290 - Earth's Tree News

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Today for you 37 new articles about earth's trees! (290th edition)

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--British Columbia: 1) Phantastic leadership,

--Oregon: 2) 10% of the state's private timberland for housing

--Idaho: 3) Save the roadless

--USA: 4) Newsprint consumption, 5) Abundant Forests Alliance,

--Canada: 6) Beyond the Trees? 7) Inappropriate amalgamation of

diverse forest types,

8) Known roads and unkonwn roads, 9) Final logging license will

expire, 10) Kimberly-Clark, 11) Grant's Woods, 12) Weyco loses their

cut! 13) Save the Mackenzie Basin,

--UK: 14) Offenses relating to felling and damaging trees, 15) FSC

system suffers from a conflicts of interest,

--Kenya: 16) Post-election illegal road blocks shut down pulp mills supply

--Costa Rica: 17) Observations of biodiversity

--Guatemala: 18) Rainforest Connection

--Brazil: 19) Biography about Stang, 20) Measuring " rivers of air " 21)

Interactions between biosphere and atmosphere, 22) Environmentalists

committing biopiracy, 23) Government is unwilling and unable to halt

logging, 24) Short-lived economic growth,

--Ecuador: 25) Forest saved at the last minute

--Argentina: 26) minimum environmental protection standards for native forests,

--India: 27) Armed Maoists in the woods, 28) Probe into a multi-crore

timber scam, 29) 'tree of paradise', 30) Worst sort of deforestation,

--Kashmir: 31) Serious 'irregularities' in the Forest department

--Vietnam: 32) Seven Himalayan yews illegally logged

--Thailand: 33) Plantation persecution of locals

--Indonesia: 34) each day they destroy 20 more square miles, 35) Summary,

--Penan: 36) Major land rights case

--New Zealand: 37) using wood products saves the planet?

 

 

 

British Columbia:

 

1) " We have to become as well known for planting trees as we are for

cutting trees, " Campbell told reporters at the wrap-up of a two-day

session with the other Canadian premiers. He spoke of " the opportunity

to increase our forests as a means of sequestering carbon " and

" recognizing the great ally that they [forests] are in carbon

sequestration. " Each tree locks up a tonne of carbon dioxide over its

lifetime, Campbell argues. Adding to the stock of " nature's carbon

sinks, " (the forests) should allow us to accumulate credits in a

national or international carbon trading system. " We have to include

our trees as a major carbon sink, " he maintained. " We have to ensure

that we get full credit for what we're doing in terms of offsets. " As

host for the gathering of his provincial counterparts, the B.C.

premier spoke of building a national strategy " on forest adaptation. "

It would include research on existing species, experiments with new

ones. But even as he boosted the national strategy, he sketched out

what is likely to happen here in B.C. " We may plant substantially more

trees as we move into the future. We may look at different forms of

tenure to encourage that kind of planting in our province. " He took a

similar tack in a recent speech to the annual convention of the Truck

Loggers Association, asking delegates to view the fight against

climate change as an opportunity to redevelop the forests. " We should

be global leaders in husbanding the value of our forests in fighting

climate change, " the premier said. " We can restock our land base,

protect and restore our watersheds, clean the air and create massive

carbon sinks with aggressive new reforestation strategies. " Those

aggressive reforestation strategies will likely dovetail with the

Pacific Carbon Trust, set for launching later this year. The trust

will be used to fund " valid offset projects with a high degree of

environmental integrity in British Columbia. "

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=14bd2310-ff33-4940-9250-fa\

4afc8d4a40

 

 

Oregon:

 

2) Oregon may have some of the most restrictive land-use laws in the

nation when it comes to forestland, but Andrew Miller, president and

CEO of Portland-based Stimson Lumber, is willing to make a wager: Sell

a 40-acre plot from the 170,000 acres of working forestland that

Stimson manages in the state, and then hire a good land-use lawyer.

" You can't build a Wal-Mart on those 40 acres, " he says. " But I'll

take that bet any day that I could build a home on it in the next few

years even though the zoning says it's not available. " It's a

challenge that has less to do with the strength of the laws governing

that land and more to do with what has become perhaps the most

powerful issue the timber industry is facing. According to the

Department of Forestry, about 10% of the state's private timberland

sits inside urban growth boundaries or development zones. Thanks to

demand from the state's fast-growing population, the land around urban

areas suddenly has more value as real estate than as forestland —

sometimes three times as much. " There is a growing economic incentive

to fragment land and sell off the pieces, " Miller says. " It's not

healthy in an economic sense or for the ecology or the environment but

it's driving people [in the industry] to look for value outside of

selling trees. " Is that working forestland worth more to the public as

much-cherished woodlands or as something else? And if it's forest, who

will pay to keep it that way if it's worth more as real estate?

http://www.oregonbusiness.com/.docs/action/detail/rid/30799/folder/10002/pg/1000\

3

 

Idaho:

 

3) Idaho is blessed with over 9.3 million acres of pristine, roadless

wildlands. In 2001, thanks to the hard work and comments of people

just like you, national forest wildlands in Idaho and around the

country were protected from development. Unfortunately, the Bush

Administration has attempted to repeal these protections. Currently,

the Forest Service has written a draft plan that significantly weakens

protections for nearly 6 million acres of Idaho's backcountry forests.

This new plan would result in logging, mining and other damages to

some of the last remaining pristine landscapes in the US and the

world. Do you part to help the pristine forests you love by submitting

comments to the Forest Service today - take action here:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1537/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=22694

 

USA:

 

4) By far the biggest year-over-year monthly decline in U.S. newsprint

consumption occurred in December 2007, falling 19.3% from the previous

December, according to PPPC. Part of the drop was due to some

publishers reporting five weeks of consumption in December 2006, a

phenomenon that occurs every five years, according to Mark Wilde,

research analyst with Deutsche Bank. For all of 2007, 7.84 million

tonnes of newsprint was consumed in the U.S., down 10.5% from 2006.

U.S. daily newspapers consumed 6.27 million tonnes, off 10.8%

year-over-year. North American newsprint production declined 12.6%

year-over-year in December, bringing the year-to-date total to 11.1

million tonnes, down 6.4% from 2006, PPPC reported. Impact of closures

ahead. The North American newsprint industry ran at 90% of capacity in

December compared to94% a year earlier, while the operating rate for

all of 2007 was 93%, down 1% from the prior year.

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/columns/shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10037\

03839

 

5) In today's " green " world, there is pressure coming from all angles

for companies and consumers to act responsibly and to play a part in

protecting the forests. Now, the Abundant Forests Alliance (AFA), a

coalition of wood and paper products companies in the United States

created to promote the industry's positive record and support customer

companies in their delivery of wood and paper products to consumers,

is bringing the good news straight to the consumer. With its new

interactive Abundance Map, companies can show consumers firsthand that

the nation's forests are healthy and thriving, and in turn can feel

comfortable using the wood and paper products they need and love.

