Guest guest Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 --Today for you 30 new articles about earth's trees! (348th edition) New Format! --You can now RSS tree news in a regional format at: http://forestpolicyresearch.org --To Subscribe / to the world-wide email format send a blank email to: earthtreenews- OR earthtreenews- In this Edition: BC & Canada Asia-Pacific-Australia Forest-type / World-wide Summary: BC & Canada: --In BC One of the finest writers in the forest protection movement had his recent narration on the destruction of East Creek reprinted (1).The petition drive to get minister Coleman thrown out is up to 2,200. (2) Rich Coleman always seems to find something good to talk about when it comes to representing big timber at government hearings (3). One writer speaks of how painful it is to see Coleman act this way (4). In BC's interior ancient forest there's word about a film that tells the story of those who have helped to save their forests. (5). On the Pine Beetle Front Dr. Suzuki yet again warns about Beetles and carbon emissions, as well as how clearcutting creates future Beetle outbreaks (6). There always lot of forest articles about doomsday predictions. This one is about Beetle/logger induced erosion and flood (7). In southern interior of BC there is a Joint Feasibilty study thatcanuse your support in creating a Wild Okanoganen (8). A new 100-page report called " The Community " Forest Trojan Horse, has been made available. It's about the debacle of conflicting interest over forest resources on the Sunshine coast (9). The Democrats have introduced the " Wildlife Protection Act 2008 " (10) --In greater Canada scientists have found how most new nitrogen enters the forest via cyanobacteria living on the shoots of feather mosses (11). Near the TransCanada Trail on Sumas Mountain neighbors are banding together to protect some very old trees from logging (12) The rapidly declining forest industry says it's not the cost of oil, or the housing market bust, it's really the Endangered Species protections that are ultimately going to destroy the industry (13) Asia-Pacific-Australia: --In India there are urban trees that have been cut down. Neighbors say the trees are nature's air conditioners, the W. India Match Company went bankrupt thinking otherwise (14). --In Japan vast beech forests in the Shirakami Mountains could vanish with only a slight change in temperatures do to climate change (15) --In the Pacific, in Hawaii, on Oahu a 15 year old boy protested the cutting of large Kiawe trees. The trees were being cleared for an 86-unit housing complex. (17) --In the Solomon islands 16 timber companies threatens to shut down if the governments raises log prices (18). An excellent letter written about the illegality and lack of adequate payment from the logging companies, as well as request to reform lumber industry malfeasance in government ranks (19) --In Indonesia a traveling college student's has a blog where he has posted six facts about Indonesia Forestry ( 20). Researchers have uncovered data that suggest Indonesia and Malaysia are lying about Palm oil not destroying rainforests. According to the data more than half of the palm oil plantations created in the past 15 years came at the expense of forests (21). --In New Zealand the biggest illegal lumber import issue is Kwila timber. The Labor party promised to limit the import of this wood that's stolen from Papua New Guinea. Now six year later they are feeling the heat of their failings (22). --In Australia, specifically Tasmania, the forest industry says if the mega-pulp mill really doesn't get built, the rest of the industry will also be destroyed (23). The logging in the Otway forest park is about to end logging once and for all. The transition from logging economy to eco-tour economy is far from complete though (24). A letter to the editor that gives an overview of how the government works to save other countries forests while destroying their own (25). The Victorian government signed a deal to buy back 20,000 hectares of private forest holdings in the Gippsland's Strzelecki Ranges (26). Forest-type / World-wide: --In regions known as Mediterranean Forests there is Prof. Phil Rundel. He recently was in Isreal talking about how threats to this type of forests is even greater than threats to tropical forest (27). --In World Wide Tree news some calculations indicate that the 1.5 billion poorest humans get nearly half of all their needs met by still intact ecosystems (28). How many times has someone told you about the great deal they got on their new furniture? Now you can tell them about what a Furniture footprint is (29). As the Bidiversity Conference concluded 60 countries on " the sidelines " pledged to halt deforestation by 2020. The article also has some commentary on what to the pledge to stop deforestation by 2010 (30). Articles: British Columbia: 1) I just spent two weeks in one of the last ancient rainforests on Vancouver Island, west of Port Alice. After passing over the last mountain ridge, where a bulldozer had plowed a tunnel through 10 feet of snow, we descended into the East Creek valley, which has been pristine since the last ice age 10,000 years ago. In the past few years LeMare Lake Logging has blasted over this mountain ridge and felled most of the old growth forest in the upper watershed of East Creek. Massive stumps from ancient Cypress (Yellow Cedar), Mountain Hemlock, Pacific Red Cedar, and Balsam Fir trees are all that remain in clear-cuts devoid of life. Thin strips of trees separate the roads from the main water tributaries. We watched as more trees were being felled. Hundreds of truckloads of logs lie on the sides of the roads, waiting for the snow to melt so they can be hauled to the boom yards for shipping. The public has been led to believe that logging is kept away from the watershed of creeks, but that is not the case. Western Forest Products will be moving in to replace LeMare Lake Logging in the next couple of months and they will destroy the lower valley. As far as the BC Ministry of Forests is concerned this is a done deal with no public process for