232 Earth's Tree News

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--Alaska: 1) Save the Tongass

--British Columbia: 2) FSC destroying ancient forests, 3) Beetle

stats, 4) Owl debacle,

--Washington: 5) Roads to ruin need to be repaired,

--California: 6) Old growth redwood logging, 7) Spooner treesit, 8)

Berkeley treesit,

--Montana: 9) Support WildWest

--Pennsylvania: 10) State owned forests to be taken over by oil and gas

--New Jersey: 11) FSC finally proven wrong

--USA: 12) Old growth is growing faster these days

--Canada: 13) Flooding 135 sq. miles of wilderness, 14) Logging Jasper

National Park,

--UK: 15) Green Billboards, 16) Boston Woods Trust,

--Czechoslovakia: 17) Running out of wood

--Bulgaria: 18) Balkani Wildlife Society proposes 40% forests for protection,

--Mexico: 19) Tree planting, 20) Dead and dying forest defenders,

--Honduras: 21) New Forest and Wildlife Law

--Argentina: 22) Treesit moves beyond 6 days

--Brazil: 23) Selling soybeans, 24) forest collapse in less than 75 years,

--Paraguay: 25) Last uncontacted Indians

--Peru: 26) Deforestation and disease

--Guyana: 27) Banning Bai Shan Lin

--Bolivia: 28) Birds: Save two forest specialists

--China: 29) Biofuels drive up food prices and halts farmland reforestation

--India: 30) Jammu and Kashmir now importing wood, 31) Forest

Department concern,

--Bangladesh: 32) Brick makers destroying forests,

--Philippines: 33) Toyota helps fight deforestation,

--Malaysia: 34) Selling Palm Oil,

--Australia: 35) Industry plans to sustain it logging

--Boreal Forests: 36) Forests limit melting of permafrost

--Tropical Forests: 37) Forests NOW Declaration

 

Alaska:

 

1) One hundred years ago today, President Theodore Roosevelt

established the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska. The

Tongass is the biggest, wettest, and wildest place in the national

forest system. Setting aside the Tongass was one of Roosevelt's many

conservation achievements. Far ahead of his time, TR conceptualized

conservation as the centerpiece of a strategy to keep America strong

and prosperous long into the future.The Tongass, one of 150 national

forests that TR established during his presidency, is one-third of the

world's remaining temperate rainforests, a comparatively rare

ecosystem. It is an outdoorsman's paradise of superlatives: Big bears,

big salmon, big rivers, big trees, big ice. Everything about the

Tongass is big — except for the federal government's vision for the

forest, which over the past half-century or so has been as small as

TR's was large. The Tongass is a showcase of how badly the federal

government can mismanage the great commons of America's public lands.

Peruse the history of the Tongass, and one could be forgiven for

wondering whether Russia actually sold Alaska to the U.S. Cutting

quotas, road-building subsidies, timber sales that have no takers —

it's all reminiscent of the Soviet model of state socialism. Turning

thousand-year-old Sitka spruce trees into pulp was just the sort of

value-destroying enterprise that would have made the old commissars

feel right at home. Seeing the hash that was made of Prince of Wales

Island's forests during the heyday of Tongass logging can give rise to

tempting thoughts that perhaps libertarians are right when they assert

that land is better off under private management. But privatization

wouldn't cure the baleful combination of pork-barrel politics and

short-term expedience that has ailed the Tongass and flies in the face

of everything that TR stood for. What would set matters straight is a

broader vision of the Tongass' true worth. Timber has a future in the

Tongass, but not the high-volume production model that has wasted so

much taxpayers' money and degraded so much habitat. Alaska is too far

from markets and its production costs are too high for massive pulp

and saw timber industries to be competitive.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/2007/09/09/logging-make-pulp-of-roosevelts-vision-f\

or-tongass/6358/

 

 

British Columbia:

 

 

2) FSC Old Growth Forest from Clayoquot Sound is coming down rapidly

as roads and chain saws screech away on the hills and valleys of this

Biosphere Reserve...it is business as usual with two logging companies

busy falling and road building. Two logging companies, supposedly

owned by First Nations...Makoah Logging (in conjunction with Coulson

Logging Co. in Pt. Alberni, known as ruthless and fastest logging on

the coast) and Issaak Logging (which is in conjunction with Triumph

Logging from Campbell River and Ecotrust) are hard at it here.

Helicopters are flying over checking out new road areas to access

Clayoquot from remote areas nearer to Pt. Alberni and old growth

cedars and other giant trees are crashing down daily. Please urge

people to purchase only old growth free forests as FSC certification

here is a farce. Thank you, Susanne Hare

 

 

3) The Mountain Pine beetle has now impacted 12 million hectares of

forest in B.C. That is 120 thousand square kilometres. Need a better

idea of how much forest is now dead, or dying? Look at the map shown

above, imagine a forest the size of Vancouver Island, now multiply

that by nearly 4 times. Now you have a visual idea of just how much

damage has been, or is being done to the forest industry in British

Columbia. Still, Chief Forester for B.C. Jim Snetsinger, is

optimistic. Repeating a quote from Einstein, Snetsinger says " In the

middle of difficulty lies opportunity. " In this case, the

opportunities may be: 1) Taking better care of the understory in the

forest when harvesting the dead wood. 2) Development of new technology

on ways to mill the wood to ensure the best value is recuperated given

the knowledge the wood has a " best before " shelf life of no less than

5 years. 3) New efforts to showcase our wood products, and one of the

most impressive will be the Speed Skating oval in Richmond for the

2010 Olympics. It will use one million board feet of beetle kill wood

for the 6.5 acre roof on that facility. 4) Heightened interest in bio

energy - The most important opportunity says Snetsinger is the move to

ensure all forest practices and policies are developed with climate

change in mind. That could mean planting species that are more

tolerant of a changing climate " zone " or more plantings of multiple

species. " There are some lodgepole pine that have survived this

epidemic " says Snetsinger " It will be important to examine the

genetics of those trees. While it won't help us with this epidemic, it

may be the key in helping to make future trees more resilient. " He

will review the Prince George District Timber Supply in late 2008 and

will take into account the rate of harvest, the progress in dealing

with the mountain pine beetle wood , the shelf life of the wood that

is standing " All of these things will come into play when I make the

decision on what the next annual allowable cut will be. "

http://www.opinion250.com/blog/author/13/1/250+news

 