Since many people see only a few trees in their own backyards or

communities, they may be surprised to know that forests are thriving

across the country, with 12 million more acres of forestland today

than just 20 years ago. In fact, according to the recently released

State of America's Forests report, the United States is currently

covered by more than 750 million acres of forestland, an amount

essentially unchanged over the past 100 years. While the facts speak

for themselves, if all people see are developments and shopping

centers from their home windows, they may think the forests are

shrinking.

http://www.forestnewswire.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=89 & Itemi\

d=26

 

 

Canada:

 

6) The Canada Science and Technology Museum is launching an exhibition

on the Canadian forest titled Beyond the Trees. Beyond the Trees

presents the scientific and technological heritage associated with the

forestry industry; from the uses of the forest, to the transformation

of wood and the management of natural disturbances. It also features

the important contribution of forestry workers, and the evolution of

their diversified trades since the 19th century. Beyond the Trees

presents the scientific and technological heritage associated with the

forestry industry; from the uses of the forest, to the transformation

of wood and the management of natural disturbances.

http://www.forestnewswire.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=93 & Itemi\

d=26

 

7) The Declaration Order has been criticized by the Environmental

Commissioner of Ontario and also by a report generated by the Pembina

Institute for Appropriate Development for its ability to protect the

environment and the sustainability of Ontario's forests. Overall the

Declaration Order is less specific and stringent. This leads to

confusion and the inappropriate amalgamation of diverse forest types

and communities. The Declaration Order issued by the Ministry of the

Environment (MOE) in 2003 concerning forestry management has thus

resulted in decreased environmental protection on account of

fundamental changes to the ways in which Forest Management Plans are

written in Ontario. There are several policies in particular that have

emerged as a result of the Declaration Order which threaten the

sustainability and future viability of this province's forest

ecosystems. The significance of Ontario's old growth forests is not

fully recognized in the Ministry of Natural Resource's vague policy

that has weakened the legal status of these areas. Secondly, MNR's

Forest Fire Management Strategy fails to protect long-term ecological

sustainability, through prescribed and managed burns, instead favoring

short-term economic gain, through fire suppression. Finally the MNR's

Guidelines for Roadless Wilderness Areas neglects to protect remote

wilderness values outside of provincial parks nor does it provide any

direction towards the access control and management of current roads.

This paper will assess the ecological implications of weaknesses

within these new policies and identify possible mechanisms for

improvement.

http://www.helium.com/tm/92533/introductionin-issued-approval-declaration

 

8) Two startling maps displayed by Nature Ontario's Jennifer Baker

show " known roads " in Ontario and " unknown roads " used exclusively by

hydro, mining and lumber companies. The first map is sparse, like

little spider veins criss-crossing southern and central Ontario. The

second is more surprising. It shows a mass of heavy black veins slowly

inching northward into what was once impenetrable boreal forest. The

provincial government has placed few controls on industrial

development in the north and, given that nothing is inaccessible

anymore, people like Baker are sounding the alarm. Baker, the boreal

campaign co-ordinator for Nature Ontario, spoke Monday night at the

Kitchener Waterloo Field Naturalist's meeting in Waterloo about the

songbirds of the boreal forest and the forest's importance to human

health and recreational activity. " This is the bird nursery, the

single most important in North America, " she said. Incredible stories

are to be found within the bird population, such as the migration of

the black polled warbler, which flies 3,400 kilometres from South

America to the boreal forest, primarily non-stop over the Atlantic

Ocean. More than 300 species nest in the boreal forest -- more than

two billion individual birds in all, Baker noted. These birds, she

said, are the " canaries in the coal mine. " Their fluctuating numbers

indicate trouble in the forest, which in turn means trouble for the

global environment. Many species are starting to migrate up to two

weeks earlier because of changing weather patterns. Hoarding species

such as the saucy grey jay are at risk because they store their winter

supply of food under the bark of trees throughout their territory.

" With warmer falls, some of that food is spoiling, " Baker said. The

rusty blackbird, suffering the steepest decline, has seen a 12.5 per

cent reduction in its population every year. The boreal forest is

defined as a northern forest made up primarily of conifer trees, such

as the black spruce and fir, with such wildlife species as bear,

caribou and moose. Thirty per cent of the forest comprises rivers,

lakes, bogs and fens -- " one of the largest reservoirs of fresh water

in the world, " she said. " In North America, it covers 25 per cent . .

.. from Alaska to Labrador, " she said. " In Ontario it covers half the

province. We have some of the most intact naturally functioning boreal

forests in North America. "

http://news.therecord.com/Life/article/302594

 

9) The public will soon have access to draft plans that are being

drawn up for the future management of the Great Otways National Park

and the Otways Forest Park in south-west Victoria. At the end of June,

the final logging licence will expire and logging in the Otways will

end. Parks Victoria's manager of strategy and planning for the Otway

parks, Cheryl Nagel, says the draft plans will be ready in two weeks.

She says community input is vital to determining how the parks are

used in the future. " They're deliberately draft plans and the reason

for that is to maximise the community's opportunity to shape the

outcomes, " she said. " We encourage the community to have an input into

the content of that draft plan. We take on board as much of that

content as we can and the we shape a final plan and that provides a

direction for future park management. "

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/01/2152365.htm

 

10) I've just written a pleasant email to Kimberly-Clark personally

thanking them for raping Canada's Boreal Forests. Listen, this is

atrocious. In order to make their paper products, they're pillaging

those ancient forests. Please, if you like trees, pretty pretty trees,

go to their website (http://www.kimberly-clark.com ) and write them a

comment expressing your utter disapproval. Boycott their products.

These include: Kleenex, Scott, Viva, Cottonelle. Instead buy these:

Cascades, Marcal, Seventh Generation, Natural Value, Earth First. We,

as teenagers, are pretty much every marketing department's target

audience. We're starting to get into the swing of purchasing our

preferred products to which, if the companies' are lucky, we will

remain steadfast for the rest of our lives. One dumb kid refusing to

buy their products is no big deal. Millions will send the message.

http://alruiceis.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/ancient-forests-are-pretty-boycott-kle\

enex/

 

11) Trees in Ontario live a long time; in fact, there have been a few

cedar trees discovered that are more than 1,000 years old. But, like

all living creatures, trees eventually die. The lifespan of our native

trees depends on their species, environmental conditions such as soil

type and depth, and rainfall amounts. Here at Grant's Woods, we are

blessed with an array of very old and healthy trees growing under

great conditions. Their dense leaf cover provides nesting sites and

hiding places for a variety of birds. Ultimately, all trees lose their

vigour and start to die. As they decline, their interiors often rot

and they take on a new role as cavity trees. Many people think dying

trees are not worth preserving and cut them down. Yet, many birds and

mammals, such as woodpeckers and flying squirrels, depend on hollow

trees for food, shelter and safety. Woodpeckers, chickadees and

red-breasted nuthatches make their own cavities, using these holes for

nesting, feeding and roosting. Other species such as wood ducks and

squirrels use holes excavated by others for habitat. Pileated

woodpeckers - magnificent crow-sized birds with a red crest - hammer

large square holes into dying trees that often create access for other

species. Last summer at Grant's Woods, a pair of hairy woodpeckers

nested in an opening halfway up an old willow tree near the office.

