Guest guest Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 Today for you 33 new articles about earth's trees! (281st edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com --British Columbia: 1) Coleman's brother gotta giveaway for the loggers, --Oregon: 2) Big timber never pays their fair share of taxes --Wyoming: 3) Biomass extraction research measurements for a 25-mile radius --Indiana: 4) FS to move ATV trail to protect snake but it does more harm than good --Maryland: 5) Current forest conservation law is extremely complicated --New Jersey: 6) Tropical wood ban ends and everything since is unraveling --Maine: 7) Plum Creek poised for one of the biggest ever land agreements, --Canada: 8) Aftermath of an ice storm 10 years later --UK: 9) Treesit ends when sitter runs out of food and water --EU: 10) Officials starting to admit biofuels are a mistake? --Congo 11) The most dangerous game reserve on earth --Sierra Leone: 12) Timber export ban imposed --Mexico: 13) NPR talks about Butterfly reserve --Nicaragua: 14) Helping indigenous gain clear legal title to their land --Brazil: 15) Marina Silva, 16) Gov to Blacklist largest deforesters --Peru: 17) Charcoal production saves more trees than farm production --Ecuador: 18) Hummingbird feeder as an eco-promo webcam --Chile: 19) No remorse when it comes to repression against the Mapuche --India: 20) Pardi poachers moving into Gir and Gamar forests, 21) Canopy walk tourist trap destroys forest, 22) Forest Rights implementation, 23) 12-year-old forest defender --Thailand: 24) Another canopy walk tourist trap, --Malaysia: 25) More logger death threats follow murder of tribal chief --Sumatra: 26) Palembang Wildlife Conservation Society --Indonesia: 27) Destiny of the Korowai people, 30) Summary --Philippines: 28) Small town warns loggers to stay out --Australia: 29) Garrett won't even talk to enviros now --Tropical forests: 30) Baseline assessment followed by monitoring --World-wide: 31) 80,000 acres a day, 32) The Durban Group, 33) 100,000 acres per day, British Columbia: 1) Forest and Range Minister Rich Coleman has said repeatedly that releasing 28,000 hectares of Western Forest Products Inc.'s private land from management under British Columbia's Tree Farm Licence system was done to help a company that was suffering financially. While Coleman's decision has received much scrutiny in the media and Auditor General John Doyle is investigating, here's one detail that has so far been largely overlooked: Coleman's older brother Stan is Western Forest Product's manager of strategic planning. Reached by phone and asked what his relationship is to Rich, Stan Coleman says, " He's my brother. " The Coleman's have three other brothers and a sister, he adds, before ending the call saying he had to return to chairing a meeting. Reached later, Stan Coleman says he is the second eldest sibling and Rich was third. Both were born in Nelson before the family moved to Penticton. " We were a very happy family. Great brother, " he says. The other siblings include a teacher, an environmental engineer and a political science professor. " We're a very diversified family in a sense. I'm proud of all my brothers and sister, what they've accomplished in their lives, what they're doing. Stan Coleman lives in Nanaimo and works out of WFP's Campbell River office. Asked how close he is with Rich, he says, " We see each other on and off. " Stan Coleman joined WFP in May 2006, when the company acquired the short-lived Cascadia Forest Products Inc. Cascadia was created in 2005 when Weyerhaeuser sold its B.C. assets to Brascan, which later became Brookfield Asset Management Inc. Brookfield also now owns a majority interest in WFP. The minister's brother worked for Weyerhaeuser in 2004 when the company benefited from another release of private land from management under TFLs. In that case, then forest minister Mike de Jong released the land against the recommendation of ministry staff. Asked what his involvement in the releases was, Stan Coleman says, " No involvement. I have no involvement in either of them. " http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/01/14/TreeFarmDeal/ Oregon: 2) Big Timber owns 600,000 acres in Lane County paying an average of $3.40 per acre property tax per year according to the State of Oregon. That means that Big Timber's Lane County property taxes amount to approximately $2 million per year, yet they want $47 million a year from the American Public who own 685,000 Lane County acres! These guys have had over a decade and a half to figure out the loss of unsustainable, destructive Federal Old Growth Timber sales. The fact that the County Commission is dominated by actual Big Timber owners is the real reason the county has a shortfall. Make Big Timber to pay at the same rate and you could easily cover the budget and cut taxes for the little folk at the same time. StumpsDontLie Wyoming: 3) In 2002, the Wyoming State Forestry Division conducted a study to determine how much wood could be collected on state and private land within a 25-mile and a 30-mile radius of Osage, which at the time was being considered for a Western Biomass Energy ethanol plant. The distances were selected based on hauling costs. Deputy State Forester Dan Perko described the study as a " snapshot " that provided a picture of the biomass available at the time, but did not take into account new growth. " We actually went in and did the management work we would propose for either fuel treatments or forest management, like thinning, " he said. " Our goal was not to use material that is already marketable or merchantable -- post, pole and saw logs. " Within the 25-mile radius, the study concluded state and private land could yield 2,270,000 " bone dry " tons of material, assuming all the of it could be used. A bone dry ton is a quantity of wood that weighs 2,000 pounds at zero percent moisture content. Perko said assuming one bone dry ton could produce 58 gallons of ethanol, it would take about 207,000 bone dry tons to operate a 12-million-per-gallon plant for a year. At that rate, such a plant could operate for about 11 years with the biomass identified in the study. Perko said the objective was to help Western Biomass Energy assess resource availability. In developing a business case, he noted a company might be looking at five to seven years of material source to justify an investment. Perko said the assessment was based on aerial photography and sampling of timber stands on the ground. Samples were chipped and weighed to determine the amount of material available as a result of forest management operations. The samples and photographs became the basis for estimating the amount of biomass available that did not compete with higher value timber products. Perko said the study was unusual in that it focused on waste materials the division typically doesn't consider. Federal lands were not included in the study. " We've never been able to count on a guaranteed source of supply from the federal land so we just simply didn't include it, " he said. http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2008/01/13/news/business/7170f3f82cb49\ 16f872573ce0026 87a8.txt Indiana: 4) The Forest Service is proposing to reroute a portion of the Timberline ATV Trail to avoid timber rattlesnakes, a Regional Forester's Sensitive Species. The proposal includes decommissioning 1.1 miles of existing trail (which includes approximately 0.5 miles of an existing oil and gas road), and replacing it with approximately 1.8 miles of new trail. The new trail would utilize approximately 1.3 miles of old oil and gas roads that would have to be reconstructed and require construction of 0.5 miles of new trail corridor. The Forest Service is planning to streamline the project through the use of a categorical exclusion. This means there will be no in-depth environmental analysis and the public will have limited