Guest guest Posted November 3, 2007 Report Share Posted November 3, 2007 Today for you 31 new articles about earth's trees! (249th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com . --British Columbia: 1) Failings of Caribou plan, 2) Duh, It's about habitat, 3) Bribing government so they can sell public's forest as private land, 4) $95 million worth of Real Estate, 5) Citizen's stand against Real Estate bribery, --Washington: 6) Save Wild sky Wilderness --California: 7) Saving Waddle Ranch, 8) Protests SPI, 9) Forest Fire Carbon stats, --Montana: 10) Scientists figure why Fall leaves color, 11) Sawmill Gulch thinning, --Colorado: 12) A forest fire can equals a year's worth of state's car exhaust --New Hampshire: 13) A Logger on diversification and utilization, 14) Oil developers, --Pennsylvania: 14) Don't log 105-acre tract in south Vestal --Canada: 15) Arboreal outings, 16) Loggers can be Carbon-neutral? --Finland: 17) Raw material costs twice as much compared to other countries --Armenia: 18) Natural gas saves trees --Serbia: 19) Save Stari Begej-Carska Bara --Congo: 20) Save Okapi Wildlife Reserve, 21) MagIndustries' Congo plan, --Uganda: 22) Fragmentation and parasites --Brazil: 23) Effects of McDonald's Market campaign, 24) Brazil is 2 countries, --India: 24) Timber smugglers investigated --Afghanistan: 25) BC professor seeks to protect and restore --Vietnam: 26) Replenished forests along Da Nhim river --Sumatra: 27) Save Bukit Tiga Puluh national park --Fiji: 28) A future boom in the sandalwood trade --Indonesia: 29) Slow handling of illegal logging --World-wide: 30) Relationship of man with forest, 31) Eloquent summary of humans, British Columbia: 1) It appears that, along with incremental habitat protection we are getting incremental truth. First, the press releases: " Big Victory " , we've really raised the bar for caribou protection, 2.2 million ha protected. The extensive media coverage hailing a massive protection program for the mountain caribou. Then, under pressure, the truth starts to come out: only 76,904 is commercial forest. And lots of insinuations that maybe " protected " means " incremental " protected; maybe there will be some logging, etc: Then, SARCO puts the terms of reference on its website. The protection: Is capped at 1% of the timber harvesting base. The rest from the inoperable zone. You have to be kidding me. Don't you remember the years and years we fought with the government for limiting the Identified Wildlife guidelines to 1%? THAT'S ONE BIG REASON WHY THE MOUNTAIN CARIBOU IS THREATENED. It appears the government has only committed to " incremental habitat protection " : add ons to the existing guidelines and retention percentages in the land use plans. Many of these are aspatial -- their location is not identified at all: the logging companies can decide which 40% or 60% they want to log. And the plan agreement allows them to remain aspatial. The protection will be extremely fragmented, as shown on the " incremental Habitat Map " . The TOR says the caribou " protection " zones can be logged for beetle salvage. Terrible. They are open to road building by logging companies wanting to pass through to the other side. And they must make no short term impact on the AAC. Where high suitability mountain caribou habitat is needed by a logging company, it can be traded for low suitability habitat. I recognize you must have had to work hard to back those logging companies in a corner and wrestle that 1% of the harvesting land base from them. But then, you had a big market campaign on your side and a poll showing 86% of the public wanted the habitat protection, so in the end, I guess it was all too much pressure for the timber industry to bear and they finally had to give up that 1%. I'm sure it was difficult enduring their howls of protest, but I think you'll find that now they're laughing all the way to the bank. Shocked and incredulous, Anne Sherrod wildernesswatch 2) My 11-year-old son's Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Education manual bluntly states, " without protecting habitat, protecting individual animals becomes meaningless. " The health and abundance of species, including species at risk (SAR), reflect our impacts on ecosystem health and are measurable biodiversity management results. There were only 19 species or subspecies registered as extinct or extirpated from BC in historic times, but nearly 1,400 animals and plants for which this threat exists today. This number is a symptom of widespread human ecological dysfunction and obviously not solely the result of forest practices. However, with forests covering two-thirds of the province, forest management has been, and will continue to be, the significant factor for many species. As an example of our current approach to managing SAR, for 30 years biologists have recognized changing forest conditions from primarily old-growth to young forests as the primary threat to mountain caribou survival. Today we continue this practice in known caribou habitat while populations decline and the government considers herd abandonment as a recovery option. Many in the public are clearly and understandably alarmed by such an approach. The Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) lacks true measurable biodiversity results, containing, instead, loosely related strategies as default biodiversity objectives. Professionals are to design areas that resemble spatial and temporal patterns of natural disturbance. For a landscape that would be dominated by abundant old growth with small-scale disturbances, this objective seems disingenuous. In biogeoclimatically diverse BC, with its numerous listed species, forest professionals may need a Hogwarts' diploma to meet public biodiversity expectations under the constraint of not unduly reducing the timber supply. There will be areas that can meet biodiversity objectives, but a one percent fits-all solution province wide? In specific SAR cases further scientific study may be beneficial. However, many in the public are skeptical that successful technical/scientific solutions exist within current FRPA objectives. http://www.abcfp.ca/publications_forms/BCFORmagazine/pdf/BCFORPRO-2006-4.pdf 3) The Dogwood Initiative, a Victoria-based environmental group, has used Elections B.C.'s contributions figures to compile a chart showing five companies donated $1.7 million to the Liberals between 1996 and 2006, including $284,050 in the two years before land was taken out of TFLs. Figures show that, during the last decade, Western Forest Products donated $103,247 to the Liberals and this year was allowed to pull 28,000 hectares out of three tree farm licences on Vancouver Island, including the controversial lands around Sooke and Jordan River. TimberWest, which took 2,600 hectares of private land out of TFLs near Port Renfrew in 2004, gave the Liberals $288,924. Weyerhaeuser, which pulled 87,700 hectares from TFLs near Port Alberni and on the Queen Charlotte Islands in 2004, donated $540,499. Pope & Talbot, with a pending withdrawal of 4,500 hectares in the Kootenays, gave $112,750. The biggest donation came from West Fraser Timber, which gave $620,900, but withdrew only 47 hectares from a TFL near Terrace. WFP spokesman Gary Ley said there is " no merit " to efforts to link donations and TFL deletions. http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=c5bc7d6f-17d0-4aa\ e-913e-73f78e07 789e & k=80977 4) Don't call us a logging company that dabbles in real estate anymore, TimberWest Forest president Paul McElligott said Wednesday during a conference call where the company announced it has about $95 million worth of real estate either sold or up for sale. With forest products in a free-fall in most of its traditional markets, TimberWest is developing a long-term strategy to squeeze