Guest guest Posted April 29, 2008 Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 Today for you 36 new articles about earth's trees! (333rd edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com --Chile: 1) Energy costs limit industries' investment plans --Brazil: 2) Five causes of deforestation, 3) Farmer who snitched on timber thieves is killed, 4) Texan rancher builds alliance with tribe, 5) Military to regulate enviros and other non-citizens, 6) Illegal farmers resisting removal from indigenous areas, 7) BP buys $60 million worth of biorefinery stock, --Argentina: 8) Soil is not property of landowners but law can be ignored by corporations --Taiwan: 9) Tengjhih National Forest Recreation Area --Burma: 10) Spiritual beliefs have strong link to land management --India: 11) Rhinos returned to recovering forests --South East Asia: 12) Shocked by reports of widespread illegal timber trade --Vietnam: 13) Gov wants to strengthen biodiversity and silvic methodology? --Fiji: 14) Medicine man thrives on eco-tours, 15) Why they can't log 25 yr. old pine, --Philippines: 16) Dwarf cloud rat may help with forest protection, 17) Industry challenges land rights for indigenous, 18) Logging resumes in town where 300 killed by landslides, 19) Legal logging is the real problem, 20) Investigating mangrove logging, --Malaysia: 21) Royal Belum forest is 130 million years old, 22) Rainforest to rice-bowl, --Indonesia: 23) How primates grow trees, 24) AP Forestry conference, 25) cont. --Papua New Guinea: 26) Illegal logging a threat PNG-Aussie agreement --Australia: 27) Ave. of Honor trees almost gone, 28) 20 protestors halt logging in SW Hobart, 29) 4 arrests for stopping logging in SW Hobart, 30) Smoky air from slash burns is not the fault of loggers, it's landowners burning yard waste, 31) And buy the way Gov wants someone to make electricity out of their slash piles, --World-wide: 32) Leaders of world's 370 million indigenous meet, 33) Unilever makes Dove soap with palm oil, 34) Healthy forests make communities resilient to economic and environmental shock, 35) More on the problem with Palm oil, Chile: 1) Chilean forestry and paper company CMPC SA CAR.SN said on Friday it would invest around $340 million in 2008, and will scale back investment in coming years due to energy shortages. " We are coming down from an average of more than $500 million (in annual investment) because we are coming out of a period of high investment, " CMPC Chairman Eliodoro Matte told reporters after a shareholders' meeting. Chile is among the world's five largest wood pulp exporters and CMPC is the nation's No. 2 pulp exporter after Copec COP.SN. CMPC also produces paper. Chile has been squeezed by an energy shortage that has forced industry to turn to expensive-to-run diesel generators. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2547856620080425 Brazil: 2) There are five major causes of Amazon deforestation: 1. slash and burn agriculture; 2. non-native colonization; 3. commercial logging; 4. cattle ranching; 5. soy/sugar-cane cultivation. - Of these, soy and sugar-cane cultivation is the newest and potentially most destructive. Brazilian sugar-cane cultivation is mostly for producing ethanol as biofuel for North American consumption. So, the onus comes back to us. Brazilian soy cultivation is for producing feed for cattle and ethanol as biofuel, and most of both Brazilian beef and Brazilian ethanol are for North American consumption. The onus likewise. And of course the Brazilian cattle industry also need new land, whose main customer is North America. The onus likewise. Of course this " new land " means the Amazon rainforest, or what remains of it. As if these are not tough enough, now there is a new pressure: world food shortage. So the sugar cane and soy have to feed millions of hungry human mouths too. World food shortage is not exactly unexpected, but as in most " unproven " concepts, no global plan exists to first prevent it, and second to remedy it. So, the knee jerk reaction is, you got it, to hack up the Amazon some more to plant more food crops. The Amazon is not just a sea of green. It contains one quarter to one third of the world's biodiversity. Considering 20 million existing species worldwide, we are talking about 5-7 million species. The Amazon is already under immense pressure from global warming (drying); it doesn't need more direct human assault. How much more is the Catholic Church going to promote and enforce the " go forth and multiply " policy? Meanwhile, what we little people have to do include: 1. Do not eat beef; 2. Do not use ethanol as fuel; 3. Do not drive gas guzzlers; 4. Do not use Brazialian lumber; 5. Please sign the Global Green Fund petition and add a powerful comment. Go to: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/to-un-secretary-general-for-creating-the-120-by\ r-global-green- fund-for-combatting-global-warming-and. 3) An Amazon farmer who received death threats after reporting illegal logging to authorities was shot to death as he left his house, Brazilian media reported Saturday. Emival Barbosa Machado, 50, was shot three times Friday in the eastern city of Tucurui, the Globo TV network said. No arrests have been made. Machado had often reported illegal logging and shipments of lumber in Para, a largely lawless state where American nun and rain forest defender Dorothy Stang was killed in 2005. Machado told the environmental protection agency Ibama that locals were forced to deliver wood to loggers and were killed if they refused. " He made various complaints to us, and we seized lumber and boats thanks to his reports, " Anibal Picanco, Ibama's superintendent in Para, said in a televised interview. Phone calls to police in Tucurui went unanswered Saturday. Para has been targeted in a government crackdown after satellite photos showed illegal logging in the Amazon was on the upswing. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXv0x2O1xRW1LO55HOVclsQgiRBQD909NUKG1 4) It was into this region – an area he now calls " the eye of the hurricane " – that John Carter flew his single-engined aeroplane across the Gulf of Mexico in 1996 to start a new life. The 30-year-old Texan had met his Brazilian wife, Kika, at a ranch management programme at the Texas Christian University at Fort Worth three years earlier. On a visit to Brazil, Kika's father took them to see a property he owned near the BR-158, a federal " highway " that crosses the Amazon north to south (here, highways are little more than elevated dirt roads). They drove up from Parana state in southern Brazil, where Kika's father had sold a 2,000 hectare ranch to buy his new 8,000 hectare property. " It was forest nearly all the way, from Ribeirão Cascalheira, " Carter recalls. Later, John and Kika bought 4,700 hectares from Kika's father, named it Fazenda Esperança and made it their home. " For the next six years, this was Brazil for me, " says Carter. " We were completely isolated. There was no electricity or telephone and no neighbours. We got up at 5.30 every morning and worked until dark. " Carter describes himself as an outdoorsman, a lover of nature and of the rancher's way of life. During those first years, pairs of blue macaws were an everyday sight. Jaguars came from the woods to take young cattle. He let 1,300 hectares grow back to comply with a law that made landowners retain 50 per cent of their properties as forest reserve. Ranchers and farmers are also expected to maintain permanent protection areas (APPs) on hillsides and by waterways. More than preserving the forest, these areas reduce pollution and soil erosion and bring other environmental advantages. Including APPs, Carter's ranch is about 60 per cent forest. " We didn't buy the land. We just took it over. But we weren't seen as invaders. We were colonisers. Now I'm looked on as a devastator. " Carter's initial response was simply to stay within the law and try to encourage others to do the same. That resolve met severe