Guest guest Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Today for you 35 new articles about earth's trees! (239th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com . --Alaska: 1) Judge stops Tongass logging --British Columbia: 2) Caribou need the whole forest not just a portion, 3) Timberwest's giant land sell off, 4) Cutting the last giants is not certified sustainable forestry, --Oregon: 5) 7 of 8 units withdrawn, 6) Portland's tree value, 7) Umpqua's Beetle Battle, --California: 8) Quincy group unravels, 9) ConocoPhillips gives millions for treeplanting, --Minnesota: 10) 51,000 acres of forest conserved --Georgia: 11) Virgin paper is now supposedly green --USA: 12) McVideo Game, 13) Forestweb, --Canada: 14) Everyone wants Canada's forestlands --UK: 15) Woodland to be new adventure playground, 16) National Trust destroys forest, --Latin America: 17) 7 million hectares lost each year --Colombia: 18) Alternative economic investments urged by US --Uruguay: 19) FSC certifies the poisoning of workers and their offspring --Brazil: 20) Highest carbon emissions, 21) Seven year plan to end logging, 22) Fires, --China: 23) 45 Billion pairs of chopsticks each year, 24) Aboriginal rights, --Japan: 25) GE larch trees --Thailand: 26) New loan scheme encourages Teak farmers --Vietnam: 27) Conservation strategies --Philippines: 28) 60% of wood is imported, 29) Protecting communal forests, --Malaysia: 30) The plunder of TA ANN Holdings, 31) Palm oil is the cornerstone, --Indonesia: 32) 79 million trees in one day? --Australia: 33) End the export of softwood logs, 34) Red Gum wetlands overharvested, 35) Greedy Tasmanian rednecks want to destroy it all, Alaska: 1) Native villagers won a significant victory Wednesday (Sept. 26) against timber interests when a federal judge refused to let logging proceed in a roadless region of the Tongass National Forest. Federal District Court Judge James K. Singleton, Jr. ruled that the U.S. Forest Service failed to follow its own advice -- and used misleading information -- by allowing logging in Threemile Arm, on Kuiu Island, a traditional subsistence use area relied upon by the village of Kake. The Forest Service used outdated market information that overstated demand for the timber, Judge Singleton said. Concurring with an Earthjustice lawsuit filed on behalf of villagers, he ruled that the timber sale could not occur without an Environmental Impact Assessment that used accurate market information. " This ruling confirms the Organized Village of Kake's claim that the U.S. Forest Service has consistently subsidized industrial logging over tribal members' way of life, " said Mike Jackson, an official with OVK. " We need standing trees and healthy creeks and watersheds for our culture, our food, our way of life and our economic opportunities. " The ruling echoed a 2005 court action that disallowed the management plan for the entire forest because it also used inflated market information. A new management plan is expected in November. " The Forest Service has repeatedly misused its own economic data to justify a bloated, wasteful timber sale program in the Tongass, " said Tom Waldo, an Earthjustice attorney who argued the case. " As a result, special places like Threemile Arm are needlessly put at risk, and it's costing American taxpayers tens of millions of dollars every year. " Kuiu Island is 20 miles south of Kake. The proposed logging would have required 8.4 miles of new roads and 621 acres of clearcuts in a roadless area. Earthjustice also represented the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, and Center for Biological Diversity in the case. NRDC co-counseled the case with Earthjustice. http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/007/judge-rejects-timber-sale-in-native-a\ rea-of-tongass- national-forest-1.html British Columbia: 2) " The Incomappleux forest is only a small part of the Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park Proposal that Colleen McCrory helped to draft just before she died, " says VWS director Craig Pettitt, project manager for the park proposal. " The lower two-thirds of the Incomappleux River Valley has been ruthlessly clearcut, " says Pettitt. " The remaining forest at the head of the valley is only about 9,600 hectares. Most of it is steep slopes. It contains only about 1,000 hectares of commercially viable forest. It is not used by mountain caribou because it is too small. The upper Incomappleux Valley must be protected. But the endangered mountain caribou, grizzly bears and important fisheries in this area need far more forest protection than that. Valhalla's proposal would make the Incomappleux part of a network of protected old-growth forest over an area large enough to help save our large wildlife and fish populations. " The article quoted ForestEthics as saying that protecting the Incomappleux is seen as a way to honour Colleen McCrory. " When the article was being written, both The Province and ForestEthics were told that it was the park proposal, not just the Incomappleux, that would honour Colleen, " says VWS Chair Anne Sherrod. " It is ironic that in failing to mention VWS's park proposal, both FE and The Province have shown that they do not support what Colleen was actually asking to have protected. " VWS believes that Pope & Talbot knows very well that any move to log the upper Incomappleux would spark outrage all over Canada and Europe. " The BC government and P & T would be seen as barbarians to log the Incomappleux, " says Sherrod. " We're afraid what they really want to do is to hold the Incomappleux hostage to obtain a trade-off for getting to log more mountain caribou habitat, " says Sherrod. Currently the federal and provincial governments have a recovery process for the mountain caribou under the Canadian Species at Risk Act. BC is overdue filing a strategy for recovery. Its draft strategy relies mostly upon killing predators. But recently, a petition signed by 50 scientists said the draft strategy is inadequate, and that there should be no more logging of old-growth mountain caribou forest. " That's a heck of a lot more forest than the Incomappleux, and that's what really has Pope & Talbot on the spot. http://www.vws.org 3) TimberWest Forest Corporation is uniquely positioned as the largest owner of private forest lands in western Canada. The Company owns approximately 334,000 hectares or 825,000 acres of private timberland that, over the previous five years, has provided an annual average harvest of 2.594 million m³ of logs and has an approximate annual growth rate of 8.0 m³ per hectare per year on the productive land base. These timberlands are located on Vancouver Island and the majority of the land base supports the growth of Douglas fir, a premium tree species sought after for structural purposes. TimberWest runs fully-contracted harvesting operations. With almost 80% of the Company's annual private land logging now being done in second-growth stands, TimberWest leads the Coastal industry in the growing and harvesting of second-growth timber. The Company's independent auditor, KPMG Performance Registrar Inc., periodically certifies that the forest management practices on the Company's private timberland continue to meet all Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI®) requirements. SFI requirements specify that forest harvesting is integrated with environmental and conservation goals for soil, wildlife, water quality protection, conservation of biodiversity, protection of special sites and aesthetics in a manner that ensures a sustainable harvest over the long-term. TimberWest also owns renewable Crown harvest rights to 0.7 million m³ of logs per year and operates a sawmill located near Campbell River, BC. In addition, approximately 38,000 hectares or 94,000 acres of the Company's private forest lands have been identified as having greater value as real estate properties and will progressively be made available for higher uses over the next