opportunities to comment on the proposal. The Allegheny Defense Project supports rerouting the ATV trail to protect timber rattlesnakes, but the Forest Service's proposal is completely inadequate. There is no evidence that the proposed reroute, which is very close to the existing trail, will actually protect timber rattlesnakes. Portions of the existing trail utilize oil and gas roads. While the roads will be closed to ATV traffic, the roads will remain open to oil and gas trucks. The Forest Service cannot address the issue of protecting timber rattlesnakes in this area without addressing both ATV's and oil and gas drilling. The Forest Service would be increasing watershed impacts as well. There is one stream crossing with the existing trail. The propose reroute includes three stream crossings, one of which is in the headwaters of a tributary to Red Lick Run. There are many wetlands throughout the proposed reroute. The Forest Service is inviting damage to these wetlands by proposing this reroute. For more information: www.alleghenydefense.org To Comment: Please fill out all blanks in the form and then press the " send comments " button at the bottom. If you have time, please modify this letter to reflect your personal concerns. Thanks! https://www.heartwood.org/action.html?id=137 Maryland: 5) It was apparent from all of the presenters that the current forest conservation law is extremely complicated. The law applies only to forests, defined as 10,00 square feet with 100 trees per acre (43,650 square feet). Essentially, when any type of development is occurring on a lot size that is at least 40,000 square feet (just under an acre), the forest conservation law is triggered. Depending on the type of land use the parcel falls under, a certain amount of the forest on that land is supposed to be maintained (the conservation threshold) and a certain amount of new forest is supposed to be planted (the afforestation threshold). Currently, the forest conservation law is not designed to be neutral in the amount of forest in the County and in most cases only a quarter of acre of trees needs to be replaced for every acre removed (above a certain level of removal, acreage must be replaced by two to one). The law aims to keep forests on site or in the area, but developers can also purchase offsets in other areas. This can be both good and bad. The good is that offsets can be strategically purchased in areas like stream buffers, which can provide maximum benefit for the environment by reducing runoff. The bad is that offsets can also be purchased from existing forests that are not in danger. According to Royce Hanson, the Planning Board's reform has a few major purposes including clarifying the existing law, eliminating some of the exemptions to the law, a slight increase of 5% in the amount of trees that would be retained, and an extension of the amount of time developers must maintain any new trees from two years to five years, which would increase the cost of development. Councilman Elrich wants to amend the Planning Board's changes and increase further the amount of trees retained, apply the law to lots as small as 10,000 square feet, and try to reach a goal of no net loss of trees by increasing the amount of acreage replanted or retained. Many of us are supportive of both a new tree ordinance (which would apply to individual and small groups of trees) and improving the forest conservation law. The problem is that the county is growing, almost regardless of what policies the government puts in place and there needs to be a balance between some needed development and important conservation efforts. http://maryland-politics.blogspot.com/2008/01/montgomery-countys-forests.html New Jersey: 6) Since this southern New Jersey beach town broke a decade-old promise last year not to use wood from tropical rainforests on its boardwalk, just about everything that could go wrong with the plan did go wrong. Environmentalists picketed and the mayor's office was flooded with 50,000 protest e-mails from around the globe. The wood, which was supposed to be certified as having been harvested responsibly from trusted sources in the Amazon, cost anywhere between 30 and 70 percent more than wood without the certification. And the Baltimore lumber company that was supposed to have the wood here by the end of the year still hasn't. It blamed, among other things, unfavorable currency exchange rates, and low water levels in Amazon jungles that made it hard to float logs to mills. Now, after suffering serious damage to its reputation as an environmentally friendly community, the city that calls itself " America's Greatest Family Resort " may be ready to scrap the $1.1 million deal -- even if it means a costly legal battle. A majority of the City Council is considering voting Thursday night to refuse to pay for the wood, claiming the Louis Grasmick Lumber Co. has defaulted on its contract with Ocean City. " We've taken this entire community down a path of divisiveness, for reasons I still don't understand, " said Councilman Jody Alessandrine. " It has put our city on the map and on the Internet and in the newspapers for all the wrong reasons. Some people are just unwilling to admit their mistakes. " That was a reference to Mayor Sal Perillo, who since last January has championed the use of Brazilian ipe wood for a block-long section of the boardwalk. He likes the durability of the wood, and says the environmental certification it carries proves the city is doing the right thing. He also said breaking a contract could expose the city to damages, and hurt its reputation among other companies that do business with it. Perillo did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday. Ten years ago, Ocean City voted never to use tropical rainforest wood again for its 21/2 mile-long boardwalk that is a mixture of ipe and domestic yellow pine, citing the damage that logging operations are doing to the Amazon. But last January, it decided that using wood certified as having been harvested responsibly would be OK. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080114/UPDATES01/8011402\ 2/-1/rss Maine: 7) The promise of 430,000 acres of protected forest land around Moosehead Lake is, for many, the biggest selling point for Plum Creek Timber Co.'s development plans. But the conservation piece of the plan is as complicated and contentious as the part of the plan that calls for two resorts and 975 house lots scattered around Maine's largest lake. The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission will hear arguments ranging from whether hiking lodges, gravel pits and other uses should be allowed in conservation areas to the bigger questions: Are the limits on future development enough to compensate for the project's potential impact on the wildlife and character of the region? How much of the overall conservation plan should be counted as balance for the development. The deal, if approved, would be one of the largest land preservation packages in the country, perhaps second only to a 763,000-acre conservation easement on Pingree family timberlands across northern and western Maine. The conservation plan proposed by Plum Creek covers an area roughly twice the size of Baxter State Park. Critics say the promise of conservation is only as good as the detailed language in the easements that limit land uses by Plum Creek and future owners. " We don't think it's enforceable, " said Ken Spalding, Maine woods project coordinator for RESTORE: The North Woods, an opponent of the plan. Even if it is, he said, the agreements are so flawed they don't provide enough protection beyond what's already in place. In Plum Creek's case, the company wants 20,000 acres rezoned for homes and resorts. As a balance for that, the company is offering to donate an easement that would restrict future development on 91,000 acres surrounding the homes and resorts. The " balance easement, " as it is known, would allow Plum Creek or future owners to continue logging operations. It also would allow a limited number of other uses: communications towers, gravel removal, transmission lines for wind farms, septic sludge spreading, water extraction and so-called back country huts to provide accommodations for hikers or skiers. No residential development would be allowed, and public access would be guaranteed. In addition, Plum Creek has agreed to sell a much larger easement on 266,000 surrounding acres. The so-called " legacy easement " would have slightly more permissive rules than the balance easement. It would allow full-fledged wind farms, for example. Plum Creek also has agreed to sell two other sensitive parcels of forest totaling 74,500 acres. Those lands would become nature reserves. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2007/11/16/LI2007111600631.\ html Canada: 8) Knock, knock. Who's there? The pileated woodpecker, that's who. The red-crested bird that drills into trees is just one of many species making a reappearance on Mount Royal these days. And for that you can thank the ice storm. Ten years after nature unleashed its savagery on Quebec's hardwood forest, experts have discovered heartening news: The forest is doing just fine. And the natural disaster has even produced welcome side effects, like an increase in biodiversity. Seldom seen in local woodlands before the ice storm, the pileated woodpecker - one of the largest in North America - is now spotted regularly. It feasts on ants in decaying trees. " The incredible resilience of the forest gives me hope, " says Martin Lechowicz, a professor of biology at McGill University and director of the university's Gault Nature Reserve at Mont St. Hilaire. At 1,000 hectares, it is the largest forest in southern Quebec never to have been harvested. " In terms of water filtration and diversity of wildlife, that is all there, " Lechowicz says of the forest's comeback. " From an environmental point of view, it's a real signal that the Earth has tremendous healing power. " Who knew? Of all of the nightmarish scenes from January 1998, the mangled, broken trees are among the most haunting. On once leafy streets, towering maples snapped like kindling. Massive branches smashed windshields and blocked traffic. On Mount Royal, where Gazette photographer John Kenney captured on film a devastated-looking Mayor Pierre Bourque contemplating a mountain of dead branches, the storm damaged 85,818 trees - about four out of every five. " It was like a war zone, " recalls Peter Howlett, president of Les amis de la Montagne, who ventured out on the mountain to inspect the damage in the early days of the storm. " There were very high-decibel sounds of trees cracking and branches catapulting down the slope at you. We were nearly killed by these projectiles. " Across the city, workers picked up an estimated 360,000 cubic metres of deadwood in the months after the storm, enough to cover 16 soccer fields piled five metres high. " (The trees) became an identifying element in the portrait of the ice storm. It was one that allowed people to appreciate the damage that had been caused. " The ice storm was the most destructive in the history of Quebec's hardwood forest, says Lechowicz, who estimates the frequency of such an event occurring as once every 5,000 to 6,000 years - that in a forest that dates back only about 12,000 years. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=3c2101bf-c447-4cac-8d49\ -a725e9088da2 UK: 9) A protester who was living in a tree in an attempt to stop it from being chopped down has been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass. Gabriel Chamberlain set up his makeshift tree house in Bonn Square, Oxford, 11 days ago. The city council secured an eviction order to force him down, but Mr Chamberlain came down voluntarily after he ran out of water and supplies. The tree was later felled as part of a £1.5m facelift in Oxford's west end. The sycamore was the largest of four trees which have been cut down. The operation sparked protests in Bonn Square from other residents and police have arrested at least two other people. The trees will be replaced with seven semi-mature robinia pseudoacacia trees. A council spokesman said Bonn Square was in a key location at the intersection of four major routes. He said the plan was aimed at making the square more attractive and improving CCTV surveillance. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/oxfordshire/7186874.stm EU: 10) Europe's environment chief has admitted that the EU did not foresee the problems raised by its policy to get 10% of Europe's road fuels from plants. Recent reports have warned of rising food prices and rainforest destruction from increased biofuel production. The EU has promised new guidelines to ensure that its target is not damaging. EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said it would be better to miss the target than achieve it by harming the poor or damaging the environment. A couple of years ago biofuels looked like the perfect get-out-of-jail free card for car manufacturers under pressure to cut carbon emissions. Instead of just revolutionising car design they could reduce transport pollution overall if drivers used more fuel from plants which would have soaked up CO2 while they were growing. The EU leapt at the idea - and set their biofuels targets. Since then reports have warned that some biofuels barely cut emissions at all - and others can lead to rainforest destruction, drive up food prices, or prompt rich firms to drive poor people off their land to convert it to fuel crops. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7186380.stm Congo: 11) VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK - Not far from a hillside where several mountain gorillas shot dead last summer lie buried, park ranger Innocent Mburanumwe peers across a primordial canopy of treetops into what may be the most dangerous game reserve on earth. The lush sanctuary — home to some of the world's last mountain gorillas — was thrust onto the front lines of Congo's latest war in September. Since then, the fragile habitat in the Central African highlands has been overrun by rebels and soldiers, transformed into an off-limits war zone. In the world of wildlife conservation, the biggest worry most rangers face is the extinction of endangered animals. But in Virunga National Park, where more than 120 rangers have been killed over the last decade, they also worry about their own survival. In recent months, some have dodged bullets while driving in their cars. Some have spent nights hiding under beds with their families. All were forced to flee the park's so-called gorilla sector when rebels swept in, some taking shelter in tents on the sanctuary's edge. " There are undoubtedly risks associated with this job, " says Mburanumwe, 35, whose brother — also a ranger — was killed in the line of duty a decade ago. " But our concern is for the gorillas. That's the reason we're here. " The gorillas have the potential to draw tourist revenue to a desperately poor region and bring in vital funding through conservation groups. Over the last 12 months, though, rangers have watched helplessly as the gorillas have been massacred. 