4) The e-mails contain complaints the B.C. government is using

misleading figures to support its recovery plan for the owl, reveal

intergovernmental squabbling over management, and assert the province

is catering to the logging industry at the expense of the species'

future. Much of the criticism stems from biologists in the Ministry of

Environment frustrated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands,

which has jurisdiction. But one of the strongest indictments comes

from David Cunnington, senior species-at-risk biologist for

Environment Canada in Delta, who lambastes the province for its policy

of augmenting spotted owls through measures such as captive breeding

while failing to protect sufficient old-growth habitat. " This kind of

approach can be characterized as halfway technology, putting a

Band-Aid on a heart attack, or treating the symptom instead of the

disease, and is a great example of fiscal inefficiency, " Cunnington

writes. He also notes that of 363,000 hectares designated for spotted

owls, only 48 per cent is suitable habitat and even then contains

large parts in which owls have never been located. Harvesting has

occurred in valley bottoms leaving " disconnected sub-optimal habitat

for owls on valley sides, " he writes. Myke Chutter, the province's

bird specialist, said in an e-mail provincial efforts amount to a

" cop-out " and " a recipe [for] extirpation over time. " Chutter worries

that discussions over owl recovery have " centred on what [timber]

licensees may or may not be willing to do rather than what the owl

needed. " Just 17 spotted owls, including five pairs, are known to

exist in the wild in 12 locations in southwest B.C., the northern end

of a range that extends south to California. The spotted owl is also

endangered in the U.S. Bell used the 363,000-hectare figure in April

2006 when announcing a five-year, $3.4 million recovery strategy for

the spotted owl. Of the 363,000 hectares, 182,000 are within parks and

protected areas, and 181,000 are managed to retain 67-per-cent

suitable habitat for spotted owls, according to the Species at Risk

Coordination Office. The strategy calls for measures such as captive

breeding and release, moving spotted owls to new locations, increasing

food sources and managing competing species, along with protecting

nine Wildlife Habitat Areas in which surveys in 2005 detected spotted

owls.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=3fa642dc-7803-407c-a499-77\

c8bb5fb5ea

 

Washington:

 

5) There's an old saying that when you find yourself in a hole, you

stop digging. Right now, our federal government is in a hole and is

still digging. In doing so, it is turning its back on an agreement

with Washington state to maintain and restore thousands of miles of

decades-old, deteriorating logging roads in our national forests.

Muddy water harms the gills of salmon and trout. Silt smothers their

eggs when it settles into clean gravel beds. Muddy runoff also

contributes to making streams wider, shallower and more susceptible to

warming by the sun. Warm streams further threaten salmon and trout

that need cold, clean water to survive. Rivers and streams with

headwaters in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie and the Olympic national

forests flow into an already sick Puget Sound. If we are serious about

saving Puget Sound, we must pay attention to the top of the watersheds

that feed it. Right now, the federal government lags behind large

private and state forest landowners in maintaining the 22,000 miles of

national forest roads it manages in Washington. Private and state

timber landowners are on target to comply with the road-maintenance

requirements in Washington's forest-practice rules by 2016. In an

interagency agreement with the Washington Department of Ecology, the

U.S. Forest Service agreed to bring our state's national forest roads

into compliance with Washington's forest-practice rules — which

include road-maintenance requirements designed to protect water

quality and fish habitat — by this same 2016 deadline. It is clear

that the federal government will miss this deadline; the only

remaining question is by how much. Washington has long partnered with

the Forest Service, which is doing the best it can with the funding it

receives. Our beef isn't with the Forest Service; it's with the

current administration, which has chosen not to seek funding necessary

to meet its road maintenance commitments. It's high time for the

federal government to live up to its commitment to restore and

maintain its failing logging roads. Puget Sound restoration, salmon

recovery and the health of our rivers will suffer if it does not.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003881567_jaymanning13.html

 

California:

 

6) The Blue Label Timber Harvest Plan (THP)is a 335 acre THP is in

Lower Larabee Creek and is not approved yet. The THP includes the

removal of late seral and old growth forest which is habitat for

several kinds of sensitive forest species that are protected. Time is

running critically short for submitting comments on this THP. The

forest in this THP is considered occupied by marbled murrelets, and

the USFWS signed off on several units of marbled murrelet habitat

under the Habitat Conservation Plan. The prescription includes

clearcutting, select cutting, shelterwood preparatory step,

shelterwood removal step and two other silvicultural methods. The

Erosion Hazard Rating for this THP is high. Marbled murrelets, an

endangered species, continue to decline as over 94% of their nesting

habitat along the coast has been destroyed. Combined with the fact

that the ecosystem protections of the Northwest Forest Plan have been

shown to be inadequate to protect marbled murrelet populations, this

species is on a downward spiral towards extinction. Please submit

comments by 17 September 2007 to: CDF Northern Region Headquarters,

135 Ridgeway Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95401. For more information about

the THP please look at California Dept of Forestry's FTP site for

original THP documents. noel

ftp://thp.fire.ca.gov/THPLibrary/North_Coast_Region/THPs2007/

 

7) Eric Shatz was one of the raiders cutting down platforms, traverses

and living spaces with gas powered chainsaws in Marbled Murrlete

habitat during Murrlete protection season. This has been verified by

experienced activists. No (loud)work should be done by PL during this

protection season. Not only did they disturb the wildlife, they also

dumped our contained food stores all over the forest floor. This is a

BIG taboo for sitters, we compost all food scraps, we avoid feeding

wildlife because corvids such as Grey Jays and Crows attack nesting

birds. Corvids are attracted by garbage and human scraps. The raiders

also left the equipment they did not steal such as sleeping bags,

blankets, ropes and other non-biodegradable items scattered throughout

the woods.Forest defenders were away from Nanning this summer for a

number of reasons. We felt that the grove was safe due to the Murrlete

restrictions. We felt that our presence, even at a bare minimun, was

not ethical. If we were in the canopy during the summer, we may have

discouraged nesting Murrletes...contradicting our hard work to protect

this habitat. We run a tight ship in regards to " leaving only

footprints " in the woods. Yes, it is more than obvious who's property

we are on. However, we were really surprized at the lack of respect

that Eric Shatz and his crew has for the forest and wildlife. We hope

that you will answer the call to help us, to hold PL accountable for

their actions, and to support the effort to protect Nanning Creek. As

of Wednesday, September 12th, PL continues to harass sitters from the

ground, as well as maintain a security presence at entrances to the

Nanning sit. Please use caution if you attempt to enter the sit. Call

Humboldt Forest Defense for more information.

http://humboldtforestdefense.blogspot.com/2007/09/nanning-raid-updatepl-violatio\

ns-of.html

 

8) Protesters living in an oak grove in front of Memorial Stadium

secured a small victory Wednesday as an Alameda County Superior Court

Judge refused to immediately order them down from their growing perch.