ten to fifteen years. The Company reviews its land base on a periodic basis to update the size of its portfolio of higher use properties. http://www.timberwest.com 4) My sense is that group certification for small private ecoforestry holdings is completely appropriate for FSC in BC. But I am outraged that Ecotrust has found it profitable to finance and support the " environmental " certification of helicopter highgrading of the last remnant patches and tufts of coastal old growth that were unavailable, out of deflection or otherwise inaccessible to conventional logging in the recent past. These ancient patches and remnants were fragmented by logging and isolated by economies of scale but in many cases they now represent scarce, small but completely functioning vaults and isolated refugia of original forest ecological integrity. In the near future when our society in the absence of intense industrial development propaganda turns towards forest restoration, these remnants will provide wonderful and valuable examples, scarce blue prints and transplantable culture for restoring our industrial forests' lost biodiversity and milleniums of adapted resilience. Ecotrust's financing of these desperate salvage and cherry-picking initiatives leverages cash and policy subsidies without which these small refugia could not be economically liquidated. Ecotrust had a wonderful heritage from emulating Shorebank that was forged in Wilapa Bay of funding sustainable alternatives to resource liquidation. But, it seems to have lost that model in its coastal BC attempts to integrate First Nations interests into full participation in the environmentally subsidized resource exploitation economy. Other than Ecotrust being willing to take higher risks and lose more money to achieve emblematic progress, I can't see any difference between its BC operations and those of the larger chartered bank mortgagers of forest liquidation tenures. Personally, I think it is certifiable insanity for FSC to certify original forest liquidation logging and I would greatly appreciate Ecotrust to stand back and use its credibility and financial clout to leverage sustainable alternatives rather than to spur a jump-on-the-bandwagon First Nations' goldrush for remote and isolated forest liquidation subsidies. mbmajor Oregon: 5) The U.S. Forest Service agreed Tuesday to withdraw plans to log spotted owl habitat that burned last year in the Central Oregon Cascade Range. The settlement came in a lawsuit brought by conservation groups opposing plans to log 190 acres of the Deschutes National Forest outside Sisters, Ore., that burned in the Black Crater fire. The lawsuit said the timber sale violated federal law by distorting science that shows spotted owls still use forests after they burn and by keeping the public out of the decision making. The lawsuit also said the project would violate the Northwest Forest Plan by logging in an old growth forest reserve primarily to make money from the trees, and not to improve the forest. " Burned forests are healthy forests, and logging sets back their natural recovery, " Jay Lininger, director of the Cascadia Wildlands Project, said in a statement. The Forest Service admitted no wrongdoing but is withdrawing seven of the eight logging units. Under the settlement, the government will allow trees to be harvested on only 27 acres next to privately owned timberlands that have been logged since the fire. That timber was sold to Butte Timberlands Inc. last month. The other 173 acres will not be sold, Lininger said. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20071002-1549-wst-loggingsettlement.ht\ ml 6) After months of data crunching, the City Nature Urban Forestry division of Portland Parks & Recreation concludes that the theoretical replacement value of Portland's public and private trees would be at least $5 billion. Analysts say that reflects trees' worth in terms of everything from cutting pollution to improving property values. Armed with figures like that in a just-finished report titled " Portland's Urban Canopy, " city forester David McAllister is expected to go to the City Council today to recommend increasing the city's amount of tree planting, tree maintenance and public education. " We take our trees for granted, " McAllister says. " Everybody likes them. They're green. Portland considers itself a livable city. But nobody understands the hard work these trees are doing. They provide a direct economic benefit to every citizen in Portland. " For those who want to know those benefits, he flips through pages of facts such as these: Tree canopy covers about one-quarter of Portland -- 26 percent. The public part of Portland's arbor cover -- the estimated 1.4 million trees in city parks and along city streets -- has an estimated replacement value of $2.3 billion. The other part of Portland's canopy -- uncounted numbers of trees on private properties -- has an estimated replacement value of $2.7 billion. Annually, the city says, those public trees cost about $6.6 million to manage while providing some $27 million of aesthetic and environmental benefits. Trees do that, the analysts say, by reducing needs for natural gas and electricity, removing some air pollutants, keeping much storm water from reaching overburdened city sewers, and by reducing an earth-warming greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide. In sum, the report says, for every dollar invested in Portland's public trees, those trees return $3.80 in benefits. The idea of fastening a price tag on the functions of trees, parks officials say, is a way of asking what would happen if the trees disappeared. The idea is to calculate how much it would cost for machinery and more to try to replicate what trees provide naturally. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1191383714167220.x\ ml & coll=7 7) By next fall, forest officials hope to have thinning operations underway to keep mountain pine beetles in check and reduce fire loads surrounding Diamond and Lemolo lakes. The areas marked for timber management would provide buffer zones for summer getaways and popular recreation areas and make up 4 percent of the 300,000 acres susceptible to infestation and fire. Pine beetles are part of the area's natural ecosystem and thrive in older, large-diameter lodgepole pine. When stands become dense, at least 80 years old and 8 inches in diameter per tree, outbreaks occur. Because of decades of applied fire suppression in the forest, stands around Diamond and Lemolo lakes — and also within Crater Lake National Park — have reached vulnerable dimensions. Trees can transform into stands of potential Roman candles not long after beetles move in. On Wednesday, UNF officials guided a public tour of areas affected by the beetle outbreak and areas where they expect it to spread. In a previously thinned stand of lodgepole, south of Diamond Lake and north of the national park boundary, Gabe Dumm, a fire ecologist on the Umpqua forest, explained why the thick pines in the path of infestation and possible fire needed to be thinned. The Umpqua forest spent nearly $100,000 earlier this year to remove " hazard trees " from Diamond Lake Campground so weakened conifers wouldn't topple on campers. The U.S. Forest Service also hosted a workshop in Roseburg to solicit suggestions from the public that could be used in a proposed action for curbing the outbreak. Options include heavy thinning, which would leave about 40 trees per acre; seed-tree treatment, a more aggressive thinning approach that leaves only 15 percent of trees to naturally seed the next generation of trees; or no action at all. http://www.newsreview.info/article/20071004/NEWS/71004024 California: 8) Emboldened by recent successes, a vindicated Quincy Library Group went on the offensive with the Forest Service at its Thursday, Sept. 27, meeting. " I am no longer blaming 80 percent of the problem on environmentalists, " attorney Michael Jackson told Forest Service representatives