The raucous call of the hungry baby birds drew attention to the nest

location and provided a great photo opportunity for visiting

photographers. So far this season, the winter weather has brought the

area heavy snowfalls and strong, gusting winds, causing weakened trees

to come crashing down. This is the last stage in the life of the tree:

a time for the decomposers to take over and return the wood to the

earth. Before they completely disappear, the rotting logs and branches

provide cover for animal visitors including salamanders, mice and many

insects, as well as a platform for drumming ruffed grouse. The

nutrient-rich rotting logs also provide an excellent rooting compound

for other tree seeds, making the circle of life complete. The trails

at Grant's Woods wind their way through the forests and inevitably a

whole tree or a limb will fall across the trail. Volunteers and staff

make regular trips around the trails to make sure any downed trees are

noted. The branches or logs are removed from the path and placed not

far off into the forest so the ecosystem benefits from the decaying

wood. http://www.orilliapacket.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=885617

 

12) The provincial government has pulled the Crown wood allocation

from the idle Weyerhaeuser mill in Miramichi. Natural Resources

Minister Donald Arseneault said the 280,000-cubic metre allocation was

simply too valuable for other operations or potential projects to sit

unused. " Today was a clear message: if you're not going to use it,

you're going to lose it, " he said. Following a year-long temporary

shutdown, Weyerhaeuser permanently shut its doors last January. The

closure of the oriented strand board mill left 140 employees in the

Miramichi region without work. Under provincial legislation, the

minister of natural resources has the authority to revoke a company's

Crown wood allocation if it is not used for a year. " There are too

many opportunities that are coming by us as a government to use that

fibre for some economic opportunities for the Miramichi, " said

Arseneault, declining to divulge details. " For as long as Weyerhaeuser

is holding on to that allocation, we can't move on these other

exciting opportunities. " Arseneault said he spoke with company

officials six months ago, and spoke with them a month-and-a-half ago

to discuss the issue of allocation. Weyerhaeuser still holds the

licence on the land, meaning it's up to the company to continue

managing the Crown land in the region and ensuring sub-licensees

receive their allocated wood. However, as Weyerhaeuser's allocation is

revoked, none of that wood will be used by the company. The provincial

government will likely find another company to take over the licence

for the region, said Arseneault.

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/rss/article/200768

 

13) A business-as-usual approach to development in the Mackenzie Basin

watershed may profoundly alter the region's forest landscapes and risk

regional extinction of woodland caribou and sharp declines in bird

populations. But, if conservation is increased as recommended by the

Boreal Forest Conservation Framework, a study released today finds the

potential to protect wildlife in most regions while still allowing for

economic growth from resource development. Today's study, " Seeking a

Balance, " evaluated the oil sands region of northeastern Alberta where

extensive industrial development is already scheduled, compared with

the relatively undeveloped Dehcho territory of the southern Northwest

Territories. The study was released by the Canadian Boreal Initiative

(CBI) in conjunction with researchers from the University of Alberta

and Forem Technologies. Computer simulations concluded that growing

industrial disturbance will fragment intact areas of older forest if

development continues according to present plans. These changes would

eliminate woodland caribou populations in the region and would reduce

the abundance of songbirds, such as a predicted 60% decline in the

black-throated green warbler population. " This study demonstrates the

profound impacts of industrial development in the Mackenzie Basin

ecosystem, " said Larry Innes, Executive Director of CBI. " It is

increasingly important to plan and strike a balance with conservation

efforts before development takes place. " Proposed conservation

strategies modeled in the Alberta study area predicted substantially

reduced declines in songbird populations by limiting the amount of old

forest logged and the size of industrial disturbance. However,

doubling protected areas from 3 to 6% of the studied region did not

reverse declines in woodland caribou populations under the model. This

research demonstrates that strategies for conservation within the oil

sands region need to set more ambitious goals for increasing the

protected area networks across northeastern Alberta. Canadian Boreal

Initiative, Office: (613) 230-4739

 

UK:

 

14) Barnet council has successfully prosecuted property developers for

chopping down and seriously damaging protected trees. Michael Shanly

Homes was fined after admitting offences relating to felling and

damaging trees included in a tree preservation order at a site in

Barnet. After initially contesting the charges, the company pleased

guilty to cutting down one Lime tree and causing damage to three other

trees, despite planning permission for the site requiring these trees

be retained and protected. The developers received a fine of £5,200

and were ordered to pay £5,000 towards Barnet council's costs.

Investigations by Barnet council officers were sparked by complaints

from local residents and led the prosecution under the 1990 Town and

Country Planning Act. Councillor Melvin Cohen, cabinet member for

planning and environmental protection, said: " It is very disappointing

that despite Michael Shanly's publicity claims to be 'greener by

design' and build 'developments that truly benefit both the owners and

the local community', the reality here is so very different. Trees

which have taken decades to grow have been lost and others are likely

to die from the damage inflicted by Michael Shanly. It will take may

years for any new planting to grow to adequately offset the loss. "

http://www.ppmagazine.co.uk/?cid=1272

 

15) In a long article in the UK magazine 'Ethical Consumer', Andrei de

Freitas - FSC's Head of Policy and Standards - has admitted that the

FSC system does suffer from conflicts of interest, and that the FSC is

'not a failsafe system'. FSC-Watch has consistently argued that one of

the underlying reasons for the issuing of so many controversial

certificates is because the accredited certification bodies contract

directly with the forestry companies that they are supposedly

independently assessing. Certifiers compete with other for business,

and this encourages a 'race to the bottom' of certification standards,

as forestry companies are likely to seek certifiers that have the

laxest standards. Certifiers are likely to issue certificates rather

than refuse them, as this ensures future business. Now that this

problem has been recognised, we believe that FSC must quickly move to

introduce changes - such as that certifiers would have to compete for

certification contracts, which would be issued by the FSC Sscretariat

on the basis of tenders that would guarantee that the certifiers

performed to the highest standards.