tests. He soon discovered that members of the Xavante tribe – one of the most warlike in Brazil – were stealing his cattle. He drove to their nearby reservation in his pick-up with a Kamayura indian as liaison. " They surrounded us. I was sure that was the end, " he says. Struggling to conceal his fear, Carter asked to meet the chief. " I told him that if he came on my land again I'd shoot him full of bullets, but if he stopped stealing my cattle, we'd be good neighbors and I'd help him and his people. That's when we became friends. " http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a9738b3e-1007-11dd-8871-0000779fd2ac.html 5) Brazil's military will regulate environmental, religious and other foreign groups working in the Amazon region under a law being drafted to assert sovereignty over the often lawless rainforest, the defense minister said on Thursday. " There is this concept that the Amazon is some free place for anyone, but the Amazon is sovereign Brazilian territory, " Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said at a media briefing. Many international non-govermental organizations, such as the environmental group Greenpeace, have offices in the Amazon region and campaign to halt the destruction of the rainforest by loggers and agricultural interests. Human rights groups work to help Indians and peasants in an vast area where violent land seizures are common. The 7 million sq km (1.7 billion acre) Amazon Basin is home to an estimated one-third of all species on Earth. But Brazil's booming economy, soy farming and cattle ranching has put pressure on land prices and fueled deforestation. Justice Minister Tarso Genro said on Wednesday that many NGOs were involved in bio-piracy and were trying to influence Indian culture to expropriate land. The justice and defense ministries plan to send a new Foreigners Bill to Congress in June to curb NGOs from serving as fronts for illegal activities in the Amazon. It would require foreign individuals and groups to get permission from the Justice Ministry and register with the regional military command. If the foreigners were working without approval or in an illegal way, the Justice Ministry could revoke visas, deport and fine individuals and groups between 5,000 and 100,000 reais ($3,000 and $60,000). http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN2483164 6) The farmers, who are illegally occupying the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous territory, have been resisting removal since the police operation began at the end of March. They have injured an Indian leader by throwing a homemade bomb into his home, and threatened others with death. They have also burned three bridges leading to the territory, and blocked roads with tractors. Brazil's President Lula signed Raposa Serra do Sol into law in 2005, after a long campaign by the Indigenous Council of Roraima, Survival and other organisations. The area is home to the Makuxi, Wapixana, Ingarikó, Patamona and Taurepang Indians, who have suffered decades of violence and harassment at the hands of farmers and ranchers illegally occupying their land. Most of the illegal occupants have already left Raposa Serra do Sol and have been resettled and compensated, but a small and powerful group of rice farmers, connected to politicians in Roraima state, have refused to move and have continued to threaten and intimidate the Indian communities. Their violent actions in recent weeks are in response to an operation launched by the Brazilian Federal Police, Operation Upatakon 3, to finally remove them from the area. The Indians of Raposa Serra do Sol have written an open letter, dated 9 April, saying, 'For more than thirty years we have suffered the painful process of regaining our land, which we believed the Brazilian State would make a reality, in accordance with the federal constitution, the rights of indigenous peoples and the President's decree signing our territory into law. 'We cannot accept that the authorities have waited three years to act, that they have allowed the terrorism of the last eleven days in Raposa Sera do Sol, and that the Supreme Court has even suspended the removal operation. We reject the attitude of the state government, which chooses sacks of rice to the detriment of the lives of 18,992 Indians.' http://www.survival-international.org/news/3233 7) BP is paying its partners $60 million for a 50 per cent stake in Tropical Bioenergia, which is building an ethanol refinery in Goias state, northwest of São Paolo, due to come on stream in the summer. A second ethanol plant is also planned, which will raise capacity to almost 1 billion litres of ethanol by the middle of 2010. The two refineries will cost the joint venture about $1 billion. Phil New, head of BP Biofuels, said the joint venture would produce its own sugar cane. " We will produce 80 per cent of our feedstock from land leased by the joint venture. " He said the area farmed would be pasture land and would not affect the Amazon rainforest. " It is 600 miles from the edge of the rainforest, " he said. BP distributes biofuels, blending 763 million gallons of ethanol in its American road fuel business but has not previously invested in manufacturing or farming new energy products. Mr New said the investment was analogous to the oil industry and BP's strategy of securing control of the supply at the wellhead. " If you just act as a purchaser and refiner of commodity feedstocks, you will get utility returns. It makes better sense to be upstream with the lowest cost and sustainable production. " Brazil is a leading producer of ethanol, harvesting 528 million tonnes of sugar cane and refining 21 billion litres of ethanol a year. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resource\ s/article3811697 ..ece Argentina: 8) This soil is not " property " of the landowners but rather, as a natural resource, as stated by the constitutional reforms of 1994, it is a shared cultural heritage of all Argentines. It is worth remembering Article 41 of this constitution: " All habitants enjoy the right to an environment that is healthy, balanced, and suitable for human development, that production activities satisfy the present necessities without compromising future generations, and they have the duty of preserving it ... The authorities will provide protection to this right for the rational use of natural resources, the preservation of this natural and cultural heritage, the biological diversity, and environmental information and education. " On the other hand the same constitution states in Article 17 the recognition of the " ethnic and cultural pre-existence of indigenous Argentine peoples " and the promise to " guarantee respect for their identity, and to assure their participation in the management with regard to natural resources and the other interests that affect them. " As of today, none of these obligations has been fulfilled by the Argentine state, leaving this as one of the principal internal debts to society as a whole as much as it is to the indigenous peoples. Not one of the rural entities that are protesting today has done anything to protect these common goods. In fact, they have done the opposite—each producer has advanced as far as he could (including up to the shoulder of the highway) with the green soy desert. Of course the " fathers " of the model, the large agro corporations (Monsanto, Syngenta, and Cargill) remain silent and have not issued any statements or opinions, and are not present in the highway blockades. However it has been these corporations, as Raul Montenegro defines it,2 that have made us " hostages of Monsanto " with the invasion of transgenic soy that today represents 99% of all soy cultivation in Argentina. While Argentine soy producers were blocking the highways, Monsanto announced on March 25 in New York an increase in their earnings forecast for 2008, " citing the strong demand for corn and soybeans and the greater demand of herbicides, " 3 and at