from the Plumas, Lassen and Tahoe national forests. " The (Forest Service) people designing the (QLG) projects are violating the law. We are going to do something about it. " Jackson's comments came as he updated the group on recent developments. Early in September, negotiations with the Sierra Forest Legacy, a coalition of 100 environmental groups, yielded a small victory when SFL agreed to withdraw its motion for a preliminary injunction against the Freeman project. According to Jackson, Indian Valley logger Randy Pew made quite an impression on the SFL representatives. " They didn't want to put a small business out of work, " Jackson said. " They felt bad about that. " Later negotiations in Washington did not go as well - one source described the proceedings as " gruesome " - and the parties could not agree on several contested projects. Representatives of the QLG, the Forest Service and SFL, and Senator Dianne Feinstein and members of her staff, participated in the talks, which Feinstein virtually ordered during a meeting at Lake Tahoe in mid-August. " Feinstein gave the environmentalists a chance to lay out their case and they failed. From her point of view it sounded like all that was happening here was obstruction, " said Jackson. " I sat and watched the reputation of the environmental movement move back 10 to 15 years. " County forester Frank Stewart, another QLG negotiator, said the meetings were " worth a $1,000 ticket to watch. " " I would have paid $1,000 to be invisible, " responded fellow negotiator Linda Blum. The day after the negotiations concluded, however, the QLG scored a significant victory. After two-and-a-half hours of testimony Friday, Sept. 21, U.S. District Court Judge Morrison England ruled from the bench. As smoke from the Moonlight Fire fouled the air in Sacramento, site of the hearing, England denied SFL's motions for injunctions to stop three QLG pilot projects - Empire, Slapjack and Basin. According to Jackson, the decision releases 70 million board-feet of timber. http://www.plumasnews.com/news_story.edi?sid=5509 9) American Forests will receive $2.8 million to plant trees in wildfire-damaged areas in California as part of a $10 million settlement between the state of California and ConocoPhillips. The settlement, announced Sept. 11 by state Attorney General Jerry Brown, is designed to offset emissions caused by an expansion of a ConocoPhillips refinery. The oil giant will donate $7 million to support offset projects in the Bay Area and $200,000 to restore the San Pablo wetlands, in addition to the $2.8 million for tree planting. Brown called the agreement a " groundbreaking step in California's battle to combat global warming. . . " http://www.americanforests.org/news/display.php?id=177 Minnesota: 10) Governor Tim Pawlenty announced today that more than 51,000 acres of forest - almost 80 square miles - in Itasca and Koochiching counties have been conserved. State and private money totaling $12 million has been used to purchase a working forest conservation easement that precludes development of the property. This is the single largest conservation project in Minnesota in at least a decade. The agreement will protect jobs, preserve wildlife habitat and guarantee public access for outdoor recreation. " A key aspect of this landmark agreement is that the land will continue to be managed for timber production and continue to provide jobs and revenue for local economies as private land, " Governor Pawlenty said. " It will be open to the public for a wide variety of uses, including hunting, hiking and fishing. Minnesotans have always taken great pride in our vast forests and this achievement is a testament to our long-term commitment to responsible stewardship of our heritage and future. " Public funding for the easement purchase comes from $6.6 million in bond funds appropriated by the Minnesota Legislature in 2006. Private foundations and conservation groups contributed $5.4 million. The newly conserved lands are located near almost 440,000 acres of state-owned lands - Koochiching State Forest, George Washington State Forest, Myrtle Lake Peatland State Natural Area and Scenic State Park. Because of its proximity to the two state forests, the project is being called the Koochiching-Washington Forest Legacy Project. http://www.mnbiketrails.com/main.asp?SectionID=21 & SubSectionID=44 & ArticleID=1161\ & TM=66487.91 Georgia: 11) You can buy virgin paper and still support responsible forest management. That's the takeaway from Neenah Paper's latest environmental certification. The company's flagship STARWHITE Brand is now the first paper in North America to meet the requirements for labeling as FSC Pure. The FSC Pure label means the paper is made only with virgin fiber that comes from a forest certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. STARWHITE, known for its " Whites for All Occasions, " is also now 100 percent Green-e certified and Carbon Neutral. " Being green and buying virgin fiber aren't mutually exclusive, " says Gabe Bolton, the U.S. Chain of Custody Coordinator for SmartWood, the certification arm of the Rainforest Alliance. " Virgin fiber is still a significant requirement. In fact, buying FSC Pure fiber can be a more environmentally friendly choice because you can't always know where post-consumer waste has come from. However, with fiber labeled FSC Pure, you can be assured of where it comes from - an FSC-certified forest. " Neenah is introducing an exciting addition to the brand, a " Soft Touch " finish that will be available in the Sirius and Natural colors on a 110 lb. basis weight Cover sheet. Joining the existing palette of four whites that includes Sirius (98+ brightness blue white), Tiara, Archiva and Natural, will be four pearlescent offerings: Stardust, Flash White, Flash Pearl and Flash Natural in both smooth and vellum. " It wasn't that long ago that people thought offering this kind of paper would be very difficult to achieve, " says Bolton. " The interest in FSC Pure papers is obviously growing. Neenah Paper has taken another commendable step forward in helping to protect the world's forests. " http://www.socialfunds.com/news/release.cgi/9794.html USA: 12) If you'd like to get a feel for what it's like to run a trans-national fast food company, head over to McVideo Game. You have to make some tough choices, like whether or not to demolish Indigenous villages in order to plant soy to feed to your malnourished cattle. It's a fairly " enlightened " video game with lots of options (especially compared to recently featured ones). For instance, you can choose to feed the parts of the cows that don't make it into the burgers back to the ones that are still waiting for slaughter. There are consequences for such actions, of course. Turning rainforest into grazing land (which RAN has campaigned against in the past) starts to cause climate change. But no worries, you can use your profits to bribe a climatologist to say it isn't happening. Even with the deck clearly stacked against me, I tried to give it a go and run as sustainable a business that I could. I avoided genetically-engineered crops, bovine growth hormone, advertising to children (yes, you even control the unruly marketing department complete with macs and mohawks) and didn't bribe any state officials. I was managing to do alright for a while, even the Board of Directors was happy. That's when the activists began. I started getting picketed by what the game called " corpulent gold-diggers " saying I caused obesity. I closed my eyes, clicked " corrupt a nutritionist " and never looked back. http://understory.ran.org/2007/10/02/mowing-rainforest-for-fun-and-profit/ 13) This upcoming 10/16/07 will be an International Day of Action against the McDonalds corporation, an entity responsible for factory farming cruelty and pollution, rainforest clearcutting, worker abuse and increasing heart disease by serving cholesterol saturated burgers to the consumers and calling it nutritious food! Show your resistance to this fast food megacorporation at a McDonalds store near you! How does one corporation cause so many problems throughout the Earth? In order for McDonalds to serve those cheap burgers, indigenous people in South America are displaced by force from their rainforest homes. Then the trees are clearcut, replaced by cattle ranching corporations who sell the meat to McDonalds here in the U.S., which people eat unawares of the political, ecological and social injustices committed against the native peoples and rainforests of South America by McDonalds (and other) fast food corporations.. Sister Dorothy Stang was not alone in her struggle to protect the rainforest, and like her companion Chico Mendes recieved the same retribution from the cattle rancher's hired guns.. " Mendes's life is studied now in some business schools, which might seem odd at first, until one examines his character and tactics more carefully. He was the consummate achiever, starting with a clear goal but never getting locked into one strategy to achieve it….