Guest guest Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Today for you 34 new articles about earth's trees! (224th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com . --British Columbia: 1) Tarragon Island, 2) Forest and Range Act failings, 3) Coquitlam's ties to the lumber fade, 4) Bald Mountain housing, --Washington: 5) Cedar Thieves --Oregon: 6) Logging destroys recreation, 7) ORVs are the only wreckreation we want, --California: 8) Sequoia National Monument logging is illegal, 9) ORV closures, --Montana: 10) Logging is not only solution to wildfire, 11) Real leadership in forestry, --USA: 12) Judge wants to put Mark Rey in jail --Canada: 13) 47.5 billion tons of carbonneed to stay locked up, 14) Catalog campaign, --UK: 15) Stolen saws in hands of vandals, 16) Millenium forest saved, 17) New Books, --EU: 18) Epic landscape experiment underway in the Netherlands --Mozambique: 19) Illegal export of unprocessed logs still rife in Nacala --Congo: 20) River and rail exports reopen in Point Noire, 21) World Bank swindlings, --Kenya: 22) Revenue collection for forest consumption increases --Malawi: 23) Timber merchants on Zomba Mountain aren't monitored --Botswana: 24) Draft National Forest Policy --Tanzania: 25) Japanese to put $110 million into tree planting and paper mill --Nigeria: 26) Calls for prosecution of firewood harvesters --Ivory Coast: 27) Multi-tasking Mangroves overexploited --Brazil: 28) Giant land scam exposed, 29) Women's Babacau industry threatened, --India: 30) Study of Western Ghats, 31) Women chasing poachers and wood smugglers, --China: 32) No big trees remain in China, 33) Xiao Chala's future spared reforestation, --Australia: 34) We can cut all we want but you other countries better stop! British Columbia: 1) Nikki Tate, whose novel Trouble on Tarragon Island depicts a family struggling with both sides of the logging debate on an imaginary Gulf Island. When a grandmother poses nude for a conservation calendar, it is her adolescent granddaughter Heather who suffers embarrassment. Tate shows us the taunting Heather experiences from boys at school as a result of having a " calendar girl " grandma. We hear and see it clearly -- too clearly for Elizabeth School in Kindersley, Sask., which recently decided that the scene offended their anti-bullying policy. They elected to ban Trouble On Tarragon Island from the school library because the characters display bullying behaviour and show disrespect toward the elderly by using slang terms for Grandma's sagging breasts. Author and publisher are dismayed that some educators have decided to keep the book from its intended readers. Lost in the censorship debate is the logging issue that the plot is built around. " I couldn't have imagined anyone getting concerned about the word " bazoonga, " says Tate. More important, she had supposed, are questions she raises about environmental activism: " What is the impact on your family of being an activist? What is the price you pay? " Teachers could use the book to discuss, as well as bullying, ecology and the lengths to which anti-logging protesters sometimes go. Originally, creating nude calendars had some shock value in focusing attention on a cause, but now they are a staple of fundraising. For Elizabeth School staff, it seems that the shock is still the point. Does this suggest that they agree with the reaction of the boys who insult Heather's grandmother? http://nikkitate.blogspot.com/2007/08/tc-article-by-barbara-julian.html 2) There's an interesting aspect to the Forest and Range Act and its supposed protection of drinking water, wildlife and other aspects of the environment. Basically, that protection barely exists with regards to community watersheds. When they rewrote the legislation a few years back, the B.C. Liberals removed " standards " from forest planning and practices regulations, replacing them with " objectives " . What previously were requirements under the law are now now merely goals – hardly a hardlined approach to environmental protection. Paring down the legalese endemic to legislation, the act says the objective for public watersheds is to prevent logging from having cumulative effects impacting water quantity or quality. But the " objectives " refer only to water coming from a waterworks plants. There's no reference to the condition of soon-to-be drinking water before it gets to the plant. Water running brown with siltation, parasites and who knows what else on its way to the city's source point? No worries, says the province, in a particularly sequacious bit of bowing to the wants of big industry. As long as the water plant can adjust its treatment to compensate for any adverse impact, the act considers the objective accomplished. Of course, that would come at a cost to local taxpayers, not the forest companies or anyone else actually responsible for the required increases or upgrades. But here's the really disturbing part – what meagre protection exists is essentially cancelled out by the act's pandering to the forest industry, in that it applies " only to the extent that it does not unduly reduce the supply of timber. " So, our water is protected from the effects of logging, but only if that protection doesn't impact the logging. No wonder there's so much activity going on in watersheds all over B.C. The legislative protections are too fluid to do much protecting. http://www.nanaimobulletin.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=51 & cat=48 & id=1047067 & \ more=0 3) Coquitlam's ties to the lumber industry span back for over 100 years with the construction in 1889 of its largest and one of the most technologically advanced lumber mills at the time, which later became known as Fraser Mills. Since then, both the industry and the land that it operates on have continued to change. Increasing land prices have resulted in an insurgence of big box retail and housing is planned for the land that was once owned by the lumber mill company. As the lumber industry's presence on the historic land next to the Fraser River continues to diminish, there is at least one company that continues to survive. Pacific Custom Log Sorting Ltd., located at 1950 Brigantine Drive in Coquitlam, is situated on a historic Fraser Mills property. " Soon we'll be the only piece of land remaining that's involved in the forest industry, " PCLS owner Gordon Cawley said of the changing landscape. " Our strip of land is all that's left of the former Fraser Mills site. " The business has also witnessed a few changes of its own. Established in 1992, the family-owned and run PCLS has grown from 15 to about 50 employees. The business was initially associated with log barge dumping and water sorting of logs, and built on from there to include log truck loading, dryland sorting and container loading of logs destined for Korea, Taiwan and China. " Our strength is our diversification. We'll move from a focus on U.S. logs to a focus on Asian logs, " he said. " PCLS has found stability in an evolving industry through providing services for these constantly changing markets. We have the ability to move our sorting and log handling in the direction of the changing markets. " http://www.tricitynews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=74 & cat=23 & id=1047209 & more\ =0 4) The main criticism of the proposal for 378 residential units on the Bald Mountain Peninsula at Cowichan Lake is the single access along Marble Bay Road. Merdyn has applied to have a portion of its 495-hectare property rezoned from F1 forestry to 12 separate residential zones. The different zones include four lakefront residential, three residential and five multiple family residential. The residential lots would range from parcels as large as 4.5 hectares to as small as .1 hectare. If the application is approved about 74 per cent of the property would become parkland owned by the Cowichan Valley Regional District, including a 2.8-hectare site for a Scout camp. " One of the comments we heard a lot was that Bald Mountain has high park value, " said Hopkins. Hopkins acknowledged much of the proposed 354 ha parkland, most notably in a 334 ha Uplands Park, had been