approval. http://islandlens.blogspot.com/2008/05/old-growth-logging-increases-with.html 2) NDP forests critic Bob Simpson filed a 2,200-name petition in the legislature Tuesday on behalf of the group seeking the minister's resignation. Simpson said the WFP decision came after a similar one in 2004 allowing Weyerhaeuser Co. to remove its private lands from a tree farm licence in the Port Alberni region. That move, he said, left the resource town surrounded by private lands, throwing its timber-based economy into disarray. " That should have been a lesson learned, " Simpson said. A Vancouver Island first nation took the province to court over Port Alberni issue, claiming the government had not lived up to its obligation to consult with them, and won. The court ruled that the forest minister could have prevented the land from being taken out of the tree farm licence and failed in his duty to consult. However, since the lands had already been sold to a new owner, the decision was not reversed. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=138b939e-9f48-470\ d-bacc-8fe5494f f5da 3) Rich Coleman: This is the government that attracted $3 billion in capital investment because of the changes that were made in the forest sector. This is the government that made the changes that were necessary to put our market in a position to compete in world markets long term. When the downturn in the forest industry turns around, this will be the jurisdiction in North America and the world that will be able to compete better than anybody else because of those changes. D. Routley: The minister obviously isn't prepared to take his responsibility for the failings of the softwood lumber agreement, but softwood is not the only failed forest policy of this government. For weeks we've pointed to situations where mills are closing. All they need is fibre, but this minister's policies won't allow that. In a review of TimberWest by Citadel Securities, they say the following: " The company does not log but contracts out its harvesting. It does not mill, having closed both its sawmills. What it is doing is preparing to become a full-time real estate seller and developer. " To its credit, it has deceived no one as to its intentions, but one wonders how long the Minister of Forests can accord the rights and privileges of a forest company to one that does so little forestry. " So what's it going to be — continued log exports? Mills starved of fibre, not able to address markets that they have? Or will the minister step up today and reverse these policies? Hon. R. Coleman: We have tenure in British Columbia. We actually do get fibre to our mills and we'll continue to do so. D. Routley: It's unfortunate that, again, we have complete denial from the minister. We are losing jobs that we don't need to lose. Mills that have markets are closing because they don't have fibre, and yet that's the answer from the minister. http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_central/lakecowichangazette/news/192\ 73944.html 4) It's painful to watch Forest Minister Rich Coleman bluster in the legislature. And it's surprising. In their second term, the Liberals have avoided getting hung up on ideological positions that leave them looking uncaring or inept. Not on this issue. There's a disaster going on in the forest industry and the communities that depend on it. Mills are closing across the province, many of them permanently. That Bruce Springsteen lyric - " These jobs are going boys, and they ain't coming back " - is sadly apt. The industry has shed about 13,000 jobs in the last year. In the same period, the economy has added about 70,000 jobs, so there are opportunities. But the people being booted out of the forest industry aren't necessarily at the front of the line to get those jobs. And the plunge from an income of $60,000 a year to $25,000 is difficult. Consider Mackenzie, a beautiful town of some 4,500 people, about two hours north of Prince George. In January, AbitibiBowater closed two sawmills and a paper mill. Those closures threw 325 people out of work. Now the Pope and Talbot pulp mill has closed shut. Another 260 people with no idea when, or where, or if, they would work again. In less than six months, 585 good, well-paid jobs were gone - about 20 per cent of the town's workforce. http://www.lillooetnews.net/madison%5CWQuestion.nsf/0/FEFA6801DCABD9968825745600\ 7AB8E2?OpenDocu ment 5) We now have in the office (Williams Lake) the film BLOCK 486, by award winning filmmaker Richard J. Olak. The film gives a unique perspective into one community's struggle to preserve the area as a park, and another's effort to keep the only mill in town runing. Part documentary, part journey, Block 486 poses fundamental questions about BC's logging industry. The film was donated to our Society by Barb Coupe, who recently attended a workshop in Prince George on these Interior Old Growth forests. For more infor visit http://www.ancientcedar.ca 6) " The government's response to the outbreak has been to intensify clear-cut logging of infested stands of trees to slow the spread of the beetle and to quickly send to market any lumber that still holds economic value. But according to Canadian scientist and media personality David Suzuki, " The hyper-pace, scale and intensity of clearcutting threatens to exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions from infested stands. " Furthermore, Suzuki fears that this approach may also lead to more destructive outbreaks by creating even-aged stands of lodge-pole pine, which, as they mature, are preferentially targeted by the beetle. " -- Dr. Faisal Moola, Director of Science David Suzuki Foundation http://www.nature.com/climate/2008/0805/full/climate.2008.35.html 7) Pine-beetle damage will do more than let us see into our neighbours' windows once the trees are gone. Experts predict the loss of more than 80 per cent of the Okanagan's pine stands could trigger a doomsday scenario in the next decade. The devastation will induce more flooding, forest fires, water-borne illnesses and give invasive species a greater foothold than at any time in the last century. Urban foresters have