[O]ne thing he never abandoned was a core focus on nonviolence. He put a tropical spin on the tactics of Gandhi and King, organizing downtrodden rubber-tree tappers into a determined but peaceful resistance force that stood between the forest and the chainsaws of land-grabbing cattle ranchers. " Like his predecessors, Mendes chose peace in part out of pragmatism, knowing that any other stance would be brutally crushed. The tappers' goal in this resistance was twofold: to protect their rights to the land they had utilized for generations without title and to protect the rubber and Brazil nut trees that, while an impediment to a rancher, represented a renewable source of income to people willing to live within the standing forest. " The tools and tactics Mendes devised to deal with road builders, ranchers, and the government still influence efforts to both develop and preserve the Amazon—and the planet itself…. http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/10/02/18451390.php 14) Forestweb, an information and technology company, provides business intelligence to more than fifty TIMOs, REITs and Timberland Management companies. Rami Ghandour, CEO Forestweb said, " The timberland investment market offers many challenges and opportunities for all classifications of investors. We are pleased to have the opportunity to take part in this forum with our clients and to extend our brand to other institutions interested in becoming more active in this vibrant market segment. " The 3rd Annual Timberland Investment World Summit, " Staying Ahead of a Market in Transition, " takes place at the Westin Hotel in New York and focuses on the rapid changes in the U.S. timberland investment market and its future impact in the global market. According to Vishal Thakkar, Divisional Marketing of IQPC, " Our goal with our Timberland Investment Summit is to engage investors, international institutions, educators and governments on the most pressing issues in the market today. Through our targeted panel discussions and focused workshops and classes all attendees will leave our conference well informed to help them make better business decisions. " http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,192275.shtml Canada: The Americans may claim that our public forests give Canadian producers an unfair advantage, and the forest companies may be asking for more secure property rights, but the players to watch are in the financial markets. They want a chance to buy Canadian forests. For long term investors, timberlands are an even better asset than mineral deposits. The price of wood may go up and down, but the trees just keep growing. Combine this natural growth rate with the long term rise in the value of timber and you can see why financial interests are drooling. Add to the equation the fact that forest management in Ontario produces perhaps half the yield of private forest lands in Finland or the U.S. and you can see why timberland investors are sure they can make more money than the province on forest lands. So the war for the North has begun. On one side, embedded financial journalists like VanderKlippe and are reaching out to the southern decision makers. They are probably hoping for a new government that will move quickly and irreversibly to end the Crown forest era. It happened in New Zealand in the 1980s when a radical conservative government came to power. It could happen here. On the other side is a weak and scattered community forest movement. The tiny Northern Ontario Sustainable Community Partnership, for example, has been circulating a Community Forest Charter. The Charter invites Northerners to think about shifting power to the communities of Northern Ontario. It puts forward the view that forest communities should actually have some control of their forests. http://www.nob.on.ca/columns/Robinson/10-07-woods.asp UK: 15) Glasgow City Council is backing a plan to transform acres of woodland in Pollok Park into a giant adventure playground. However, regular visitors to the historic park are afraid the high-wire obstacle course will disturb the peace of the woodland and harm the natural environment. The course, developed by forest adventure operators Go Ape, is earmarked for a site just a few hundred yards from the Burrell Collection in the Park's North Wood. A public consultation is now in its final month. If planning permission is granted, it could be in place as early as spring 2008. Go Ape has already opened a similar facility in Aberfoyle, one of 12 courses it owns in the UK. It is home to the UK's longest " death slide " - 426 metres across a gorge. Participants, known as " gorillas " and " baboons " , pay £20-£25 to complete three hours of canopy walks, 40ft above the ground, overcoming obstacles including rope bridges and tarzan swings. The Aberfoyle course, on Forestry Commission land, has attracted 9000 visitors so far. The vast majority have been adults, the eldest a partially sighted woman aged 86. Tristram Mayhew, founder of Go Ape, said: " This is a way to help people get into the woods and see them from a different perspective. As well as giving people a sense of adventure, the thing is designed to be environmentally sensitive. It's in the treetops so there is no trampling of land and the trees can still carry on growing. " Glasgow City Council is promoting the facility as part of its health agenda, aiming to encourage teenagers to take part in active leisure. The council's land services director Robert Booth has recommended developers be granted a 21-year lease of land in the park. The deal will include a clause allowing free entry for up to 450 schoolchildren from disadvantaged areas. http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/other/display.var.1724685.0.0.php 16) Outraged residents and walkers have accused the National Trust of " wanton vandalism " after 17.5 acres of trees were cut down in historic woodland They were shocked to dis-cover the mass tree felling last week in St Anthony's Wood, in the Standen Estate near East Grinstead, and fear it could threaten wildlife. And walkers are also furious at the trust's treatment of volunteer Victor Friend who has been looking after St Anthony's Wood for about 25 years. Those who use the wood, say Mr Friend, has dedicated his life to it - putting in bird-boxes, paths, a bench and even a pond - and was instrumental in restoring it after the devastation of the 1987 Great Storm. But now Mr Friend, 66, feels he is being sidelined by the trust, which took over the whole of Standen Wood in 2001. " I did all the work here off my own back. " I built one pond by hand, which took me six months. " I can understand woodland management, but as long as the pathways are free of brambles and bracken, then I left the rest of it alone. " It's the nature I'm concerned with. " If you cull too much, there will be nowhere for the animals to live. But the National Trust said the tree clearance was necessary management to protect the woodland from invasive species. A spokesman also said the trust was working closely with Mr Friend over the woodland. James Masters, the head gardener at Standen, said: " Most of the young trees in Standen Wood are species which require coppicing to survive. " The area which has been cleared was very overcrowded with both naturally regenerated trees and, in addition, those which have been planted from non-local seed sources which in turn threatens the biodiversity of the wood. " Vic started working in the woods, which contains badgers and deer as well as many species of birds, when it was run by the St Anthony Trust, before the National Trust took over. His partner, Sue Fogwell, said: " He's made it a brilliant conservation area, for birds and wildlife. Everyone who used to walk there said how lovely it was. " The bird population more than doubled under him. Well, there won't be any birds there now. " http://icsurreyonline.