more value out of the 330,000 hectares of land it owns on Vancouver Island. Over 30,000 hectares of that land -- 10 per cent of its total holdings -- have already been identified for better and higher uses than growing trees. " We believe we have a very exciting future in real estate, " McElligott said in the company's quarterly conference call with investment analysts. The transformation of TimberWest Forest from a rough-and-tumble logging company into a promoter and developer of Vancouver Island has been several years in the making. McElligott, an industrialist, is adapting to this new role. He uses words like " spectacular " to describe lands that he used to see primarily for the value of their timber. Besides marketing its lands through conventional real estate companies, TimberWest is also using an Internet auction to sell 5,500 hectares of Island real estate. The auction, to be held Nov. 8, is attracting broad international interest, he said. " We have had over 2,300 hits on the site, with 81 registrants. We are pretty excited about the level of interest shown. I think it is proof of a much larger, more diverse market. " Further, the company has almost completed a review of its higher-use lands, which McElligott said will be put up for sale or developed in an orderly manner. " This isn't just about how much land is worth, or how much do we have, and how fast can we sell it. This is about putting together a long-term plan for managing our land holdings, " he said. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=f70d0c90-bb3b-41a\ 8-b706-67987be c840e 5) Yells of approval from more than 350 people, crowded into S.J. Willis school auditorium last night, gave an ad hoc committee the go-ahead to fight a forests ministry decision to allow private lands to be pulled out of Vancouver Island tree farm licences. The meeting was arranged by the Jordan River Steering Committee, with representatives from groups ranging from the Otter Point and Shirley Residents to unions, recreational organizations and First Nations, to look for ways to block Western Forest Products' removal of 28,000 hectares of privately owned land from three tree farm licences. " It's an abuse of process to take this land out of the TFL and ask the community to beg for crumbs, " said Victoria MP Denise Savoie. Resolutions for a moratorium on rezoning applications, and for the provincial government to halt the TFL removal until consultation with First Nations and the public, passed with roars of approval. The group is also asking for a debate in the legislature and that the auditor general conduct a formal audit into the deletions -- something already requested by the University of Victoria Environmental Law Clinic. " From the ministry of forests we get sprawl from wall to wall, " said Ray Zimmermann of the Sea to Sea Greenbelt Society. " This is just the first sale and it's larger than Victoria. It's unbelievable. " In January, the province gave the go-ahead for the removal, but did not ask the company for compensation for decades of access to Crown timber. WFP put 2,532 hectares on the market, including the Jordan River townsite, beach and campsite and a parcel adjacent to the Sooke Potholes. Vancouver developer Ender Ilkay has a conditional deal to buy the entire area. Spokesman for the T'Sou-ke Nation said consultation was lacking, even though some of the area is in their traditional territory. Residents' association president Arnie Campbell said the tiny communities are entirely unprepared for such growth. Environmental Law Centre students Dana Dempster and Melinda Skeels said the critical issue is the failure to get compensation. http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/story.html?id=2131ed18-3321-4e0c-918\ f-19d14a1e45be & k=78940 Washington: 6) Atop Scorpion Mountain, the views were almost 360 degrees, north past these many meadows -- unusual for the west slopes of the Cascade Range -- to Glacier Peak, south to Mount Fernow and west to the most jagged, scenic peaks of the proposed Wild Sky -- Gunn, Merchant and Baring. We sat on our packs atop 8 inches of snow, ate our lunch and took it all in. As we prepared to leave, Meg Town stood up and spread her arms. " How can anyone not be happy up here? " she asked rhetorically. Supporters will be a lot happier when Congress finally approves the bill creating the Wild Sky Wilderness and President Bush signs it into law. They're confident that will happen before Congress adjourns some time in November or December. Introduced more than five years ago by Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Rick Larsen, both Washington Democrats, the bill sailed through the House earlier this year and in May was approved by the key Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The Bush administration has signaled its support, and the bill awaits approval by the full Senate. In September, Sen. Tom Coburn, a fiscally conservative Republican from Oklahoma, unexpectedly put a hold on the bill due to its $19 million price tag. That procedural tactic blocked a quick floor vote. The bill now must be scheduled for a vote, a process that puts it behind a host of bigger priorities. " We are very hopeful that it will move soon, " said Alex Glass, spokesman for Murray. " We don't see any problem with it. The only thing left is getting it floor time. " http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/337386_wildsky01.html California: 7) Three months ago, Perry Norris took his 7-year-old son to the Waddle Ranch in the northern Sierra Nevada and pointed out the sweeping panorama of pine forests, pristine meadows, birds and wildlife that make up the Martis Valley. The executive director of the Truckee Donner Land Trust told his son how he had been working for some eight years trying to save the biologically rich area from developers who wanted to build a hotel, golf course and some 600 units of housing right where they were standing. His son looked around and said, " Dad, grown-ups shouldn't build houses in places like this. " And now they won't. Norris' group and the Trust for Public Land announced Thursday that they had purchased the 1,462-acre Waddle Ranch for $23.5 million, ending years of legal fighting, negotiations, cajoling and plain hard work by a coalition of conservationists, land owners, developers and local airport officials. When people started talking eight years ago about what would happen in the Martis Valley, almost nobody thought this was possible, " he said. The ranch originally covered 6,000 acres, though the local airport and Army Corps of Engineers acquired some of the land over the years. The most valuable land, however, remained in the family until 1971, when the ranch was purchased by the Pritzker family, which owns the Hyatt Hotel chain. The ranchland is in the middle of a wildlife corridor stretching to Mount Rose. It teems with wildlife. Bear, cougar, bobcats and coyotes have recently been seen in the ancient pine forests and sagebrush-covered valleys. Golden and bald eagles, ducks and geese fly overhead and sometimes lounge in Dry Lake. Trouble in the area started when Placer County in 2003 completed the Martis Valley Community Plan, which authorized up to 6,000 new homes, resort hotels, shopping malls and golf courses. Residents and environmentalists were outraged, arguing that so much development would devastate the valley's delicate ecology. They took the county and developers to court, and a judge overturned the plan in 2005, forcing negotiations. The two sides eventually agreed to allow construction south of Highway 267 - where Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort and several upscale subdivisions are situated - and to sharply curtail growth north of the highway. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/02/MNBMT42IF.DTL & type=p\ rintable 8) Join ForestEthics and activists from the Sierra, Southern Cascades, Sacramento and the Bay Area on Friday, November 2nd at Portola Plaza from noon to two p.m. to tell the Lumber Association of California and Nevada (LACN) to stop buying from Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) until they stop their destructive logging! SPI is the largest forest destroyer in California. They own over 1.5 million acres in California and have plans to clearcut up to one million acres of that this century, an area roughly the size of one and half Yosemite National Parks! Even though more environmentally friendly logging alternatives exist, SPI persists in clearcutting, using tons of dangerous chemicals, converting wild forests into tree plantations, and destroying valuable wildlife habitat in the process. Despite requests from locals to modify their logging, SPI has continued to push through aggressive logging that leaves unhealthy watersheds, biologically sterile forests and increasingly angry communities. ForestEthics is working to stop SPI's practices by engaging with the marketplace and their customers. If enough of their customers phase out SPI and substitute something " greener, " SPI will have to either continue losing customers or reform their logging activities. The LACN is an industry trade group representing both wood buyers and lumber companies in California and Nevada. As SPI wood mostly stays in the state, these companies represent some of their most important and largest customers. The LACN will be in Monterey for their annual conference. To convince these companies to shift away from SPI, we need them to see the controversy around this company and how many people want an end to destructive clearcutting in the Sierra. This conference provides the perfect forum! Join with ForestEthics and people from the Sierra, Southern Cascades, Sacramento and Bay Area to let these companies know that citizens want SPI to stop this outdated and reckless logging practice. http://www.savethesierra.org 9) Last week, the California Air Resources Board estimated that just under 6 million tons of carbon dioxide were released by the recent fires. The board estimates that for every acre burned, the carbon dioxide emissions are equivalent to two cars driven for a year, said board spokesman Stanley Young. More than half a million acres have burned in Southern California. Young and Wiedinmyer said estimates do vary widely on scientific method. The paper finds remarkable differences state by state and month by month. August is the worst month for carbon dioxide emissions from fires. The Western continental United States is responsible for more than one-third of the country's carbon dioxide from fires. But Alaska is king. Alaskan fires produce twice as much of the greenhouse gas than burning fossil fuels in that state. Alaskan fires make up 27 percent of the nation's yearly fire-related carbon dioxide emissions. In the Lower 48, California, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Louisiana, Montana, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Texas are top 10 emitters of carbon dioxide through forest fires. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Global_Warming_Wildfires.html Montana: 10) Orange and yellow pigments, which exist in the leaf all year but only show up once the green chlorophyll leaves the leaf, were better understood than the ruddy pigments on sweetgum and red maple trees. Now research has shed new light on why trees bother producing these pigments, called anthocyanins, which also color raspberries, purple pansies and red apples. The anthocyanins were known to act as sort of an arboreal sunscreen, protecting leaves from harmful radiation and also keep leaves from freezing. In 2003, plant physiologist William Hoch of Montana State University found that if anthocyanins were genetically blocked from leaves, they were very vulnerable to sunlight and so sent fewer nutrients to the plant's roots for winter storage. The new study, which was presented Monday at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting, went a step further and showed that producing anthocyanins is beneficial to trees that grow in nitrogen-poor soils: The pigments protect the leaves for longer, so they can draw in as many nutrients as possible for storage in roots before winter sets in. " It makes sense that anthocyanin production would have a function, because it requires energy expenditure, " said study leader Emily Habinck, a former University of North Carolina graduate student. So the scarlet hues that take over the leaves in the fall are the sign of a stressed-out tree just trying to survive. " The rainbow of color we see in the fall is not just for our personal human enjoyment, " said soil scientist Martha Eppes, also of UNC. " Rather, it is the trees going on about their lives and trying to survive. " http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21546002/ 11) Foresters are working in concert with members of a well-known environmental group to launch a selective logging operation north of Missoula that's designed to cut the fire danger and leave healthier stands of timber. The area at the foot of Sawmill Gulch is one of the most popular places for recreation in the Missoula area but the forests have become choked with tightly-packed trees. Now officials with the U.S. Forest Service are teaming up with the Society of American Foresters and the Sierra Club for an operation that will carefully log up to 700 aces, a process that will thin the forest and cut the fire danger. Organizers of the plan explained the details during a press conference on Thursday saying that the project should serve as a demonstration of how to better manage timberlands that buffer residential from backcountry areas. The project is being done by using hand and mechanized techniques that are designed limit environmental impact. The work will take place in an area that's popular for mountain biking, cross-country skiing and other recreation. U.S.F.S. officials say that users will be told about closures and changes around the logging work and workers will do their best to keep the popular destination open as the area is logged over the next year. http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=7299433 & nav=menu227_8 Colorado: 12) Large-scale fires in a western or southeastern state can pump as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in a few weeks as the state's entire motor vehicle traffic does in a year, according to newly published research by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado at Boulder. The paper, " Estimates of CO2 from fires in the United States: implications for carbon management, " is being published online today in the journal " Carbon Balance and Management. " NCAR's portion of the research was supported by the National Science Foundation, NCAR's principal sponsor. The authors, Christine Wiedinmyer of NCAR and Jason Neff of the University of Colorado, used satellite observations of fires and a new computer model, developed by Wiedinmyer, that estimates carbon dioxide emissions based on the mass of vegetation burned. They caution that their estimates have a margin of error of about 50 percent, both because of inexact data about the extent of fires and varying estimates of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by different types of blazes. Overall, the study estimates that fires in the contiguous United States and Alaska release about 290 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, which is the equivalent of 4 to 6 percent of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning. But fires contribute a higher proportion of the potent greenhouse gas in several western and southeastern