concentrated mostly on the esthetic changes that pine beetles have wrought on our landscape. Scientists warn the Okanagan is in for a sea change of biblical proportions -- one that puts our homes and health at risk. Never in recorded history has the mountain pine beetle, indigenous to British Columbia, ravaged so much terrain in the province. Nearly 14 million hectares of lodgepole pine have been infested -- an area more than four times the size of Vancouver Island. The tiny pest has already killed three million trees in the Kamloops area -- about 95 per cent of the city's pines. It's munching southeast to the Okanagan's doorstep, preparing to attack in big swarms this summer. Huge tracts of land near Vernon, on the plateaus surrounding the valley and above Westside Road in Kelowna are now dotted with red, dead trees. Foresters predict major beetle flights to the valley bottom by August. The Okanagan was lucky last year. Prevailing winds and frequent changes in weather held off massive attacks in the Okanagan. Still, crews in Kelowna removed four times as many infested ponderosa pines from Mission Creek Regional Park last summer as the year before. " I expect over the next two years we'll lose a very significant amount, " said Cathy MacKenzie, forest health operator for the regional district's parks division. Saying goodbye to millions of pines across the valley -- 600,000 within Kelowna alone -- is one thing. More troubling, says engineer Don Dobson, is the impact on watersheds at high elevations. Dobson, who specializes in hydrology, has lectured groups about the pine beetle's ripple effect on our water supply, flooding danger, wildlife and forest fires. --Westside Weekly May 28, 2008 8) Right now the BC and federal governments are undertaking a joint feasibility study to look at the possibility of creating a new national park reserve in the desert, grasslands, and Ponderosa pine forests of the South Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys in southern BC. To be located near the towns of Osoyoos, Oliver, and Keremeos, this proposal is currently Canada's greatest conservation opportunity. A decision on whether the park will go ahead is expected to occur late this year or in 2009. A new South Okanagan - Similkameen National Park would be a park of superlatives. The national park would: 1) Protect Canada's only " pocket desert " , one of Canada's top four most endangered habitats; 2) Protect more species at risk than any Canadian; 3) national park. One-third of BC's species at risk live in the region, including canyon wrens, badgers, white-headed woodpeckers, tiger salamanders, spotted bats, sage thrashers, and Great Basin spadefoots; 4) Protect a greater diversity of ecosystem types than any Canadian national park, ranging from " pocket desert " with rattlesnakes and cacti in the valley bottoms, to alpine tundra with mountain goats on the mountaintops. 5) Be a major economic boon for local citizens and the BC economy by protecting and enhancing tourism and many recreational opportunities. A national park in the region would produce $72 million in investments, 832 full time equivalent jobs, $56.3 million in incomes, $120 million in expenditures, and $39.9 million in government tax revenues over ten years, according to a 2006 report by the South Okanagan - Similkameen National Park Steering Committee; 6) Bring in greater funding and expertise for wildfire management; 7) Protect the native landscapes and local environmental values for First Nations, local residents, and the people of Canada in an area under intense urban sprawl and development pressures. -- Right now an opposition movement is rallying to stop the national park based on concerns about hunting opportunities, grazing rights, and First Nations rights. However, the park also has very strong local and national support, with over 6000 Okanagan residents signing a petition http://www.okanaganpetition.org in favour of the national park and 19,000 people in total signing from across Canada. WRITE and PHONE NOW so we don't lose this opportunity! BC Environment Minister Barry Penner: barry.penner.mla 9 ) In a recently released 100-page report by the B.C. Tap Water Alliance (May 20, 2008), " The Community " Forest Trojan Horse, case history details the controversies surrounding the Sunshine Coast community forest since 2003. The report describes both the provincial government's Ministry of Forests and the forest industry's brazen efforts to include two of the Sunshine Coast Regional District's drinking watersheds in the community forest tenure against the wishes of " the community " . The report also investigates the questionable backgrounds of a number of directors on the community forest board, its operations manager Kevin Davie (the provincial Association's vice-president) and the District of Sechelt's Mayor Cam Reid. For about forty years, the Regional District and its residents have steadfastly struggled with the provincial government calling for protection of Crown and private lands in the Chapman Creek and Gray Creek Watershed Reserves. After the unambiguous results of a 1998 Sunshine Coast regional referendum to end logging in these Reserves, and the subsequent development of a watershed protection Accord between the Regional District and the Sechelt Indian Government from 2002 to 2005, the B.C. Liberal government's Minister of Forests and Range nevertheless included the controversial watersheds in the community forest tenure. In March, 2008, some three years after the Sechelt Indian Band withdrew as a community forest partner, the Band notified the B.C. Liberal government that the two Watershed Reserves were under Interim Protection measures and requested the Reserves be immediately removed from the community forest. As a result, Agriculture and Lands Minister Pat Bell (in charge of First Nations negotiations) notified the community forest directors that the two community watersheds were being axed from the community forest tenure. " The motivations and actions of the District of Sechelt, community forest directors, and the provincial government have been deplorable. They have cast a huge shadow over