extensively logged by a previous landowner, in some cases right up to riparian zones. He said Merdyn would plant about 100,000 seedlings to reforest the site. There would also be 5.2 hectares of lakefront park, including a four ha north shore park with picnic areas. Hopkins said they plan to improve and map the Bald Mountain trails using a global positioning system (GPS) and the parks will be connected with trails. " I don't think we should acquire this greenspace on the back of a development, " said one woman. " The size of this development is just too big. " Wiles concluded that although there is a large parkland component, " it unfortunately leaves out the most biologically diverse and productive lands and puts them at immediate risk of encroachment and degradation. I refer here to the ecological complex that includes the extended wetlands and drainages feeding into Marble Bay. " http://www.lakecowichangazette.com/ Washington: 5) A pickup full of cedar blocks can fetch between $750 and $1,000 at a mill, almost twice what it was worth a few years ago, said timber officials. " With the limitations there are on logging as it is, it's become very lucrative to do the black-market sales, " said Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Julie Dalzell. Randy Messenbrink, who was brought out of retirement by the state Department of Natural Resources last winter to help track down cedar thieves, has been kept busy. He has started a new investigation of a theft site each week or 10 days. " I'm not even going to guess what percentage [of the theft sites] I'm getting into, " Messenbrink said. The problem is growing, Messenbrink said, and it is being driven by the high price of the wood, usually used by mills to make shingles. " If the price of wood would go down, a lot of this would go away, " he said. Cedar theft costs the state hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, said Al Vaughan, assistant regional manager for Resource's Olympic region. So far this year, about $300,000 worth of cedar trees have been cut down or stolen. " In the past few years, it has been escalating, just because cedar materials have become more valuable, " Vaughan said. Besides the loss of harvestable wood, sometimes the thieves who fell the trees are cutting down trees that are protected. Essentially, they are stealing habitat. " We're not allowed to sell or log those trees because they're old growth, and that's an extreme loss of habitat, " Vaughan said. Seth Brock, a logging supervisor with Rayonier Inc. said he has not compiled loss figures for cedar theft, but that the loss is substantial enough to warrant security officer Jim Byce, who patrols the company's land for signs of theft. Stealing cedar is seen as a way to make extra money or feed a drug habit, and it is often thought of as a victimless crime, say law enforcement officials. http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070819/NEWS/70819\ 0302 Oregon: 6) Bill Taylor pauses along one of his regular mountain-biking routes near the Molalla River and fishes a seemingly endless line of string from the forest floor. The string, discarded after it was used to lay out an upcoming tree-thinning operation, can be murder when it gets wound up in bike sprockets, Taylor said. It also hints at potential conflicts between recreational users and commercial loggers in the next few years. This summer, the federal Bureau of Land Management sold about 10.5 million board feet of timber in an area that includes the Molalla River Shared-Use Trail System. The thinning operation, known as the Annie's Cabin timber sale, will affect 566 acres sprinkled in small patches throughout the area, which includes about 25 miles of recreational trails built almost entirely by volunteers. The winning bidder for the $1.9 million sale was the family-owned Freres Lumber Co., headquartered in Lyons, where about 435 employees produce veneer, plywood and lumber. Thinning likely will begin next year if there are no valid appeals, said Rudy Hefter, natural resource staff administrator for the BLM's Cascade Resource Area. The revenue goes into the U.S. Treasury. Clackamas and other timber-producing counties no longer receive a direct share of timber receipts, but instead get a formula-based federal payment meant to make up for declining timber revenues. As the helicopters and logging trucks move in, the thousands of people who use the area each year for mountain biking, horseback riding and hiking will see the harvest of as many as half of the trees along some of the most popular sections of trail. Some sections of the trail network are outside the designated thinning areas and will be unaffected. For the parts of the trail that are affected, there will be no buffer zones, and cutting will occur right up to the edges of the trails. Yet in response to objections by the nonprofit group Molalla River Watch and by Portland-area environmental groups, BLM tailored the harvest to minimize harm to the volunteer-built trails. Thinning in areas near the trail network must be conducted by helicopter. " We're not providing an exclusive use for recreation, " Jarrett said. " We're trying to balance. " http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/118766492413870.xm\ l & coll=7 7) Earlier this year Mt. Hood National Forest began holding meetings about revising its Travel Plan, which is meant to guide all motorized travel in the forest. Those who attended the meetings were shocked to find the proposal did not address the access needs of paddlers, hikers, and others, but instead focused on the creation of six new Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) playgrounds around the mountain. Local recreation and conservation groups asked the Forest Service to address concerns about damage to watershed health from deteriorating old logging roads and the need to prioritize funding toward better recreation access. In response, the Mt. Hood National Forest Supervisor met with the Mazamas and Bark and suggested that he was open to dealing with these concerns, and committed to another meeting to discuss solutions before moving forward. However, as of the printing of this newsletter the Forest Service has been unwilling to meet again and has announced that it is moving forward with its plan to create the OHV playgrounds and ignore all other critical road issues. The official comment period for this proposal begins in September, but the time to make a difference is right now. Please contact the Mt. Hood National Forest Supervisor, Gary Larsen, and ask him to work with local recreation and conservation groups to address the critical road issues on Mt. Hood. Instead of using Travel Planning as an opportunity to improve recreation and restore watersheds, the Forest Service is creating playgrounds for off-road vehicle use. (Gary Larsen Mt. Hood National Forest 16400 Champion Way Sandy, OR 97055 Fax: (503) 668-1794 Phone: (503) 668-1750 E-mail: glarsen http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/08/363709.shtml California: 8) The Bush administration's plan to allow commercial logging in California's Giant Sequoia National Monument is illegal, a federal judge ruled Tuesday in two companion cases - one brought by the state of California and the other brought by conservation groups. " The Forest Service's interest in harvesting timber has trampled the applicable environmental laws, " wrote Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, ruling in the conservation groups' case. Complaints against the U.S. Forest Service were brought by the Sierra Club, Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign, Earth Island Institute, Tule River Conservancy, Sequoia Forest Keeper, and Center for Biological Diversity, and in separate suit filed by the California Attorney General. Found only in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, Giant sequoias can live as long as 3,000 years. http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/pastnews.php/2007/08/18/bush_plan_t\ o_log_giant_seq uoia_monument 9) If the Forest Service wants to corral dirt bikes and quads to prevent a wholesale trampling of public lands, more power to