2007 was the apes' bloodiest year on record since famed American researcher Dian Fossey first began working in Congo in the mid-1960s to save them. The toll: 10 shot and killed, two others missing. The rangers don't know for sure who killed the gorillas, but they believe illegal charcoal traders are trying to sabotage the park for easier access to its trees. Now armed groups have seized the habitat. With park staff unable to set foot inside the reserve for the last four months, the gorillas' fate is unknown. " Nobody knows what's happening to them, nobody can track them anymore, " Mburanumwe says bleakly, eyes fixed on the verdant slopes of dormant Mikeno volcano, where about 190 of the world's remaining 700 mountain gorillas live. " It's a catastrophe, " he says, turning away from the mountain, its mighty peak rising through the mist. " For them and for us. " http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22627399/ Sierra Leone: 12) Sierra Leone's government has banned the exportation of timber after " indiscriminate destruction " by Chinese and other foreign businessmen, a senior official said on Monday. Hassan Mohammed, deputy director of the forestry ministry, said Chinese loggers had wreaked havoc in the savannahs of northern Sierra Leone by chopping down fire-resistant trees for export. The Pterocarpus erinaceus, also known as barwood, is valued by Asian woodcarvers but is becoming increasingly rare in West Africa. " Because of the indiscriminate destruction by some Chinese businessmen and other foreign nationals, the government has banned the exportation of timber from Sierra Leone, " he told Reuters in an interview. Local tribal authorities had collaborated with the Chinese businessmen in the logging, which had driven off wild animals from the area and provoked a creeping desertification. " We are now expecting that inhabitants living around the area will have to move to secured towns and villages as displaced, " Mohammed said. Without tree roots to bind the earth, erosion had swept away most of fertile top soil, making it impossible for local pastoralists to graze their livestock. Mohammed said the government was looking at changing forestry legislation for both Sierra Leoneans and foreigners seeking to exploit the West African country's timber resources, often by illegally logging trees and smuggling the wood across the Guinean border. Accurate figures for lumber exports are not available due to the prevalence of illegal logging, Mohammed said. Sierra Leone's environment was badly damaged during a 1991-2002 civil war during which many jungle species, particularly apes and monkeys, were hunted nearly into extinction for bush-meat. http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46407/story.htm Mexico: 13) Scientists hail the annual migration as one of nature's great mysteries. But as NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports, some of those who live in the area the butterflies descend upon from November to March see it as a mixed blessing. While the beauty of the butterflies and the attention they bring has been welcomed, the area is rife with poverty, and many people rely on logging the forest to eke out a living. In 1986, Mexico demarked a 60-square-mile area as a Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, meant to conserve the habitat. But it also superceded existing land claims of the people within the reserve's boundaries, curtailing logging and offering no compensation. While the government still maintains the reserve, it now has two mandates: To protect the butterflies while also helping the locals who have land within its confines. But illegal logging continues. Two months ago, the government placed soldiers to guard the reserve. Several North American charities are also paying local communities not to cut down the trees. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18024428 Nicaragua: 14) Nicaragua's largest protected nature area and the most important tropical rainforest north of the Amazon basin. We were asked to begin field work in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy, whose goal was to help the tribal groups get clear legal title to the land they have lived on for centuries. Getting clear title was considered critically important to the survival of both tribes. For generations they had hunted the land, fished the rivers and tended small garden plots along the rivers that run through the Bosawas, all the while preserving its tremendous biodiversity. But times had begun to change. Outsiders were making their way up the rivers, practicing slash-and-burn agriculture to plant field crops. Logging firms encroached and clear-cut trees on the reserve, which covers four times the area of St. Louis and St. Louis County. Because the tribal groups lacked legal status over the land, they could do nothing to prevent the practices. To get clear title, they had to show they could manage their natural resources. The Nature Conservancy agreed to work on the political aspects of getting them legal ownership. But first, they needed information that would help determine how sustainable hunting would be practiced. The Conservancy asked St. Louis Zoo scientists to inventory the animals the Indians were hunting, tally how many were being hunted and record their weight and size. The Zoo's scientists developed transects, long regular lines through the forest, and walked them periodically to identify and count the animals. We trained Mayangna and Miskito men — among the best natural conservationists in the world — to help. On the other hand, men, being men, probably could not accurately report the size and number of the animals they hunted. Clearly, it would be necessary to enlist the aid of the women if we were going to get an honest count. Because much of the reserve was a battleground, farmers and loggers steered clear of it until the war's end. Five years after our work in Bosawas began, the Mayangna and Miskito gained clear title to their land and the legal means to halt loggers and others from exploiting the reserve. They continue to monitor their hunting practices and meet as a group to make sure they don't overhunt any particular species. Their future is more stable, even if it is not completely clear. The forest could become a huge natural laboratory for visiting scientists, offering a continuing source of employment for the Indians we have trained to do field work.http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/stories.nsf/travel/story/C827F2F\ 43B336E1786257 3CB007805DE?OpenDocument Brazil: 15) Marina Silva, 49, is Brazil's environment minister. The daughter of a Brazilian rubber tapper, she spent her childhood collecting rubber from the Amazon forest and demonstrating against the destruction wrought by illegal loggers. In one of the great political journeys, she rose from being illiterate at 16 to become Brazil's youngest senator, and is now the woman most able to prevent the Amazon's wholesale ruin. Under her watch, deforestation has reduced by nearly 75% and millions of square miles of reserves have been given to traditional communities. Last year 1,500 companies were raided and one million cubic metres of illegally felled timber were confiscated. But the future, says Silva, is peril ous. The only way that long-term loss will be averted is with foreign help. " We don't want charity, it's a question of ethics of solidarity, " she says. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jan/05/activists.ethicalliving 18) Ibama, Brazil's national environmental protection agency, has stated that a process is underway to identify the perpetrators of the greatest amount of deforestation in the Amazon region and place them on a 'blacklist' similar to one created for companies that have used forced labour. Ibama's environmental protection director, Flávio Montiel, revealed that the fifty worst offenders in Pará, Mato Grosso and Rondônia (the three states that account for more than 80% of Amazon deforestation) have already been identified. As well as entering the blacklist, which will be released during the first half of 2008, they will receive 'administrative, penal and civil' sanctions. The blacklist is being compiled by the Permanent Group for Environmental Responsibility, created by President Lula in December last year and co-ordinated by the Ministry of the Environment. Ibama's strategy against Amazon deforestation includes seventeen monitoring stations using geoprocessing technology with satellite images. Montiel also stressed the government's commitment to fostering sustainable productive activities in the Amazon region by offering low-interest credit. http://ranforestpower.blogspot.com/2008/01/blacklist-for-main-perpetrators-of.ht\ ml Peru: 16) Using a recursive optimization model, we analyze how the incorporation of charcoal production by pioneer farmers in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest would affect household net returns and the rate of deforestation at the early stage of forest colonization. Because charcoal production diverts scarce dry-season labor from land clearing for agriculture, deforestation by pioneer farmers may be slower. The model predicts that after 10 years, a representative pioneer farmer who produces charcoal would earn 17% higher net income and clear 17% less forested area. A sensitivity analysis predicts that any additional labor would be chiefly devoted to charcoal production, reinforcing the conservation effect. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL & _udi=B6VC6-4RJKX4K-1 & _user=1\ 0 & _rdoc=1 & _fmt = & _orig=search & _sort=d & view=c & _acct=C000050221 & _version=1 & _urlVersion=0 & _userid=\ 10 & md5=553b12a ab460488553351a989483bb2d Ecuador: 17) The webcam will focus on a hummingbird feeder in an area where, so far, 32 species of hummingbirds are known to occur. To celebrate this exciting launch the World Land Trust are offering a week's accommodation at the Umbrella Bird Lodge in the heart of the Buenaventura Reserve in Ecuador for the first person who can freeze frame a new species of hummingbird identified by the webcam. The World Land Trust is the first conservation charity to achieve high quality live streaming direct from the rainforest and the pilot project has certainly been a challenge. Despite the fact that it has taken six months to install the equipment and establish satellite connection, the WLT is confident that this initiative will increase support for its projects by making the reality of the rainforest accessible to all. The WLT hopes, eventually, to be able to implement similar webcams in the other countries around the globe where they have projects these include vital corridors for Indian Elephant to the Atlantic rainforests of Brazil. John Burton, CEO of the Trust, says: " I am confident that these webcams will ultimately become a vital tool for World Land Trust and its education programme and we can't wait to be able to offer virtual rainforest tours to our supporters " . Webcam in the Forest enables World Land Trust to highlight firsthand the very real problems facing critically threatened wildlife and their disappearing habitats to a world wide audience. http://www.ewire.com/display.cfm/Wire_ID/4463 Chile: 18) Chile presents itself to the world as a country of progress and a champion of human rights, but it has no remorse when it comes to repression against the Mapuche people. Patricia Troncoso,who is in the Angol prison (IX region), has been fasting for nearly 90 days -the longest hunger strike in Chile's history- She is seriously risking her life and health but is willing to face all consecuences. Patricia faces a sentence of 10 years and one day, accused of burning down 100 hectares of pine woodland, property of Forestal Mininco. The case is called " Poluco-Pidenco " . This and other logging companies are responsable for the acidification of the soil and destruction of eco-systems which existed in the native forests. By planting only pine trees the soils becomes too acid for other species to grow. It is not an exageration to say that a large part of the South of Chile has been turned into a vast green desert. Patricia Troncoso started her hunger strike along with four other inmates. After 70 days of receiving no response from the government and at the request of their friends and comrades, the four others stopped, leaving Patricia on her own. There is no form of evidence against her, only declarations from the police, the logging company's guards and a few masked witnesses. Patricia has decided to continue with the strike even if it causes her death. There is much state repression towards the Mapuche struggle. It is a fact that in any part of the world Police defends the interest of capital, but in Mapuche territory the police force and the Chilean secret Service have become blatent military guards for the logging companies and landowners. On the 3rd of January a group of 30 mapuches who were peacefully squatting lands owned by Jorge Luchsinger, were met by police who killed 23 year old Matias Catrileo. Matias was shot in the back with a bullet from an Uzi machine gun. This is not the first and only death. In 2002 Alex Lemun was murdered, shot in the head by the police. Rodrigo Cisternas was killed in 2007. Patricia's name will join the list of assassinations if the government does not take her just demands into account. Called by LaSurda Latin American Collective - lasurda India: 19) Forest officials have sounded an alert in and around the entire Gir and Girnar forests in Junagadh and other reserved forest and protected areas falling inside the revenue area in Saurashtra following reports that a Pardi poachers' gang has entered Gujarat. The Madhya Pradesh based Pardi tribe, who are infamous as poachers, are mainly involved in selling of leopard's hide. They generally enter any place as agriculture labourers. According to sources, members of the poachers' gang have sneaked into this region, putting the forest department on tenterhooks. An intensified drive to nab these gang members has now been initiated in the revenue areas surrounding the forest in Junagadh district. More than 150 leopards have been sheltering in the revenue areas falling under Una, Kodinar, Sutrapada and Talala taluka, sources added. When contacted, B P Pati, deputy conservator of forest (Gir west), who is also holding additional charge of Girnar range, said, " A search operations to nab members of the gang has been initiated. Alerts have been sounded in the forest areas. The forest staffs have been ordered to maintain extra vigil in their respective areas " . He said they were keeping a keen eye on inter-state labourers working particularly in the sugarcane fields falling on the periphery of various forest areas. Labourers' huts, guesthouses, hotels and roadside dhabas have also been screened. Villagers have been asked to provide information about any suspicious movement, Pati said. According to sources, many NGOs and volunteers have also been pressed into service to nab the culprits. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/State-forest-dept-on-tenterhooks-as-poac\ hers-prowl-Gir- Girnar-forests/261258/ 20) Shimla - The survival of nearly half a dozen deodar trees in the thick forest on Jakhu Hill is threatened by Jagson International Limited Company's Jakhu Ropeway project. The trees have been embedded in the concrete retaining walls of the project. As per the sanctions of the Ministry of Environment, the Rs 15 crore Jakhu Ropeway project was given permission to cut 30 trees that would be affected by the construction. It was specified that no other tree would be damaged partially or completely. This correspondent today visited the site near Titla Hotel, Jakhu - the core area where the company is constructing a restaurant and some residential structures as part of the ropeway project. Here, the roots of some trees have been exposed while digging for making space for retaining walls along the road, leading to the site. That is not all. Some trees have been buried under the debris, and nearly six trees have been embedded in the retaining wall. Says Divisional Forest Officer Shimla (Urban) Rajesh Kumar Sharma, who is monitoring the activities of the project, " Before the company started off with the retaining wall on the road leading towards the restaurant, we told them to leave ample space between the wall and the trees, so that later mud can be filled to save the trees. I have not been to the site for last two days. If the trees have been embedded, we will certainly take action against them, " Sharma asserted. In a similar case concerning a religious organization in Shimla, alarmed over the threat to green trees, the High Court had intervened after taking note of a newspaper report. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Deodar-trees-embedded-in-concrete-walls-\ at-Jagsons-Rope way-project/261045/ 21) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written to the Chief Ministers seeking their cooperation in effective implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Traditional Forests Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. The Act requires the States to constitute committees that will process cases and ensure distribution of land rights. Dr. Singh has asked the State governments to set up, at the earliest, State and district-level monitoring committees to begin the work promptly. His letter, sent on January 8, described the Act as a landmark legislation that sought to provide land rights to the STs and other traditional dwellers who have been residing in forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded. " You may appreciate that it is necessary to ensure proper implementation of this Act expeditiously, in keeping with the Rules provided under it. The responsibility for implementation vests with the State governments. " He said there should be effective communication at multiple levels to ensure that the provisions of this Act and Rules were well known. Public information contributed to transparency and accountability in implementation. The Prime Minister said the Panchayati Raj Ministry would separately write to the State governments, asking them to organise gram sabhas across the country on an appointed day to ensure that the provisions of the Act were made widely known to the members of the gram sabhas and panchayats who would play a critical role in its implementation. In implementing the Act, critical wildlife habitats would be protected as provided for in Section 4 of the Act, the letter said. http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/12/stories/2008011256531300.htm 22) Madhav Subrmanian is the next generation's face of conservation, a 12-year-old Indian boy who goes round Mumbai collecting money for tiger conservation. With his friends Kirat Singh, Sahir Doshi and Suraj Bishnoi, he set up Kids For Tigers which works in hundreds of schools. He writes poems, sings on the streets, sells merchandise and has collected Rs500,000 (£6,500) in two years. Conservation awareness is growing in middle-class India, largely through young activists like him. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jan/05/activists.ethicalliving Thailand: 23) If you saw the movie Medicine Man with Sean Connery, you would have developed an appreciation for the idea of gliding along cables in the top jungle canopy of the rainforest. A group of like-minded people have recently launched the first such experience in Southeast Asia called Flight of the Gibbon, an environment-friendly rain forest canopy ecotour. Located just outside of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, the project employs local villagers and uses a portion of the proceeds to re-introduce gibbons that had been hunted out of the area. Two Americans, a New Zealander, some Austrian engineers and local Thais teamed up to create something sustainable that really offers a thrill of a lifetime; 60 feet up from tree to tree, resting on platforms along the way and getting up close and personal with the birds and animals in the upper layer of the canopy. Flight of the Gibbon is offering free tours for accredited media and ecotour operators during the month of February and want to set an example of a business that delivers real value and at the same time supports wildlife, the ecosystem and local villagers. Flight of the Gibbon is located at the village of Mae Kompong on the edge of a gorgeous national park 37 kilometres outside of Chiang Mai. The guide staff prepares visitors with a safety course before setting them off on a series of thrilling runs through the old-growth treetops, swinging in special harness. The cable system flies visitors safely and easily through the 1,500 year-old giant rain forest trees. This is a 7 hour, 1 day tour including a waterfall trek and village visit. This ecotour puts people in touch with a treetop forest zone that was previously available only to gibbons and birds. http://www.ecospace.cc/travel/rainforest-canopy-tour-0108.htm Malaysia: 24) The Penan tribe of Sarawak, Malaysia, are opposed to the wanton destruction of their forest. Their opposition has led a logging company official to level death threats against tribe members. According to Survival the official from the Malaysian company Samling, told tribe members that " (i)f you people try to stop our plans, we will kill you. " This round of death threats comes almost immediately after Penan leader, Kelesau Naan, was found dead under circumstances that have led his relatives to suspect he was murdered. When Kelesau Naan's body was found he had been missing for weeks. His relative, Martin Bujang, said " (h)is hand was broken and looked as if it had been hit by a sharp object. " Kelesau Naan, who belonged to the Penan community of Long Data Bila, was one of four plaintiffs in a high profile land rights case that has frustrated logging companies. Yap Swee Seng, who represents the Malaysian human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia, commented that: " This .. development in Sarawak is worrying as it points to the taking root of the practice of enforced disappearance and extra-judicial killings, two of the most serious form of human rights violations. We call on the government to investigate immediately the death of Kelesau Naan and make the result of the investigation public. Those involved in the death should be brought to court of justice. " http://indigenist.blogspot.com/2008/01/penan-fight-for-survival-in-malaysia.html Sumatra: 25) The Palembang Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has said that tropical forests in Sumatra are under extreme threat from illegal logging. Coordinator of WCS Muhammad Taupiq said that at least 500,000 of Sumatra's 2.5 million hectares of tropical forest had been lost during the 1990-2000 period, or about 50,000 hectares per year. Sumatra's tropical forests include the 862,975-hectare Gunung Leuser National Park located in North Sumatra and Aceh, the 1.37-million hectare Kerinci Seblat National Park located in West Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu and South Sumatra, as well the 356,800-hectare Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park located in Bengkulu and Lampung. " We predict that the deforestation will increase year by year if there is no serious action taken to overcome it. From our calculations, it is possible that deforestation will reach up to 70 percent in 2010. If so, we will face lots of natural disasters -- not only in Sumatra, but also around the world, " Taupiq told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. He said illegal activities such as logging, burning and conversion were to blame and urged all institutions, especially the local and central governments, as well as businesses to seriously work to solve the problem. The WCS and the South Sumatra Nature Lovers Forum, together with the Palembang municipal administration and South Sumatra provincial administration, recently arranged a campaign to protect forests in Palembang.Taupiq said he hoped the campaign would be followed up with concrete action from all stakeholders in order to preserve Sumatra's forests and its ecosystems. The campaign is also meant to prepare residents to face and overcome natural disasters. Taupiq added that in South Sumatra alone, at