuse of power in a 95 page

report.

http://johnibii.wordpress.com/2007/07/28/triangle-of-deathvietnam-laos-cambodia-\

from-the-democr

acy-project/ See: Global Witness report.

http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/546/en/cambodias_family_tr\

ees

 

Thailand:

 

28) The Third Army has announced a crackdown on burgeoning illegal

deforestation activities in northern forests. Third Army commander

Lt-Gen Jiradet Khotcharat said he is determined to take action against

local influential figures behind the forest encroachment. Buildings

would also be cleared and equipment seized. He referred in particular

to areas in the Sopkok forest reserve in Chiang Saen district. The

abused area would be restored under royally-initiated projects on

forest management for sustainable development. Lt-Gen Jiradet said the

operation would not affect local people who have occupied the area for

a long time. Instead, they were being encouraged to make appropriate

use of forest land, abandoning the slash-and-burn agriculture of their

forebears. Statistics released by the Forest Department Department

show the total area under forest in17 northern provinces had decreased

from 56.75% in 2000 to 54.3% in 2004 and is now below 50% of original

forest land. Lt-Gen Jiradet is to inspect 918 rai of encroached land

in Sopkok forest reserve in Chiang Saen district tomorrow. Witoon

Rermvirat, chief of the 15th forestry office, said the areas will be

reforested with valuable trees such as teak and Malabar ironwood under

the supervision of the Forestry Department. A highly-placed source

blamed businessmen from the South for the forest clearing, saying they

wanted to use the area for palm and rubber plantations. A close aide

to a former MP in the Chiang Saen-Mae Sai area had a hand in the land

encroachment and had sold the land to southern businessmen, the source

said. http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=81199

 

Philippines:

 

29) Sen. Loren Legarda on Monday urged Malacañang to certify a bill

seeking to declare a 25-year ban on all logging activities. " This is

definitely the right thing to do. The Palace should certify the bill

so that it will be passed instantly, " Legarda said. Legarda's call

came shortly after the National Water Resources Board announced a

cutback in Metro Manila's water supply from the Angat Dam. Angat

provides water to Metro Manila via the La Mesa Dam reservoir. Angat's

water hoard has plunged to a critically low level due to a persistent

dry spell. The drought has been aggravated by the unchecked

destruction of forest, including those around Ipo Dam, which is part

of the 62,309-hectare Angat watershed. Legarda and Senate Minority

Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. have filed separate bills seeking to

completely forbid all logging activities nationwide while denuded

areas are being reforested. The log ban bill has been pending for more

than 16 years now -- since 1990 -- when it was first introduced by

then Sen. Orlando Mercado. " Since then, we reckon the country has lost

about 2.4 million hectares of virgin and second-growth forest cover,

at an annual rate of 150,000 hectares, or a monthly rate of 12,500

hectares, " Legarda lamented. The estimated 2.4 million hectares of

lost forest cover since 1990 is equal to 1.6 times the size of Metro

Manila, which has a land area of about 1.49 million hectares, she

added. Unless a total ban on the cutting of trees is imposed, Legarda

warned that any gains achieved by aggressive reforestation projects

" are bound to be reversed. "

http://www.bayanihan.org/html/article.php/20070730114557003

 

Sarawak:

 

30) Earlier this year, as police firing shots in the air tore down the

latest blockades of bamboo tied with grass, Penan leaders said if the

loggers were not stopped their jungle would be entirely destroyed

within two years. Now at last they have received some official

backing. " Claims made by Penans on ancestral land are often not

considered by the relevant authorities and those who clear the forest

areas and commence logging and oil palm activities, " said the report,

recommending that the land code be reviewed to include customary

rights. It may already be too late. The rainforests of Sarawak are

millions of years old, but have been decimated by the Malaysian

logging companies which, campaigners say, have felled trees at a

faster rate than anywhere else in the world. According to the British

charity Survival, the rights of the Penan over the land are " openly

violated. " The ancient inhabitants of the jungle live by a gentle code

that astonishes outsiders. Because sharing is habitual, there is no

word for " thank you. " Anthropologists recorded that anger is so rare

among the Penan that 40 years after two women argued over an incident

of adultery the location was still known as " the house of hair

pulling. " When the loggers came the rivers the Penan relied on for

fish were polluted, while the wild animals and plants that provide

their unique diet and the poisonous latex for the tips of their darts

became scarce. Now, however, there is a new pressure on their

environment. http://www.care2.com/news/member/515058467/438677

 