the agency. But does it make any sense to preserve valuable backcountry resources by barring riders from dirt roads through the remote woods? The Lassen National Forest recently did just that as part of its plan to map ATV routes. The forest might well be following the letter of the law, but if that's the case, the law needs changing. The Lassen closures -- and similar potential limits being studied in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest -- are the result of a nationwide U.S. Forest Service drive to designate trails suitable for off-roading. The sport's popularity has jumped faster than the RPM gauge on a tough hill climb in recent years, and that puts heavy pressure on the land. Riders argue, with some reason, that a sport growing more popular should be accommodated with more mileage of trails, not new restrictions. However, the Forest Service has to manage our land, including fragile watersheds, and an overdose of irresponsible off-roading can quickly ruin a patch of countryside. If curbing cross-country riding across untracked forests is justifiable, however, it defies common sense to bar riders from little-traveled dirt roads. After all, that is precisely where ATVs do the least harm to the landscape. http://www.redding.com/news/2007/aug/19/forest-takes-ohv-closures-step-too-far/ Montana: 10) In a fierce fire season such as the one that currently grips much of Montana, there typically is a claim from some quarters that more logging would have somehow prevented or lessened the wildfires. Well, that may be the case in some places. But it is misleading to present logging and " active forest management " as a blanket panacea that will stop or reduce fire intensity everywhere it is applied. That's just not the case, especially in a season such as this one, where large fires are emerging on equal-opportunity landscapes with record dryness in fuels, high temperatures and a near complete absence of rain for weeks. And here in Northwest Montana, several have emerged on lands that have been heavily roaded and logged for decades. The Brush Creek Fire is burning through old clearcuts, recent logging units and yes, it is burning through stands that were arguably long-overdue for active management. The 86,731-acre Chippy Creek Fire has burned through a variety of ownerships where commercial logging has been a priority. These include more than 2,500 acres of state school trust lands, nearly 31,000 acres of Flathead tribal lands, 40,000 acres on the Lolo National Forest, and just over 13,000 acres of private lands, most of it owned by Plum Creek Timber Co. Aerial photographs show that the 25,170-acre Jocko Lakes Fire has burned through a patchwork of old and recent logging units as well as mature forestlands west of Seeley Lake. Fires are also popping at all elevations in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, where logging is prohibited. Because of the extreme conditions this summer, this has been pretty much an equal-opportunity fire season. All forest landscapes are not the same. If you remove the overstory of an older forest on a south-facing slope, for example, that stand can be more prone to drying out, becoming even more vulnerable to fire as summer progresses. And obviously, a swath of unmanaged, decadent lodgepole is virtually built for fire. Arguably, the best treatment for many such stands is the oh-so-reviled clearcut. http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2007/08/21/opinion/opinion01.txt 11) The Jocko Lakes Fire near Seeley Lake has ripped through Plum Creek Timber Company lands that are among the most heavily logged and roaded in western Montana. Likewise for Montana's largest wildfire, the Chippy Creek Fire north of Plains, burning on lands managed by Plum Creek, Forest Service, Montana DNRC and the Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Furthermore, much of the total acreage burned in the northern Rockies isn't even forested, such as the 653,000 acre Murphy Complex that earlier this year raced through southwestern Idaho's sagebrush and grassland country with nary a tree in sight. Clearly more logging would have had zero impact on this, the nation's largest fire. It's also important to recognize that fires are an important part of our fire-dependent ecosystems and with prolonged drought and record-shattering temperatures it didn't exactly take a genius to see the potential for an active fire season. Add to this millions of new homes built in the wildland urban interface, the fact that the west's typical fire season has been extended nearly three months due to global warming and sprinkle in past - and in some cases current - land-management abuses and clearly we have all the ingredients for wildfire's equivalent of a " perfect storm. " While it's no secret that national forest logging levels have rightfully decreased since the record high cut levels of the late 1980s - a direct result of the Forest Service and logging industry's wholly unsustainable practices - the extensive ecological damage caused during the logging frenzy still remains on the landscape, having never been addressed. For example, here in Montana we have 32,000 miles of roads on our national forests with a regional maintenance backlog over $1 billion. An estimated 50% of riparian areas on national forests require restoration due to logging, road building, grazing, mining, and off-road vehicles and regionally the Forest Service estimates that 85% of culverts are currently impassible to fish due to mismanagement. That's why the WildWest Institute is working with community members, county commissioners and business leaders from Lincoln County to Lemhi County, Idaho to help craft positive, sustainable solutions that create jobs in the woods restoring watersheds and forests while also protecting our communities from wildfire through careful and strategic fuel reduction projects. http://www.clarkforkchronicle.com/article.php/20070820114610322 USA: 12) A federal judge in Montana has ordered the Bush administration's top forestry official to explain why he should not be held in contempt of court for the U.S. Forest Service's failure to analyze the environmental impacts of dropping fish-killing fire retardant on wildfires. If found in contempt, Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, could go to jail until the Forest Service complies with the court order to do the environmental review. Noting that Rey had blocked implementation of an earlier review, U.S. District Judge Donald W. Malloy in Missoula, Mont., ordered Rey to appear in his court Oct. 15 unless the Forest Service completes the analysis before that time — an outcome Malloy deemed unlikely. " It has been six years since Forest Service staff completed a 'retardant EA' — only to have higher-up officials embargo it, " Malloy wrote in an order issued late Friday. " The time I am giving is likely to prove insufficient if: 1) the agency is simply unwilling to follow the law; or, 2) it is prevented from following the law by its political masters, as was the case when Under Secretary of Agriculture Mark Rey ordered that formal (Endangered Species Act) consultation regarding fire retardant not to occur. " Forest Service spokesman Joe Walsh said the agency was working on the analysis, but he could not say whether they would meet the new deadline, because it was two months away. Rey did not immediately respond to a request for an interview. Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, an environmental group based in Eugene, filed the lawsuit in 2003, a year after more than 20,000 fish were killed when toxic retardant was dropped in Fall Creek in central Oregon. Stahl said the Forest Service appears to be immune legally from fines, but not from jail time to pressure them to complete the environmental review. " You can throw them in jail to coerce future good behavior, " Stahl said. " That's what the judge is talking about here. " http://www.dailytidings.com/2007/0820/stories/0820_forest.php Canada: 13) " The Boreal Forest is the largest storehouse of terrestrial carbon on the planet, storing 47.5 billion tons -- seven times the entire world's annual fossil fuel emissions, " reads the report that was released on Monday in Montreal. It urged the provincial governments of Ontario and Quebec to get tough with the forestry industry, noting that in some cases less than a third of the forests they were managing had remained intact. But the environmental group also called on the companies that buy the wood products from the logging companies to immediately suspend their contracts. " Greenpeace believes that customers of logging companies have a responsibility to protect ancient forests and can play a significant role in breaking the chain of destruction in the Boreal Forest, " the report said. " There is increasing recognition that the marketplace can have a significant impact in shifting the way forestry is carried out on the ground and ending logging in intact forests. " The Boreal forest is home to about a million aboriginal people along with many endangered species, such as woodland caribou, lynx, grizzly bear. Environmentalists say it is a critical area to preserve in the fight against rising greenhouse gas emissions that are linked to global warming. The report by Greenpeace Canada criticizes four main logging companies, Abitibi-Consolidated, Bowater, Kruger and SFK Pulp, accusing them of being responsible for eliminating nearly 200,000 square kilometres of the forest, which is considered to be one of the largest ancient forests on earth. But it also singles out many well-known customers such as Best Buy, Grand & Toy, Time Inc., Sears, Coles/Indigo and Toys " R " Us, for being customers that encourage the practices of the logging companies because of the magazines, flyers or products they sell and distribute. http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=a9104cec-c349-4a70-95e9-e3\ 52bd13befb & k=518 99 14) For the past 7 months, we've been telling companies like J. Crew, Sears/Lands' End, JC Penney, Eddie Bauer, and Crate and Barrel to adopt new paper policies, however, these companies have yet to take significant and public steps to protect Endangered Forests. Time is running out for the companies that are destroying Endangered Forests for catalogs! We will soon announce our new target and we need your help! Remember how we exposed Victoria's Dirty Secret? We want your ideas for campaign slogans, posters, and t-shirts! Tell us who you think should be our next target! There is good news to report. Victoria's Secret, Williams-Sonoma, and Dell have shown leadership in the catalog industry proving it's possible companies can change their policies and do the right thing! Because of our pressure over the past few months, LL Bean has recently announced that they are increasing recycled content to 20 percent and will get out of controversial forests! When will J. Crew, Sears/Lands' End, JC Penney, Eddie Bauer, and Crate and Barrel follow this leadership? Tell them it is time to take a stand is now! The catalog companies still have a chance to avoid a public campaign by adopting a new environmental policy! Join Candace the Caribou and hundreds of others who have been taking action to tell these companies to stop using Endangered Forests and unsustainable virgin fiber for catalogs. Taking action is easy - we need people like you to call the companies, deliver letters to store managers, or get a petition signed. ForestEthics and activists across the country have been putting these companies on notice all summer by protesting at their stores. You can read about these protests, like the large demonstration at Sears in Chicago last week, on our website. http://forestethics.org/article.php?id=1877 UK: 15) Environmental vandals chopped down almost 50 trees in an area of woodland using stolen chainsaws, a council says. An area the size of a tennis court was cleared of 45 young and semi-mature trees in Knowsley Village, Merseyside. Knowsley Borough Council said police were hunting the vandals, who also hacked down a 70-year-old sycamore. Barry Fletcher, chair of the Friends of Knowsley Village Woodlands, said the group was devastated when the damage was discovered last week. The trees were felled near the woodland path between Sugar Lane and Frederick Lunt Avenue in the Syders Grove area of the village. Mr Fletcher said the vandals had destroyed a " beautiful area of woodland " . " Not only is this unsightly and totally unacceptable in terms of public safety, but it will have a significant impact on woodland wildlife, " he added. Knowsley Borough Council hopes to carry out replacement planting later in the year. Eddie Connor, member for leisure, community and culture, said the vandals had used highly dangerous equipment which they had no knowledge of how to operate safely. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/6955542.stm 16) CAMPAIGNERS are celebrating victory in their fight to save a wood planted by schoolchildren to mark the new millennium. Bolton Council leader, Cllr Cliff Morris, says the council will not sell the Millennium Woodland, off Longsight Lane, Harwood, to a housing developer. It was understood Elite Homes wanted to build around 100 homes in an area including the wood and the council confirmed it had received an approach about the possible sale of the land. But Cllr Morris said: " This is just not going to happen. What would the point have been in getting the children to plant this wood? " It was planted for the long term and It would not be fair on the children if we were to sell it to a developer. " We have no intention of doing anything with that land and it will remain as it is. " Residents had said youngsters would be devastated if the 1,800 trees made way for homes and formed an action group to protect them. http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/display.var.1617233.0.victory_in_fight_to_save_mi\ llennium_fores t.php 17) From my bedroom window, though, if I put my cheek to the glass and looked sideways, a small patch of woodland was just visible on the horizon. One of my earliest memories is of staring at this distant forest one summer evening, as the setting sun turned the treetops silver and gold, and wishing I could escape into it. The thought both excited and frightened me. Back then, as a six-year-old boy, it didn't occur to me that I wasn't the only one feeling these powerful twin emotions about a patch of woodland. But that childhood longing - and the fear that accompanied it - is actually part of a vast current in the stream of human consciousness. For as long as there have been written records, man seems to have regarded forests with the same kind of double-edged awe I felt that lost summer dusk. We are attracted by the freedoms, the sanctuary, the hidden secrets to be found in woods, but equally we are scared of what may lurk within their depths. During thelast thousand years, and particularly during the last two or three centuries, our love of the forest has risen as our fear of it has fallen. The reason for this change is obvious: all over the world, woodland is disappearing. Whether inspired by pure greed or by some subconscious trace of our old fear, human beings have reduced the world's ancient forests to a few remaining fragments. Now, too late, we see the dangers of losing what for so long seemed infinite and unconquerable, and we name our forests national parks and protect them like dying grandmothers. However, somewhere between our destruction of the woods and our urge to conserve what little remains of them, we have lost that childhood awe, which is so much a part of what it means to be human. The sad truth is that we no longer fear the forests; we fear for them. Two books published this summer attempt, in different ways, to reconnect us with those vital emotions we once all felt for trees. Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees by the late Roger Deakin is an ambling, reflective but passionate mixture of memoir, travel book and natural history. It is, above all, a declaration of the author's love for trees, and a declaration of war on those who wreck and belittle them: " The enemies of woods are always the enemies of culture and humanity, " he writes. The second book, The Wild Trees: What If The Last Wilderness Is Above Our Heads? by bestselling American writer Richard Preston, deals with the recent discovery of the world's largest and oldest living things: 2000-year-old redwood trees in the north of California. http://www.sundayherald.com/life/people/display.var.1628028.0.0.php EU: 18) An epic landscape experiment is underway in the Netherlands. Its aim is to make Holland, the most developed of all European countries, wild again. Its method is to establish a vast network of natural habitats and wildlife corridors. Frans Vera, one of the ecologists driving the project, imagines it as a 'green circulation system' that will allow the freer movement of non-human species around north west Europe. Plans for the project show a mesh of green arteries, veins and capillaries, covering much of Holland and infiltrating Germany and Belgium. The heart of this system is Oostvaardersplassen, an uninhabited coastal region of polder, scrubby savannah and wetland that, for nearly 40 years, has been allowed to run wild. Herds of red deer, Heck cattle and Konik ponies graze its drier reaches. Sea eagles and marsh harriers hunt its skies. Bittern, stork and egret haunt reed beds. Millions of geese, ducks and waders migrate through. Oostvaardersplassen's biodiversity is remarkable. So is its proximity to Amsterdam - just 20 miles to the city's east. And so is its scale: 5,600 hectares, roughly a quarter of the area of the capital. Imagine the proportional equivalent here. A region the size of the Isle of Wight, in the position of south west Essex, turned over to its animals and plants ... The management of Oostvaardersplassen is deliberately minimal. In this respect, it is truly a wild place. For our word 'wild' derives from the Old Norse willr, meaning uncontrolled or self-intending. Wild land, by this etymology, is self-willed land. Land that proceeds according to its own laws and principles. Land whose habits - the growth of its trees, the movement of its creatures, the distribution of its streams and reed beds - are of its own devising and execution. By 2018, if all goes to plan, Vera's 'National Ecological Network' will involve 730,000 hectares: 17 per cent of Holland's total area. The existence of this brilliantly ambitious initiative testifies to the Dutch government's commitment to ecology and landscape (what a contrast with Britain), as well as to the general greenness of Dutch culture. Could Britain go wild in a similar way? Only a few years ago, the idea would have been laughable. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/aug/19/conservation Mozambique: 19) The illegal export of unprocessed logs is still rife in the Port of Nacala, in the northern region of Mozambique, reports Monday's issue of the daily paper " Noticias " . Despite the existing country's legislation, that effectively bans the export of unprocessed precious hardwood, this trade continues to flourish with the authorities seeming unable to stop this illegal activity for the dismay of some licensed operators. Currently, there are in Nampula 50 inspectors working at the Forestry and Wildlife Provincial Services, but they are facing a number of problems in terms of resources, such as patrol vehicles to control the illegal logging, that remains unchecked in that province. " Noticias " claims to be in possession of fresh evidence of huge amounts of logs packed in containers awaiting export through the Nacala port to the international markets in Asia, more precisely to China, which amounts to a blatant affront to the Mozambican authorities. Other sources have denounced that illicit deals within the premises of the Nacala port involve some officials from government institutions. For instance, there are some operators who, in connection with some highly placed officials from the Agriculture Ministry, Customs and other government institutions, are trading large volumes of unprocessed hardwood at the Nacala port with companies suspected to be operating illegally in Mozambique. The Mozambican government has introduced a number of laws seeking the protection, preservation, development, rational and sustainable use of the forest and wildlife for the country's economic, social and ecologic gains. Under this legislation it is compulsory to process all precious hardwood prior to its export. However, these laws are often ignored by a number of national and foreign operators, who insist on exporting huge quantities of unprocessed logs, a situation that, in most cases, involves influential officials from institutions in charge of overseeing this trade. http://allafrica.com/stories/200708131376.html Congo: 20) The Republic of Congo has resumed exporting timber more than 1 300 km (800 miles) by river and rail to the port of Pointe Noire, hoping to increase revenues after a 10-year stoppage due to civil war. Timber shipments from the north via the capital Brazzaville ground to a halt during the oil-producing country's civil war in the late 1990s, since when all timber exports from the dense and remote northern forests have been sent north to Cameroon. " The loggers from northern Congo were forced to have their timber shipped out via the port of Douala in Cameroon, costing the Congolese state 25 billion CFA francs a year in lost earnings, " Forestry Minister Henri Djombo told reporters on Thursday. The north accounts for around 40 percent of timber exports from Congo, which exported around 1.6 million cubic metres of timber in 2006, making timber its second most valuable export after oil. Logs are floated the 800 km (500 miles) down the Congo river to the country's capital Brazzaville to be loaded onto wagons and transported a further 512 km (320 miles) to Pointe Noire, the country's oil port on the Atlantic coast. Since the war, only timber from the southern part of the country has been exported via Pointe Noire, much of it by road as part of the rail line from Brazzaville was repeatedly closed by militia activity which continued after the war finished. Reopening the northern route should save loggers from having to use the lengthy and expensive road route via Douala. IFO, a logging company operating in the extreme northwest of the country, transported the first consignment of 700 cubic metres of logs and more shipments would follow, said Jacky Trimardeau, director-general of the railway company, Chemin de Fer Congo Ocean. A South Korean-led consortium is planning to build a new $3 billion, 800-km (500-mile) railway line north from Brazzaville to export timber from the country's northern forests in return for timber concessions in the area. http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=114883 21) Susanne Breitkopf, forest policy advisor at the environmental group Greenpeace, said the IFC should divest its interest in Olam. " While the left hand of the [World] Bank claims to save the Congo rain forests, its right hand helps destroy them, " she said. For five years, the Washington-based World Bank Group has been trying to save one of Earth's last great forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But the bank's private-sector arm is also an investor in a company that is drawing criticism for its connections to logging operations there. World Bank environmental officials say that deforestation is the second leading human contributor to global warming, after power plants and ahead of vehicle emissions. In Congo, a moratorium on new timber harvesting contracts was imposed in 2002 to slow the rapid cutting of the country's forests. The government, reeling from years of war and corruption, decided it needed time to improve management of its vast rain forest, second in size only to the Amazon. The moratorium was widely ignored, however, and some contracts were negotiated by people with no authority to do so, said Giuseppe Topa, a forestry specialist at the World Bank. Now the Congolese government has commissioned a reexamination of the allotments and also has pledged to cancel contracts for companies that don't report their timber harvests. The World Bank's website says that its private credit organization, the International Finance Corp., " has no client in the field of forests in DRC. " But the IFC has invested millions in Singaporean-based Olam International. Congolese officials said that this month, two cargo boats owned by Olam and two partners were discovered to have underreported the amount of timber they were carrying. An Olam executive, Vasanth Subramanian, acknowledged that the company obtained two timber concessions in May 2005, three years after the moratorium and two years after the IFC invested $15 million in the firm. Since a public stock offering by Olam, the IFC has reduced its investment to $11.2 million. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-forest17aug17,1,161258.story\ ?coll=la-headl ines-world & ctrack=1 & cset=true Kenya: 22) A forest officer, Ms Margret Kimotho said revenue collection had increased following implementation of stringent measures in the management of State-owned forests. The amount was realized from the sale of such forest products as tree seedlings, grass, firewood and timber to licensed companies. Tree seedling production shot up to 13.2 million seedlings in the same period while a total of 447.7 hectares are under rehabilitation. Another 1507.4 hectares are under protection for regeneration. " The production is very high since we have managed to control logging, forest officers are on guard 24 hours a day. We encourage people to plant trees in their shambas to protect the forests, " said Ms Kimotho. A significant portion of the country's forests faced extinction in the past, as illegal logging thrived unchecked, while no replacement of lost trees was done. Forest officers are now encouraging dry land forestry, and the use of non wood products like sisal as an alternative for firewood to stop rampant harvest of forests. http://allafrica.com/stories/200708150794.html Malawi: 23) Environmentalists have accused government of inefficiency in monitoring the harvesting and replanting of pine plantations by timber merchants on Zomba Mountain. But officials from the forestry department defended themselves Tuesday, saying everything was under control for the sustainability of the environment in the mountain. For two years now, timber giant Wood Industries Corporation (Wico) has been harvesting pine from the mountain as part of a 5-year deal entered with government. The agreement reportedly prescribed that Wico would be replanting the lots it would harvest from the mountain. Wico Production Director Aman Kunje said on Monday his company was complying with the conditions of the agreement and was playing its part to ensure that the environment was not greatly affected. Thomas Mankhambera, Assistant Director of Forestry in the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said Wico had so far replanted 200 hectares. He couldn't say how much area had been harvested by Wico so far. " We have a harvesting plan. Wico fells trees according to compartments determined by maturity of the trees. It's not a disorganised programme, " he said. Mankhambera said it was according to plan to have the plantations cleared to sustain activities of companies like Raiply and Leopard Matches Limited which were also buying timber from the plantations. But Mankhambera, however, conceded that surrounding communities were taking advantage of the situation to destroy both exotic and indigenous forests. However Sam Kamoto, Programme Officer for Wild Life Society of Malawi (Wesm) insisted government's monitoring team was ill-equipped to efficiently oversee actions of logging companies in the mountain. http://www.dailytimes.bppmw.com/article.asp?ArticleID=6235 Botswana: 24) Environment, Wildlife and Tourism minister, Mr Kitso Mokaila, on Tuesday presented to Parliament, a draft National Forest Policy. The policy is to provide for sustainable development, management and utilisation of Botswanas forest resources. The policy, said Mr Mokaiala, would lead to improved livelihoods, socio-economic development and economic diversification. He said national forests play an important role in the environmental and socio-economic development of Botswana because of the many products and services they provide. Thus, he said a policy is vital given the general decline of the forest cover, species densities and diversity in Botswana. This decline is caused largely by wildfires, unsustainable harvesting practices, clearing of forests for infrastructure development, mining and agriculture, said Mr Mokaila. He said 50 per cent of the rural population still depends on the forests for their subsistence needs, and therefore a forest policy is necessary to guide the sustainable utilisation of the forest resources. The draft policy is intended to guide the development, access and trade in forest resources and pave way for the necessary legislation to regulate harvesting of the forest resources, he said. The current policy pronouncements on the management of forests are fragmented and the legal framework is inadequate for the enormous task of conserving and utilising forest resources sustainably. Mr Mokaila said the Forest Act of 1968, confines itself to matters concerning production and harvesting of timber in the gazetted forest reserves and state land. The Act does not provide any guidance on how communities and individuals can participate in the management of forest resources in both protected and communal areas, he said. http://www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20070816 & i=Forests_policy_to_improve_lives Tanzania: 25) Oji Paper Company Ltd, the second largest paper producer in Japan, will invest $110 million in a tree planting and paper mill project in Tanzania. The project, which is aimed at expanding the company's paper manufacturing activities in Africa, will also produce newsprint for mass circulation to consumers in Tanzania. The Japanese firm has entered into an agreement with the Tanzania government to secure 50,000 hectares of land for the project. Kazuhisa Shinoda, Oji president and chief executive officer, told The EastAfrican from Japan that in its forest recycling efforts, Oji Paper Mills has expanded the target area of its overseas forest plantations from 200,000 hectares to 300,000 hectares, and has already completed planting of 150,000 hectares. Mr Shinoda said the group is now expanding to Tanzania, where it has already started planting eucalyptus trees in the southern regions of Mtwara and Lindi. " The Oji Paper Group is moving forward with a global business strategy centred on the rapidly developing African region, " he said. The company plans to build an integrated pulp and paper mill with annual production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes of coated and uncoated printing paper. Tanzania's Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Minister Bernard Membe, told The EastAfrican last week that Oji Paper Company has started planting eucalyptus trees on a 20,000-hectare piece of land. It will plant trees on another 30,000 hectares to meet the firm's demand, he added. Mr Membe said that Ojibrand printing paper is a well-known brand worldwide. The company is also Japan's largest private land-owner, controlling 143,281 sq km of forests and commercial real estate. http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Business/biz13080712.htm Nigeria: 26) Emir of Yusufari in Yobe State, Alhaji Mohammadu Zakariya, has called for prosecution of those engaged in the destruction of forests through tree felling. Zakariya made the call when the Commissioner for the Environment, Malam Musa Maina, visited him in his palace. A statement by the ministry's information officer, Malam Zubairu Mohammed, yesterday in Damaturu, quoted the Emir as saying that the felling of trees for firewood had resulted in desert encroachment, adding that the practice had also resulted in migration of people from the area. Responding, Maina promised to halt tree felling and improve afforestation projects in the area and appealed to the Emir to encourage tree planting with a promise to provide seedlings to curb desert encroachment. In a related development, Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency said it would prosecute persons caught felling trees illegally. Director-General of the Agency, Malam Nasiru Shehu, said