the Association and the vital concept of " community " forestry " , said Will Koop, author of the report, and Coordinator of the B.C. Tap Water Alliance. http://www.alternatives.com/bctwa 10) New Democrats will introduce the " Wildlife Protection Act 2008 " today, important stand alone legislation to protect B.C.'s environmental heritage after the Campbell government failed to deliver on expectations they would finally address the 1300 species at risk in B.C.. " The Campbell government wasted their opportunity to do more around the protection of B.C.'s ecosystems. Their legislation totally failed to address the issues and was a big disappointment to many organizations with a keen interest in stewarding B.C.'s environment for future generations, " said Simpson, MLA for Vancouver-Hastings, referring to the Campbell government's recent Bill 29, the Environmental (Species and Public Protection) Statutes Amendment Act, 2008. A coalition of key environmental groups raised issues with the direction the Campbell government took on the wildlife amendments, saying the changes put " wildlife protection in last place. " The coalition included the Sierra Club, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, David Suzuki Foundation, Eco-justice Canada (formerly Sierra Legal), UVIC Environmental Law Clinic, Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Wildsight and the BCGEU. The purpose of legislation to be introduced today is to identify species at risk based on the best available scientific information including information obtained from community knowledge and aboriginal traditional knowledge, to protect species that are at risk and their habitats, and to work towards the recovery of species that are at risk. The Act also promotes stewardship activities to assist in the protection and recovery of species that are at risk. British Columbia is Canada's richest province, biologically hosting 76 per cent of Canada's bird species, 70 per cent of its freshwater fish species, and 60 per cent of its conifer species. Karin Heimlich, 250-889-6308 http://bcndpcaucus.ca Canada: 11) In pristine boreal ecosystems, most new nitrogen enters the forest through cyanobacteria living on the shoots of feather mosses, which grows in dense cushions on the forest floor. These bacteria convert nitrogen from the atmosphere to a form that can be used by other living organisms, a process referred to as " nitrogen-fixation. " The researchers showed that this natural fertilization process appears to be partially controlled by trees and shrubs that sit above the feather mosses. In the summer of 2006, the researchers placed small tubes, called resin lysimeters, in the moss layer to catch nitrogen deposited on the feather moss carpets from the above canopy and then monitored nitrogen fixation rates in the mosses. The studies revealed that when high levels of nitrogen were deposited on the moss cushion from above, a condition typical of young forests, nitrogen fixation was extremely low. In older, low-productivity forests, very little nitrogen was deposited on the moss cushion, resulting in extremely high nitrogen fixation rates. Nitrogen fixation is an energy demanding process. Thus, when mosses are exposed to high concentrations of bioavailable nitrogen, the cyanobacteria will consume this resident nitrogen rather than expending energy on fixing new nitrogen. Thus the nitrogen content of canopy throughfall acts as a regulator of newly fixed nitrogen into these boreal forests. For this same reason, elevated nitrogen deposition from pollution likely reduces moss nitrogen fixation rates. The moss would initially buffer the forest against the effect of nitrogen added as pollution or fertilizer; however, chronic elevated nitrogen inputs would ultimately eliminate this natural source of forest fertility. The feather moss-cyanobacterial association provides a unique model system in which to study nitrogen feedback mechanisms. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080529141435.htm 12) Some neighbours and local advocates are trying to protect a stand of long-standing trees from being logged within a small area adjacent to the TransCanada Trail on Sumas Mountain. The trees, estimated to be around 140 to 160 years old, are " survivors " and should be " cherished and protected, " said John Ratzlaff, 81, a long-time resident on Sumas Mountain. " This rare stand of trees has managed to stay strong and sturdy over the last hundred years, " said Ratzlaff. " They have survived the heat of forest fires and the threat of local logging and they deserve to be preserved. " On April 22 a group of about 10 people, including Ratzlaff, a couple representatives from the TransCanada Trail and the Central Valley Naturalists, joined together to see the trees and throw around some ideas for the logging area. " I would like to see the area protected as park land and it would be great to have it connected somehow to the TransCanada Trail, so it can be made accessible to the public, " said Ratzlaff. As a boy, Ratzlaff use to hike through the Sumas Mountain area regularly and has many fond memories of the giant Douglas firs and Western red cedars. " I would hate to see them be cut down. I want them to be there for the future generations to come. " Ratzlaff and others are just embarking on the beginning stages of discussion. " There is no real urgency, but we will all get together again to go over more, " said Rick Biller, owner of Kelle Brothers, who has a license to log Woodlot 45 - an area of around 400 hectares, which contains the area of trees in question. Lots were originally proposed for logging in that area this year, but due to local concerns he deferred them, said Biller, who also attended the April 22 meeting at the forest site. http://www.canada.com/abbotsfordtimes/news/story.html?id=3aa273ff-d83f-47ce-9e7a\ -4e5fb410e74a 13) The Ontario Forest Industry Association says the new Endangered Species Act (ESA) puts in motion a crippling process that will bring the forestry industry to its knees. The new ESA is a triumph of forward-looking legislation. Exemptions will only serve to undermine this achievement – a