states, especially Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Arizona. Particularly large fires can release enormous pulses of carbon dioxide rapidly into the atmosphere. " A striking implication of very large wildfires is that a severe fire season lasting only one or two months can release as much carbon as the annual emissions from the entire transportation or energy sector of an individual state, " the authors write. http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_69386.shtml New Hampshire: 13) Jack stresses that his business is not a loads-per-day or production-oriented company. " I built my business with two goals in mind: to focus on diversification and utilization. Utilization is key for us and fits in with our sustainability philosophy. We carefully utilize the resources at hand in order to get a favorable outcome for everyone involved, which is the landowner, the logger, and the trucking company. " Although Jack and Jake are not strictly focused on production, they average about 2.5 million board feet annually. " We are not a production-oriented company but more focused on doing quality work in the woods and intelligently utilizing the resources we are cutting. This is one of the reasons we bought our Stripper pull-through delimber from Stripper Manufacturing in South Paris, Maine, in December 2006. " Jack refers to his business as a 'hybrid' company. " We are a small company, but we do everything from soup to nuts. Even though it's just me and Jake doing all the work, we are diversified in the range of projects we can handle. " The company evolved from a trucking business. It grew quickly into a highly diverse company offering unique services. " This is because I saw the need to be able to do more jobs related to forestry than other companies traditionally do, " Jack explained. Jobs include logging, trucking, excavation, building access roads, and creating wildlife habitat. " We do all the layouts, and all the necessary excavating and clearing for these projects. " Jake's degree in forestry from the University of New Hampshire provides the company with additional opportunities to get involved in projects from the ground up. " We can do the forestry because of Jake's training, " Jack noted. " Our biggest client is the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (SPNHF), which is a landowner conservation organization that owns about 50,000 protected acres. We are four years into a 10-year stewardship contract with them to oversee and implement the management on about 6,500 of those acres. " http://www.timberlinemag.com/articledatabase/view.asp?ArticleID=2465 New York: 14) Rapid Waters Unit comprises the Danby State Forest (about 7,337 acres) and Shindagin Hollow State Forest (about 5,265 acres). Covering about 20 square miles, the forests are in Tompkins and Tioga counties, in the towns of Candor, Caroline, Danby and Spencer. Both Danby and Shindagin forests were largely acquired by the federal and state governments from the late 1930s to 1960s. One of the concerns I heard mentioned by the public at the meeting was the leasing by interested oil and gas drilling companies for exploration purposes in the Rapid Waters Unit. The DEC representatives said the DEC does not have any plans at this time, but they want public input. For an informational packet on the Rapids Water UMP, contact Senior Forester John Clancy, 753-3095, ext 258, or e-mail him jmclancy. http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071102/COLUMNISTS05\ /711020331/1002 /NEWS01 Pennsylvania: 14) When people talk about logging for the health of a forest, often they're actually talking about their own " pocketbook " health, a Binghamton University professor said Thursday at Jones Park. About 40 people gathered at the entrance to the park to oppose the idea of logging the 105-acre tract of woodland in south Vestal, near the Pennsylvania border. The idea would likely involve " selective logging " of the largest and oldest trees and could bring in at least $100,000 in revenue and possibly much more, Town Supervisor Peter Andreasen has said. The money would be reinvested in parks, he added. " The healthiest forest is a forest that's just let be, " said Julian Shepherd an associate professor of biology at BU. " It's just fine on its own, thank you. " Vestal resident Barbara Crotsley, who walks the park's meandering trails nearly every day, said cutting down trees would hurt the park. " I don't know how it (logging) affects the environment, " Crotsley said. " But I know how it affects me. " A few members of the group said some trails have been worked on and some trees have already been taken down. They believed the work had been done in anticipation of the logging project. Reached at his home Thursday night, Andreasen said the work was done to create an access road, not for logging, in case emergency vehicles needed to get into the park to respond to an injury. The process to begin logging at the park has not begun, Andreasen said. " It's not a done deal, " he said. Andreasen said the idea was first floated last year, and the town hasn't taken much concrete action on it since. " We've been busy doing other things that are more important than cutting trees in Jones Park, " he said. A public hearing would be held before any logging could start, the supervisor said. Republican Andreasen is up for re-election Tuesday. His opponent, Democrat Barry Klipsch, was among the group assembled at the park Thursday. He is against logging in the park. " I'd like to keep it as a park, " Klipsch said. " Not a money-making machine for the town. " http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071102/NEWS01/71102034\ 2/1006 Canada: 15) " Hug the tree, say your name, and ask for permission to climb. " Those instructions begin my 36-metre climb of a white pine that's more than 200 years old and majestically rooted atop a rocky hillside near Wakefield, Que. I'll climb to a height of 18 metres -- six storeys high -- where I'll rest temporarily atop a unique seven-metre-wide treehouse -- one of the largest, if not the largest, in Canada. From there, I'll get a slight boost as I continue stretching and pulling myself up, literally towards the end of my rope, to a total height of 36 metres -- 12 storeys up from the ground. Did I mention that I have a fear of heights? I do, but with my harness secured and ropes double-checked, I feel that this adventure is both scary and safe. My guide is Jamie Robertson, a former highrise window installer, cleaner and certified instructor in something called " highrise suspended access. " Robertson runs a business called Wild Adventures in the forest surrounding Wakefield, incorporating the lushness of the landscape with off-the-path activities meant to heighten an awareness of the joys of being immersed in the natural world. Since 2004, Robertson has been harnessing participants for tree climbing -- barefoot. While some tree-climbing adventurists shy away at the very thought of getting their feet " freshened with aromatic organic fluid " (better known as tree sap), one elated climber described the barefoot experience as " the best holistic forest foot massage " available. Joanne Grace of Ottawa couldn't get over the exhilaration of finding her toes finding themselves outside in nature. In a concrete world, experiencing your feet arched and toes spread wide to grip limbs can feel wonderfully liberating. Robertson says that sharing his zest for the outdoors with everyone from foreign ambassadors posted in the Ottawa area and members of the Swiss national ski team, to his friends and neighbours, allows him to deepen his understanding of the power of trees. " There's healing energy in trees, " he says. " Climb them and spend time with them and you'll be able to receive the healing that they offer. You just have to be open -- it's that