31) A fact-finding mission of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia

(Suhakam) has identified seven key areas requiring " drastic

improvement " by the government to uplift the life of the nomadic Penan

community in Sarawak to be on par with that of the other communities

in the country. Suhakam said in a statement here Thursday the mission

gathered its information in Long Singu and Long Jaik in Ulu Belaga

following complaints by Penan chiefs Alung Ju (Long Singu) and Matu

Tugang (Long Jaik) on July 26 last year pertaining to logging, oil

palm plantation and reafforestation in their areas. On land rights,

Suhakam claimed that the Sarawak Land Code 1958 has no provision on

the right of the Penan community to land ownership, and as such

recommended that the legislation be amended to take into consideration

the Penan's unique way of establishing land ownership and stewardship.

It said sections 5(2) and 5(2)e of the legislation specifies that the

method of establishing Native Customary Rights (NCR) includes the use

of land for burial grounds or others as stipulated by the land code.

Suhakam recommended that where there was documentary evidence of the

existence of Penan burial sites and paths, such information should be

taken into consideration when allowing or rejecting projects for

logging or oil palm plantations. On the EIA reports, it called on the

state government to take the necessary measures to ensure that only

independent consultants are appointed to do the reports to avoid bias

and, at the same time, review the present procedure of verification of

these reports. " Suhakam observes that there seems to be contradictions

and inconsistencies between the findings of the consultants of the EIA

report on the proposed Shin Yang Forest Plantation and claims made by

the Penans there, " it said, adding that the EIA report stated that

there were no human settlements prior to the commencement of the

forest plantation.

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=275670

 

Indonesia:

 

32) Kalimantan is home to 10 million people, of whom most belong to

the traditional Dayak tribes, or orang gunung (mountain people). In

accordance with their culture, the indigenous Dayak feel a strong

spiritual connection to the rainforest, on which they depend for food

and medicines, and cultivate rice and fruit on a small scale. In

recent decades, much of their rainforest has been cleared for logging

and oil palm plantations for the production of palm oil — the most

widely produced, cheap edible oil in the world, which is now being

used in biofuels as well. Clearing land for oil palm plantations has

led to numerous conflicts with local communities. The chair of the

U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has warned that five million

indigenous people in West Kalimantan alone are likely to become

refugees because of biofuel expansion. Soil erosion, landslides, haze,

drought and floods are becoming an everyday reality as the destruction

of rainforests continues. Many Dayak tribes have frequently tried to

blockade logging roads to protect their forests, often to no avail. At

present, the local community in Tumbang Koling, Central Kalimantan, is

trying to protect the surrounding natural environment. The forest of

Cempaga is located adjacent to Tumbang Koling, a village four hours'

drive from the provincial capital of Palangkaraya. The people who live

there depend on the forests for their livelihood: rubber, rattan and

wood. http://www.savetheorangutan.co.uk/?p=528

 

33) The group said in a statement it would develop the island as the

gateway to the 130-million-year-old Belum-Temengor Forest Complex,

which comprises the Royal Belum State Park, Belum Forest Reserve and

Temengor Forest Reserve. The group had on July 18 entered into a sale

and purchase agreement with Kumpulan Fima Bhd to acquire another 294

acres in Pulau Banding for RM15.8mil, and now owned the entire

600-acre Pulau Banding, which lies within the Northern Corridor

Economic Region. It said the project would generate tourism income,

jobs and business opportunities for the local community. The project,

which was scheduled for completion in 10 to 15 years, would also see

extensive research being generated in the rainforest, harnessing its

worth through various opportunities in the fields of biotechnology and

pharmacology. The first of the three-phase development would involve

immediate refurbishment of the existing Banding Island Resort. The

27-room resort would be turned into a three-star resort with 120

rooms, complete with dining and meeting facilities. Also to be

developed are a rest and recreation centre, and a research centre

donated by Yayasan Emkay for the use of non-governmental organisations

or other interested parties keen to use the facilities to further

their ongoing research into the Royal Belum and its surrounding

rainforest.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/31/business/20070731183012\