Saying he saw no immediate emergency, Judge Richard Keller denied a

University of California, Berkeley request to order an immediate end

to the 10-month long protest. Instead, Keller said he wanted to wait

for a full hearing next month before making a decision on whether the

tree sitters have a First Amendment right to live in the grove. " I am

going to maintain the status quo, " Keller said. " There is no reason to

believe that the situation is going to continue to grow. " University

officials sued the tree sitters Monday, asking a judge to order the

removal of the group because they posed a danger to themselves and the

surrounding neighborhood. With that suit, the university asked for a

temporary restraining order demanding the tree sitters leave the area

until a hearing is held. The university claimed the protesters are

posing fire, health and safety risks by creating a tree-top village

using a series of wooden platforms connected by a complex system of

ropes and pulleys. Protesters set up camp in the trees in December in

hopes of preventing the university from moving ahead with plans to

build an athletic training complex at the site. Cal wants to build a

$125 facility at the steps of Memorial Stadium, in part to attract

student. athletes. Since December, however, the protest has grown.

Tree sitters have brought propane tanks to the site and have cooked

with open-flame camping stoves, the university said. Urine and feces

has fallen from the trees and, at least once, a protester reportedly

threw a firecracker at a police officer. The pyrotechnic ignited the

ground at the base of the trees, the university said. " I don't

understand why the university can't control its own property, " Keller

said. " What prevents the university from securing the area and not

letting people in? " Goldstein responded that the university does not

want to cordon off the area because of safety concerns. " We don't

believe we can do that safely, " he said.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6882974?nclick_check=1

Montana:

 

9) As the hottest summer on record in the northern Rockies comes to a

close, I am especially thankful for our public national forest lands.

Not only do these lands help regulate our climate and provide habitat

for countless species, but I can't think of a better way to beat the

heat than visiting our national forest lands! Whether it's a high

alpine lake, a clear flowing stream or the coolness of a pristine,

old-growth forest, we are truly blessed to live surrounded by some of

the most beautiful public lands in America. TheWildWest Institute

continues to successfully work to protect and restore these lands -

your public forests, wildlands and watersheds here in the Northern

Rockies. Please take a moment to learn about our recent successes and

then consider joining the WildWest Institute as a member with a

tax-deductible contribution today. The past year saw us continuing to

work together with diverse interests to help establish a new,

sustainable restoration economy in our region that will benefit our

forests, wildlife, watersheds and communities. During the 2007 Montana

legislative session, we helped to form and worked together with a

Restore Montana partnership that worked to acquire $6 million in new

money for restoration work in Montana. One of the most exciting

aspects of that funding is the establishment of a state-wide

Restoration Office, to be housed in the Department of Natural

Resources and Conservation. Recently, WildWest helped form FireSafe

Montana, which serves as a clearinghouse for homeowners seeking

information, resources and assistance on community wildfire

protection. Also, One of our successful cases from 2007 issued a major

blow to the Bush Administration's attempts to illegally rewrite the

rules for managing our national forests. Together with fourteen other

conservation groups, our lawsuit will have a lasting, positive impact

on the overall management of 192 million acres of federally owned

forests and grasslands. Another positive result of a successful

WildWest lawsuit, which made it all the way to the US Supreme Court

earlier in the year, has been the Forest Service finally being forced

to monitor past and current management activities to ensure the

long-term viability of birds and animals dependent on old-growth

forest habitat throughout the Northern Rockies.

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1537/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=1544

 

Pennsylvania:

 

10) Spurred by rising oil and gas prices, the industry wants to reopen

exploration and development on the 2.1 million acres of state-owned

forest land. More than a dozen companies have already asked for

permits on a total of 4.5 million acres of state forest land. State

Sen. Mary Jo White, R-Venango, who represents one of the state's oil

and gas areas, said this week she plans to introduce legislation soon

that would require DCNR to auction oil and gas leases for any state

forest property where more than one company wants to drill. In a news

release, Ms. White, who is chairman of the Senate Environmental

Resources and Energy Committee, criticized the Rendell administration

for not granting leases at the same time it had made " energy

independence " a central theme of its energy program. But Jeff Schmidt,

the Harrisburg lobbyist for the Sierra Club, said it is opposed to

reopening the state forests for drilling because of the same

biological concerns that led the state to impose the moratorium in the

first place. " The science hasn't changed, " Mr. Schmidt said, " but the

political pressure has resulted in this choice to remove the

moratorium. " Frank Feldbaum, president of the Pennsylvania Biological

Survey, said oil and gas development on state lands could further

fragment the forest, disrupt sensitive habitat and create openings for

invasive plant species. " Invasives are eating Pennsylvania alive and

everywhere they cut a road in for an oil or gas well opens the door

for whatever seeds are on that dozer's blade or tracks, " Mr. Feldbaum

said. " As for fragmentation, you can see what's been done with all the

drilling going on in the Allegheny National Forest, and now that will

bump right into the state forests. "

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07257/817427-113.stm

 

New Jersey:

 

11) New Jersey based Friends of the Rainforest and Ecological

Internet's campaign to stop the use of ancient rainforest timbers for

boardwalk repairs is progressing nicely -- garnering media attention

and already changing the city council's vote. An important precedent

is being set that ancient rainforest timbers belong in rainforest

canopies, not in construction projects and consumer products. You can

still take action -- we are making a difference with every protest

email we send and every new protest network participant we recruite.

The crusade to keep ipê out of Ocean City's boardwalk reconstruction

is a rejection of Forest Stewardship Council and big greens' efforts

to certify and greenwash industrial ancient forest logging as being

responsible, while falsely implying sustainability. First time logging

of primary rainforests -- selective, certified, ecosystem based or

otherwise -- results in an immediate huge release of carbon, permanent

reductions in future carbon sink potential, and reductions in species

numbers and diversity. One of the gravest obstacles to mitigating

climate change, conserving ancient forests and achieving global

ecological sustainability is the pernicious myth that selectively

logging ancient forests (certified or not) is environmentally

beneficial. It is NOT. With just over 15% of the world's ancient

forest existing in large, intact blocks; areas that are critical for

continued functioning of ecosystems and the biosphere, what remains

MUST be protected in an intact state that is free from all industrial

activities. Ensuring the Earth's continued capacity to provide

humanity and our sister species our habitat; including addressing

climate change, ending the extinction crisis and maintaining

freshwater resources, depends critically upon ending ancient forest

logging and finding methods to compensate local peoples and

governments for avoiding deforestation AND forest diminishment such as

that wrought by " certified " logging.