http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2008/02/01/FSC_acknowledges_sys

 

 

Kenya:

 

16) A Webuye-based paper mill is facing an acute shortage of raw

materials. Impassable roads due to illegal road blocks on highways

since the post-election violence broke out has denied the Pan African

Paper mills logs, which are its main raw material. Executive director

N.K. Saha on Wednesday went to see the Western provincial

commissioner, Mr Abdul Mwasera, to ask for police escort for lorries

ferrying logs to the company. Mr Saha told the Nation that the company

resorted to police protection to get logs from the forests to the

factory. The paper miller gets its raw material supply from Kaptagat

and Timboroa in Rift Valley Province, areas worst hit by the violence

that was triggered by last year's disputed presidential elections

results. Mr Saha said that four lorries loaded with logs had been

hijacked in the forest, thus scaring drivers. The drivers, he added,

were worried of their safety making them reluctant to risk venturing

into the forests without protection. The company lost two of its

lorries after they were set on fire while carrying finished products

on the Webuye–Eldoret highway early in the week. " We are finding it

extremely difficult to continue operating under this disturbing

circumstances but if we get security assurance, then we shall continue

operations, " he said.

http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=3 & newsid=\

115907

 

Costa Rica:

 

 

17) Biodiversity is critical because every plant and animal has a role

in making the system work. Hummingbirds help fertilize flowers.

Millipedes help aid decomposition. Snakes keep the rodent population

in check. Darwin was so right about each living thing having its own

niche. All living things are team players and don't even know it, but

we sure do. The rainforest, with its massive population of flora and

fauna, is the New York, London and Shanghai of the living world

system. Costa Rica brought home these concepts because I could see

living things in their environment. I saw a millipede doing its work.

I watched a hummingbird sit on her eggs. I spied two rare Quetzals in

the wild. You can't get this in a Disney theme park. In addition to

seeing and listening to this natural symphony, I could see how fragile

it all is, a glass menagerie of flora and fauna. Costa Rica, which has

nominally protected one quarter of its land in preserves, is only the

size of West Virginia. Since it doesn't have the resources to buy all

the land it needs to keep it out of the hands of developers, it's

still quite vulnerable. There are 12 climatic/life zones in Costa

Rica, meaning that you can go from an alpine cloud forest where the

humidity is constant, to a dry grassland in a matter of minutes.

Monteverde, which is a mile high, is the most famous of the cloud

forests and consists of a patchwork of reserves from the Arenal

Volcano to Santa Elena, a bohemian enclave with a view of the Pacific.

Such splendor in Monteverde can not be adequately described in words.

It's the poster child for biodiversity: 400 bird, 100 mammal, 120

amphibians/reptile and 3,000 plant species occupy this region where

the moisture of the Caribbean creeps over the Tilaran range then

condenses on the forest canopy when it hits the hotter air of the

Pacific. When I was touring the Reserva Biologica Bosque Nuboso

(www.cct.or.cr), I saw two rare, resplendent Queztals, a tarantula,

howler monkeys, hummingbirds and dozens of migrating songbirds. You

felt enveloped by life, even though I was wearing four layers and my

hands felt cold. I love this chorus of life, but not because I'm an

eco-spectator. I relish the questions we need to ask and a search for

the answers.

http://dailywombat.blogspot.com/2008/02/rainforests-rich-rewards-costa-rica.html

 

Guatemala:

 

 

18) Two staff members at Norwalk-based Creative Connections head for

Guatemala Feb. 1-8 to recruit teachers for an exchange between

students in Connecticut and their counterparts in the rainforest

countries of Latin America , what conservationists call " the lungs of

the world. " They are Alan Steckler of Greenwich , executive director

of the nonprofit, and Miguel Barreto of Bethel , the director of the

Rainforest Connection, as it's called. Part of their mission is to

reinforce the links in collaboration with the 31,000-member Rainforest

Alliance, a New York-based organization committed to protecting the

world's ecosystems and the people and wildlife dependent on them. The

Rainforest Connection gives students at both ends in grade 3 through

grade 8 a forum to learn more about each other. They exchange

scrapbooks crammed with pen pal letters, photographs, drawings and

other material showing how their environment affects their

day-to-day-lives. They also link up via teleconferencing. In Guatemala

, Steckler and Barreto intend to train teachers, assemble artifacts

representative of the Central American country and shoot video of the

students at home, at school and at play. Says Steckler: " Our workshops

and teleconferencing add a human dimension that empowers students at

both ends of the exchange. It makes them think and gives them an

opportunity to look at their lives and their environment in a creative

way. The cultures come alive when they are exposed to real people

outside of textbooks and the computer. They realize they have so much

to share. "

http://www.norwalkplus.com/nwk/information/nwsnwk/publish/Local_2/Rainforest_Con\

nection_links_

students_in_Connecticut_Latin_America803.shtml

 

Brazil:

 

19) Le Breton, a British journalist who has written a number of

important books about Amazon issues, describes in this terse, highly

readable narrative how a scrappy little nun from Dayton, Ohio,

stumbled into Brazil's wild west. The biography follows Stang from her

Norman Rockwell upbringing as the fourth of nine children in a stern

German-Irish Catholic family to her convent years among the Sisters of

Notre Dame de Namur to her early work with Mexican migrants in

Arizona. Stang then moved on to the backwaters of Brazil, where she

and a handful of other young American nuns arrived in Rio de Janeiro

in 1966, while the country was still ruled by a military dictatorship.

Le Breton provides wonderful details, such as how Stang came to lose

her habit - removing it only to keep it clean on the country's dry

dusty roads and then finding the local bishop preferred the young nuns

without them. Le Breton also does a nice job of explaining how Stang's

work with the poorest led her to Liberation Theology, which

reinterprets the Gospels to focus on Christ's work for the poor. The

movement was sweeping Latin America at the time, despite Vatican

opposition that led the church to censure of a number of prominent

advocates. Liberation theology also upset powerful interests in

Brazil. " People who worked for human rights and for the settlers'

rights to the land were labelled subversive and the government had

them hunted down, " Sister Joan, one of Stang's oldest friends,

explains in the book. " Death was a price that many paid for

envisioning a just society. Everyone who worked with the poor was

called a communist. Dot was called a communist. " One almost wonders

how Stang managed to survive as long as she did. In 2004, Stang was

charged with running guns for the settlers. Later that year, she was

declared a persona non grata by the mayor of Anapu, the town where she

spent 23 years of her life. Since her death, it's hard to find anyone,

including many of her enemies, willing to say anything bad about the

nun. Le Breton's biography also suffers here: Too often, descriptions

of Stang's shortcomings are left dangling, and hard questions are left

unexamined. It leaves the reader with an impression of Stang as a

somewhat one-dimensional figure. Toward the end of her life, Stang was

promoting Sustainable Development Projects, a zoning mechanism under

Brazilian law that allows settlers to claim land in exchange for

promising to develop it in a sustainable manner, without cutting more

than a small portion of trees.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=115\

756 & Itemid=561

 

20) Julio Tota stood atop a 195-foot (60-meter) steel tower in the

heart of the Amazon rain forest, watching " rivers of air " flowing over

an unbroken green canopy that stretched as far as the eye could see.