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0600eastgrinstead/tm_headline=res\ idents-slam-trus t-s-vandalism-of-woodland & method=full & objectid=19887853 & siteid=50101-name_page.h\ tml Latin America: 17) Latin America is blessed with more than its fair share of wildlife and lush forests. A third of the world's mammal species and more than a quarter of all known reptiles and bird species can be found there. However, this abundance is under threat. Felling 7 million hectares of trees each year, South America clears more forests than any other continent. As a result, more than 10,000 species are threatened with extinction -- two-thirds of all endangered species on the planet. In a sense, the solution to this challenge is as plain as day. Landowners cut down trees because it is the most economically beneficial thing for them to do. So policymakers need to provide them with an incentive not to. If we can unlock the hidden potential in Latin America's forests -- without destroying them -- then we could provide a solution to the problem of habitat destruction. Economists' estimates range from US$1.23 billion a year for saving trees in Latin America's biodiversity " hot spots " to US$5.8 billion a year for saving 2 percent of the continent's land area to US$500 billion for making a one-off payment to save all of Latin America's forests. One common argument is that governments should protect biodiversity because of its untapped potential for the pharmaceutical industry. A fern deep in the forest could, for example, one day prove helpful in the fight against AIDS. This idea became very popular in the 1990s. A famous project saw Merck Pharmaceutical provide US$1 million to Costa Rica in exchange for 1,000 plants collected from its forest. Although the Merck project successfully raised money for Costa Rican biodiversity research, few if any drugs have been developed and the model has not been transferred elsewhere. The merits of " bio-prospecting " have been examined carefully and the returns are in fact very modest, ranging from just US$0.20 per hectare in parts of California to US$20 in western Ecuador. Thus, the potential for pharmaceutical development will not provide strong encouragement to private landowners or companies to protect their land. Another approach for policymakers is to quantify the economic benefits of " ecosystem services " -- the miraculous yet mundane things that nature provides like erosion control, and water management and purification. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2007/10/01/2003381229 Colombia: 18) From his dugout canoe in the Napipi River, Jefferson Rojas spotted what he was after: a 40-foot-high jagua tree, its canopy dotted with dozens of thick-skinned fruits the size of tennis balls. Rojas pulled his boat to shore, macheted his way through thick foliage and with his telephone lineman gear quickly scaled the tree. He lopped off the fruits, which fell with thuds to the floor of the jungle. Why did Rojas go to such lengths for a fruit that isn't even ripe? Because the body-marking market has caught on to what indigenous tribes here in Choco state have known for centuries: Jagua is an excellent source of nonpermanent tattoo ink. Ink that eventually makes its way to the biceps or backsides of trendy teenagers thousands of miles away might appear to have a tenuous connection to Plan Colombia, the seven-year program that has funneled $5.4 billion in U.S. taxpayer money into fighting drug traffickers and guerrillas. But with the current fiscal year, which began Monday, more of those funds are to go to economic projects such as Rojas' tattoo ink venture and fewer to finance the Colombian military and anti-coca spraying than in past years. The initiative will soon take on a " softer " profile, at the insistence of the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress. It is expected to contain more money to fund " alternative development " programs to encourage farmers to grow legal crops and steer clear of joining armed groups. " It is beyond dispute that spraying chemicals is not a sustainable strategy, " Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee controlling foreign aid expenditures, said in an e-mailed comment. " Without real economic alternatives, coca farmers will find ways to grow coca. . . . Rather than continue to act as a rubber stamp, we are shifting more funds into economic and social programs. " http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-tattoo4oct04,0,2191829.story\ ?coll=la-home-c enter Uruguay: 19) As for the agrotoxic substances employed, the study highlights that in both nurseries the fungicide Captan is used. It should be noted that this substance was banned in Finland by that country's pesticide division in August 2001, due to its extreme toxicity. It is officially considered carcinogenic by the government of the State of California. It contaminates both soil and groundwater, is highly toxic for fish, and affects frogs, birds and fowl. So, how can Forestal Oriental, a subsidiary of the Finish company Botnia, be using in Uruguay an agrochemical banned in its country of origin? The research also found that the company Eufores uses two agrotoxic substances that are banned by the body that granted its certification (the Forest Stewardship Council - FSC). One of these substances is the fungicide Fundazol, whose active ingredient is Benomil. The use of Fundazol is not permitted by the FSC as it is an endocrine disruptor and because it produces genetic mutations, and the EPA has classified it as a possible carcinogen for humans. The other fungicide is Flonex, whose active ingredient is Mancozeb, and which is also banned by the FSC because it is carcinogenic. Also surprising were the differences found between the lists of agrotoxic substances provided by the two companies to RAPAL, on the one hand, and those supplied by the workers, on the other, as the latter contain 3 fungicides, 1 insecticide and 1 hormone, all of which are omitted by the lists of the companies. In one of the nurseries, women workers say that 90% of the children born from women who work there suffer from allergies, spasms and asthma. In sum, the research concludes that these two certified companies are anything but " environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable " (as defined by the FSC's mission). On the contrary, they use that seal at the expense of the work and health of their workers and of the environment of all Uruguayans. http://webs.chasque.net/~rapaluy1/agrotoxicos/Uruguay/Viveros.pdf Brazil: 20) According to the World Resources Institute, Brazil had the highest carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in the region in 2001, primarily due to changes in land use.) Most of the region's forests are in South America, particularly in Brazil and Peru, which comprise 92% of the total forest cover. These countries are among the 10 that hold two-thirds of the world's forests and jungles. Because of its