 

USA:

 

12) Clues found in old-growth tree rings from Michigan to Maine show

an increasing growth spurt during the last century, possibly from

global climate change, according to Neil Pederson, an assistant

professor at Eastern Kentucky University. Normally, trees, like

people, slow growth as they age, said Pederson. But ring patterns in

oaks, poplars and cedars -- some up to 400 years old -- instead show

trees started growing faster in recent decades. " It is like my

grandmother suddenly growing taller and dunking a basketball or

playing football, " said Pederson. " It's not supposed to happen. " He

said it is likely that global warming is behind the change. " The most

important factor to limit growth in trees is low winter temperature, "

he said. Since starting his research while at the Lamont-Doherty Earth

Observatory of Columbia University in New York City, Pederson has

collected more than 1,600 tree ring samples. In New York state, some

specimens came from Fred Breglia, horticulture and operations director

of Landis Arboretum in Esperance. Winter has been gradually retreating

from New York and neighboring states for four decades, according to

research by Cameron Wake, a professor at the Climate Change Research

Center at the University of New Hampshire. In the 1970s, there was an

average of 87 days with snow on the ground -- two weeks longer than

now. Average winter temperatures have climbed 4.5 degrees. Warmer

weather also means more rain to fuel tree growth. Snow now accounts

for about 70 percent of winter precipitation, down from 80 percent,

according to Wake. In looking at rings from 230 Atlantic white cedars

from Maine to North Carolina, he found trees from New Jersey and north

showed accelerated growth rates for the last 80 years, while trees

south of that were unchanged. Breglia agreed with Pederson's view. He

said he has also seen similar growth spurt patterns in 600-year-old

black gums that he sampled in Saratoga County, N.Y., which is the

northernmost edge of the species range.

http://www.startribune.com/389/story/1420201.html

 

Canada:

 

13) American environmental groups today announced their support for

Canadian environmental groups and three Cree Indian communities

fighting Hydro-Quebec's most recent assault on the James Bay

wilderness in Quebec, Canada. Hydro-Québec's primary purpose for

damming and diverting the Rupert River - one of the last undammed

major river in Northern Quebec - and creating a massive reservoir

equivalent in size to flooding two-thirds of Montreal, or half of New

York or New Orleans, is to generate new power capacity to sell to the

northeastern United States. " This massive, non-sustainable energy

project has been cloaked in secrecy and preliminary work has started

with almost no public scrutiny, " said Doris Delaney of PROTECT, adding

that it is never too late to re-examine the Rupert diversion. " We seek

a construction moratorium, to allow time for impartial and complete

review of the project's environmental and social impacts, and of the

very attractive wind power alternative, which Hydro-Quebec appears to

have deliberately concealed, " said Delaney. On average, 71% of the

river's annual flow will be diverted by 2009 to new reservoirs

flooding 135 square miles of land, leaving a trickle of the original

flow. The water will be funneled to Hydro-Québec's La Grande

hydropower system further north on James Bay.

http://www.savetherupert.org

 

14) Jasper National Park staff are hoping Mother Nature gives them

enough time to reshape their forests, before a massive invasion of

mountain pine beetles devastates their trees. The deadly insects have

only made small inroads into Jasper so far, but that could change

quickly, says Warden Dave Smith, who runs both the park's wildlife and

pine beetle prevention programs. " They only fly during a two-week

period each year. Quite literally, if the winds are blowing in our

direction at the time of the next flite we could be the next place

where the mountain pine beetle hits in a big way, " Smith says. The day

before the interview he spent seven hours in a helicopter looking for

signs of mountain pine beetles in various areas of the park. Smith

found about 200 infested trees in the northwest corner of the park,

near the Wilmore Wilderness area, and about another 100 in other

locations. In the past they have usually found about 30 infested trees

in the northwest so there's no doubt the problem is growing. " For us

that's a heck of a lot but when you compare it with some other areas,

such as B.C. it's sill very minor, comparatively speaking, " Smith

says. The answer to all this is fire. The only way to regain the

biodiversity the park thrives on and to protect it from mountain pine

beetles is to allow more fires within the park, so that there is a mix

of trees of different ages rather than an overabundance of older ones.

" What fire does is kill the trees above ground, but below the surface

it stimulates new growth, so new shoots will pop up, " Smith explains.

" Fire is the perfect gardening tool on a large scale to create

ecological restoration. " In addition, creating fires around the areas

of mountain pine beetle infestation effectively creates a blockade,

preventing the beetles from easily spreading to nearby trees. " When we

find mountain pine beetle we cut those trees down and burn them, but

we know that is just a finger in the dyke maneuver, " Smith says. " So

what we're doing is we're trying to use the natural process of fire to

slow or stop the mountain pine beetle from going 7through Jasper

National Park. " Sounds simple, but in practice is it a very complex

proposition. Starting a fire is easy enough, controlling it is a whole

other issue, Smith says.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=69705878-f2ad-4ea9-936a\

-15efb7db7706

 

UK:

 

15) Communications agency Creative Concern has created a 'green'

billboard that replaces carbon-intensive materials with a living hedge

of native willow trees. The Green Billboard is an advertising medium

made entirely from willow trees which the agency believes offers a

superior range of benefits to traditional hoardings including

reduction of noise pollution, increase in tree coverage and a natural

screen for unsightly developments. The initiative has been developed

by Manchester agency Creative Concern, Cheviot Trees of Berwick upon

Tweed and fellow Manchester design agency, Modern Designers. The first

installation of the willow billboard has been sited on a new woodland

development in Merseyside at Bidston Moss adjacent to the M53. and

follows months of meticulous planning by the ethical agency in

partnership with Cheviot Trees and fellow design agency, Modern

Designers. The hoarding, which measures 30 metres by 2.5 metres, was

delivered on behalf of the NWDA and the Forestry Commission and

displays the partnership's message ' One Tree Is Planted Every Ten

Seconds In This Region'.

http://www.how-do.co.uk/north-west-media-news/other-media/creative-concern-claim\

s-launch-of-wo

rld%92s-first-%E2%80%98living-advert%92-20070913927/

 

16) As revealed in The Standard earlier this summer, the Boston Woods

Trust is hoping to almost double the amount of woodland it currently

manages with the purchase of a further 27.5 acres off Wyberton West

End Road – on the town side of the existing Westgate Wood – and 15.5

acres in Fenside. The larger piece of land will be used to create the

first part of the Sir Joseph Banks Country Park and Arboretum, while

the stretch in Fenside will become an extension of the trust's

neighbouring Beech Wood, and will include a pond and walnut grove.

Boston Borough Council chief executive Mick Gallagher has this week

recommended to councillors they support the trust's scheme with a

£50,000 contribution. He said the scheme would bring the following

benefits to the Boston community: 1) Give the public the chance to

adopt healthier lifestyles through new walking and cycling facilities.