simple. " http://www.canada.com/topics/travel/story.html?id=33e9a57a-b5eb-4aa1-826c-408366\ 4c5aac & k=78298 16) The Canadian forest industry is joining with the World Wildlife Fund in a bid to become Canada's first carbon-neutral industry by 2015 without purchasing carbon credits. Saying the industry is responding to markets, not just government regulations, Forest Products Association of Canada head Avrim Lazar announced the new initiative at a climate change conference in Ottawa Tuesday. But not all environmental groups are convinced the forest industry has indeed committed to reducing its carbon footprint, particularly over the issue of greenhouse gas emissions caused by logging. " In the past, the logging industry has refused to acknowledge emissions from logging, " said Tzeporah Berman of ForestEthics. " This initiative has to do that, because if the logging industry does not address cutting trees it's a bit like slapping a solar panel on the side of a Hummer and calling it green. " The Canadian logging industry's contribution to global warming is just too big to hide behind the panda [logo of the World Wildlife Fund], " said Berman. " Logging in Canada contributes as much to greenhouse gas emissions as all the cars on the road. In a telephone interview from Ottawa, Lazar said the development of bioenergy projects will aid in achieving carbon neutrality in mills. The industry also intends to look at the entire supply chain, from forest disturbance caused by logging to manufacturing and transportation and finally waste in landfills, he said. Tony Iacobelli, director of forest and fresh-water conservation for the WWF, said the plan involves third-party consultants, academic peer reviews and environmental reviews at each step. http://www.forestethics.org/article.php?id=1960 Finland: 17) Finland's forest industry's wood raw material supply costs are, depending on the tree species, up to 50% higher than in many competing countries. Violent fluctuations in raw material costs serve to increase the sector's sensitivity to economic fluctuations. The steady inflow of wood at a competitive price level is essential to profitable production and investments in the forest industry in Finland. The sector's profitability is well under the target level, despite the economic upswing. With raw material and labour costs rising dramatically, any gain from stepping up operations is threatening to evaporate. " Every single cubic metre of wood obtained from domestic sources increases the tax revenue of the state - of all Finns - by over 10 Euro. " The mill costs of softwood logs in Finland are considerably higher than in competitor countries. The difference between Finland and Sweden, for instance, at present is almost 30 Euro per cubic meter. The spruce pulpwood used by the mechanical pulp industry is almost 20% cheaper in Sweden and the United Kingdom. In the world's largest pulp producing country, the USA, pulpwood is 24-49% cheaper than in Finland. In South America hardwood pulpwood is as much as 42 – 64% cheaper compared to Finland.Last year, the industry used 9 million cubic metres of domestic spruce pulpwood for mechanical pulp production and 13 million cubic meters of pine pulpwood, together with 13 million cubic meters of birch pulpwood, for chemical pulp manufacturing. More than 12 million cubic meters of pulpwood was imported for industrial consumption, the largest proportion comprising birch. http://www.lesprom.com/news/31297/ Armenia: 18) Ditavan had been supplied with gas as early as during the Soviet period, in 1967, but the connection ceased in 1992. The village no longer has a network of gas supply lines today. Ditavan is located on the outskirts of a forest and all the villagers bring in wood from there. " This forest is our lifeline. We bring in wood from there - if we were to have gas, we would not cut the trees down, we would use gas for our needs. Because of a lack of gas, hectares of forest are being destroyed, " said Yura Ghiyasyan. The years of the energy crisis, which began in 1992 and ended in 1996, did not have catastrophic consequences for the Armenian economy alone. Forests faced the brunt of the blow. There was no electricity or gas and people were forced to cut down forests for fuel - there was no choice. Those were the years that Armenia's forest cover reduced drastically. While official figures showed 11 percent of the country to be covered by forests before that, the percentage of forest cover now stands at 7 percent. But the threat to forests did not end then. In Ditavan, as well as in nearby villages which do not have gas, villagers use the adjacent forest as a source of wood. Although the villagers said that they only bring in dry wood from the forests, one could see green trees cut in their yards as well. Nobody can blame the villagers for cutting down trees. The forest lies next to the village and the villagers cannot help making use of it. The village communities are poor and cannot finance supplying the village with gas themselves. Armrusgazprom, the company supplying Armenia with gas, cites the distant location of the village and the limited number of customers as its reasons for making investments - supplying such villages with gas is not profitable for the company. Only 33 of the 61 residential locations in the province of Tavush are supplied with gas. According to Petros Baghmanyan, Deputy Director for Gas Connections and Supply at Armrusgasprom's Tavush branch, said that deforestation had dropped fourfold as a result of new gas connections. http://www.hetq.am/eng/ecology/7225/ Serbia: 19) NGOs from Serbia are at this moment fighting to save Special Nature Reserve " Stari Begej-Carska Bara " which is also RAMSAR, IBA and IPA area. This very important locality (especially for birds) is endangered by building of illegal shipyard (transport ships) on the border of the reserve covering 5.400 . On the following link you can find all data concerning this subject. What we are also doing at this moment is collecting a petition together with online petition on this subject, so we are literally doing everything what is in our power. PLEASE HELP US BECAUSE WE NEED TO CREATE BIG PRESSURE OVER THE RESPONSIBLE INSTITUTIONS SO THEY CAN ACT!!!! We can not allow them to continue with this. We have a time until Tuesday evening (30th October 2007) to collect as many signatures as possible. Therefore, PLEASE HELP us and forward this to as many people you know, especially birders since Carska Bara is one of the most important migration stopovers for thousands and milions of birds in this part of Europe. SIGN PETITION HERE: http://www.petitiononline.com/strepera/petition.html Congo: 20) The vast Okapi Wildlife Reserve occupies about one fifth of the Ituri Forest within the Congo river basin in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of the great rainforest wildernesses of the world. The Congo has one of the largest drainage systems in Africa which has yielded a large number of major evolutionary discoveries. The Reserve contains threatened species of primates and birds, an immense flora, more than 4,000 of the estimated 30,000 okapi surviving in the wild and dramatic scenery including waterfalls on the Ituri and Epulu rivers. It is also of special interest as the homeland of traditional nomadic Mbuti and Efe pygmy hunter-gatherers. The Committee placed the Okapi Wildlife Reserve on the list of World Heritage in Danger in 1998, one year after giving it World Heritage status, because armed conflict in early 1997, had led to the looting of facilities and of equipment donated by international conservation NGOs, the killing of elephants, incursions by thousands of gold and coltan miners and by bushmeat hunters and cultivators. Most of the staff were evacuated. By 2001, exploitation of the Reserve by armed