These billows of fog showed researcher Tota how greenhouse gases

emitted by decaying organic material on the forest floor don't rise

straight into the atmosphere, as scientists had supposed. Instead,

they hover and drift — confounding scientific efforts to unlock the

secrets of the world's largest remaining tropical wilderness. " What

we've learned is, the Amazon rain forest is much more fragile and much

more complex than we had first imagined, " Tota said. " My research is

pretty specific. It's aimed at showing why all our measurements are

probably off. " Tota is part of the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere

Experiment, a decade-old endeavor involving hundreds of scientists,

led by Brazilians and with funding from NASA and the European Union.

Their open-air " laboratories " are 15 such observation posts spread

over an area of rain forest larger than Europe. The project's goal is

to make the best scientific arguments for why this vast rain forest —

along with other endangered forests in Africa, southeast Asia and

elsewhere — is essential to combating global climate change. But as

the first phase of the $100 million (€67) experiment draws to a close,

its researchers acknowledge that the data have raised more questions

than answers. Scientists can now say with certainty that the Amazon is

neither the lungs of the Earth, nor the planet's air conditioner.

Paradoxically, the forest's cooling vapors also trap heat, by

reflecting it back toward Earth in much the same way greenhouse gases

do. But a key question remains unanswered: Does the Amazon work as a

net carbon " sink, " absorbing carbon dioxide, or is it adding more CO2

to the atmosphere than it is subtracting, because of burning and other

deforestation that have claimed an average 8,000 square miles (21,000

square kilometers) — an area the size of Israel or New Jersey — each

year of the past decade?

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/03/america/LA-FEA-GEN-Forest-Besieged-II.\

php

 

 

21) Interactions between the biosphere and the atmosphere have

profound impacts on the functioning of the Earth system. One of the

most important areas of biosphere–atmosphere interaction is the Amazon

basin, which plays a key role in the global cycles of carbon, water

and energy. The Amazon is vulnerable to climatic change, with

increasingly hot and dry conditions expected over the next 50–100

years in some models. The resulting loss of carbon from the Amazon

basin has been suggested as a potentially large positive feedback in

the climate system. We investigated the differences in atmospheric

demand and soil water availability between two sites; Manaus, in

central Amazonia, where evapotranspiration was limited in the dry

season, and Caxiuanã in eastern Amazonia, where it was not. New soil

hydraulic data including water release and unsaturated hydraulic

conductivity curves were collected at Caxiaunã using the instantaneous

profile method (IPM), pressure plate analysis and tension

infiltrometry. These data were compared to existing data from Manaus.

The plant available soil water at the Caxiuanã site was 2.1–3.4 times

larger than the Manaus site. The hydraulic conductivity curves

indicated the existence of a secondary macropore structure at very low

tensions (−0.05 kPa to −1 kPa), potentially caused by biogenic

macropores, but did not vary with respect to soil water potential

between sites. In addition, differences in the climatic severity of

the dry season were estimated. The maximum soil water deficit,

projected using a simple model of forest water use, was similar

between the sites. No difference in climatic severity between sites

was found and we conclude that below-ground supply of water, rather

than climatic differences, were likely to have caused the contrasting

dry season behaviour at the two sites. These findings indicate that,

in combination with other factors, heterogeneity in soil water

retention capacity may exert strong controls on the spatial variation

in forest responses to climatic change.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL & _udi=B6V8W-4RR82T7-1 & _user=1\

0 & _rdoc=1 & _fmt= &

_orig=search & _sort=d & view=c & _acct=C000050221 & _version=1 & _urlVersion=0 & _userid=10\

& md5=52359235db8

90d75f2bfdd98222adb8e

 

22) Intelligence agency claims that environmentalists are committing

biopiracy by selling indigenous knowledge to pharmaceutical firms,

while one religious group is said to be endangering the ethnic

identity of Indians. BRAZIL'S intelligence service has accused

non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the Amazon

rainforest of biopiracy – the theft of yet-to-be catalogued species

for commercial profit. The Brazilian Intelligence Agency monitored 25

NGOs during the last six months of 2007 and said it had found evidence

that they had transferred indigenous people's knowledge of plants and

animals to pharmaceutical companies. It also said there was evidence

of groups affiliated to NGOs being involved in the illegal extraction

of diamonds on indigenous land, and it accused religious groups of

activities that endanger the ethnic identity of Indian communities.

" We believe we have enough information to justify an investigation

into the activities of several NGOs in the Amazon, " said a spokesman

for the agency. A list of the groups investigated was not available,

but among those being monitored is the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT),

of the United States. ACT allegedly transferred knowledge of

rainforest plants and animals to foreign pharmaceutical companies, the

intelligence spokesman said.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/world/Brazil-accuses-Amazon-scientists-of.373447\

5.jp

 

23) Brazil's government is unwilling and unable to halt destruction in

the Amazon rainforest despite emergency measures it announced last

week to curb rising deforestation, environmental experts say. High

commodity prices and increased land use elsewhere in Brazil are

driving ranchers and farmers deeper into the Amazon in search of cheap

land, environmentalists say. Between August and December last year,

7,000 square km (2,703 square miles), or two-thirds the annual rate,

were chopped down. In response, the government of Brazilian President

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva banned logging and cut farm credits in the

36 municipalities with the highest deforestation rate. It also said it

would ban farm products from illegally deforested areas and would

register property deeds to prevent land theft. " We are convinced if we

play all our cards we can reduce deforestation in 2008 as well, "

Environment Minister Marina Silva said. In the two years through July

2007, the rate had fallen by 50 percent. But environmentalists said

the measures were half-hearted and insufficient and some could even

increase deforestation.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/349459@N25/discuss/72157603830968967/

 

24) Devastation, violent land conflicts and rapid -- but short-lived

-- economic growth are the traces left by deforestation in the

Brazilian Amazon over the last 30 years, according to a new study. In

the past three decades, 700,000 square kilometres of jungle have been

consumed, 17 percent of the original forested area. Logging produces

an initial boom of prosperity, because the extraction of timber, in

most cases illegal, is very lucrative. Then come the farmers and

ranchers. But the wealth lasts, at most, 20 years. Because of the

Amazon's abundant rainfall, farming is complicated. When the timber

runs out, there is a tendency of the local economy to collapse. Only a

few, mostly those working in mining, escape this pattern. This dynamic

was revealed by researchers Adalberto Veríssimo and Danielle

Celentano, of Imazon (Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon)

in a study published in August, " The Advance of the Frontier in the

Amazon: From Boom to Collapse " , which analyses the region's economic,

social and environmental indicators. Celentano describes the

deforestation as a wave that cultivates jobs and income through the

exploitation of timber. But it also cultivates violence and

degradation of natural resources. After the wave passes, " the

conflicts diminish, as do the benefits of logging, which is especially

predatory, given that agriculture cannot absorb the same amount of

labour or generate the same income, " said Celentano in an interview.