size, the greatest extent of deforestation is in Brazil, but the deforestation rates are higher in Mexico and Argentina. While the deforestation rate in Brazil in the 1990s was 0.4%, the rate in Mexico and Argentina was 1.1% and 0.8%, respectively. Tree-felling in the Brazilian Amazon basin during the last decade increased by 32%, from 14,000 to 18,000 square kilometres per year. The major sources of pressure in the forests include the expansion of farming and livestock activities and urban spread, which force a re-conversion of the land. More recently, there has also been the impact of plants in the Amazon and Cerrado regions that are involved in the production of beef and soybean substitutes, with a harmful impact on the forests. http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/annual_deforestation_in_the_amazon_and_resulting\ _co2_emissions 21) Environmental groups on Wednesday gave the Brazilian government a seven-year plan aimed at putting an end to deforestation in the Amazon rain forest. " It is necessary to immediately halt the deforestation of the Amazon region, " said Paulo Adario, a coordinator for Greenpeace, one of nine non-governmental organizations that presented the plan to the government. " The climate of the planet and the natural diversity of the region cannot support the current rates of deforestation, " he told AFP. The seven-year plan calls for setting a fund with a budget of one billion reals (over 500 million dollars) a year that would be used to combat deforestation and maintain the way of life of those living in the rain forest. The Brazilian government would be responsible for providing 76 percent of the funds, with the rest coming from sources outside the country. Environmental Protection Minister Marina Silva, who received the proposal during a ceremony in Congress, said the government will study the project. About 17 percent of the Amazon forest has been destroyed, according to data released last year. Brazil is the fourth largest source of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming in the world. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hQP39WZQRzljOMEJZElpEBuyYbQw 22) John Cain Carter, founder of what is perhaps the most innovative organization working in the Amazon -- Aliança da Terra, told mongabay.com that fires in the Amazon are presently among the worst he has seen in a decade in Brazil. " We are in the middle of our burning season and it is one of the worst I have seen, " he said. " Three weeks ago I tried to land at the Kamayura Indian village and upon flying 300 feet over the village, was not able to land because I could not see it do to the smoke. A huge area of the Xingu National Park was on fire, truly sickening as it is a sign of things to come. " Carter says that his own ranch was also damaged by fires set by illegal land clearers. " Our own ranch burned, thanks to land grabbers who started a forest fire in my neighbor's 65,000-acre forest reserve, " he told mongabay.com. " That fire jumped into our property and wiped us out, both financially and emotionally. Our forest is toast, literally. " Carter says that high commodity prices are driving fire setting by land speculators who seek both to clear forest and to generate buying opportunities for cattle ranches. " Commodity prices are up, land prices followed, and subsequently the crooks started to invade the remaining large tracts of forest still found in the Xingu, " he explained. " They intentionally set fires to wipe out the region´s forage base (grasses/pasture) to create great cattle buying opportunities. " http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1004-amazon.html China: 23) China is the biggest consumer and exporter of disposable wooden chopsticks, producing 45 billion pairs each year, which uses up about 25 million trees. Last year the Chinese government imposed a 5% tax on disposable wooden chopsticks in an attempt to preserve forests, and Japan's Ministry of Agriculture introduced a recycling program to turn one-use chopsticks into biofuel. Instead of reaching for the paper wrapped disposable wooden chopsticks the next time you get take out, bring your own set of bamboo chopsticks or use a fork (just make sure it's not plastic.) Artisans are giving second life to used chopsticks. Check out their creations at http://www.Chopstickart.com 24) Aboriginal tradition and national law collided in the case of three Atayal tribesmen from Smangus in Chienshih Township, Hsinchu County, who took the stump of a fallen tree to their village and were accused by the Forestry Bureau of stealing it. The second verdict in the case was issued recently, with the Taiwan High Court ruling that the three villagers had violated the Forestry Law. It reduced their sentence from six to three months, but fined the three more than NT$79,000 (US$2,400), and sentenced them to two years' probation. The Smangus tribe has said it cannot accept this ruling. This lawsuit is a clash between the rights and interests of Aborigines and national forest management. It reflects the conflicts that arise between the diverse ideas about life of the Aborigines and the nation's machine-like management model. The tribes and the government have completely different systems and ways of thinking, and when these two meet, clashes and confrontations are almost inevitable. Taiwan's forest industry should protect the rights and interests of the Aborigines because their livelihood needs, communal relations, cultural identity and other issues are all closely related to the forest. In the future, communication and co-ordination between the tribes and the government should be strengthened to avoid conflicts. The government should also let the Aborigines play a more active role in the planning and management of the forest resources. Apart from that, we have to be aware that a sustainable forest industry is built on the basis of mutual trust and help of the government and the Aborigines. This is the only way to establish a sustainable forest industry and make sure there is a way to solve the problems that occur when the tribes and the government collide. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2007/10/04/2003381664 Japan: 25) The Hokkaido Forest Research Institute and Hokkaido Forest Products Research Institute conducted joint research from 2003 to 2005 on an F1 hybrid of Dahurian Larch (larix gmelinii) to identify families and parent trees with high carbon-fixing potential. The research team discovered that trees grown from certain pollen and seed trees had 30 percent greater carbon storage capacity, compared to typical larch trees. The Dahurian Larch is a species found in Eastern Siberia and Northeastern Asia, where it forms the enormous forests of the taiga. A fast growing tree, the larch is widely used in afforestation and industrial plantation projects. The news is important for the bioenergy community because rapidly growing trees with an enhanced carbon storage capacity will be used as 'carbon capture' machines to be used in carbon-negative bioenergy production. The concept is easy to understand: the trees are planted to store large amounts of CO2, after which they are converted into energy (liquid fuels or electricity), while the CO2 they release during the process, is captured and geosequestered. The result is radical carbon-negative energy. http://biopact.com/2007/10/japanese-scientists-develop-hybrid.html Thailand: 26) The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has come up with a new loan project aimed at improving the well-being of people living in protected forest areas and to increase forest coverage across the country. If it works out as planned, the loan-for-tree schemes will also reduce forest encroachment, said Saksit Tridech, the ministry's permanent secretary. Under the project, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) will provide loans for people living in forest reserve areas to plant teak trees and pay back the loans once they can sell