the beginning of 2008 they reported that they had tripled their earnings compared to the same trimester of the previous year.4 Evidently they do not seem very worried about the retentions in Argentina. Neither Cargill, Dreyfus, ADM, nor Bunge are part of the protest, although as the Grupo de Reflexion Rural5 clearly shows, they are the true exporters and those who stand to assume the costs of the retentions. http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5184 Taiwan: 9) Standing atop a wooden viewing platform at 1,804 meters, the highest point of Tengjhih National Forest Recreation Area, the wilderness that covers much of Taiwan's interior is suddenly revealed in all its breathtaking beauty and sheer enormity. It's a miracle that it takes less than an hour's walk to reach this magical spot. Short of organizing an often-strenuous backpacking expedition into the wilds, there's no better way to experience the remote, untouched expanses of the island's interior such as this than paying a visit to one of the 18 National Forest Nature Reserves dotted around the island. A visit to any one gives an unsurpassed introduction to the wilderness of Taiwan. Of the 13 I've got around to visiting so far, my favorite is probably at Tengjhih, set deep in the mountains of Kaohsiung County not far from the town of Liuguei. We have the Japanese to thank for initially opening up remote areas such as this to easy access, either to carry out logging of the area or to keep the local aboriginal population under control. With the return of Taiwan to the Chinese however, some of the tracks piercing deep into Taiwan's interior were left to be slowly reclaimed by nature and today exist only as lines on maps. Others, however, were kept open as logging continued, or to provide access for Taiwan Forestry Bureau personnel stationed deep in the forest on the lookout for illegal logging or forest fires. http://www.chinapost.com.tw/travel/taiwan%20south/kaohsiung/2008/04/24/153474/En\ chanted-forest. htm Burma: 10) Spiritual beliefs often have a strong link to sustainable land management. When a Karen baby is born, the umbilical cord is hung on a tree in an area of sacred forest. They believe that not only will the child grow up to be strong like the tree, but will always protect his or her own tree. With dense green forests on both banks, and a clear blue sky overhead, the Salween River is peaceful when the motor of our long, narrow boat is switched off. This river is the main artery of Karen State in eastern Burma, and an almost completely unspoilt, incredibly biodiverse environment. The peace, however, is deceptive, as this area is essentially a war zone. I have crossed into Burma illegally from Thailand because the repressive Burmese regime does not grant visas to foreign journalists. The authorities certainly do not want the outside world to have access to Karen State, a division of Burma that borders Thailand. The Karen opposition forces have been fighting for self-determination against the government for almost 60 years. They have few areas of control left; the Burmese military regularly launch attacks on villages in an attempt to force people to relocate to Burmese-controlled areas. The area's natural environment plays an important role in the conflict. The Karen have a unique way of managing their resources, especially their forests. They practice a form of rotational farming which involves burning areas of forest for planting. They hunt wild animals and gather plants for food and medicine. Large-scale logging by the Burmese government, and in the past by the Karen leadership when they controlled more of the state, has damaged some parts of the forests. However, the indigenous conservation knowledge of the Karen people has helped to preserve much of it intact. As villagers flee to relatively safe areas controlled by the KNU, these areas become too crowded, and the carefully balanced farming practices are abandoned. Local environmental groups like the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN), which is based in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, take great risks going deep inside Karen State to work with villagers, helping them retain their indigenous knowledge. KESAN director Paul argues that protecting resources is crucial for the survival of the Karen. He adds that they can't wait for the civil war to end before taking action: " If there are no forests, there will be no Karen. " Currently, the " 500lb gorilla in the room " , as Thailand-based environmentalist Jeff Rutherford describes it, is the plan to build four hydropower dams on the Salween River, three of which will be on the stretch of the river that runs through Karen State. They are being built with funding from the Thai State Electricity company (EGAT), along with the Burmese government and with investment from China. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7363778.stm India: 11) The return was an emotional moment for local residents, who lost their last rhinos a decade ago during a 20 year period of civil disturbance that wrecked infrastructure in the famed Manas National Park and allowed poachers free reign. A 55-year old local woman said, " The arrival of gainda (rhino) is like a Bihu (a local festival) gift to us " . She added, " My son is one of the volunteers who will be monitoring the rhinos in Manas. It is a great moment for all of us " . It was an emotional moment too, for translocation organizers from WWF India and the government of the State of Assam, who saw the successful translocation as a successful launch to Indian Rhino Vision 2020, an ambitious plan to give India a population of 3000 rhinos, spread over seven Assam protected areas by 2020. The release was not without its dramas, either. Elephants were used to help round up the rhinos in Pobitora Wildlife sanctuary. But tranquillisers used to sedate the rhinos were well worn off after the difficult and slow 240 km transport convoy to Manas. In his first hand account of the operation, Sujoy Banerjee, WWF India's Director of Species Conservation said the second rhino " came full charge out of its crate, turned a full circle and banged the side of the truck that had been carrying it for the last 14 hours " . " Then it galloped and vanished into the thickets, to loud applause from the crowd. " " As we drove back, covered in a mix of sweat and dirt from head to toe, the significance of this episode dawned on me. It was not merely a shifting of some rhinos into a place where rhinos once existed, we were bringing back the lost glory of this world heritage site, which the local people were once proud of. " http://www.panda.org/index.cfm?uNewsID=131121 South East Asia: 12) Government delegates from Asia Pacific countries say they are shocked by reports that illegal timber trade remains widespread in the region despite policies in place against it. The British-funded Telapak Indonesia said Thursday it had carried out intensive investigations over the past 10 years and found that illegal wood trade was still common in the region. " All countries of the Asia Pacific still suffer from illegal logging and trade activities, " Telapak forest campaigner Timer Manurung told participants at the Asia Pacific Forest Week forum in Hanoi, Vietnam. He said the organization's recent investigations showed about 600,000 cubic meters of logs were harvested illegally in Laos in 2006 and then smuggled to border areas -- mainly Vietnam -- and made into furniture for export. The report was published in March after one year of investigation. " We also found that Thailand and Malaysia are still consuming illegal timber from Laos, " he said. In Indonesia it is still common to find logs cut from unsustainable forests in addition to illegal logging activities, said Timer. http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20080426.B08 & irec=7 Vietnam: 13) Apart from boosting preservation of biodiversity, Vietnam will strengthen silvicultural methodology, said