The experts divided the 770 Amazonian municipalities into four zones:

the non-forest, which covers 24 percent of the area of sites in

transition between the savannahs of the Cerrado and the jungle; areas

currently being exploited (14 percent, with 26 municipalities); the

already deforested (10 percent, with 218 municipalities); and the

forested (52 percent of the region, with logging at five percent).

Their research shows that the destruction of the forest has produced

more harm than wealth in the local economy -- a debt that the entire

planet ends up paying. The Amazon contributes just over eight percent

of Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP), but its deforestation is

responsible for nearly 70 percent of the country's climate-changing

greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, 60 percent of the 386 rural

murders reported in Brazil between 1997 and 2006 were committed in the

Amazon, nearly half in areas under intense logging. In that period,

land conflicts in the region more than doubled, from 156 to 328. Of

the 1,012 cases of slave labour documented between 2003 and 2006, 85

percent were in Amazonian areas. The Imazon study shows a different

pattern in the non-forested area, which is more arid and therefore has

better conditions for agriculture.

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/02/04/news0831.htm

 

Ecuador:

 

25) Forest saved! Land destined for logging saved by corporate

donation! Towards the end of 2007 PriceWaterhouseCoopers pledged

support for the work of the World Land Trust (WLT) and this could not

have been more timely as we were able to use their donation to secure

land which was within days of being logged. Lou Jost, of Fundación

EcoMinga (one of the WLT's partner organisations in Ecuador), was on

an expedition to the Cerro Candelaria Reserve when he discovered the

land adjacent to the reserve was about to be sold and cleared. In an

email from Lou, he says: " The timing couldn't have been better as the

sale of the property next to ours had just been agreed. Not only were

we about to lose this opportunity to add to Ecoming?s Candelaria

reserve, but worse still, it was to be sold to loggers. But as no

paperwork had been signed and no money had changed hands, it meant we

were able to move quickly and agree the deal. On reading your email

[about the PriceWaterhouseCooper donation ed.], I sent our workers to

track down the owner and convince him to sell to us instead of the

loggers. And he agreed to sell us his 120 ha parcel of land for a very

reasonable price. I also made an offer on the neighbouring property

which we hope to add to the reserve also. Both are strategic and

provide access to the high parts of the reserve. Had your email come

two days later it would have been too late-- the loggers were set to

come on Monday and start cutting immediately. " This is fantastic news

and while land purchase can take several months to secure in this

instance it demonstrates how quickly it is possible for WLT and its

in-country partners to act when funds are available.

http://www.worldlandtrust.org/news/2008/01/forest-saved-land-destined-for-loggin\

g.htm

 

Argentina:

 

26) In the early hours of Thursday morning, the lower chamber

unanimously approved the law on minimum environmental protection

standards for native forests, which had been passed by the senate a

week earlier, with amendments. It took the bill 18 months to make it

through Congress. Provincial governments will not be able to grant

logging permits for one year, and if they delay their land use plan,

for which strict guidelines are given in the text of the law, the

suspension will be extended. " This is a huge stride, we have overcome

a giant hurdle, and now we have a very good instrument " to protect the

forests, Hernán Giardini, coordinator of the forest campaign in

Greenpeace Argentina, which spearheaded the lobbying for the law

together with some 30 other environmental and social organisations,

told IPS. Native forests in this country covered 127 million hectares

a century ago, but now there are only 31 million hectares, mainly

because of the uncontrolled expansion of the agricultural frontier.

According to satellite images provided by the Secretariat of the

Environment and Sustainable Development, 300,000 hectares of forest

are being lost every year. The draft law ran into heavy resistance

from lawmakers from northern provinces, such as Salta, Misiones, Chaco

and Santiago del Estero, who are in favour of maintaining the right to

exploit the forests, even in nature reserves or areas lived in by

indigenous peoples who depend on forest resources. In May 2006, a

preliminary draft was submitted by Greenpeace, the Argentine Wildlife

Foundation (FVSA) and the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation

(FARN), among other organisations, with the goal of declaring a

one-year moratorium on logging. The land use planning that is to be

carried out by provincial governments must decide on three levels of

protection: red for forests of high conservation value, which are to

remain completely untouched; yellow for forests that could tolerate

sustainable management; and green for those that can be altered

totally or partially. The land use plan must be approved by the

provincial legislature before the national Secretariat of the

Environment lifts the embargo. From that point on, every party

interested in exploiting forest resources must present an

environmental impact study to the competent authorities.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40277

 

India:

 

27) NEW DELHI: India's Intelligence agencies here have revealed that

armed Maoists, active in almost 11 provinces have extended their

network to Myanmar. Sources said that major raids conducted on Maoists

in the densely forested tribal region of Bastar in Chhattisgarh in

central India has revealed for the first time that the red corridor

network goes not only up to Nepal but it also extends to Myanmar where

they have struck links with the foreign terrorist groups through their

North-eastern connections. Their links up to Myanmar is a matter of

serious concern for the Home Ministry as it may fire up the northeast

where the local rebel groups have already become more aggressive and

active in the recent times. The rebels that regularly pour in from the

Naxal-affected states, however, show that the Naxals will continue to

spread their network unless they are tackled effectively in

Chhattigarh that has become their breeding ground, with an estimated

20,000 cadres holed up in dense forests to make forays to other

states. After every major attack, these cadres run back to

Chhattisgarh's forests that provide them the best protection from the

security forces, the home ministry officials admit. After two years of

the security operations mounted against them in the state, officials

admit that it would take many more years before the Naxals can be

weeded out from the region. According to them, 16 out of 20 police

districts in Chhattisgarh are Naxal affected and the rule of law does

not exist in many parts of the state controlled by the rebels.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C02%5C04%5Cstory_4-2-2008_pg\

4_22

 