2) Enhance the appearance of the borough, making it more attractive to

investors and tourists. 3) Help to address climate change through the

planting of more trees. 4) Provide extra recreation space within the

borough. 5) Increase the biodiversity of Boston's wildlife. 6) Provide

opportunities for new eco-tourism/forestry jobs, wildlife education

and volunteer work. - The total cost of the two projects is expected

to run to around £230,000, including the land purchase, landscaping

work and the provision of all-weather pathways. The Woods Trust is

able to contribute £45,000 of its own funds, and hopes to secure a

further £100,000 from private and business sponsorship.

http://www.bostonstandard.co.uk/news/50000-council-cash-for-woods.3196633.jp

 

Czechoslovakia:

 

17) The Czech Republic has a record-high supply of wood that increases

by three million cubic metres every year, but despite that the country

may face a shortage of wood in 30 years owing to the constantly

growing demand, an executive said. Czech wood stock has risen by 70

million cubic metres over the past ten years, and forest area in the

country grows by 1,000 hectares a year, Jan Rezac, head of the

foundation Drevo pro zivot (Wood for Life), told CTK at the Wood-Tec

fair that opened in Brno today. He added, however, that the most

productive forests were founded after the World War I and have not

been renewed sufficiently. The current wood supply in Czech forests is

estimated at 668 million cubic metres. According to Czech Statistical

Office (CSU) data, a total of 17.68 million cubic metres of wood was

extracted in 2006, up 14 percent against the previous year. Demand for

wood grows steadily in the Czech Republic, especially in construction.

" The share of buildings based on wood is now at five percent, while

still two years ago it was less than one percent, " Rezac said. In

contrast, the share reaches ten percent in Germany, 15 percent in

Austria and more than 60 percent in Scandinavian countries. Demand for

wood will grow in future also because of the Czech Republic's pledge

to produce twenty percent of energy from renewable resources by 2020,

said Rezac. http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/168/czech_business/12015/

 

Bulgaria:

 

18) Balkani Wildlife Society proposes that 40% of the forests in

Bulgaria should be included in NATURA 2000, Andrey Kovachev from the

Society, told Focus News Agency. He expressed flat disagreement with

the statement of the National Agency for Forestry that 33% of

Bulgaria's forests should be included in the ecological network.

Kovachev participates as an expert in Thursday's session of the

National Council on Biodiversity. He regards the decision as

completely unacceptable because it cuts Bulgaria's most valuable sites

where the nature is preserved. " Minister of Environment and Water

Dzhevdet Chakarov pledged to work jointly with our experts on the

Black Sea coast problems. So far he has not kept his promise, " he

added. http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n121938

 

Mexico:

 

19) Earlier this summer Mexican President Felipe Calderón unveiled his

government's National Climate Change Strategy, a plan with specific

targets for reducing as much as 25 billion tons of CO2. The plan isn't

pegged to any particular year's levels, but lists opportunities for

emissions reduction and carbon capture by 2014. The comprehensive

carbon-sequestration section features a call to plant 250 million

trees in 2007, the development of wood-based biofuels in forest

communities and restoration of agricultural lands. While the

tree-planting goal is obviously quite ambitious, the Distrito Federal,

or Federal District, which encompasses much of Mexico City, has made a

solid contribution to the goal by planting three million trees in 25

communities over 49,000 acres (20,000 hectares) in the district's

rural southern zone. According to the National Forest Commission

(Spanish link), as of mid August, 50 million tree seedlings had been

distributed around the country, which means they may reach the goal of

250 million trees by year's end. The Distrito Federal loses on average

1,000 acres (400 hectares) of natural areas per year, and while the

state has set aside 200,000 acres (80,000 hectares) for conservation

purposes, only 158,000 acres (64,000 hectares) remain due to illegal

logging and squatting.

http://www.treehugger.com2007/09/three_million_trees.php

 

20) Much of Mexico's forestland is owned by 500 mostly-indigenous

ejidos — shared community land — but indigenous ownership does not

guarantee that the forests will be defended and conserved. Mexico's

lush forestland covers a quarter of its national territory and

accounts for 1.3 percent of the world's forest resources, but this

land is becoming increasingly littered with the corpses of dead forest

defenders. Mexican forests are a violent battleground between drug

gangs clearing land for illicit cultivation, guerilla groups encamped

under the canopy, heavily-armed wood poachers who steal 2,000,000

board feet of timber each year, and those who seek to defend the

trees. In recent years, Mexico's forests have become a killing floor

every bit as lethal as Brazil where such environmental martyrs as

Chico Méndez, Sister Dorothy Stang (LP, March 9, 2005) and young

Dionicio Ribieras were allegedly by the pistoleros of ruthless

landowners. The list of the dead is horrific. In the state of Mexico,

30 forest inspectors, a third of the state force, have been murdered

since 1991 according to a count kept by Héctor Magallanes, Greenpeace

Mexico forest action coordinator. While many ejidos zealously protect

their forests which are held in common and represent the communities'

most valued resource, other indigenous groups such as the Lacandon,

who occupy the forest of the same name lease out their timber rights

to millions of meters of precious mahogany and cedar, stands to

corporate loggers. On the other side of the ledger, Zapatista Mayan

indigenous rebels who share the rain forest with the Lacandones,

enforce timber cutting strictures in their communities and set up

roadblocks at key chokepoints in the jungle and the surrounding

canyons to keep the wood poachers from moving their loads to

clandestine sawmills in the municipality of Ocosingo. Clashes at the

roadblocks have resulted in casualties on both sides. " The earth is

our mother, " explained Omar, a Zapatista forest defender on the Ejido

Morelia, a recent forum in the Lacandon jungle. " We are prepared to

die to defend her. "

http://www.latinamericapress.org/article.asp?lanCode=1 & artCode=5292

 

Honduras:

 

21) Next month Honduras will have a new Forest and Wildlife Law,

approved by National Congress and setting up to 15 years in prison for

wood smuggling. COHDEFOR Former Manager Rigoberto Sandoval indicated

that no law has been so widely discussed as this one, from which came

more than 15 different versions and at least five reports over eight

years. The new Institute of Forest Sciences will replace the Honduran

Forest Development Corporation (COHDEFOR). Congress President Roberto

Micheletti celebrated the consensus reached and said all the country

will benefit from this.

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BAAFDE977-4BF7-4BDA-AC37-B857F9E56E2C%\

7D & language=EN

 

Argentina:

 

22) For six days now, the activists have continuously occupied trees

inside a part of the Yungas forest that's a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

They'll stay there until " la Ley de Bosques " [the Forest Law],

legislation to protect Argentina's remaining forests, is agreed by the

Argentinean congress. Greenpeace Argentina is calling for 1 million

signatures to help get the law passed, and has already collected over

600,000. If you are Argentinean and have not yet signed, please help

by signing now. While support from all is welcome, we need signatures

from Argentineans to get this law through. The trees the activists are

living in are up to 25 metres high. A 'land team', camping on the

forest floor, supports the activists in the trees, and all of them are

trained in jungle survival techniques. Argentina's forests are in

crisis. Forests are being chopped down at a rate 8 times faster than

the world average, clear cutting a massive 300,000 hectares a year. To

put that figure into context – Argentina destroys an area of forest

the size of 40 football fields, every hour.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/jaguar-tree-camp070913

 