step backwards for all of us. The high Canadian dollar has eroded the profitability of exports, the newsprint market has been shrinking steadily as people use the Internet more, and the cost of transporting wood from forests to distant mills has skyrocketed. Observing the ESA can instead be viewed as an opportunity. The industry association can show true leadership by promoting environmentally responsible forest products, given the growing demand for paper with the highest possible recycled content and for FSC-certified wood, instead of sticking with a business-as-usual approach. Moreover, as signatories to the Kyoto accord and to the Convention on Biological Diversity, we have obligations to protect our wildlife that extend beyond provincial borders. Our boreal forest covers about 750,000 square kilometres of this province and only 5 per cent of it is currently protected. It plays a vital role for the wildlife that depends on it and as a defence against climate change. http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/431934 India: 14) A heated debate has been raging in Dhubri over a move to chop down the town's natural air-conditioners. Three giant sirish (rain trees), which environmentalists claim kept the town cool, have been chopped up and sold off by the now-defunct Western India Match Company (Wimco). Since the trees grew on the residential premises of the company, it deemed it within its rights to sell them off for funds. The company also plans to cut and sell off the remaining three trees — and this time it has got the goat of environmentalists who refuse to let go of the last three " natural air-conditioners " . These trees are known to retain moisture from the atmosphere and keep the surroundings cool. One of the environmentalists, Jahangir Hossain, said these giant trees had been the primary reason for a pollution-free Dhubri. When all their pleas failed, the environmentalists decided to move the forest department. Dhubri divisional forest officer H.R. Sarma said he had now asked the Wimco management to stop felling the trees. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080529/jsp/northeast/story_9332214.jsp Japan: 15) Vast beech forests in the Shirakami Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed natural site that straddles Akita and Aomori prefectures, could vanish by the end of this century due to global warming, according to researchers. The Environment Ministry commissioned 44 researchers from 14 institutes, including the National Institute for Environmental Studies and Ibaraki University, to conduct the study. The researchers estimated the possible impacts that higher air temperatures would have on forests, water resources, agriculture, coastal regions and human health. They used climate analysis models developed by Tokyo University's Center for Climate System Research and the Meteorological Agency. Based on the center's model, the study forecast the temperature would rise by 2.2 C from the present level during 2031-50 and 4.3 C during 2081-2100. The agency's model gave increases of 2 C and 2.6 C, respectively, for these periods. The university's model predicted natural beech forests will decrease from the current level by 56 percent during 2031-50, and by 93 percent during 2081-2100. The researchers predicted beech forests will remain only in Hokkaido and Honshu's mountainous areas. The Shirakami Mountains are home to one of the world's largest beech forests. However, these forests will decrease by 97.1 percent between 2031 and 2050 and vanish entirely after 2081, the study said, because the trees will be unable to adapt to the increase in temperature fast enough. " Our study has proved even a slight rise in air temperature could have a greater impact than believed. We have to think about long-term measures to counteract these changes, " said Ibaraki University Prof. Nobuo Mimura, who led the project. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080531TDY03103.htm Hawaii: 16) KANE'OHE — Workers cut down three large kiawe trees yesterday at the Yacht Club Knolls townhouse complex, but not before an effort by a 15-year-old boy to try to save one of the trees. Rinchen Harrison, a resident at the 86-unit complex on Kane'ohe Bay Drive, drew homemade signs and sat in front of one of the trees for less than an hour at midday before leaving, allowing workers to finish the job. " If they can do that, you don't know what's going to come down next, " said Harrison, a student at Le Jardin Academy. " That's like the whole beauty of where we live. It's the trees and the land. " Yacht Club Knolls' board of directors voted to remove the trees because of liability issues, said Debbie Gleason, the complex's property manager. The kiawe trees hung over the pool and their thorny branches fell in the playground where barefoot children play, Gleason said. http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080530/NEWS25/805\ 300381/1318/ LOCALNEWSFRONT Solomon Islands: 18) Tohibangu said that at least sixteen (16) companies have given notice to the Commissioner of Labour to lay off nearly three thousand five hundred (3500) workers as many foresee a rise in the cost of operation due to the increase in determined price for logs. He said that thirty-two (32) logging companies, including many of the country's major logging companies, are also protesting against the increase in the rate of the determined value of log exports. Tohibangu however, denies that loggers are planning to stock pile logs as part of plans to pressurize the Government over the new rates for the determined value of logs used in the calculation of export duties. Instead, he said, some of the loggers are threatening to close down over the issue. He said that the loggers are unhappy that government consultations with them were not yet concluded when the Government went ahead with the increase in the rates of determined price. The loggers are claiming that because the logging industry in Solomon Islands is relatively small compared to PNG, the Solomon Islands loggers had little choice but to adopt market prices determined by the PNG logging industry. http://www.solomontimes.com/news.aspx?nwID=1854 