Deputy Director of International Cooperation Department under the MARD, Tran Kim Long, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Week and the 22nd session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission in Hanoi . In terms of policy, Mr Long said, a strategy on forestry development by 2020 has been approved, which has given an impetus for improving effective management of forests. Dr Daniel Murdiyarso from the Centre for International Forestry Research, said the strategy is a promising start to improvement and provides a solid policy tool to support further work. Assistant Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) Jan Heino also commended Vietnam's approach so far in sustainable forest management. Vietnam has developed a number of programmes and projects to protect and develop forests, including Programme 327 to " green " wastelands and bare hills, and a project to plant 5 million hectares of forest from 1998-2010. In addition, the law on forest protection and development was amended in 2004. As a result, Vietnam has increased its forest acreage from 9.3 million ha in 1995 to 12.87 million ha in 2006. The forest coverage now is 38% of the country as compared to over 20% in the 1990s. The Asia -Pacific Forestry Week and the 22nd session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission is being held from April 21-25. The event attracted the participation of over 400 representatives from 33 members of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission, over 30 non-governmental organisations, research institutes and businesspeople. (VNA) http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/life/260408/life_v.htm Fiji: 14) We tried to keep up with Niumaia, the 69-year-old Fijian medicine man, as he nimbly made his way barefoot down the steep jungle path, pointing out as we went the many healing plants used by his tribal mountain people. Unfortunately, about half way along our rainforest hike, Niumaia got a chance to put his natural medicines and healing powers to the test . . . on me. Climbing past a cascading waterfall, my sneakers slipped on the same wet rocks Niumaia had just scrambled over shoeless, leaving me flat on my face with my right knee scraped raw. Niumaia Kavika is a man of many talents; medicine man, blues musician, and cultural host at Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort. Referring to himself as a " bushman, " Niumaia moved from his mountain village, where his mother was chief, in 1950 and is now the resort's ambassador to traditional Fijian culture and customs on his island home of Vanua Levu. Though he might not mention it, Niumaia has been awarded the Fiji Excellence in Cultural Tourism Award. http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/travel/story.html?id=46607978-df42-4665\ -9436-7f4de1cb 0d5c & p=3 15) The pine and hardwood intermingled in the forests were planted 25 years ago and are in their prime. They are just waiting to be logged, sawn and exported. But the pine forests are still standing, beautiful. They call it Bua's green gold but at the moment, they may never get to see any cent from all that gold. I have been there in a pine forest and it was an experience. I once was " lost " and walked for three hours, one way, across a pine forest in Bua with an uncle, Ta Noke. It seemed I was taken for a stroll through a pine forest belonging to the Nabukewairua clan of my grandmother and thought it was huge. Then I saw a map of the whole forest and they showed me where we had gone walkabout and it was just a tiny patch. There are 13,000 hectares of pine forests in Bua. Of that, the district of Lekutu has 8000 hectares. If converted to its monetary value, the total pine in Lekutu alone would bring between $400million and $500million. The other tikina in Bua " put in " for the remaining 5000 hectares of pine. The question here is why has the pine not been logged? The answer was told me last week by the man working for the Bua Landowners Association to clear some matters with the Native Land Trust Board. He said landowners who had pine on their land had agreed to stop the logging of the forests until they were compensated. The main item of grievance is the overplanted areas. Apparently, when Fiji Pine led the pine-planting schemes in villages 25 years ago, some of the pine were planted on mataqali land without the consent and knowledge of the landowners. What those mataqali members wanted is to cut the pine which had " encroached on to their land " for themselves but Fiji Pine brought in the police and things were at a standstill. http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=87546 Philippines: 16) " The Philippines may have the greatest concentration of unique biological diversity, relative to its size, of any country in the world, " Heaney told reporters here on Friday. Samuel Peñafiel, Department of Environment and Natural Resources director in the Cordillera, said the dwarf cloud rat's rediscovery could boost government efforts to protect the region's threatened watersheds and mossy forests. He said the findings of Heaney's team meant that there is still a wide range of rare animal life worth saving in the region's mountains and forests. Danilo Balete, a research associate of the National Museum and Heaney's co-team leader, said the dwarf cloud rat, known by its scientific name Carpomys melanurus, was found in a patch of mature mossy forest on Mt. Pulag. " It was found in the canopy of a large tree, on a large horizontal branch covered by a thick layer of moss, orchids and ferns about five meters above ground, " he said. Balete described the rat as " a really beautiful animal with dense, soft reddish brown fur with a black mask around its large dark eyes, small round ears, a broad and blunt snout and a long tail covered with dark hair. " It weighed 185 grams, he said. Mt. Pulag is Luzon's highest peak at 2,922 meters above sea level. It straddles Benguet, Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya. Emerita Albas, DENR's Mt. Pulag park superintendent, said the park's mossy forests had been gradually degenerating due to the encroachment of vegetable farms. Based on initial assessment, Heaney said the rediscovery of the dwarf cloud rat indicated that " it required a pretty much undisturbed mossy forest " to be able to survive. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20080426-132920/Team\ -finds-rare-c loud-rat-breed-after-112-years 17) A major paper and pulpwood company has asked the Supreme Court's Third Division to reverse its decision that could lead to the virtual breakup of the country's forest reserve areas into " independent enclaves. " In a motion filed before Supreme Court, Picop Resources Inc.—the country's pioneer paper and pulpwood firm—said that unless the high court reverses the decision of its Third Division, 12 million hectares of the country's forest reserves " will be divided into independent enclaves beyond jurisdiction of the state agencies. " " As incidents in various countries have shown, such independent enclaves ultimately result in the breaking up of a country and result in failed states, " Picop said in a 37-page motion which seeks to elevate its case to the Court en banc. The country's pioneering firm in paper and pulpwood production is contesting the Court's Third Division decision voiding the Presidential Warranty given Picop to develop the forest and harvest pulp in the Agusan-Davao-Surigao Forest Reserve to boost the growth of the paper industry as a mere timber license. Under the Indigenous People's Rights Act law, ancestral domains are " the private but community property " of indigenous peoples and indigenous cultural communities in whose areas the departments of agriculture, environment, interior and local government, justice, education, national defense, energy, among others, will no longer have authority. Picop said the decision opens " 12 million hectares of the country's forest reserves, 40 percent