the measure was to protect the forest resources and halt desert encroachment. He said although there was a law against tree felling, it was not being well enforced, adding: " we are going to revisit the law and start enforcing it. " " Shehu said a mobile court had beenestablished to try offenders who engagedin indiscriminate felling of trees. http://allafrica.com/stories/200708070240.html Ivory Coast: 27) Mangroves, it could be said, have perfected the art of multi-tasking. Found along tropical coastlines, these trees and shrubs may prevent soil erosion, while their roots create breeding places for various marine species. So, when a particular mangrove forest is shown to have been reduced by two thirds in less than 20 years, there is major cause for concern. At the start of the 1990s, the mangroves around Ebrié lagoon in southern Côte d'Ivoire extended over 15,000 hectares. By last year, the area of the forests had shrunk to 5,000 hectares, according to government figures -- a loss attributed to the growing demand for wood on the part of coastal communities. " The overexploitation of the mangroves of Abidjan (the commercial capital) has led to the disappearance of numerous plant and animal species, " says Environment, Water and Forests Minister Daniel Ahizi Aka. However, a non-governmental organisation based in Abidjan, SOS Forests (SOS Forêts), is trying to stop this destruction, through the 'Restoration of the Biodiversity and Planning of Coastal Zones' project. The initiative is aimed at planting five hectares of acacia trees at each village around the lagoon to provide communities with an alternative source of wood, so that residents will no longer be dependent on mangroves for their domestic energy needs. http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=38865 Brazil: 28) An eight-month investigation by Greenpeace into the land scam, revealed that the Brazilian land reform agency, INCRA, had set up large settlements in rainforest areas instead of placing them in already deforested areas, and settling urban families who promptly sold logging rights to major timber conpanies. " Instead of helping, the official efforts are putting in place mechanisms to ensure the supply of timber to loggers. This opens the door to further forest destruction and climate change, " says Greenpeace's André Muggiati. In 2006, INCRA created 97 " sustainable development settlements " (PDS) in Santarém in the west of the Amazonian state of Pará, in areas of primary forest of huge value to loggers. These settlements cover 2.2 million hectares and have been assigned to 33,700 families. " All these settlements were created in the last three months of last year, " says an INCRA employee. " It was the end of Lula's first term so he had to accomplish the targets. It is politicians who will benefit from the PDS system. " In October Mr Da Silva won a second term in office. As well as politicians, the scheme benefits the settlers, who receive land and sell their logging rights to large timber firms; the loggers, who gain access to valuable timber; and INCRA, which is close to reaching the government targets. Only last week the Brazilian government boasted a drop in deforestation levels for the third year running; it has now opened the floodgates to increased deforestation and its knock-on effect on global climate change. Brazil is the world's fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases. A large proportion of emissions come from deforestation in the Amazon and 15 per cent of all deforestation is caused by the creation of land settlements. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2881400.ece 29) As the agrofuel gold rush continues in Brazil, women are fighting to retain access to the babaçú, a palm tree native to the states of Maranhão, Pará, Piauí and Tocantins. Currently, nearly half of a million people, the vast majority women, make their living gathering and processing the babaçú coconut. The work has never been easy due to completely unequal land distribution in the 18.5 million hectares of forest between the Amazon and the semi-arid northeast of the country. Lack of land ownership makes it difficult for women to access babaçú growing in the wild. The " Quebradeiras de Coco Babaçú, " the female workers who break the coconuts, also face discrimination due to gender or racial prejudice against descendents of slaves or indigenous people. While the Quebradeiras receive very little compensation for their work, the sale of the babaçú seeds often provides the families' only income. Still, this tradition and cottage industry is under threat. In the area, few laws guarantee the Quebradeiras basic rights as workers, and the encroaching commercial agriculture industry has no concern for the Quebradeiras' lack of resources and protections. Industrial farmers who own vast parcels of land, want to clear cut and burn the forest to breed cattle or grow soy for agrofuel. Commercial farmers don't see babaçú as a profitable enterprise, and they would like to stop the Quebradeiras from accessing private land to gather babaçú (which would otherwise fall on the ground and remain unused). In the past, they have " tried to charge women workers or to prevent them from collecting nuts by erecting barbed wire fences or hiring gunmen. " The Interstate Movement of Babaçú Coconut Breakers (MIQCB) has been particularly active. Quebradeiras of the MIQCB have " established important links with local, regional and national government and . . . had meetings to discuss the law for free access to the babaçú forests, develop[ed] local partnerships for procurement of babaçú products, and . . . [held] the government accountable for illegal logging and forest destruction " In 2003, they were able to pass a regional Free Babaçú Law, which permits Quebradeiras free access to babaçú on privately owned land. Now the movement is fighting for a national law guaranteeing access to the babaçú, and have marched to the national capital, Brasilia, to protest and pressure politicians. http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/855/1/ India: 30) To many observers of natural spaces in India, it is a matter of great wonder that so many wild animals and the forests that shelter them have survived centuries of destructive exploitation. The forests continue to face the threat of being wiped out to facilitate expansion of commerce and to meet the growing resource needs of a peaking population. Can something be done to conserve the remnants of biodiversity? Research scientists B. R. Ramesh and Rajan Gurukkal have applied that macro theme to two small areas of the species-rich Western Ghats, proximate to the Anamalais region, extending west into Kerala. Their compilation of papers tries to make the important distinction between conservation plans that are based on territorial boundaries and those that can arguably achieve a lot more if they are based on landscapes. There is an informed discussion in this book about various possibilities and the impediments towards evolving a conservation paradigm that takes into account the human ecology — the prospects of tribal people and non-tribal people, who have traditionally depended on the forests. At the same time, they record the evidence on the ground where it presents cautionary signals about poorly thought-out conservation plans actually doing harm. Thus, the fortunes of key species of plants, animals and of the forest dwelling communities in the Western Ghats in Landscape Units 13 and 16, which comprise three Protected Areas (Pas)—Parambikulam, Chimmony and Thattekad — and four non-PAs — part of Nemmara, Chalakudy, Vazhachal and Malayattoor — form the core theme. The publication is important for the baseline information about the two landscape units that it compiles and the possibility of doing similar work in other areas. It uses satellite data and GIS data derived from various sources to map elevation, land use and land cover; meteorological data give an idea about rainfall. http://www.hindu.com/br/2007/08/21/stories/2007082150261500.htm 31) Moving in thick bushes and chasing poachers and wood smugglers will no longer be the duty of only male