19) Logging companies have used the Solomon Islands as a fundraising point for their business. Very little investment apart from removing trees from tribal land is evident on the logged out areas notwithstanding agreements signed with landowners. Moreover, despite provisions in the Foreign Investment Act for instance, in terms of the minimum capital required to be brought in the country, such conditions are often not met. From search at the Registrar of Companies office it has been found by the Ombudsman's Office that a number of logging companies rarely bring in foreign capital the country. The only assets these companies bring into the country are the heavy machines and the intention to exploit the resources owners. The logging companies have capitalized on the majority of illiterate Solomon Islands population and a week legal fraternity. Financial institutions in the country mainly run by Australian, New Zealand interests are used to fund logging operations in the country. Land mainly in Honiara is used as collateral to secure mortgage based on the tribal (standing stock) on tribal land in the country. Solomon Islands labours are used to extract these resources with very low pay. Sometimes the logging operations are based on licensees who are clearly irregular. The Attorney General's Office must be on its feet to ensure that it takes on the initiative to protect citizens of the democratic sovereign state of Solomon Islands against the might of commercial interests. As Legal Officer of the Ombudsman's Office I also call on the Commissioner of Police, of the Solomon Islands Police force and the Participating Police force to ensure that specialists training is given to corruption and fraud units in the Solomon Islands Police Force. In particular, Postgraduate training in law, computing and finance/banking/economics and or other related business studies must be given to Solomon Islands in the fraud unit with good remuneration so that white collar crimes can be easily detected within a reasonable period of time. http://solomonstarnews.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=1639 & change\ =103 & change own=88 & Itemid=45 Indonesia: 20) Facts in Indonesia Forestry: 1) Indonesia encompasses the world's third largest rain forest, home to teak, mahagony, ebony, and other high-quality, high-demand timber. Tropical forests cover approximately 60% of the total land area. 2) Over the last five years, Indonesia's log production was million m3, 24.9 million m3 per annum. Since 1990, there have been 2 plywood and sawnwood plants, capable of processing 54.9 million m3 of log intake per year. 3) In 1979, the Indonesia Government restricted the export of raw logs to enhance the country's own timber processing industry. From 1980 to 1984, the export of raw logs fell from million m3 to 1.5 million m3 and by 1985, had ceased altogether. 4) Among Indonesia industrial exports, wood products were second only textiles as an earner of foreign exchange in 1993. 5) The export of processed wood products-consisting primarily of plywood, sawn timber, rattan products and wooden handicrafts-earned an estimated US $4.7 billion in 1993, up from US $4.18 billion in 1992. 6) Indonesia timber is also used for pulp and paper products. During the sixth Five-Year Plan, Repelita IV, annual production is expected to increase to 3.1 million tons for pulp and 4.1 million tons for paper, growing at a rate 22.5% a year. http://forestrystudent.blogspot.com/2008/05/indonesia-forest-management-and.html 21) INDONESIA and Malaysia have long denied that their tropical forests are being burned to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations. It seems they've been lying through their teeth. Between 1990 and 2005 palm plantations rocketed by 1.87 million hectares in Malaysia and by more than 3 million hectares in Indonesia. With the help of data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Lian Pin Koh at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and David Wilcove of Princeton University found that more than half the palm plantations came at the expense of forests - largely pristine, intact forest in Indonesia and previously logged forest in Malaysia. The rest of the expansion covered pre-existing cropland (Conservation Letters, DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2008.00011.x). The European Commission is drafting a law to ban imports of palm oil crops grown on intact tropical forests. But logged forests support nearly as much biodiversity as primary forests, say the researchers, and should also be protected. http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/life/endangered-species/mg19826582.9\ 00-tropical-fo rests-axed-in-favour-of-palm-oil.html New Zealand: 22) Stopping importation of illegally logged tropical kwila timber -- Labour promised six years ago to clamp down on such imports, because the Australian and New Zealand kwila decking and furniture trade was destroying rainforests on the island of Papua. Since that promise, importation of kwila is thought to have soared, not reduced, while unchecked large-scale rainforest destruction, including illegal logging, has continued. " In its 2002 manifesto, Labour promised it would 'work towards ensuring that only sustainably produced timber is imported into New Zealand', but it did nothing 'til we in the Greens ramped up our tropical timber campaign a year ago, " Dr Norman says. " Now the promises are much more specific but they are still promises. " The Government has suggested attempting international agreements with supplying countries, starting public education on Labour promised six years ago to clamp down on such imports, because the Australian and New Zealand kwila decking and furniture trade was destroying rainforests on the island of Papua. Since the promise, importation of kwila is thought to have soared, not reduced, while unchecked large-scale rainforest destruction, including illegal logging, has continued. " In its 2002 manifesto, Labour promised it would 'work towards ensuring that only sustainably produced timber is imported into New Zealand', but it did nothing 