the timber. Participants will be allowed to plant and manage teak plantations on their own land. Eligible participants are forest dwellers who have received 15-rai land plots from the government in a bid to stop them from further encroaching on forest reserve areas. However, agencies will conduct thorough checks on applicants' qualifications before allowing them to join the new loan project, Mr Saksit said. The bank will loan seed money of 12,000-15,000 baht to each participant to plant around 500 trees on a five-rai plot, he said. Five years after starting the plantation, commercial forest plantation experts will check on the trees' growth and quality. If the plantation meets the required qualifications, the second tranche of the loan will be approved. The Forestry Industry Organisation will buy teak trees when they are 10-25 years old. The price will vary from 227 baht to 15,408 baht per tree, according to the amount and age of the timber, said Paisal Kuwalairat, deputy permanent secretary. ''Thailand spent almost 60 billion baht in 2002 on importing wood. At the moment, only around 1.3% of wood consumed here is from domestic plantations. The loan scheme will give us a good opportunity to reduce our wood imports and depend more on domestic timber,'' said Mr Paisal. http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/05Oct2007_news09.php Vietnam: 27) Conservation in a dynamic setting requires understanding the factors leading to landscape change. This study integrated traditional remote sensing and geographic information systems analysis techniques with a narrative policy analysis to assess the 1975–2004 land cover changes and their determinants in Nam Dong district (central Vietnam). Total forest cover of Nam Dong remained stable, but there were major transitions within forest and non-forest categories. Recent policy initiatives, particularly forest land allocation, have resulted in short-term benefit maximization through land speculation and illegal logging, while increased awareness of the economic potential of forests and their products have motivated people to access forests more frequently, leading to a highly dynamic landscape and increased barriers to forest conservation. This study suggests that (1) state-sponsored logging needs to be reduced, (2) forest allocation should proceed more rapidly to give farmers better incentive to improve and protect allocated forests, and (3) small-scale industry should increase. Forest conservation policy must be amended. More research is needed to link household land-use choices with policies, and determine how those choices lead to changes in the landscape. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online & aid=1207212 Philippines: 28) Sixty percent of the country's wood needs is being imported because of the worsening condition and denudation of our forests, local foresters said at the 58th anniversary celebration and national convention of the Society of Filipino Foresters Inc. (SFFI) held here last week. Ricardo Umali, SFFI national council president, said it would take the government " hundreds of years and trillions of pesos " to rehabilitate the barren forests but if the people contributed to the effort, this could be shortened by up to 50 years. Eriberto Agete, director for policy planning at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources central office, said the country's forest area had widened from 5.5-million hectares to 7.2-million-ha in five years – between 2001 and 2006 – through the reforestation and forest management efforts of the government and other sectors. In 1930, the country had 17-million-ha of forests. Agete said SFFI was seeking the support of the private sector to establish a massive tree plantation since the government had scarce funds for the initiative. He said the 800,000 trees planted on Aug. 25 for the green highways campaign showed the people's concern for the environment. The foresters are still waiting for the Senate to pass the Sustainable Forest Management Act, which has been under deliberation for 12 years. " We need a new law that is more comprehensive. We currently rely on executive orders which do not allocate regular resources for forest management, " Umali said. He said one of the factors that was delaying the passage of the bill was the debate on whether the law should advocate a total or a selective log ban. On the controversial land use conflict going on at the La Mesa watershed because of a planned housing project, Agete said the SFFI did not have much to say about it since the watershed was a titled property owned by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System. " The question now is, will the MWSS allow the DENR to make it a protected area even if it is a titled property? Society, though, would want it proclaimed a protected area since we want to preserve our watersheds, " he said. There are some 8,000 licensed foresters in the country who are members of the SFFI, the main forestry service provider for the national and local governments, communities and the private sector. http://ephraimaguilar.blogspot.com/2007/09/rp-now-importing-wood-needs-dueto.htm\ l 29) Environment officials have asked officials of the province's 13 towns to muster enough political will and assume the task of protecting their communal forests as required by law. Officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Benguet Environment and Natural Resources Office (Benro) said the local officials' obligation to lead the inventory of existing communal forests was long overdue. They said the call for the towns' participation recognized the role of the province's indigenous communities in determining the extent of use of their natural resources. The environment officials said the devolution provision of the Local Government Code (Republic Act 7160) provided the legal basis for the DENR's decision to transfer some of its functions to cities, towns and provinces. Explaining the devolved functions to local officials at the provincial capitol here recently, Severino Balangcod, Benro forester, said the code transferred to towns the management and control of communal forests with an area of not more than 50 square kilometers or 5,000 hectares. Balangcod said the management of small watershed areas, which are sources of local water supply, was also devolved. He said towns could impose measures to prevent illegal tree cutting and the kaingin system or " slash and burn " agriculture. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view_article.php?article_\ id=91876 Malaysia: 30) TA ANN Holdings Bhd, which has cash reserves of more than RM100 million, is keen to buy more timber concessions. " We bought our first concession of 170,000ha in 1988 and to date we're still growing, " said managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Wong Kuo Hea. At present, Ta Ann holds five timber concessions in Sarawak totalling 403,232ha and they are due to expire between 2012 and 2022. " Resource is the most important growth catalyst in the company. We're keen to acquire concessions in Sarawak that are reasonably priced, " he told Business Times in an interview held in Sibu recently. Ta Ann is buying Borlin Sdn Bhd, which holds a 32,023ha concession with an annual production quota of 87,600 cubic metres of logs. It wants to establish a forest management unit on this concession with the aim of obtaining certification in sustainable practices. This is part of Ta Ann's ongoing efforts in " greening " its timber business. In January 2006, Ta Ann and Sumisho Mitsuibussan Kenzai Co Ltd signed a 20-year wood supply agreement with Forestry Tasmania. This forest, which comes under the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification scheme gives a competitive advantage to Ta Ann in supplying " green wood " to environmentally-conscious buyers. Ta Ann's clustered timber processing mill in Sibu is the largest in Southeast Asia. Sited on 25ha, it houses nine production lines and