militias, miners and hunters had decimated the animal population around all camps and the park was too dangerous to visit. That year IUCN, the UN and UNEP responded to pleas from staff and NGOs for international pressure to stop the destruction and help to restore funds, morale and order. Until 2000 the human population in the forest was relatively low, with few permanent settlements, mostly along the roads, with some gold-mining in the interior: estimated in 1990 at 15,600 people and decreasing owing to the decay of the road system (Doumenge,1990). But since the disturbances in Kivu to the south, Nande and urban Bantu immigrant cultivators are increasingly encroaching on the forest from the southeast. (IZCN, 1994). In 2000-1, due to a brief ten-fold increase in the world price of coltan, there was an inrush of 4,000 coltan miners needing meat. With the accompanying Rwandan Interahamwe and Congolese Mayi-Mayi armed militias these wiped out the animals around their camps, threatening the Mbutu pygmy way of life. http://www.eoearth.org/article/Okapi_Faunal_Reserve,_Democratic_Republic_of_Cong\ o 21) Toronto Stock Exchange-listed MagIndustries Corporate's three wholly owned minerals, metals and forestry divisions are gearing up for multimillion dollar operations in the Republic of Congo. The minerals subsidiary, MagMinerals, is finalising the financial requirements for the much anticipated tak-eoff of potash production at its 2200-square-kilometre Kouilou concession, near the Atlantic port city of Pointe-Noire, its website says. The company says a feasibility study being done by SNC Lavalinto is due for completion in the fourth quarter of this year, and actual production is scheduled for 2010. The project is to reopen Africa's only major potash resource, for which there is said to be a big world market. SNC Lavalint will reportedly complete a bankable feasibility before year-end. Project financing is sais to be well advanced and strong interest from debt providers. Ameropa and potential equity and marketing partner will reportedly provide a bankable offtake contract to support financing. The project is expected to yield 580 000 t/y of potash at an estimated capital cost of $500-million. It will be based on the application of solution-mining technologies to the company's 100%-owned carnallite deposits, which underlie much of the Makola licence area, which supported commercial underground potash production in the 1970s but was abandoned owing to uncontrollable water ingress. MagMinerals has already drilled ten commercial-scale wells to extract the resource. http://www.miningweekly.co.za/article.php?a_id=119973 Uganda: 22) Forest fragmentation threatens biodiversity, often causing declines or local extinctions in a majority of species while enhancing the prospects of a few. A new study from the University of Illinois shows that parasites can play a pivotal role in the decline of species in fragmented forests. This is the first study to look at how forest fragmentation increases the burden of infectious parasites on animals already stressed by disturbances to their habitat The study, of black-and-white colobus monkeys and red colobus monkeys in tropical forests in western Uganda, appears in the American Journal of Primatology. Once dominated by vast forests, Uganda now has less than one-twentieth of its original forest cover. According to the World Resources Institute, its tropical forests are being logged and converted to agricultural land at a rate that outpaces sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. Small tracts remain, however, hemmed in by pastures and croplands. Many of the species that thrived in the original forests are struggling to survive in these parcels, which can be as small as one hectare in size. " In Uganda, just looking at the primates, it's one of the most biodiverse places on the earth, " said professor of pathobiology Thomas Gillespie, principal investigator on the study. " You've got 12 to 13 species of primates in a core undisturbed forest. But if you go into these forest fragments, you'll find only three or four species of primates. " Populations of black-and-white colobus monkeys appear to be stable in the Ugandan forest remnants, while their cousins, the red colobus monkeys, are in decline. Gillespie and his colleague, Colin Chapman, of McGill University in Montreal, surveyed 20 forest fragments near the western boundary of Kibale National Park, in western Uganda. They compared the abundance, variety and density of potentially harmful parasites in these fragments to the undisturbed " core forest " of the park. The researchers followed the monkeys for four years, collecting data on how far the animals ranged, what they ate and which parasites were infecting them. In those four years, red colobus populations in forest fragments declined 20 percent, whereas populations of black-and-white colobus monkeys remained relatively stable. Both species maintained stable populations in the undisturbed forest. http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=86816 Brazil: 23) A two-year Greenpeace study accused Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland and the Bunge Corporation of actively and in some cases illegally encouraging farmers to deforest the Amazon and plant soy, which is a vital component in animal feed and one of Brazil's most lucrative exports. " By providing everything from seeds and fertilisers to the transport and storage infrastructure needed to access global markets, these companies act as magnets drawing farmers into the Amazon, " the report, entitled Eating Up the Amazon, states. Cargill was the worst offender of the three, the report adds, and was thus a perfect target. The company was already in the sights of environmentalists thanks to a controversial port facility it built on the banks of the Amazon at Santarem. Cargill uses Amazonian soy to fatten chickens that became McNuggets and McDonalds told them they would stop buying their soy unless they agreed to new environmental oversights. Cargill agreed to discuss the issue and the two parties called on The Nature Conservancy to help. The resulting pilot program takes place in Cargill's backyard in the municipalities of Santarem and Belterra. The Nature Conservancy helped the more than 200 participating farmers plot their land using satellite photographs and then drew up charts showing how much each farmer needed to reforest to meet the 80/20 code. But the vast majority of the farmers work less than 200 hectares and setting aside 80 per cent of it means they would not have enough left to make a serious living. One idea being discussed by The Nature Conservancy and Pará state authorities is having the farmers buy a large block of land together and designating it a reserve or protected area. That solution would legalise the farmers' land and at the same time contribute to resolving other long-standing land dilemmas. The TNC has had talks with other soy producers and now ethanol firms are asking for their help. " We've always said to businesses, You wouldn't ignore environmental laws in Iowa so why do you ignore them here, " Cleary says. " If Cargill accept this in Santarem then they become vulnerable and we can ask the question, Why only Santarem. It sets a precedent. " http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/03/eabrazil103.xm\ l 24) One of the first things any Brazilian tells a foreigner is that Brazil is really two countries: the south and the north. With a highly educated population of predominantly European origin, the south, with its two great cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, is becoming an agricultural and industrial superpower, producing computers and advanced pharmaceuticals and exporting large numbers of jet aircraft to the US. Brazil has attained world-class