28) The Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to order a CBI probe

into a multi-crore timber scam unearthed by CNN-IBN, in which Chief

Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is suspected of involvement. Azad had set up

the BR Kundal Committee to probe a forest timber scam, in which two

PDP Ministers, Tariq Ahmad Qarra and Qazi Mohammad Afzal, were accused

of pilferage. But a CNN-IBN Investigation hints the Committee could

have been a cover up to save Azad's brothers, Ghulam Mustafa Bhat and

Sajjad Bhat. Documents in CNN-IBN's possession show Azad had in fact

intervened to fix huge timber contracts for his brothers. Also several

lakh cubic feet of timber worth crores, were shown as " lost " due to

unexplained fires, mainly in forests contracted to the Chief

Minister's brothers. The report also suggests that the Chief

Minister's brothers continued logging in militancy hit areas, against

Forest Department and State Cabinet orders.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/impact-cbi-to-probe-forest-scam-involving-jk-cm/5790\

8-3.html

 

29) Move over neem and tulsi, the 'tree of paradise' is ready to take

the herbal world by storm and give energy guzzlers a new bio-fuel to

burn. Simarouba Glauca DC, or laxmi taru as the tree has been

christened here, is being promoted by horticulturists,

agro-scientists, holistic health hubs and practitioners of traditional

Indian medicines across the country as the latest wonder tree whose

edible, therapeutic and other utility values may outweigh those of

common medicinal and edible herbs found in India. The plant which

grows up to a sturdy five feet in height is also an effective

environment cleanser as its cultivation rejuvenates marginal and waste

land by absorbing and neutralising harmful greenhouse gases and helps

reduce global warming in the process. The Bangalore Agricultural

University has been pioneering studies on the simarouba since last

year under professor Shyam Sundar Joshi. " The oil content of the plant

is one of the highest. The seeds of laxmi taru yield nearly 70 percent

oil, much more than the jathropa plant that contains around 40 percent

bio-fuel, " said Ramakrishna Muley, director, Sri Sri Institute of

Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Bangalore. " It has to be treated

with five to 10 units of crude oil or diesel energy to get a very high

quality bio-fuel that can serve as an alternative energy source. " But

at this moment, we are just extracting edible oil from laxmi taru,

which is on par with sunflower and mustard oil, and probably much

better, " Muley said. Each full-grown tree yields nearly 15-20 nutlets

(pods) equivalent to five kg of oil. It works out to roughly to

1,000-2,000 kg of oil per hectare annually, say scientists. The plant

also yields a refined butter, which, according to experts, tastes

better than the butter churned from milk. The institute has planted

nearly 500,000 simarouba saplings in the country with the help of

state governments, forest departments and the local governing bodies.

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local & newsid=66083

 

30) Karachi is slowly being shorn off of its beauty and splendour.

This time the Kashmir Road, a two-way carriage linking

Shahrah-e-Qaideen with Shaheed Millat Road and celebrated for its

decades-old lush green palm trees, has been denuded of its

magnificence. A photograph appeared in a local daily the other day,

showing the full-grown blossoming green trees being chopped off. The

cutting of full-grown trees, which add beauty and grandeur to the

surroundings, especially at a time when Karachi has been deprived of

its mangroves in the name of " development " , faces the worst sort of

deforestation. Since immense loss to the environment and aesthetics

has already been incurred to the residents of the metropolis, the

authorities must chalk out a plan on an emergency basis to plant

similar palm trees on both sides of the thoroughfare as soon as the

construction work is completed. I may add here that tree planting is

not an activity reserved only for the environmentally conscious of the

West. Rather, it is a sustainable and easy way to improve our

environment. http://thepost.com.pk/LetNews.aspx?dtlid=142801 & catid=4

 

Kashmir:

 

31) After the Kundal Committee report pinpointed serious

'irregularities' in the Forest department, the Comptroller and Auditor

General of India (CAG) has castigated the department's role in saving

forests in the state. In its recent report for the year ending March

31, 2007, CAG has highlighted forest and allied department's dismal

picture in over exploitation of forests. The CAG has remarked that the

objectives of the Forest Department concerning conservation,

protection and restoration of forests were not achieved due to lack of

specific Forest Policy, non-approval of working plans of most of the

Forest Divisions and non-formulation of the projects for afforestation

programmes. The lack of viable vision policy resulted into the

degradation of half of the state's total forest area and encroachment

of the forest area increased considerably including 3,378 hectares in

nine divisions only. The CAG report said the working plans for forest

management were prepared by only 12 out of 28 divisions across the

State. " Of 12, the plans of only four divisions (Jammu, Langate,

Ramnagar and Reasi) were approved and plans of eight divisions

(Batote, Billawar, Doda, Kathua, Nowshera, Rajouri, Sindh and

Udhampur) prepared between 1996-97 and 2004-05 were pending for

approval with the Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF) for a period

ranging between two to 10 years as on March 2007, " the report said. As

per the State Forest Conservation Act, 1997, forests were to be raised

over degraded area equal to or twice the area diverted for non-forest

purposes. The rules further provide that the agency using the forest

area should deposit the compensation for 'compensatory afforestation

for loss of forest land, trees and other charges'. The scrutiny of the

records by Auditor General of India revealed that against 2243.32

hectares of forest land diverted from April 2002 to August 2006 for

non forest purposes, only 719 hectares (32 per cent) of forest area

was raised. " Moreover, no records were maintained to monitor the

amount outstanding against various agencies on account of compensation

for compensatory afforestation. "

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=3_2_2008 & ItemID=45 & cat=1

 

Vietnam:

 

32) Nguyen Hong Tam, deputy director of the management board of Hiep

Thanh forest in Lam Dong Province's Duc Trong District, told Thanh

Nien recently that illegal loggers had chopped down seven Himalayan

yews out of the forest's total of 49, the extract of which can be used

to treat cancer. Thanh Nien discovered that some of the felled trees

were more than 1,000 years old. He reported that the loggers had still

left a lot of logs in the forest. Tam claimed the management board was

not aware of the trees' significance because they " were not recorded

in the forest file. " The district ranger's office had even classified

it as low quality wood, as they " do not know which category it belongs

to. " In late November and early December, the forest rangers arrested

two men for logging the trees, but one of them escaped, Tam added. The

rangers also confiscated about 25 logs and an electric saw. Thanh Nien

found that loggers have targeted the yew timber after a recent rumor

that it would be lucky to make coffins or statues from this wood. Tam

said that, in response, the management board has strengthened the

control, checking the forest three times per week, as well as local

carpenter's shops. Hua Vinh Tung, director of the state-run Bio-forest

Research Center of Lam Dong Province, said the Taxus wallichiana Zucc

only grew in Lam Dong. The largest population is found in Voi

Mountain's Hiep Thanh forest, with trees possessing exceptional girth.