staff of the state forest department. For the first time, the state government has decided to recruit women employees for this job. In Bharuch district, three female candidates have reached the second leg of the process whereas in Surat district, the first leg is over in which there are as many as 22 female candidates, according to state forest officials. rincipal chief conservator of forest ML Sharma told TOI, " This is for the first time that women will be given a chance to work in this field. We are expecting positive results especially in social forestry and joint forest management. " The candidates are taken into the forest of Rajpipla and Bharuch to test their knowledge about flora and fauna. According to Bharuch resident district collector NV Upadhyay, " The girls performed well in the physical test and on Sunday, they appeared for the theoretical test here. " Surat conservator of forests R J Asari says, " There are some limitations while initiating action against women offenders. We were often blamed for harassing them, but now with the recruitment of women, this problem will be taken care of. " Unnati Panchal, an aspirant says, " I always wanted to do something for environment. I feel this is the best chance I have to make my dreams a reality. " But things were not easy for Snehal Chaudry, who comes from a remote village called Gundai. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/Women_power_to_save_forests_in_stat\ e/articleshow/ 2292910.cms China: 32) Today, large trees are rare in China. The exploitation of trees in China dates back thousands of years. Before the 20th century, the major destructive force was the elite ruling class of a highly centralized society, including emperors and their families, officials, and rich businesspeople. They constructed luxurious palaces and houses, and extravagant tombs. Those structures required huge quantities of timber. Places that served as political and economic centers were the first to be denuded. One example is the area in and around Beijing, which has served as China's political capital for nearly 800 years. To meet the construction demands of palaces and mansions, residents cut down trees along the city's Yong Ding River valley. Intensive felling deteriorated the ecosystem, and the river saw increased flooding. During the Qing Dynasty, 200 years ago, a major flood occurred every three years. This trend has only slowed since 1954, when a reservoir was built on the river. Today, only low and thin trees line the waterway, and it will take hundreds of years to see them grow into huge ones. Guan Zhong Region is another example. Covering Xi'an, Xianyang, Tongchuan, and Weinan cities in Shaanxi Province, the area served as the political and cultural center during the more than 1,000 years between the Qin and Tang Dynasties. It suffered from continuous intensive agricultural exploitation and ecological disaster. Every inch of the land was exploited, leaving little room for ecosystem regeneration. Cutting down large trees and replacing them with saplings is a common phenomenon in Chinese cities. Residents have built houses and roads on sites where big trees used to stand, and they continue to cut down more of them to make room for the nation's urban expansion. In the past, the Chinese forestry authority targeted its efforts mainly at developing the timber economy. It was not until 2002 that it began considering its role in ecosystem protection. Yet it continues to hold as its major mandate the tasks of planting trees, developing fast-growing and high-yielding plantations, and nurturing the timber and forest products industry. http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5313 33) Xiao Chala's future is an open question, but it has been spared the fate of some villages in the region, which were entirely displaced by development projects and reforestation plans. Nonetheless, what until recently had been a process of growth driven locally by local needs, is now treated as an international issue, in which various levels of government, NGOs, and the tourism industry all claim a stake. You don't stumble upon Xiao Chala. The breathtaking gorge along the Nu River's upper reaches, which locals claim as the world's second largest (after Arizona's Grand Canyon), is traced by this rural region's only paved road, running along a sensitive border region with Myanmar. From the road, a few hours' walk up a steep bridle path brings you to the first signs of settlement, but it is difficult to say when you've actually reached the " village " . Xiao Chala is, in reality, a scattering of homes and fields -- some of which are separated from each other by as much as a rugged half-hour walk. The community sprawls across the mountain; it has evolved without a central focus and without any planning authority. Speak to a Xiao Chala old-timer like Jincai and they will say the community dates to 1953 or 1954, when three families migrated here from the township of Kongdang in the neighbouring Dulong River Valley. The reason for the move was environmental: devastating floods drove the families in search of a mountain home. With the arrival of other settlers and a birthrate subject to looser restrictions than the Han majority, the population has surged. As a result, says the village head (or cunzhang) with a laugh, the mountain almost feels crowded now. In the Dulong River Valley, where most Dulong live, the reforestation policy launched in 2003 aimed at 14,000 mu (9.3 square kilometres), when fewer than 15,000 mu (10 square kilometres) were under cultivation. Although farmers are, in effect, paid not to farm (originally 50 yuan for each mu that is reforested), the traditional practice of slash-and-burn agriculture has been called to a halt, and hunting and logging have also been curtailed. In Xiao Chala, the restrictions seem to be grudgingly accepted. Some of the current terraced agriculture can continue, but is essentially limited to corn, rice, and a few other vegetables. During a recent visit, I found that middle-aged villagers were at home tilling the land, while most young men were on an extended trip in the higher mountains to collect medicinal herbs (such as coptis and fritillary) and sell them in Bingzhongluo, the nearest town. http://www.chinalyst.net/node/20352 Australia: 34) Nonetheless, almost every household (of which there are now 39) inhabits at least two or three wooden buildings with adjacent fields, and new structures are easily built with pine logs and slate roofing, both found on the mountain itself. Prime Minister John Howard will be a hypocrite if he calls on other countries to avoid deforestation while allowing further logging in Tasmanian and Victorian native forests, the Australian Greens say. A leaked declaration on climate change, energy security and clean development, prepared for the 21 leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit next month, calls on the world's major polluters to set goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions. It also calls for agreement on the importance of preserving and managing forests. But Greens leader Bob Brown said the authorised destruction of Tasmanian and Victorian forests is one of the world's worst examples of deliberate deforestation. " The leaked APEC leaders' declaration calls for avoided deforestation which means saving natural forests which are, along with the oceans, the world's biggest living carbon tanks, " Senator Brown said in a statement on Saturday. " Logging and burning Tasmanian and Victorian native forests is up there amongst the world's worst examples of deliberate deforestation and greenhouse gas pollution of the Earth's atmosphere - the very thing the APEC declaration aims to stop. " Prime Minister John Howard will be a hypocrite if he calls on other countries to stop burning forests but continues to subsidise and promote it in Australia. " The Greens will invite all APEC delegations to Victoria or Tasmania to see clearfelled coupes where native forests are being destroyed, Senator Brown said. http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=82220 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.