status in forestry, ranching, and agriculture. Even more significant for the future is that largely through the use of biofuels, such as alcohol derived from sugar cane, it is one of the few countries in the world to have achieved self-sufficiency in energy. When oil reaches $100 a barrel, Brazil will be sitting pretty. The north, in truth, is another country in all but political geography. A mostly non-European population languishes in poverty and illiteracy. With the exception of the largest cities, the north is saddled with the vestiges of a feudal past. Descendants of African slaves crowd the northeast whereas people of mixed African, European, and indigenous origin populate the huge region centered on the Amazon River and its tributaries—a region known simply as the Amazon. Since the days of the conquistadores, the Amazon has never had a stable economy. Cycles of boom and bust have encouraged a get-rich-quick mentality and lack of allegiance to place. After five centuries of ignoring the north, powerful interests in the south have recently taken interest in the resources of the Amazon, precipitating a paroxysm of change in the north that will affect the entire world. Politics will guide the course of change but how, and for what reasons, remains uncertain, for internal and external forces are pulling in opposite directions. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20819 India: 24) In what has come as a big shock to environment activists here, more than 60 valuable trees, all over 100 years old, were found to have been cut down by smugglers in the last few days in Nadia. A raid by Nadia district forest officials stopped timber, estimated to be worth more than Rs 70 lakh, from being transported by smugglers. Acting on a tip-off, forest officials raided areas in Plassey such as Kaliganj, Santipur, Haripur and Singhata and seized timber from valuable trees felled in the forest, said Mr Haridas Bhattacherjee, range officer of Krishnagar forest range in Nadia. Nadia district forest officials have also closed two sawmills in Champatala and Haripur where valuable logs were dumped. According to Mr Bhattacherjee, 16 valuable trees of arjun and sishu, felled by dishonest timber traders and kept on forest beds in Plassey, on the banks of the Bhagirathi in Kaliganj block, were seized after conducting a surprise raid on 30 October. No persons have been arrested yet but a specific case has been registered against some persons. On 27 October, forest department officials raided the forest at Mahaprabhupara in Santipur and discovered that over 45 100-year-old mango trees had been felled, allegedly by one Rabindranath Burman. Forest officials finally seized all the felled trees from a sawmill at Champatala. A case has been registered against Burman, who is absconding. In another raid at Haripur, forest officials have seized a large number of logs from a sawmill. The Statesman had earlier reported that rampant logging of trees on a wide scale by dishonest timber traders and forest bandits were responsible for denuding reserve forests containing valuable trees in Nadia district. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6 & theme= & usrsess=1 & id=175299 Afghanistan: 25) This month, Assoc. Prof. Gary Bull from UBC's Faculty of Forestry is spending time in Kabul training an Afghan field crew. He is joining forces with the New-York based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project. Bull and UBC Forestry PhD student KiJoo Han are leading an effort to help protect and restore Afghanistan's remaining forest in the north east province of Nuristan. Over the past 20 years, in some provinces, Afghani farmers have participated in deforestation rates of up to 70 per cent. Currently, the country has 1.3 per cent forest cover, one of the lowest in the world. " If you're poor enough, you'll cut down and burn every last tree, " Bull says. " Some of Afghanistan's national parks are largely denuded and people are going after the remaining scraps for fuel. " Bull's job will be to deploy Afghani enumerators to conduct 350 surveys among Nuristan villagers. Bordering Pakistan, Nuristan is a remote and rugged region that has seen much conflict, and more recently insurgent ambushes. While an outsider would face great danger, Bull says locals can do the job in greater safety. The enumerators will gather data on forest uses, household behaviour, income and education levels, taking into account the region's caste system in which the population is divided into livestock grazers, wood carvers and the landless. Bull says each caste would need a different financial incentive structure to help both restore and protect forests. " If you don't understand what motivates people, you'll never help them rebuild, " says Bull, noting that environmental protocols and standards to combat climate change can severely impact the poor. About 75 per cent of Afghan people live in rural areas. http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcreports/2007/07nov01/afghanistan.html Vietnam: 26) The luxuriant greens of the pines and replenished forests have replaced the barrenness of the Chau Son area on the southern bank of the Da Nhim River in Lam Dong Province. The area was once a notorious location attracting illegal loggers for many years. But Chau Son has recently seen a new economic village in Lac Xuan Commune, Don Duong District. Statistics from the Don Duong forest plantation show that all of the 200 households in Chau Son Village have been contracted to protect over 1,026ha of valuable forest. Most of the notorious, illegal loggers have become key members of the forest management and security guard team. The 48 members are responsible for patrolling a forest area spreading tens of kilometres, from Lac Xuan Commune to the Ya Hoa area bordering Ninh Thuan Province. Nobody in Chau Son Village has illegally encroached upon the forest over the last decade. The local people have agreed to grow more than 200ha of forest since 1996. And lush greens are now covering many areas of forest, enveloping the village. http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02POP311007 Sumatra: 27) Although rainforests are protected by the government, degraded forests are not. The government actively encourages companies to convert degraded land into timber and oil palm plantations. The ZSL team used camera traps to study 2,000 sq km of degraded forest near the Bukit Tiga Puluh national park. They found evidence of at least 5 separate Sumatran tigers, the smallest tiger and a critically endangered species with only 250 adult tigers left. It also found several families of Asian elephants, another endangered species. Dr. Sarah Christie, carnivore programme manager at the ZSL, is calling for a change in policy by the Sumatran government. " This work shows that the criteria for developing land in Sumatra need to be urgently reassessed, " said Christie. " Just because forests have been logged does not mean they have lost their value for biodiversity. " Said Christie, " Many of these areas are playing a vital role in supporting the last remaining Sumatran tigers. Before any land is allocated for conversion it is vital that thorough assessments are made of the remaining value to wildlife so that important areas can be avoided whilst areas that have to be developed can be done so sustainably. " Indonesia was in the news regarding its rainforests earlier this week. They are pushing for an agreement wherein developing countries, including themselves, would be paid by richer countries to preserve their rainforests. This could not save the area ZSL surveyed as it has already been sold to a company, but another forest in Sumatra has been saved by another UK wildlife group. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds bought a 200,000 acre logging concession recently. They announced they would use it as a conservation area rather than timber plantation, which required a change in Sumatran law to be legal. http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/?p=406 Fiji: 28) Interim Minister for Fisheries and Forestry Joketani Cokanasiga expects a future boom in the sandalwood trade. With logging activities now taking place in the division, Mr Cokanasiga said his ministry would revamp the sandalwood trade, which the province of Bua was once well known for. " Sandalwood is one of the trade that we will be looking at which will include the marketing area and the involvement of the villagers, " he said. " This is to basically help the villagers introduce new groups into the sandalwood business and provide further assistance that will equip them while manning their individual sandalwood trade. " He said sandalwood, which is also used as base for popular expensive perfumes, produced in developed countries, would provide a good chance for the people of Bua to rekindle their ties to a wood their ancestors were once known for in the trade business with early European settlers. Mr Cokanasiga said training on pine logging processes would also be provided to landowners. " This will include training and up-skilling of logging operations in the Bua area for pine harvesting, " he said. " It is important for them to know the basic Occupational Health and Safety rules while out in forests doing logging, " Mr Cokanasiga said. He said forestry in the north was also a major area of trade which is why his ministry would introduce training for the landowners. " I know that the Valebasoga Tropik Woods has a backlog of $10million of veneer logs lying in the mill yard so that is good news for the industry and the northern division in terms of reviving the economy, " Mr Cokanasiga said. On problems with landowners erecting roadblocks leading to forestry plantations, he said this would also be looked at by his ministry through constructive consultations with stakeholders to help prevent such events from happening. http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=73528 Indonesia: 29) A House of Representatives team of legislators slammed the government for its slow handling of illegal logging in Riau, lamenting its effect on two major pulp and paper mills and the investment climate in the country. The 17-member team of the House's forest, plantation and agriculture commission questioned the prolonged confiscation of hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of mixed wood belonging to PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) and PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper (IKPP) in Pelalawan and Siak regencies, respectively, and the two companies' commitment to forest conservation and reforestation programs in the province. " The prolonged seizure of timber shows the government is not tough in handling the illegal logging cases. And in the end, it affects the investment climate in the country, " team leader Syarfi Hutauruk said Thursday after making a field tour to the companies' mills and forests in Pangkalan Kerinci, Pelalawan. The team held preliminary investigations into the case following recent friction between the National Police and the Forestry Ministry over confiscated logs. The police seized the logs, which were allegedly taken from protected rain forests and national parks in the province and supplied to the two mills by their partner companies. The Forestry Ministry has defended the logs as legal since they were harvested from forest concession areas where licenses were issued by local administrations. http://www.thejakartapost.com/misc/PrinterFriendly.asp World-wide: 30) The relationship of man with forest is more than commercial; not only for foods and raw materials for modern commodities or genetic pool for breeding high yielding plants and animals. To Kin of Homo sapiens forest is the paradise. Still people live in forests of Malaysia, Africa, South America and many other parts of the world, with their lifestyles interwoven with environment. Indeed, it is thought that many forest communities in Latin America have yet to contact the wider world. Habitat of ancestors: Ancestors as well as related biological species of today's mankind lived and living on the branches of trees, mainly trees of tropical regions with branches full of fruits that could provide food and shelter from ferocious animals on the ground. Fruits and leaves are sources of carbohydrates and vitamins. Herbs and saps of vascular plants are used as medicine. Plant and man: Sustained relationship: Human being has intimate relationship with plants. The relationship is even sustained in his body .Human eyes have highest resolution in green light. It forms most conspicuous image for green color, the colour of plants! These indicate the environment of man's evolution was green with trees, that is 'forest'. Plants are also economically related with human life till today. Food for appetite, garments for warmth and beautification, house for protection, furniture and tools for ease all over the world are mostly made from forest products. This relationship with plant is natural and harmless Natural forest- cover world-wide: Forests worldwide cover some 3.9 billion hectares -- almost a third of the earth's land surface. Though vast, this wooded area is only half the size of forested land at the dawn of agriculture some 11,000 years ago. Two-thirds of the planet's forests are concentrated in 10 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, Peru, Russia and the United States. Eighty-four per cent of forests are publicly owned, but private ownership is rising. Most forests are no longer in their original condition, having changed in composition and quality. Tropical and sub-tropical forests comprise 56 per cent of the total amount of forested area, while temperate and boreal (northern) forests account for 44 per cent (the remaining 5 per cent is mainly managed plantations).Primary forests with no visible signs of past or present human activity account for 36 per cent of the world's total forest area, but these primary forests are being lost or modified at a rate of six million hectares a year. http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=9853 31) As a species, human beings have a major self-control problem. We humans are now so aggressively fishing, hunting, logging, and growing crops in all parts of the world that we are literally chasing other species off the planet. Our intense desire to take all that we can from nature leaves precious little for other forms of life. In 1992, when the world's governments first promised to address man-made global warming, they also vowed to head off the human-induced extinction of other species. The Convention on Biological Diversity, agreed at the Rio Earth Summit, established that " biological diversity is a common concern of humanity. " The signatories agreed to conserve biological diversity, by saving species and their habitats, and to use biological resources (e.g., forests) in a sustainable manner. In 2002, the treaty's signatories went further, committing to " a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss " by 2010. Unfortunately, like so many other international agreements, the Convention on Biological Diversity remains essentially unknown, un-championed, and unfulfilled. That neglect is a human tragedy. For a very low cash outlay - and perhaps none at all on balance - we could conserve nature and thus protect the basis of our own lives and livelihoods. We kill other species not because we must, but because we are too negligent to do otherwise. http://allafrica.com/stories/200711020773.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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