Brazil:

 

23) Brazil, soon to be the world's largest producer of soybeans,

recently formed the Global Roundtable on Responsible Soy Association

as concerns grow that global demand for biofuels will level the Amazon

rainforest. Environmentalists say demand from China is playing an

important role in surging soybean production in the region. According

to Reuters, the Brazilian Oils and Fats Industry Association (Abiove),

a member of the Brazilian Roundtable, and Brazil's National Grain

Exporters Association recently said they would not to trade soy that

originates from the Amazon. Last year, after an investigation by

Greenpeace linked Amazon soy to chicken feed used to supply McDonald's

and other fast-food restaurants in Europe, a consortium of Brazil's

largest soy crushers announced a two-year moratorium on trading

soybeans grown on newly deforested lands in the Amazon basin. During

that time the agricultural sector will work with the Brazilian

government to prepare an effective mapping and monitoring system for

the Amazon biome, develop strategies to encourage soy producers to

comply with the Brazilian forestry laws, and work with other groups to

layout rules on how to conduct operations in the region. The

industry-driven trend is a hopeful sign that sustainability is gaining

traction in the Amazon. Aliança da Terra, an organization founded by a

Texas rancher named John Cain Carter and his wife Kika, is working on

a certification platform for Brazilian cattle ranchers -- the largest

drivers of deforestation in the Amazon. Carter believes that by giving

producers incentives to reduce their impact on the environment, the

market can succeed where conservation efforts have failed. " We're

setting up an accrediting mechanism that will help responsible

landowners gain access to markets and get the best price for their

products, " Carter told mongabay.com.

 

24) Because evaporation from the forest itself creates the conditions

necessary to sustain a rain forest, the entire forest need not be

logged for the system to collapse. The 1.2 billion acre Amazon basin

is located in five nations — Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela,

Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana — with Brazil

holding 60%. The forest accounts for about half the world's remaining

intact rainforest. Deforestation has increased in recent decades, as

the government and private interests have built roads into and through

the forest, individuals and conglomerates have cleared land for

ranching, and other interests eye the forest for short-term gain.

Brazil has recently celebrated its success at slowing the rate of

deforestation, conservation groups have long been active in the region

and the world's industrialized nations are increasingly interested in

schemes that might protect the forest as a way to offset their carbon

emissions. Like other large forests, the Amazon holds carbon that — if

trees are logged or burned — would be released into the atmosphere,

contributing to global warming. If logging of the Amazon Rainforest

doesn't stop, the forest could be destroyed in less than 75 years,

Brazilian environmentalist Philip Martin Fernside told TASS.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/2007/09/10/amazon-rainforest-could-disappear-by-208\

0/6366/

 

 

Paraguay:

 

25) Signs of the last uncontacted Indians south of the Amazon basin

have been spotted by other members of their tribe in Paraguay.

Footprints and a still-burning campfire were seen by members of the

Ayoreo-Totobiegosode tribe last week in the western half of their

territorial heartland. The news has alarmed the Indians' supporters,

as the area is the scene of rapidly increasing deforestation. The

Ayoreo-Totobiegosode have been trying to protect the last substantial

part of their ancestral forest since 1993. Many of their relatives

still live in this area, resisting all contact with outsiders. All

members of the tribe, including those who have had contact with

outsiders for many years, depend on this forest for their livelihood.

Although Paraguay's government is legally obliged to title this area

to the Ayoreo, only a small part has so far been handed back to the

Indians, and now illegal deforestation is rampant. Last month Survival

handed to the Paraguayan authorities a 57,000-signature petition

calling on the Ayoreo's land to be titled to them without delay.

Survival's Director Stephen Corry said today, 'We know that the

still-uncontacted Ayoreo Indians are being forced to live on the run

as their forest is cut down all around them. On the day the UN is

expected finally to approve a declaration on indigenous peoples'

rights, the shameful saga of the Ayoreo shows the vast gulf for many

tribal people between the reality on the ground and the aspirations of

the UN declaration.' For further information contact Miriam Ross on

(+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email mr

http://www.survival-international.org/news/2500

 

Peru:

 

26) Three years ago today I was dripping wet and happily exhausted,

having just hiked from 10,000 feet in the Peruvian Andes down into the

Amazon lowlands. A colleague and I were collecting soil samples to

study the diversity of tropical microbes. A Wake Forest University

friend was using the different elevations to understand how climate

change might affect rainforest diversity. A writer for Smithsonian

Magazine interested in deforestation was trying to keep his camera and

notebooks dry. As we hiked through the jungle, I was struck by the

changes we saw, including clear-cutting, forest fragmentation and soil

erosion, and by the far-reaching impacts those changes might have.

From diversity to deforestation, the environment and human health are

inseparable. The environment gives us food, shelter and an abundant

source of medicines. The changing environment is what I'd like to

focus on here-how issues such as climate change, deforestation and the

quest for clean water affect human health today. Tackle these problems

and we'll save lives; ignore them, and health crises are possible. The

World Health Organization recently estimated that climate change is

already claiming 150,000 lives a year through the spread of diseases,

heat waves and other factors. Warming temperatures allow the

mosquitoes that spread malaria and dengue fever to expand their

ranges. Cases of food poisoning from salmonella and other pathogens

increase with higher temperatures.

http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2007/09/13/Column\

s/The-Changing

..Environment-2966880.shtml

 

Guyana:

 

27) A few months ago, Bai Shan Lin had been banned from exporting logs

because of its failure to live up to investment timetables. Earlier

this year, this newspaper had reported that Bai Shan Lin Inc had

secured the rights to 400,000 hectares of forest for a period of 20

years, according to the company's website. The website said the

company would be processing logs harvested from the Jaling concession.

CEO of DTL S.K. Chan had said in a letter to Stabroek News that in

line with government's policy of further downstream processing of

timber products, the company had embarked on a technical assistance

management agreement with Bai Shan Lin " to secure the market linkages

in China… "

It did not provide any further details on this agreement. Earl Julien,

Site Manager at Bai Shan Lin's Coomacka operations in Region Ten, had

earlier told Stabroek News that his company was in the process of

" taking over the operations " at DTL's Mabura location. This was

confirmed by Bai Shan Lin's Administrative Manager Karen Canterbury.