employs 2,500 workers. As the group expands, it uses more fuel but churns out more sawdust and offcuts. To kill two birds with one stone, Ta Ann decided to invest in a biomass power plant, which will use waste wood to generate almost 100 per cent of the electricity required by its timber processing mills in Sibu. http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BT/Wednesday/Nation/20071002220624/Article\ / 31) The palm oil industry is a corner stone of Malaysia's economy, generating export revenues only surpassed by oil and gas. Recently, two scientists writing in Nature urged conservationists to forget the idea of compensated reduction - which is a top-down, bureaucratic scheme unlikely to reach the small holders who need the money most - and instead suggested they should become palm oil farmers themselves. With the profits made from the plantations, conservationists could then buy forests to keep them intact (earlier post). To some the idea sounded bizarre ('join the enemy, to beat him') but it clearly illustrates the tension between direct socio-economic benefits from palm oil and more abstact benefits from environmental goods and services embodied in intact forests. Malaysia is accutely aware of this tension, which has prompted it to show interest in diversifying its portfolio of biofuel crops by looking into Jatropha curcas. The shrub has been touted as an alternative to the large oil crops because it can be grown on poor soils, with limited inputs, away from forests. http://biopact.com/2007/09/malaysia-to-trial-jatropha-in-sabah.html Indonesia: 32) Indonesia will attempt to repair its reputation as one of the biggest contributors to deforestation by planting 79 million trees in one day next month. The initiative is part of a global campaign to plant a billion trees and will precede a UN summit on climate change in Bali in December. The ambitious reforestation program, which aims to reduce the impact of global warming, will see trees planted throughout all of the country's 33 provinces within a two-month period. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will officially inaugurate the campaign, planting 1,000 trees in Cibadak village, Bogor, on Nov. 28. The program is scheduled to begin in mid October and continue through the end of November. To meet program targets and ensure coordinated efforts, Forestry Minister M.S. Ka'ban has already contacted governors, regents and mayors throughout the country. " We will utilize public lands such as schools, places of worship, housing complexes and offices, " Soetino said. " We will display photos of the tree-planting activities during the UNFCCC conference. " http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20071004.A03 & irec=2 Australia: 33) The Federal Forestry Minister wants the Tasmanian Government to end the export of softwood logs, saying jobs are at risk. Eric Abetz has written to the Premier, Paul Lennon outlining his concerns that about 220,000 cubic metres of logs are exported from Tasmania each year while Auspine and other softwood processors are struggling for timber. The Scottsdale-based sawmiller Auspine lost its wood supply contract earlier this year and is receiving financial help from both the State and Federal governments to get timber from the west coast. Senator Abetz says he has been told logs are being exported at prices below that which north east sawmillers are prepared to pay. " It makes no economic sense whatsoever to divert those logs overseas whilst we as an Australian Government are being asked to provide support to get logs for example from Strahan right up to Scottsdale whilst the State Government is busily selling off softwood logs overseas,'' Senator Abetz said. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/03/2049357.htm?section=business 34) The VEAC report clearly shows that the red gum wetlands along the Murray are severely stressed and require improved land and water management. These wetland forests are home to about 400 threatened or near-threatened Australian plants and animals. Their health is also important to indigenous Australians, who have had an association with these lands and waters for tens of thousands of years. While some vested interests have attacked the messenger, it is worth noting that VEAC and its predecessors — the Environment Conservation Council and Land Conservation Council — have served Victoria well for more than 30 years, delivering largely balanced outcomes backed by transparent, scientifically based processes that have engaged the community. Environment groups have certainly not got everything they wanted from these draft recommendations, especially the poor protection proposed by VEAC for the ecologically important Gunbower forest north of Echuca. If we look across the border to NSW, over the same period processes for nature conservation and land classification have been largely ad hoc declarations of change, with little community input. The VEAC process is a robust and fair planning process to guide future public land use, and should be supported. The alternative, to leave these important decisions to the whim of politics, would be unlikely to deliver robust decisions either for resource users or the environment. Even without VEAC, changes to timber production along the river are already in the wind, with Department of Sustainability and Environment figures showing logging levels of 40 to 60 per cent over present sustainable limits in red gum regions, largely because of reduced tree growth from a lack of water. http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/red-gums-are-not-just-a-green-issue/2007/\ 10/04/119109127 8418.html 35) Tasmanians, at least Tasmanians employed in the " forestry " industry (really the de-forestation industry), or in the hydro-electricity industry, appear to believe that they own Tasmania and that Tasmania owes them a livelihood even if that is through the sacrifice of everything that makes it extraordinary and unique. Values Australia grew up in Tamworth NSW, Deliverance Country Capital of Australia, so we know a redneck culture when we see one. Tasmania is full of brain-dead rednecks who think they own the place, and who think outsiders (that is, people who know what a town is) should butt out. But, you know, the Tasmanians don't " own " Tasmania, any more than a leech " owns " its victim. Nevertheless, because they think they own it, they think they have a right to destroy it and anyone who gets in their way. The forests, after all, are just a resource to be exploited, although to us it is not significantly different, ethically, from murdering someone for their gold teeth fillings. Almost twenty-five years ago Australia narrowly averted an environmental and cultural catastrophe - the building of the proposed Gordon Below Franklin dam by the enormously powerful Hydro Electric Commission, widely acknoweldged at that time as the de facto government of Tasmania. The fight against the dam saw the emergence of Bob Brown and the Tasmanian Wilderness Society and eventually the demise of Malcolm Fraser and Bill Hayden and the ascendancy of Bob Hawke. As we noted yesterday, it is unconstitutional to pass or to employ laws to silence " the people " when they engage in political communication in Australia. Protests are a form of political communication which is engaged in as part of political debate and these proposed laws should be fought on constitutional grounds. Nippon Paper Industries imports around 1.6 million tons of woodchips annually from Tasmania, for use as raw materials in paper manufacturing. It responded to claims by Greenpeace Japan and the Wilderness Society that harvesting of old growth forest in Tasmania has resulted in the razing of forests that should be preserved. (More than 5,000 people supporting the campaign sent protest e-mails to the Company.) http://valuesaustralia.com/blog/?p=371 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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