least 600 hectares of the 12,700 that make up the Pantai Air Telang protected forest in Banyuasin regency would be converted for the construction of Tanjung Api-Api harbor. Head of the South Sumatra Forestry Agency Dody Supriadi said that the conversion of 600 hectares in Pantai Air Telang protected forest could not be considered destruction because it was aimed at meeting the public's needs. Based on South Sumatra provincial administration data, the extent of the protected area is 1.7 million hectares, with 500,000 hectares of protected forest, 700,000 hectares of conservation forest, 350,000 hectares of riverbanks and 150,000 hectares of reservoir sites. http://cempaka-nature.blogspot.com/2008/01/rapid-deforestation-still-poses-serio\ us.html Indonesia: 26) Thomas Petersson considers the destiny of the Korowai people many of whom have had little contact with the rest of the world until recently. Many of them still live off what the jungle has to offer but the rain forest in which they live is threatened. Deep in the rainforest in the Indonesian part of New Guinea the Korowai people lives, many of them still completely on what the forest has to offer. Now their living environment has become one of the most important climate change issues. One day Manu Malingatung comes to our camp in the jungle to participate in the preparations of the sago worm feast to which we are invited. He belongs to the few Korowais that have been travelling outside the Korowai lands. On foot and by canoe he went all the way to Tanah Merah, a remote penal settlement during the Dutch colonial time, now the chief town of the Papuan district of Boven Digoel. This district is one of those which are subject to big scale plans on oil palm plantations in the Indonesian part of New Guinea. If those plans are completed it would, according to the International Crisis Group, ICG, lead to labour immigration of around 42, 000 non-Papuans. In the twinkling of an eye the native Papuan population would become a minority in the district. Manu is preparing for the sago worm feast with his axe. A misdirected cut makes the stone come off the axe and it disappears in the surrounding greenery. Soon it is found and with a skilled hand the young man binds together the stone axe again. Hardly half an hour after the sago palm is cut down. The working up of the log starts and a couple of hours later the sago flour – the Korowais' staple food – is ready to put directly on to the fire. Since a few years the Korean company Korindo is involved in several oil palm projects close to Tanah Merah. Lately tensions have increased between exploiters and land owners. Manu Malingatung tells us that he saw his first car in Tanah Merah. His face shines up when he talks about it. He was even invited to take a ride in it. " I would probably be happier there, " he comments. When I ask him if he knows about Korindo and the oil palm plantations around Tanah Merah his answer is negative. " No, I don't know anything about that. " Since the 1960s' Indonesia has ruled the western part of New Guinea with a rod of iron. The Indonesian army has been the dominating actor in the area, at the same time as the outside world has been kept at a distance. With a finger in the pie in nearly all kinds of economic activities, the army has also been deeply involved in illegal logging. http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=63260 27) What a shocking picture. This was my first reaction after seeing the photo on the front-page of the International Herald Tribune (IHT) issue of Dec.5. The photo shows the devastating effect of deforestation in Indonesia. In its related article entitled Indonesia's Shrinking Forest, A Glimmer of Hope , it is said that as a result of human activity, Indonesia has become the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG). Ironically, the country was also the host of the recent UNFCCC meeting in Bali, a prominent global forum to combat global warming caused by GHG emissions. Besides describing environmental destruction, the article also touches upon another causing factor: corruption. In short, the conclusion is that corruption is one of the main reasons behind deforestation in Indonesia. The case of Adelin Lis is taken by IHT as an example. Are the above-mentioned picture and judgment the real truth about Indonesia? Maybe. Nevertheless, I have to say that they are not the whole truth. If we peruse a number of scientific and prominent reports on world GHG emissions, Indonesia has never belonged in the top five. Even the World Bank publication entitled Growth and CO2 Emissions: How do countries differ (November 2007) states that Indonesia ranks just twentieth. If Indonesia is ranked as the third largest emitter, it is probably in relation to peat land. As argued by Wetlands International, Indonesia has been losing a huge area of trees on account of deforestation. This phenomenon is worrying scientists and others since Indonesia's forests are hoped to be conserved for the sake of soaking up carbon dioxide (CO2), the main component of GHG's. In other words, Indonesia's forests play a significant role in slowing down global warming. I am not saying that deforestation is acceptable. Not at all. It is horrifying. In fact, Indonesia is suffering as a result, particularly if deforestation is caused by human greed, which is behind the illegal logging trade. http://www.thejakartapost.com/misc/PrinterFriendly.asp Philippines: 28) A logging firm has been warned to stop encroaching on the forest resources of this town or else face legal suits for illegally operating in Barangays Buyusan and Tappa here. Local officials led by Mayor Edgar Go had threatened to file charges in court against the Luzon Mahogany Timber Corporation (LUZMATIM), a logging firm based in the coastal Dinapigue town unless it refrained from doing logging activities in the said San Mariano barangay. The LGU officials here condemned the alleged logging activities in those areas by LIZMATIM claiming that the logging firm's permit to log does not cover the town's two eastern barangays nor any part of this municipality. " While we are fighting for the survival of our remaining forests, it is unfortunate that there is an outsider 'raping' our resources " the mayor lamented referring to the logging corporation. A composite team from CENRO Naguilian and San Mariano municipal and barangay officials confirmed that LUZMATIM has entered and cut logs in Buyusan and Tappa barangays. Four Bulldozers, and a 5 toner 6x6 truck with undetermined volumes of cut logs were documented by the team during their fact finding mission. (PIA Isabela) http://www.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=12 & r= & y= & mo= & fi=p080114.htm & no=14 Australia: 29) News that Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has spent recent days in Hobart without contacting key stakeholders in the debate over the future of Tasmania's environment and forests, highlights a missed opportunity for the Minister to fully understand Tasmanian environmental issues as they relate to his portfolio, according to The Wilderness Society (TWS). TWS has twice written to Minister Garrett since he took office, requesting a meeting, inviting him to tour the forests and bringing to his attention the urgent issues relating to the pulp mill approval, the forthcoming UNESCO World Heritage delegation visit to the southern forests and the logging of World Heritage-value forests in the Styx, Weld and Upper Florentine Valleys. " Minister Garrett has Tasmanian issues on his desk that require his urgent attention, " said Vica Bayley, spokesperson for The Wilderness Society. " Not taking the opportunity to meet with stakeholders while he was waiting days for a flight to Antarctica is a huge missed opportunity. World Heritage-value forests in the Styx are being logged and the pulp mill still lacks final Federal Government approval. These