'til we in the Greens ramped up our tropical timber campaign a year ago, " Dr Norman says. " Now the promises are much more specific but they are still promises. " The Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry will do all it can to back-peddle on any proposed international agreements restricting kwila imports so as not to upset the preferential trade deal with China. " US Congress last month passed a law banning the importation of illegally logged timber and timber products. We should do the same here. " The Government has estimated up to 80 percent of illegally-sourced wood products sold in New Zealand is kwila. The kwila trade is one of the significant ways Australasia contributes to climate change. Australia and New Zealand take 60 percent of Papua New Guinea's sawn kwila http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0805/S00557.htm Australia: 23) Tasmania's forest industry is warning that the state's sawmill industry will be destroyed if Gunns' Tamar Valley pulp mill is not built. Gunns' chairman John Gay is looking for finance overseas, after the ANZ walked away from financing the $2 billion mill. The Forest Industries Association of Tasmania's Terry Edwards says the ANZ's decision is a setback, but he's sure finance can be found elsewhere. " I'm very confident that Gunns are determined to ensure that it is built in Tasmania, " Mr Edwards said. He says the forest industry will shrink significantly if the mill doesn't go ahead. " I'm of the belief that the sawmill industry in Tasmania would be decimated. " Mr Edwards says the industry needs a market for woodchips, which are the by-product of logging for high-quality sawlogs and veneer. Gunns' share price has fallen by one per cent today and groups opposed to the mill are vowing to lobby banks not to back the project. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/30/2260886.htm 24) From Sunday, all logging will be banned in the Otway Forest Park. Mayor Chris Smith says some logging workers still have not found other jobs. Councillor Smith says the transition from a logging economy to an eco-tourism economy is far from complete. " I think there still is a long way to go, " he said. " I do believe there are many of the issues that haven't been fully addressed that need to be addressed. " I don't know how you can take the number of employees that were working in the area out of the system and try to replace them with government funded people and that simply hasn't happened. " The Otway Ranges Environment Network says the end of logging in the Otways is a great milestone for the region. Network spokesman Simon Birrell says logging workers will not go empty-handed. " Back in 2002 the end of logging in the Otways was estimated to impact on 70 full-time equivalent jobs, " he said. " The State Government has allocated $2.7 million to work out compensation packages and I think most people are satisfied with compensation and payout packages. " http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/30/2259948.htm?site=ballarat 25) Despite being largely arid, Australia still contains relatively small areas of intact, unfragmented native forests which are vital for regional water, climate and wildlife. Unfortunately, large scale first time industrial logging and other clearing of these important ecosystems continues nationwide. The nation's few remaining natural forest ecosystems continue to face first time clearance including illegal land clearing and continued old-growth logging in New South Wales, tropical rainforest clearance for agriculture in Queensland, and logging of rare jarrah in the southwest's precious Gondwana forest remnants. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has ratified Kyoto, appears genuinely committed to global climate change policy, and speaks often of how Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the world must protect primary forests to solve global climate change. Yet in an act of unseemly doublespeak, the country that is perhaps most impacted by climate change continues to log its last centuries old trees found in ancient forest ecosystems vital for holding both carbon and water. Why is forest protection a good idea internationally but not for Australia's much reduced and climate impacted natural habitats? Australia's new government must be called upon to stop their hypocrisy and end logging of their own old growth forests as a keystone response to climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity and ecosystem sustainability. Australia's per capita greenhouse gas emissions are amongst the highest in the world and unsustainable lifestyles threaten the continent's fragile ecosystems. Australia is currently experiencing extreme drought, and continued soaring temperatures will result in failing water supplies, plummeting agricultural yields, rising sea levels, surging extreme weather including super cyclones and bushfires, and an influx of climate refugees. http://www.climateark.org/alerts/send.asp?id=australia_tasmania_climate 26) The Victorian government has signed a $5.5 million deal to buy back native forest in Gippsland's Strzelecki Ranges. The landmark deal will save more than 20,000 hectares of native forest from logging in the state's south-east. Environment Minister Gavin Jennings announced the agreement between the government and HVP Plantations. It follows an election promise to buy back the 8,000 hectare Cores and Links area, which was sold to HVP in 1998 by the former Kennett government. Under the deal, an additional 15,000 hectares of native forests surrounding the Cores and Links will also be protected. But a plantation of the same size within this area will be subject to a one-off harvest before being regenerated and placed in public ownership. Mr Jennings said the trade-off was necessary to save 460,000 cubic metres of timber being logged from native forests elsewhere in the HVP estate. " If no agreement had been reached, the native forest areas surrounding the Cores and Links would not have been offered permanent protection, " he said. HVP chief executive Linda Sewell said the in principle agreement would allow HVP to