& sec=business

 

Australia:

 

34) New commercial forests in south-east South Australia will need a

licensed water allocation to cover the volume their trees draw from

the ground. Environment Minister Gail Gago has told Parliament the

allocations will be needed where ground water is six metres or less

from the earth's surface. The new rule took effect yesterday. For

existing plantations, the South-East Natural Resources Management

Board will consult the community and develop a draft plan.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/01/1993614.htm?site=southeastsa

 

The effect of logging on canopy nectar production in tall forest trees

has for the first time been investigated by NSW DPI researchers, with

funding from the Honeybee Program of the Rural Industries Research and

Development Corporation and Forests NSW. State forests provide the

major honey resource for the beekeeping industry in NSW. While Forests

NSW has a number of management practices in place to retain

nectar-producing trees during logging operations, there has been no

information on how much nectar is produced by retained trees or young

trees regrowing after logging. Indeed, beekeepers have expressed

concern about the effects of logging on nectar production, especially

the perception that young trees do not produce as much nectar as

mature trees. The two eucalypt species chosen for research, Spotted

Gum Corymbia maculata and Grey Ironbark Eucalyptus paniculata, are of

prime importance to nectarfeeding wildlife, the timber industry and

beekeepers. Using cranes and cherry-pickers, flowers in forest

canopies over 30 metres high on the NSW south coast were accessed.

Nectar in flowers bagged overnight was measured to determine how much

nectar they produce. Both large and small trees were measured in

forest with different logging histories: recently logged, regrowth and

mature (more than 50 years since logging). After measuring thousands

of flowers, the study concluded that nectar production in Spotted Gum

on a per flower basis was not affected by logging history nor tree

size. When the amount of nectar produced by whole forest stands is

estimated on the basis of individual flower measurements and counts of

flowers and trees, the study found that mature forest produced almost

10 times as much sugar per hectare as recently logged forest. However,

because current logging practices result in a mosaic landscape, where

some areas are logged and others are left untouched, the impact is far

less. http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20073007-16137.html

 

World-wide:

 

35) Isoprene is a hydrocarbon volatile compound emitted in high

quantities by many woody plant species, with significant impact on

atmospheric chemistry. The Australian Blue Mountains and the Blue

Ridge Mountains in the Eastern United States are so called because of

the spectral properties of the huge amounts of isoprenes emitted from

the trees growing there. Although a positive correlation has been

observed between leaf temperature and isoprene emission in plants, the

physiological role of isoprene emission, which is clearly quite costly

to the plant, is still under vigorous debate. One of the most popular

hypotheses suggests that isoprene protects the metabolic processes in

the leaf, in particular photosynthesis (the process by which plants

use light energy to fix CO2 and produce their own " food " ), against

thermal stress. To test this hypothesis, scientists Katja Behnke and

Jörg-Peter Schnitzler from the Institute for Meteorology and Climate

Research of the Research Centre Karlsruhe in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in

Germany, together with colleagues from the Universities of

Braunschweig and Göttingen, also in Germany, and British Columbia, in

Canada, recently applied genetic engineering techniques to obtain

transgenic Grey poplar (Populus x canescens) trees with decreased

isoprene emission, and examined their tolerance to heat. Their

findings have been published in The Plant Journal. Behnke et al.

engineered such poplar trees by suppressing the expression of the gene

encoding isoprene synthase (ISPS), the enzyme producing isoprene, by

RNA interference (RNAi). They then subjected these trees to transient

heat phases of 38-42°C, each followed by phases of recovery at 30°C,

and measured the performance of photosynthesis. In these experiments,

Behnke et al. observed that photosynthesis in trees that no longer

emitted isoprenes was much less efficient under such repeated " heat

shocks " (a situation that is similar to what happens in nature, where

temperatures around the leaves often oscillate, with short heat

spikes). Thus, their results clearly indicate that isoprenes have an

important role in protecting the leaves from the harmful effects of

high ambient temperature. How does isoprene confer heat tolerance?

Does isoprene act as an antioxidant due to its chemical reactivity "

Contact: davina.quarterman