However, Chan's letter said the arrangement with the Chinese-owned

company would add processing equipment to its existing mills at Mabura

to produce a wider range of value added timber products. He said too

that DTL only deals in logs it harvests itself in its licenced areas

of operation under the Forest Management Plan and Annual Operations

Plan as approved by the GFC.

http://guyanaforestryblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/govt-assured-no-assets-shares-mov\

ed.html

 

Bolivia:

 

28) Assessment of habitat use for species of conservation concern can

lead to important measures for habitat conservation. In high-Andean

Polylepis forests (3000–5000 m), two such species are the Giant

Conebill (Oreomanes fraseri) and the Tawny Tit Spinetail

(Leptasthenura yanacensis), two forest specialists confronted with the

loss and fragmentation of their habitat. The high degree of habitat

specialization with strong confinement to Polylepis forest patches

predisposes them to a much lower threshold to habitat fragmentation

than more generalist species. In this study, we examined their habitat

use. Through the use of principal component analysis and generalized

linear models considering the vegetation structure, tree density,

ground cover and interior and edge plots, we found micro-habitat use

only for O. fraseri. This species was more abundant (foraging and

perching) in plots with high presence of mature trees. Also, both

species showed strong edge avoidance, regardless of fragment size or

vegetation characteristics. Adverse microclimate conditions, such as

extreme temperatures during warm or cold periods at edges may be the

most probable cause of edge avoidance. The reduction of edge:interior

ratio within Polylepis fragments and management measures against

mature tree cutting is suggested for the conservation of these two

near threatened Andean birds.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL & _udi=B6V5X-4PMT5T3-1 & _user=1\

0 & _coverDate=0

9%2F11%2F2007 & _rdoc=1 & _fmt= & _orig=search & _sort=d & view=c & _acct=C000050221 & _versio\

n=1 & _urlVersion=

0 & _userid=10 & md5=4e6417608c60d6e715932fbe5f60366a

 

China:

 

29) China has suspended a plan to plant millions of trees across the

country amid worries that they would have taken up increasingly scarce

farmland, state media reported on Wednesday. China had planned to

reforest 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) of farmland as part

of a five-year project due to end in 2010, the China Daily newspaper

said. But the the project has been halted to maintain the minimum 120

million hectares of farmland deemed necessary to feed the country's

people, the paper said, citing an order from the State Council,

China's cabinet. The suspension will affect 1.07 million hectares,

with the other land already planted with trees, it said. The move

comes amid official concern over the increasing use of land to grow

corn and other grains for use as biofuels rather than food. It also

follows Tuesday's announcement that August saw the highest inflation

rate in nearly 11 years, fuelled in large part by skyrocketing food

prices. Reforestation and urbanisation has reduced China's arable land

to 122.07 million hectares, the paper said, just above the

government-set " red line. " However, it quoted officials from the State

Forestry Administration as calling the suspension a " pause. " " We will

continue to implement the project in the coming years, " said Liu Qing,

an official with the forestation project. It said more than 24 million

hectares of farmland have been reforested since 2000.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hccflDh4j5cWCyvyTjQCeSIs4rqQ

 

India:

 

30) The forest-rich state of Jammu and Kashmir is now importing timber

from Canada, Malaysia, Russia, Indonesia and other countries for

construction purposes. The imported timber costs 40 percent less than

local logs, which are now rarely found in the market due to heavy

inundation of forests over the past two decades. Timber merchant

Wajahat Ahmed says he alone procured 30,000 cubic feet of timber last

year from Gujarat. Wajahat and other Srinagar-based merchants procured

a quarter of a million cubic feet of timber from Canada last year. The

exploitation of forests has now left only 20,230 sq km of forest in

the state known for its pastures and lush green forests. Official

records say that 14,372 hectares had been encroached upon. A huge

forest track had been allotted to the Mata Vaishnau Devi Trust to

construct facilities for pilgrims and a grand university in the Jammu

region. Similarly, forest tracks have been procured by the Amarnath

Shrine Board to develop tracks and facilities for the Amarnath-bound

pilgrims. Kashmir has seen an increasing man-animal conflict over the

past few years. Environment Minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal told the

state legislature recently that over 30 people had been killed and

hundreds injured in such conflicts over the past two years. The

minister said the reason for the rise in such incidents was the

shrinking habitat of the wild animals, spread of human settlements and

deforestation.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C09%5C14%5Cstory_14-9-2007_p\

g7_44

 

31) Kashmir - Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Legislative Assembly

has expressed concern over the functioning of Forest Department and

State Forest Corporation (SFC) regarding inordinate delay in realizing

the arrears from various departments on account of forestland that has

been handed over to them. The Committee has directed the Department

and Corporation to take immediate steps to realize the arrears from

the concerned departments and also settle the pending issue of fixing

the rates of royalty on timber and clear the liabilities at the

earliest possible time. The PAC that met here Wednesday under the

chairmanship of MLA Mian Altaf Ahmed reviewed the functioning of these

organizations and held detailed discussion on the audit paras of CAG's

Report for the year 2001-02 pertaining to these departments. The

Committee directed the officers to ensure plantation of required

number of plants in lieu of the fallen trees from the forestland that

has been used by the other departments for other purposes so as to

maintain the prescribed ratio of cutting trees and plantation of new

trees, the Committee maintained.

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=13_9_2007 & ItemID=49 & cat=21

 

Bangladesh:

 

32) As trees fall and forests are thinned, wildlife disappears. The

total number of Hoolock Gibbon our only ape species will soon be in

double digits in the wild. Flagship species such as the Asian Elephant

and the Bengal Tiger are in similar states of crisis, as are hundreds

of lesser known species of cats, birds, butterflies and plants, to

name a few. How has this neglect of our once pristine Protected Areas

and the consequent loss of biodiversity come to pass? The Forest

Department has faced a number of challenges. The Wildlife Act allows

for little involvement of local communities in conservation of

Protected Areas, leaving Forest staff to conclude that their principal

role is to keep everyone out of the Areas, and to arrest and or

prosecute those who do enter. Because there is no plantation work to

be done in a Protected Area, budgets for management of the areas have

been much smaller than other Reserve Forests. In the absence of any

Protected Area Management Plans or any systematic wildlife management

training -- local Forest staff have focused almost exclusively on the

goal of " keeping people out " . In those Protected Areas where staff and

other local or national powerful interests have been less than honest,

Protected Areas have provided an ideal venue for theft of logs, fuel

wood, and establishment of brick fields or other encroachment of

lands. Consider the challenges of managing the forest impact of the

brick burning sector alone. A single brick field makes on average 2.4

million bricks a year, and this requires 1,000 tons of fuel wood, or

the equivalent of 40,000 head loads of wood from the forest. Although

the Brick Burning Control Act explicitly prohibits brick fields within

3 km of any Protected Area or Reserve Forest, many brick fields have

situated themselves directly adjacent to Protected Areas because they

can extract " free " wood fuel and clay. At one Protected Area in the

south of the country, 15 brick fields have situated themselves either

directly inside or immediately adjacent to the forest.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=3882

 

Philippines:

 

33) Efforts to protect Philippine rain forests from illegal logging

received a boost from a US$1.5 million (€1 million) corporate donation

for a reforestation project, an environmental group said Thursday.