are issues that relate directly to Minister Garrett's portfolio. " News of Minister Garret's hidden visit comes on top of the secret visit by new Forestry Minister Tony Burke on 18th December, where extensive time was spent with logging industry representatives and groups, yet no contact was made with the conservation movement. " The Rudd Government needs to show real leadership and deal with the environmental issues relating to the pulp mill and the logging of carbon-rich forests that have associated impacts on climate change. To do this they must be fully briefed on all the issues and openly and transparently engage with all stakeholders. " http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/forests/tasmania/110108/ Tropical forests: 30) Currently scientists realise that both conservation and current style of timber exploitation are not compatible in managing tropical forests in terms of maintenance of structure, species composition and diversity. As a result, some scientists emphasised the need for preliminary baseline assessment followed by monitoring to achieve an optimum practice that is compatible in both timber production and biodiversity conservation. Others looked at measuring forest biodiversity for deciding priorities by which certain areas of forest can be protected and the remaining converted to other uses with minimum impact on biodiversity. However, in both cases, emphasis has been put to regulate human interventions to minimise the impact on biodiversity and environment. But to what extent is it achieved? How much of the forest is damaged by tropical logging? How much of species diversity is lost? What effects of logging on forest environment so far detected? What actions can be taken to address biodiversity loss and environmental consequences? Before describing the above issues, first, it is important to see the ingredients of the word, biodiversity and its relation to the conservation measures. Based on the Wilson and Peter's conservative estimate of a tropical deforestation rate of 0.7 per cent per annum, about 50 species are being lost per day. According to an estimate of FAO, at least 5-10 per cent of tropical forest species would face extinction in the next 30 years. Setting priorities for conservation therefore requires a better understanding of the process of deforestation, the amount and spatial heterogeneity of forest altered and their implications on species extinction. Environmental aspects of tropical forest logging are also less known. Few scanty data are available. However, intensity of disturbance followed by changes in soil property and microclimate could have a profound effect not only on regeneration in early stage of succession but also on structure and species composition and richness of secondary forests. But information on how physical components of the ecosystem are affected by different intensity of selective logging remains largely untapped. At the policy level many tropical countries had already a biodiversity policy and plan of action proposed. The adoption of the national policy on biological diversity is a follow-up action of the nation's commitment to make operational the Convention on Biological Diversity. The current state of forest and biodiversity affairs in the tropics provide the proper setting and need for a better approach to biodiversity conservation especially in the timber production areas.http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=18676 World-wide: 31) At least 80,000 acres of forest disappear from the Earth each day; and deforestation is estimated to be responsible for about 20 per cent of global carbon emissions. Forests are vital to control climate as they control carbon. Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that 10.4 million hectares of tropical forest were permanently destroyed each year in the period from 2000 to 2005, an increase since the 1990-2000 period, when around 10.16 million hectares of forest were lost. Among primary forests, annual deforestation rose to 6.26 million hectares from 5.41 million hectares in the same period. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/The_Good_Earth/80000_acres_of_forest_disappea\ r_every_day/ar ticleshow/2698370.cms 32) In 2004, the Durban Group for Climate Justice convened in Durban, South Africa to question the central role of carbon trading and carbon offsets in governments' responses to the climate crisis. Members of the Durban Group are traveling in various cities throughout the US and Canada in January, February, and March 2008 to share experiences of the failures of carbon trading in Europe, India, Brazil, Uganda and elsewhere, and to learn more about U.S. carbon trading plans and climate politics. Five internationally recognized experts, fresh from the UN climate meetings in Bali, Indonesia, will be visiting the US and Canada. With over fifty groups in over forty cities, they'll speak on carbon trading, carbon offsets, the effects of climate change and current international campaigns to keep the fossil fuels in the ground and affect meaningful change. 1) Patrick Bond: author or editor of numerous books, including " Climate Change, Carbon Trading and Civil Society " , " Looting Africa: The Economics of Exploitation " , and " Against Global Apartheid: South Africa meets the World Bank " . 2) Tamra Gilbertson, the Coordinator of the Environmental Justice Project at the Transnational Institute and a researcher with Carbon Trade Watch. Gilbertson edited the recent report " Agrofuels - Toward a Reality Check in Nine Areas " . 3) Jutta Kill, the Coordinator of Sinkswatch. In " Forest Fraud - say no to fake carbon credits, " Kill exposes the funding of monoculture tree plantations and the enormous market offering incentives to seize communally-held forests in developing countries. 4) Larry Lohmann, the editor of Carbon Trading: A Critical Conversation on Climate Change, Privatisation and Power, an exhaustively-documented new book critiquing carbon trading. 5) Kevin Smith, a researcher with Carbon Trade Watch. Smith's report " The Carbon Neutral Myth " documents and exposes the booming industry dedicated to avoiding the core of the climate issue, and offers expert advice on constructive ways forward. http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org 33) Currently, industries are cutting down the rainforest at an alarming rate of 100,000 acres per day. Besides all the trees lost, experts estimate that 100 species are lost every day, as well. Industries mainly use the timber for wood, paper, and biofuel. However, at this rate, the rainforests won't last long. Experts estimate that, if the current trend continues, there will be no rainforest left by 2050. That means that half the world's species of plants and animals will be left homeless, and likely die. For humans, it means finding another way to get 25% of the pharmaceuticals we use to cure diseases, and never finding possible medicines to treat many more diseases. But ArborGen, a biotech company in Charleston, hopes that if it acts quickly enough, it may be able to stop the destruction. By creating genetically modified, quick-growing tree plantations, the researchers hope that their cheaper trees may be able to lure industries away from rainforest timber. Soon, ArborGen hopes to develop a strain of similar trees that can be mass-produced on just 5 percent of the land currently required for the same amount of wood. The company has found several genes from different plant species that can produce trees that grow quickly, have high stress tolerance, and have a low amount of lignin - the material that must be chemically removed to make paper. They're also trying to save several species from becoming entirely extinct. http://inventorspot.com/articles/rainforest_tree_factories_could__9889 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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