Le Xuan Tung, head of the center's science research department, said

extract from the bark and needles of the yew is used to produce a

chemotherapy drug called Taxol.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/print.php?catid=3 & newsid=35505

 

Thailand:

 

33) More than 56 years ago, the government granted a forest concession

in the area to a foreign company and later to many Thai logging

companies. A government Watershed Conservation Unit (WCU) came in 1983

and convinced the locals to help in reforesting. The head of the unit

told them the fruit of the trees could be sold for 80 baht a kilo.

They planted trees in rows on land the villagers used for cultivating

rice and also on what the WCU considered deteriorated forest. The

trees turned out to be eucalyptus and acacia, which bear no fruit but

do suck up a lot of moisture from the ground. The troubles did not end

there. The former WCU head also ordered temporary workers to cut down

natural trees in the forest to supply logs for businesses and some

officials in town. Villagers thought they had no choice but to comply,

even though it pained them to see so many trees being felled. " We

thought 'they can do everything, as they have authority', " said Timu

Borvornaredune, a local from Yasai village. Later, when villagers

became involved back in 1989 in drafting the Community Forest Bill

(see related story), they became aware that such actions were not

authorised and were in fact neither legal nor moral. They launched a

petition, and after a long struggle the official was transferred. But

the damage to the forest had already been done. The villagers had a

chance to tell their problems to high ranking forestry officials,

through an arrangement made by an assistant secretary to former prime

minister Thaksin Shinawatra. They told the officials they didn't want

to see anyone punished, but they felt that such official corruption

was inevitable since the woods have such a high value. " No matter who

was in charge, greed would occupy their soul. We would rather be

involved ourselves in the management of the forest, " said Prue

Odochao, a community leader in Paka Nai. The villagers also told the

forestry officials about the eucalyptus and acacia trees. They were

not against the reforestation scheme per se, but they were against

growing these trees on their land, in their rice fields. Studies by

the Northern Development Foundation show that tribes in the Mae

Lankham and Paka communities occupy 7,603 rai of land in the forests.

The same studies show that the Watershed Conservation Unit has planted

eucalyptus and acacia trees on over 4,000 rai of the community land.

The trees are now grown up, and villagers are aware that they cannot

cut them down or they will be arrested, but they have learned that

eucalyptus trees suck up vast amounts of water from the ground.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Perspective/03Feb2008_pers001.php

 

Indonesia:

 

34) For decades, a flood of aid and an army of conservationists

couldn't save Indonesia's rain forests from illegal loggers,

land-hungry peasants and the spread of giant plantations. Now the

world is looking at a simpler approach: up-front cash. Whether it was

arming forest police or backing schemes to certify legal logs, no

tactic could silence the chain saws or douse the intentional fires

that each day destroy 20 more square miles (50 more square kilometers)

of Indonesia's rain forests, and an estimated 110 square miles (285

square kilometers) elsewhere in the world's tropics. The problem was

pure economics: Neither local authorities nor the rural poor, in

Indonesia and elsewhere, have a material incentive to keep their

forests intact. That could now change because of a decision at

December's U.N. climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, to negotiate a

deal, as part of the next international climate agreement, under which

countries would be rewarded for reducing their galloping rates of

deforestation, a big contributor to global warming. The cash might

come directly from a fund financed by richer northern nations, or

through " carbon credits " granted per unit of forest saved. The credits

could be traded on the world carbon market, where a northern industry

can buy such allowances to help meet its own required reductions in

emissions of global-warming gases. Indonesia and other tropical

countries backing the " avoided deforestation " concept hope this carbon

price will outpace what landowners could get from logging the forests

or clearing them for palm oil, rubber, soybean or other plantations.

" For the next decade, the international community and countries that

negotiate this convention have tremendous potential, tremendous power

in their hands, " said Benoit Bosquet, head of a World Bank project to

prepare poorer countries to take part in the new initiative, known as

REDD, for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation.

" There will be a lot of money going in there, " he said. " You will see

actors currently converting forest to plantations and cattle ranches

saying, 'Wait a minute. If I get more money to preserve my forest than

to produce beef, then of course I will keep my forest standing.' " But

turning REDD into reality is far from guaranteed, given competing

interests among tropical countries, the world's growing demand for

plantation products, and its poor track record in controlling

deforestation. The tangled question of forests has dogged climate

negotiations for years. http://www.iht.com/

 

35) On the eve of last December's UN climate conference in Bali, the

Indonesian government announced that it would plant 79 million trees

in a single day to 'offset' the emissions of the entire conference.

But this world record attempt could not mask the presence of another,

less flattering statistic in the 2008 Guinness Book of Records – which

awarded the country the world record for the fastest rate of

deforestation. From 2000 to 2005, an area of forest equivalent to the

size of 300 football pitches was destroyed every hour in Indonesia,

the key factor in its having the world's third highest rate of

greenhouse gas emissions behind the USA and China. This high

proportion reflects the fact that tropical forests store enormous

amounts of carbon and that its release, through deforestation,

accounts for one-fifth of annual carbon emissions. In response, a

proposal for 'reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation'

(or REDD) was agreed as part of the 'Bali roadmap'.

http://boilingspot.blogspot.com/2008/02/growing-money-on-trees.html

 

Penan:

 

36) A small community of Penan tribal people in Sarawak, Malaysia,

report that an official from the company logging their forests has

threatened them with death. The Penan say that the official, from the

Malaysian company Samling, told them. If you people try to stop our

plans, we will kill you. The Penan have spent many years opposing the

destruction of their land by Samling and other companies. The Penan

community of Long Data Bila is inside an area claimed by the Penan in

a major land rights case, which has been awaiting trial since 1998.

Penan leader Kelesau Naan, who was recently found dead, was one of the

four plaintiffs in the case. His relatives suspect he may have been

murdered due to his opposition to the logging. Commenting on the death

of Kelesau Naan, Yap Swee Seng of human rights group Suara Rakyat

Malaysia said, ?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://www.survival-international.org/news/2888

 

New Zealand:

 

37) " Contrary to the popular belief that all trees should be

conserved, NZ Wood supports cutting plantation forests and using the

wood, which in turn encourages further planting and sucks up more CO2.

In addition, the use of wood in buildings stores CO2 away from the

atmosphere, often for centuries. NZ Wood wants its message to reach

all New Zealanders, because if they use wood they are not only using a

great product, they are helping save the planet, " says Henley. The

Forest and Wood Processing industries are taking their environmental

message to the public next week in a first ever multi-million dollar

advertising campaign. The campaign, under the banner of a generic

industry brand " NZ Wood " , places forests and wood at the front line of

the fight against climate change. " Wood is the most renewable raw

material in the world, the one raw material we can use without fear of

it running out. Trees are the lungs of the world sucking up CO2 and

expelling oxygen. We need them like we have never needed them before, "

says Geoff Henley, Programme Manager of NZ Wood.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0802/S00001.htm