Conservation International said its partnership with Japan's Toyota

Motor Corp., which will provide the funds over the next three years,

will help restore northeastern forests in an area larger than

Switzerland. Plans also include offering jobs to indigenous people to

prevent illegal logging. The initiative between the corporate and

environmental communities " will demonstrate how forest protection

efforts benefit both biodiversity and community development, " the

group said in a statement. Conservation International said

deforestation is responsible for almost a quarter of all greenhouse

gas emissions — more than double the amount from the world's cars and

trucks. It said the Philippines is one of the most threatened of the

world's 34 biodiversity hotspots — regions where 75 percent of the

planet's most-threatened mammals, birds and amphibians live within

just 2.3 percent of the earth's surface. Those locations have already

lost at least 70 percent of their vegetation, it said. The Penablanca

Protected Landscape and Seascape, which is linked with the Northern

Sierra Madre Natural Park on the main northern island of Luzon,

includes several threatened vertebrate species, such as the Philippine

crocodile, the northern Luzon shrew rat and the country's national

bird, the Philippine eagle.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/13/asia/AS-GEN-Philippines-Rain-Forests.p\

hp

 

Malaysia:

 

34) A canary-yellow machine lumbers onto a fallow oil palm field and,

with a roar of its motor, rips into a pile of fronds and shavings of

dead trunks. As plantation operators and scientists observe the

mulching process, their guide, Cheriachangel Mathews, a senior manager

at United Plantations'Jendarata Estate, warns that the group has been

infiltrated. " We have a journalist with us, " he says. " I want him and

all of you to know that nothing here—nothing—is wasted. " Mathews has

good reason to be concerned about the take-home message. With prices

soaring, palm oil, Malaysia's number one crop, has recently surpassed

soybean as the top-selling vegetable oil in the world. Oil squeezed

from palm fruit bunches is an ingredient in myriad products, from ice

cream to soap, and it is being touted as a biofuel that can stem

reliance on fossil fuels. But the industry has been taking a mulching

in the press. Environmental groups have accused plantations of razing

forests to plant the lucrative crop and slaughtering orangutans that

pilfer and eat the fruit. Hoping to turn over a new frond, the oil

palm industry is now endeavoring to demon- strate its sustainability.

It faces an uphill battle. A just completed review by three dozen

academics details species declines pinned on the oil palm, a native of

West Africa that has become a dominant feature of Southeast Asia's

landscape. It is an " unavoidable fact that the replacement of diverse

tropical forest with an exotic monoculture significantly impacts

biodiversity, " states the Biodiversity and Oil Palm Briefing Document.

It will be presented at a gathering in November of the Roundtable on

Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), in which industry officials, scientists,

and other parties are hammering out a voluntary certification scheme

for minimizing harm to the environment. Scientists and like-minded

industry insiders hoping to curb destructive growth may get help from

the market. Rising palm oil prices are strangling demand for palm as a

biofuel, Edgare Kerkwijk, managing director of the BioX Group, a

renewable-energy company in Singapore, told the International Palm Oil

Congress in Kuala Lumpur late last month. That's bitter news for

companies in Southeast Asia that have been racing to ramp up capacity

to process palm into biodiesel. With crude palm oil now topping $700

per ton, " we believe that palm oil is not a long-term bio-fuel, "

Kerkwijk said. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/317/5844/1491

 

Australia:

 

35) Greens Leader, Peg Putt, says the report is an attempt to justify

bad forestry practices. " This report says we can keep killing the

forests for a long time. That's what we mean by sustainable, " Ms Putt

said. " It doesn't talk about the ecological sustaiinability of what's

happening, " she said. Hans Drielsma from Forestry Tasmania says the

report shows that in 90 years, the volume of eucalypt wood managed by

the company will be substantially higher. He also says the average age

of the forest will be roughly the same. Mr Drielsma says the report

assumes future production levels will remain the same. " There've been

some recent suggestions for instance that in the context of this new

pulp mill, there's going to be a dramatic increase - a doubling I

think I heard yesterday of production from our forests, " Mr Drielsma

said. " Well, I'm not sure where that's going to come from, because

it's certainly not coming from the state forests that we're managing, "

he said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/15/2033651.htm

 

Boreal forests:

 

36) " There is no doubt that northern regions are warming and

permafrost is melting as shown by numerous observations and modeling

studies, " says Altaf Arain, co-author of the study and associate

professor in the School of Geography and Earth Sciences. " However,

there is large uncertainty about the rate and magnitude of permafrost

degradation and thaw depth. " Previous studies using the U.S. National

Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate Model suggest that

global warming is rapidly melting permafrost in the North regions.

According to those studies, only a million square kilometres of the

currently estimated 10.5-million square kilometres of permafrost would

remain by the end of this century. However, Arain says these studies

failed to consider the impact of peat and vegetation cover. " A layer

of peat above the permafrost acts as insulation by trapping air

pockets, which reduce heat transfer and helps permafrost retention, "

he says. " Vegetation can also help slow the rate at which permafrost

melts because it shades the ground. Forest cover provided more

protection than shrubs or bare ground, and thick layers of peat were

such effective insulators that permafrost showed only minimal decline

even by 2100. On the other hand, Arain adds, disturbance of the ground

cover on a local scale or fires in the boreal forest and tundra can

lead to accelerated permafrost thaw. Forest fires in permafrost

regions, which may become more prevalent in the future, can reduce

surface organic layer, and this can affect ground thaw on both local

and regional scales. Preservation of peat layer and forests may help

in maintaining permafrost in northern regions.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070913132927.htm

 

Tropical forests:

 

37) The Forests NOW Declaration, which is backed by charities such as

Friends of the Earth and Care International, is being unveiled in

London today. It demands governments take steps to protect tropical

and subtropical forests to combat climate change, preserve

biodiversity and sustain the livelihoods of 1.4 billion of the world's

poor. The campaigners want to see: the protection of forests included

in carbon trading schemes; assistance to developing nations to

participate in carbon markets; incentives for regeneration of degraded

land, and; the removal of incentives which encourage forest

destruction. The declaration was signed in the Brazilian rainforest

canopy by Amazonas state environment secretary Virgilio Viana along

with science leaders and aid agencies, and will make its way across

the world before arriving in Bali for the UN climate change conference

in December. It is also endorsed by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari

Maathai, famed botanist Edward O Wilson, the Bishop of Liverpool the

Rt Rev James Jones, and executive director of the Coalition for

Rainforest Nations Kevin Conrad. The declaration's journey to Bali,

where the successor to the Kyoto Protocol will be discussed, is being

co-ordinated by the Global Canopy Programme. Mr Conrad said: " Global

markets for cows and coffee have been driving deforestation. " The

measures called for in this declaration offer and opportunity to

compete head to head with the money a country can make elsewhere –

while protecting forests. " We absolutely must do this if we are

serious about climate stability. "

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