of the country's land area, to CADTs where the above-listed government agencies have no legal basis for jurisdiction and may have the unintended consequence of such areas being independent enclaves with their own armed components. " http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=politics1_april28_2008 18) llegal logging activities have resumed in Dingalan, a town in Aurora that was battered by landslides that killed more than 300 people and displaced nearly 1,000 families in November and December 2004, a leader of the Task Force Sierra Madre said on Friday. Four 10-wheel trucks have been coming weekly since March to haul at least 65,000 board feet of wood from three lumberyards in Barangay Paltic, according to Fr. Pete Montallana, head of the TFSM-Dingalan chapter. A yard is located at the Basco compound, another is beside a chapel, while the third is across the river where one contractor, identified as " Gatdula, " docked a ship. Montallana said residents have suspected that the first yard is linked to Jackson Padiernos, a son of Mayor Zenaida Padiernos, because the compound's owner is a friend of the mayor's son. The TFSM, he said, has no evidence yet to validate the reports of the residents. But Mayor Padiernos denied reports that her son is involved in illegal logging. A check in the archives of the Central Luzon office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources showed that Jackson was convicted of illegal logging in early 2004 but an appeal to a higher court stopped his detention. Montallana said TFSM volunteers saw " mini-sawmills " in those yards. These are borne on trucks that go around the villages. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20080426-132921/Ille\ gal-logging-re sumes-in-Aurora-says-group 19) Legal, not illegal, large-scale logging is the major culprit in deforestation. Lisa Ito of the Kalikasan-Philippine Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE), during her presentation on the Philippine environmental situation for the Southern Mindanao Conference on the Environment held at the Holy Cross of Davao College Friday, said that in the 1900s, forest cover was estimated at 21 million hectares of 70 percent of the total land area. Yet a few decades of " development aggression " wiped out two-thirds of the forests. By 1999, forest cover was reduced to 18.3 percent of 800,000 hectares and is still decreasing at present. In the Philippines, Ito said deforestation was a result of " colonial plunder of natural resources. " " Since the American occupation, corporate and large-scale logging for exports and massive forest conversion were carried out as a government policy through Timber Licensing Agreements (TLAs), " Ito said. From 1920's to the late 1930's, the Philippines became a major exporter of tropical wood to the US and Japan. Forty-seven percent or 9.9 million hectares of original forests were destroyed in the period alone. " Philippine forests were nearly wiped out under the Marcos dictatorship under an unregulated logging industry caused by a combination of corruption, greed, and weak political institution. TLAs were liberally dispensed to Marcos cronies, relatives, military allies, and elite interests, " Ito said. By the late 1980's, the Philippine was one of the most severely deforested areas in Asia but Ito said this state has worsened under the Arroyo administration. " The government has yet to implement a genuine and comprehensive reforestation program. It has one by one lifted log bans and farmed out commercial logging permits - TLAs and 23 Integrated Forest Management Agreement (Ifma) contracts from January 2001 to 2004, " Ito said. Ito explained that Ifmas cover a total land area of 191,250.60 hectares and an Ifma contract allows the holder not just the right to timber but to all other forest products within the concession area. Ito added that as of their last check, the government has issued 201 Ifmas as of 2003 covering around 714,000 hectares of forestland. http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2008/04/26/news/group.legal.logging.decimat\ es.forests.html 20) Since no one claims ownership, the Cenro-east is conducting investigation to determine the people responsible in cutting down the mangrove trees, which is prohibited under the law. Cenro-east chief Tito Gadon disclosed that the Pagatpat and Bungalon trees were sighted by his personnel when they went Tuesday to the mangrove area of Talon-Talon village to plant Bakawan in time for the observance of the World Earth Day. The mangrove area in the village of Talon-Talon that extends up to the nearby village of Mampang measuring several hundreds of hectares is being maintained and preserve by Cenro and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The cutting down of mangrove trees such as Pagatpat, Bungalon and Bakawan species is prohibited under Presidential Decree 705, according to Gadon. He said it is high time they have to keep the people informed that cutting down mangrove tree species is prohibited under the law and that " we are serious in our campaign. " Gadon said they learned from some of the people in the vicinity that the Pagatpat and Bungalon are being cut down to be sold as firewood. A bundle of firewood is sold at P8. He said appropriate charges will be filed against the people behind, once their identities will be known, the cutting of mangrove trees. http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/zam/2008/04/25/news/cenro.east.seizes.truckload\ ..of.cut.down.man grove.trees.html Malaysia: 21) If Royal Belum State Park in Perak was a Hollywood production, it would be the mother of all prequels. At 130-million-years-old, it is the world's oldest forest — older than the forests of Amazon and Congo. As for its inhabitants, it — figuratively! — has a cast of thousands in the form of flora and fauna — 3,000 species of flowering plants; 274 species of birds, more than 100 species of mammals; 168 species of butterflies, and a host of other terrestrial and aquatic life forms. But Royal Belum is only half the story. The other half is the Temenggor Forest Reserve. Together, these 300,0000 hectares of forest, located next to each other, make up the Belum-Temenggor Rainforest Complex (BTR). To behold the BTR at dawn, with clouds of mists on the tree canopies, is to be transported back into a world that is stress-free and full of fresh air. At present, the paradise that is BTR can be accessed via Pulau Banding which acts as the gateway to these ancient forests. Between Royal Belum and Temenggor Forest Reserve, it is safe to say that the former is still in pristine condition as it has been an off-limits area for the longest time because northwards, the Malaysia-Thai border runs through it. In recognition of Royal Belum's practically virgin forest state, the Perak government gazetted Royal Belum in May 2007, granting it a fully protected status (i.e. free from human encroachment and logging activities). In order to enter Royal Belum, visitors must first register with the Perbadanan Taman Negeri Perak (State Parks Authority) for permits and then report to the army control centre on site each time you enter this highly protected forest area. International visitors need to submit their passport details seven days in advance and Malaysians (name and identity card number) require three working days notice. The Malaysian Nature Society strongly feels that eco-tourism is a more rewarding and sustainable option, as it is a multi-billion dollar industry, and infinitely preferable to logging. MNS is hoping that Temenggor will also be gazetted by the Perak government and accorded due protection. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/Features/20080423155311/Article/\ indexF_html 22) Limbang town is about 30 minutes by speedboat from Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei, which sits on the coast where the Brunei and Limbang rivers meet the South China Sea. Getting there requires navigating through a maze of marshland before traveling up the Limbang River. Just 10 years ago, river travel was precarious. The long, narrow speedboats easily capsize if they hit floating tree trunks, which may be invisible or look deceptively benign. Now Limbang district, which is situated between two parts of Brunei on the island of Borneo, appears destined to become the site of Malaysia's newest gigantic project. This is an area ceded by Brunei to the famed White Raja, James Brooke, and even today the sultanate would like to wrest back the fertile estuary and the rainforest which lie upriver. More recently, Limbang came under the international media spotlight when indigenous nomads protested against logging companies in the late 1990s. Malaysia, however, has identified the river estuary as one of the sites for large scale rice cultivation as part of an ambitious RM4 billion project to turn the rainforest-covered state of Sarawak into a new " rice bowl " to make Malaysia self-sufficient in face of the global food crisis. What it mainly has done is raise concerns among environmentalists and NGOs that it will generate another land grab on Borneo on the magnitude of the Bakun Dam. Details are sketchy and the plan seems to have been pushed through with little forethought. Land Development Minister James Masing, the Sarawakian politician who was in charge of resettling native tribesmen from the site of the Bakun Dam, reportedly said that parts of Sarawak's 5 million hectares have been identified for rice cultivation, mostly in the central coastal areas and river deltas in the north. The area identified for cultivation is close to half of Limbang's total land mass of about 124,450 square km. Rampant deforestation has already wiped out most of Limbang's primary forest. What is left is in the more mountainous regions. But Masing said forest would not be cleared as the identified sites are in the lowlands. Prime Minister Ahmad Abdullah Badawi approved funds for the project after speaking to Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, who has benefited handsomely from the Bakun Dam, which wiped out 23,000 hectares of virgin rainforest, delivered the timber into the hands of timber barons and displaced 9,000 indigenous people. http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=1168 & Itemid=31 Indonesia: 23) Orangutans are primarily frugivorous and that they are experts at moving through the forest canopy. The combination of these factors makes the orangutan an excellent seed disperser. Also, because of their large size, orangutans are able to eat bigger-seeded fruit which other species in their ecosystem aren't able to. Orangutans thus play a crucial role in propagating fruit trees. As orangutans move through the canopy they will inevitably bend or break branches, opening up the forest canopy. This allows light to reach the forest floor thus helping seedlings to grow and the forest regenerate. Truly, orangutans are a vital cog in the working of the rainforest ecosystem. The interdependence between orangutans and the forest has huge implications for conservation. I think I have written before that Indonesia has the world's highest deforestation rate; it also has the world's highest number of threatened mammal species (146 species); is number two in the world for threatened bird species and remains high up there for the remaining taxonomic groups. To save the orangutan, you have to save the forest and when you save the forest you save everything else. (For better or worse, that includes spiders!) An example closer to my heart is the proboscis monkey, which is only found on Borneo. Tanjung Puting National Park has one of the largest remaining populations. Why? Because of our orangutan conservation work. As an aside, proboscis monkeys are fascinating in their own right. The males have a spectacular nose! Another special thing about the proboscis monkey is that they swim, a rare behaviour amongst primates. Proboscis monkeys actually have slightly webbed hands and feet and are able to swim underwater for about 20 metres. http://orangutanfoundation.wildlifedirect.org/2008/04/24/part-3-protectors-of-th\ e-rainforest-eco system/ 24) The experts, speaking at the Asia-Pacific Forestry Week conference here Tuesday, said climate change, soaring fuel prices and poverty, combined with increasing demand for forest products, would pose unprecedented challenges to the forestry sector in the Asia-Pacific region. " Meeting the challenges requires enormous growth in skills and knowledge and reinvention of many existing forestry institutions, " head of forestry for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Jan Heino, said. " We must change. Forestry can't continue on the same path as in past decades. " More than 600 forestry experts and government officials from across the region are attending the conference, which will run until Saturday. The conference, organized by the FAO, aims to identify ways to resolve forestry-related problems, such as enforcing laws against illegal logging and reducing poverty among communities living in forest regions. According to renowned ecologist and author Norman Myers, the world has not made protecting forests a priority, with only US$20 billion per year allocated to conservation. " Globally, countries are spending at least $200 billion each year on perverse subsidies that destroy biodiversity habitats, while the entire expenditure on conservation is less than a tenth of that amount, " the author of The Sinking Ark told the conference. Indonesia, which has the world's largest amount of rainforest with 120 million hectares, has come under pressure to improve the management of its forestry sector, especially given claims illegal logging is benefiting the rich. Norman Jiwan, a researcher at Sawit Watch and a representative of an indigenous community of Kerambai people in Sanggau district, West Kalimantan, said government policies had destroyed local communities. http://old.thejakartapost.com/misc/PrinterFriendly.asp 25) Forestry nations must change their forest management policies to help counter the effects of climate change and skyrocketing prices of food and fuel, leading forestry experts have said. The experts, speaking at the Asia-Pacific Forestry Week conference here Tuesday, said climate change, soaring fuel prices and poverty, combined with increasing demand for forest products, would pose unprecedented challenges to the forestry sector in the Asia-Pacific region. " Meeting the challenges requires enormous growth in skills and knowledge and reinvention of many existing forestry institutions, " head of forestry for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Jan Heino, said. " We must change. Forestry can't continue on the same path as in past decades. " More than 600 forestry experts and government officials from across the region are attending the conference, which will run until Saturday. The conference, organized by the FAO, aims to identify ways to resolve forestry-related problems, such as enforcing laws against illegal logging and reducing poverty among communities living in forest regions. According to renowned ecologist and author Norman Myers, the world has not made protecting forests a priority, with only US$20 billion per year allocated to conservation. " Globally, countries are spending at least $200 billion each year on perverse subsidies that destroy biodiversity habitats, while the entire expenditure on conservation is less than a tenth of that amount, " the author of The Sinking Ark told the conference. Frances Seymour of the Center for International Forestry Research said Indonesia was a globally significant source of greenhouse gas emissions because of peat fires. " New interest in forests because of climate change provides an opportunity to shift the political economy of forests, " she said. Seymour said climate change was likely to increase the probability of high-intensity rainfall events, which would in turn increase the risk of landslides. " Maintenance of forest vegetation can help stabilize the slope for some types of land movement, " she said. http://old.thejakartapost.com/misc/PrinterFriendly.asp Papua New Guinea: 26) While the spirit of this partnership is to be applauded, for it to be successful the PNG Government must address the serious issues of illegal and destructive logging and corruption in the forestry sector, Greenpeace Forest Campaigner Dorothy Tekwie said. Otherwise it will be difficult for PNG to convince global carbon trading markets that they have the capacity and willingness to monitor and enforce forest carbon protection. The problem of illegal and destructive logging in PNG is well documented. Just last week the PNG Forest Minister, Beldan Namah, admitted that logging companies routinely flout laws with the help of corrupt officials saying Ive noticed a lot of corruption going on within the Forest Department. The Australian Institute of Criminology also released a report last week that said between 70 and 90 per cent of logging in PNG is illegal. The report said, given the scale of illegal logging in PNG, it is estimated that timber resources will be depleted in 10 years if logging continues at the present rate. PNG cant expect to benefit from the potential billions of dollars in carbon financing while continuing to destroy its forests, Ms Tekwie said. Australias pledge of $3 million for forest carbon monitoring is a small step in the right direction but it is also vital that Australia makes any financing conditional on forest governance reforms that stamp out illegal and destructive logging. http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1443092/ Australia: 27) University of Adelaide researcher and PhD student Sarah Cockerell said several hundred avenues of honour were planted throughout the country after both world wars. The earliest was at Eurack, in south western Victoria, in 1916. She said more than half of the avenues still standing were in Victoria but many had been lost elsewhere because of poor management, urbanisation and natural causes. " The few that remain in good condition form valuable heritage landscapes, with local and national significance, " Ms Cockerell said. " The tree is a commonly used symbol of life, as well as the cycle of life, death and renewal. " Therefore, it's only natural that trees are used as long-lasting memorials. " With the drought and water restrictions now threatening urban trees, Ms Cockerell said the role of the community was crucial to ensuring the avenues of honour survived as long-lasting memorials. " These avenues were almost always planned, organised, paid for and planted by local community groups, " she said. " They symbolise a community's grief over the losses of war as well as the community's pride in their people and their town. " The survival of avenues of honour is very much dependent on the value placed on them by local community groups, including schools, churches, RSL branches and local councils. " Whenever community support fades from lack of interest or the fading of community memory, the trees are in greatest danger. " Ms Cockerell said new generations of Australians also had a role to play in helping maintain, restore or renew the avenues of honour just as young Australians were helping to reinvigorate the Anzac Day marches. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23591762-5005961,00.html 28) Twenty protesters have halted logging in an old-growth forest south-west of Hobart. One activist was sitting in a tree 30 metres above the ground on Monday morning, while another protester was chained to logging machinery at the forest in the Little Denison Valley, 35km west of Huonville, a spokesman for the group said. Huon Valley Environment Centre spokesman Warrick Jordan told AAP some logging contractors left the site Monday morning when faced with the protest. " The local community is determined to stop this logging operation, " he said. " People are sick and tired of seeing these last remaining areas of forests destroyed to line the pockets of Gunns Limited and Japanese paper companies, " he said. Mr Jordan accused the state and federal governments of cosying up to the woodchipping industry. He said he expected protesters would remain at the site for the rest of the day. Comment was being sought from Forestry Tasmania. Forestry Tasmania acting managing director Penny Egan refused to comment directly on the protest. In a statement through a spokesman, she said: " Seventy-nine per cent of Tasmania's old growth forests are in reserves, including 10 million old growth trees permanently protected " . " Less than one per cent of state forest is harvested for wood products and regrown each year. " http://news.smh.com.au/protesters-block-logging-in-tasmania/20080428-28yp.html 29) Four people have been arrested while protesting against logging in a southern Tasmanian forest. About 20 protesters attempted to stop logging of an old-growth forest in the Little Denison Valley, 35km west of Huonville, southwest of Hobart. A spokesman for the Huon Valley Environment Centre, Warrick Jordan, said those arrested had been unfairly threatened but police say they had violently resisted. " Forest defenders engaged in legitimate, peaceful protest do not deserve this treatment,'' Mr Jordan said. " Local police, without warning, arrested three activists as they were preparing to leave the forest blockade, and threatened them with pepper spray and pushed them into a police car. " A Lucaston woman was also arrested after being removed from logging machinery.'' Police spokeswoman Jodi DeCesare said police responded to a call from Forestry Tasmania complaining about protesters allegedly blocking access to the area and securing themselves to machinery. " One of the males resisted being placed in the divisional van and was told that OC spray would be used if he continued to kick violently while resisting arrest, risking injury to himself and/or others,'' she said. " He then followed police directions, OC spray was not deployed.'' Four people - two women and two men - were arrested and are expected to be charged with failing to comply with the directions of a police officer, wilfully obstructing police and resisting arrest, Ms DeCesare said. One activist sat in a tree 30 metres above the ground while another was chained to logging machinery at the forest. The forest is valued by the protesters for its giant eucalyptus regnans trees, while wedge-tailed eagle nests are also found in the forest, Mr Jordan said. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23611606-12377,00.html 30) Forestry's general manager, Bob Gordon, says many land owners have been burning off organic waste, and Forestry's regeneration burns are not the cause of the low level smoke haze. He says Forestry burns send smoke high into the atmosphere. " Other people have also been burning and if you've driven round Hobart or the Northern Midlands you would have seen land owners lighting up and their smoke tends to drift at ground level, " he said. " Whereas the objective with out high intensity burns is for that column of smoke to go up into the jet stream 20,000 feet up and basically go out to sea or disperse. Conservationists have expressed concern at Forestry Tasmania's plans to use clear-felled logs as fuel in biomass energy plants. Forestry Tasmania has suggested large logs be disposed in biomass plants, because they are causing much of the harmful smoke in regeneration burns. Vica Bayley from the Wilderness Society, says Forestry thinks it has come up with an enviromentally friendly idea. But he says it does not counterbalance the damage Forestry's logging is doing to the environment in the first place. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/24/2226024.htm?section=business 31) Forestry Tasmania wants an electricity investor to build a $70 million burner to put the debris from clearfell logging into energy, rather than smoke, generation. " It is the large pieces of wood which often smoulder over a number of days which have contributed most to the smoke haze around the state, " Mr Gordon said. " Biomass energy is part of the solution. These bigger pieces should instead be going into biomass plants. It is a win-win. We can reduce the smoke going into the atmosphere and also generate renewable power. " He said the company would still conduct forest burns to create ash beds but the burns would be less intense. " Forestry Tasmania roll out the biomass plant idea every year when they are under public pressure about burning in the forests, " Mr Bayley said. " The majority of Tasmanians are upset about the smoke because of what it represents, not just the nuisance factor. " Investment in renewable energy has slumped with uncertainty over Australia's renewable energy target scheme. Mr Gordon said Forestry Tasmania had received interest in its plans. He said it would take 12 months from the time an investor put money on the table to get a plant up and running. A plant of the scale proposed would need 10,000 tonnes of wood to generate 10 megawatts of electricity. Mr Gordon said there was enough waste wood in Tasmania to fuel the plants without having to clearfell more forests. http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,23590745-5007221,00.html World-wide: 32) Leaders of the world's 370 million indigenous peoples are calling for the United Nations to include their voices in its future talks on climate change. " Both the climate change and its solutions are concerns for indigenous peoples, " said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chairperson of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Currently, the Forum, which includes 16 representatives -- eight nominated by governments and eight by indigenous representatives -- is holding its seventh annual meeting in New York. The meeting is being is being attended by more than 3,300 delegates from around the world. " The indigenous peoples contribute the smallest ecological footprints on Earth, " according to Tauli-Corpuz, " but they suffer the worst impacts from climate change and mitigation measures, such as the loss of land and biofuel production. " Despite representation from nearly 500 aboriginal groups worldwide, the Forum is not empowered to enact laws; it can only advise the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), a 54-member U.N. body, whose members are elected by the General Assembly every three years. Last year in September, the General Assembly passed a historic resolution calling for the recognition of indigenous peoples' right to control their lands and resources, but fell short of saying the " Universal Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples " was legally binding. Indigenous leaders they want both the governments and private corporations to incorporate the declaration into their national economic, political, cultural and environmental policies, so that indigenous people can participate in the process of development in a meaningful way. " The indigenous peoples have observed and felt the impact of climate change before anybody else, " said Tauli-Corpuz. " They are becoming 'environmental refugees' [because] small island states are sinking due to rising sea-levels. " According to Fiu Elisara, executive director of the Ole Siosiomaga Society of Samoa island, climate change has become " a life-and-death " issue for the Pacific island states, also known as the " liquid continent " . " One cyclone is enough to completely wipe out one island state, " he said, adding that 90 percent of the people in the Pacific are indigenous who have nowhere to turn to for help because most of their rulers have not signed the declaration. Indigenous leaders say many of their communities in mega-biodiverse countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brazil are greatly suffering due to extensive use of their lands and forests for biofuels in the name of carbon-trading and climate change mitigation. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42103 33) We've made maps, videos and reports to identify the emergency facing the forests. Now we're turning to the company who needs to help stop the destruction: Unilever, the huge multinational corporation behind Dove soap and other household brands containing palm oil. Unilever buys its palm oil from suppliers who destroy Indonesia's rainforests for their palm plantations, leading to further climate change and killing orang-utans and other endangered species in the process. By their own admission, Unilever is the biggest single user of palm oil in the world, which is why they can't wash their hands now of this problem. We mustn't let them. A truly responsible company would not buy from suppliers who trash forests. But Unilever needs to be moved into action, which is what the international Dove campaign is about. Come watch the 1-minute video and take action online today. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/forests/asia-pacific/dove-palm\ oil-action 34) Healthy forests enable surrounding communities to be resilient to economic and environmental shocks such as drought. Forests and biodiversity are also important to many people for their spiritual and aesthetic values. Unfortunately, tropical forests face a number of threats, including conversion to agriculture, illegal logging, unsustainable extraction of timber and other forest resources, climate change, pollution, and policies that subsidize forest conversion to other uses. Deforestation is a significant contributor to climate change: Scientific studies have estimated that 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to deforestation. Each year, approximately 10.4 million hectares of forest are lost. To put this into perspective, that is equivalent to losing an area roughly the size of Virginia each year. The World Bank estimates that illegal logging represents a loss of $10-15 billion per year to developing countries. Illegal logging also fuels corruption and in some countries finances conflict. Loss of forest cover, riparian buffers and mangroves also represent a significant increase in regional and local vulnerability to climate variability and climate change. To address these concerns and to ensure that forests and biodiversity continue to play an important role in sustainable development, USAID supports programs around the globe that aim to improve the conservation and sustainable management of forests and biodiversity. http://www.usaid.gov/press/speeches/2008/ty080422.html 35) Go to www.TheProblemWithPalmOil.org to see the new Retail Strategy webpage. On May 5th, this page will go live to everyone—not just our supporters—and you will be able to enter the barcode numbers of products that either contains palm oil or palm oil free alternative products. Every time you enter a product that has not been entered before, you will get points, which will be tracked on the webpage. The people, or groups, who enter the most points will not only be doing the most to help us locate the products destroying the rainforest and their alternatives, but will also win cool RAN gear. So! As an Understory faithful, you get a head start. Check out the products in your home and supermarket and write down the 12 digit barcode number on the products that either contain palm oil, or are palm oil free alternative products. All the details of what to do are online now at www.TheProblemWithPalmOil.org. The easy products will get identified quickly, so get them in early. This is only the first step of a major new campaign push for Rainforest Ag. This will be the first step in a path that will lead to a major new strategic launch in September—targeting a major food or soap manufacturer that uses palm oil. And we need your help to decide who that will be. To learn more about how this fits into our new long term strategy, go to http://www.TheProblemWithPalmOil.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.