meet its contractual obligations with Australian Paper. A final agreement is expected to be signed around July. http://news.smh.com.au/national/forest-saved-from-logging-in-55m-deal-20080530-2\ juk.html Mediterranean Forests: 27) Prof. Phil Rundel was speaking during a visit this week to Israel. Rundel visited nature sites here and came away quite jealous. The variety of plant species he saw far exceeds what there is in California. The rich variety reinforced the message Rundel brought with him: Mediterranean ecosystems are more diverse, but are severely endangered. International awareness must be raised to work on saving them. Rundel, who visited as a guest of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), researches Mediterranean-climate ecosystems. Apart from California and the Mediterranean basin, there are three other areas classified as Mediterranean: central Chile, western Australia (in the vicinity of Perth and Adelaide) and the area around Cape Town. These areas are classified as such due to the similarity in geographic conditions and share a mild winter and a very hot summer. The small area he visited had hundreds of species of wildflowers. Israel's uniqueness recently also earned a notable ranking in the report on the status of the environment in the Mediterranean basin prepared by Eurostat, which gathers statistical information for the European Union. The report notes that in the Mediterranean basin, there are 25,000 species of flora; half of them have developed a unique ability to adapt to dry conditions and are not found in anywhere else in the world. According to this report, Israel has the largest number of plant species per square meter of all the countries in the Mediterranean basin. The report also highlights the large number of reptiles found in several Mediterranean countries, including Israel. So far 30,000 varieties of insects have been found in Israel. Rundel stresses that the tremendous plant diversity is typical of the entire Mediterranean region. " These areas represent just 2 percent of the earth's area, but they contain 16 percent of the plant species, " he noted. " One of the reasons for this is the considerable differences in climatic and topographic conditions in the entire Mediterranean region. These differences encourage the development of many different species. " In the Mediterranean region, humans have had a major impact on diversity. Shepherding and working the land caused numerous changes in the conditions in which plants develop and created new habitats with plants that adapted themselves to the scorching conditions. " In California there was no shepherding of cattle and sheep, and this is one of the reasons that there are fewer varieties of flora, " noted Rundel. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/988204.html World-wide: 28) Damage to forests, rivers, marine life and other aspects of nature could halve living standards for the world's poor, a major report is to conclude. Current rates of natural decline might reduce global GDP by about 7% by 2050. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) review is modelled on the Stern Review of climate change. It will be released at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Bonn, where 60 leaders have pledged to halt deforestation by 2020. " You come up with answers like 6% or 8% of global GDP when you think about the benefits of intact ecosystems, for example in controlling water, controlling floods and droughts, the flow of nutrients from forest to field, " said the project's leader Pavan Sukhdev. " But then you realise that the major beneficiaries [of nature] are the billion and a half of the world's poor; these natural systems account for as much as 40%-50% of what we define as the 'GDP of the poor', " he told BBC News. The TEEB review was set up by the German government and the European Commission during the German G8 presidency. The two institutions selected Mr Sukhdev, a managing director in the global markets division at Deutsche Bank, to lead it. At the time, in an article for the BBC News website, Germany's environment minister Sigmar Gabriel wrote: " Biological diversity constitutes the indispensable foundation for our lives and for global economic development. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7424535.stm 29) When you look to buying new furniture, do you ever consider it's carbon footprint? What comprises the carbon footprint of, say a couch? You have to consider each component of the couch from the wood for the frame to the metal for the springs, bolts and nuts to the foam for padding and the fabric that comprises the outer covering. The wood that comprises your furniture is most likely going to have the largest footprint of the components second only to the foam padding. If the frame is totally interior to the couch, it's more than likely going to be made of pine. Furniture with external wood showing is likely to be made of cherry, oak, teak, bamboo or walnut. Domestic woods (in the US) such as cherry, oak and walnut will have a lower footprint than teak or bamboo simply because the woods aren't transported as far and also because US methods of harvesting wood is fairly efficient. Woods that come from third world countries such as teak and bamboo not only have the distance transported comprising their footprint, but may also come from sources where human rights issues come into play. Some teak comes from Miranmar which has so much been in the news lately with the attempts by humanitarian aid groups to get aid supplies to those hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by the typhoon of nearly a month ago. And it's the deforestation caused by the harvesting of teak that created some of the terrain that contributed to the amount of devastation experienced by the Miramese people. Teak furniture is durable, beautiful and has many other properties that make it highly desirable. But at what cost to those who harvest it, to the countries that experience the issues surrounding deforestation of old growth forests. Before buying that lovely patio set, give a thought to those who are starving in Miranmar. http://eyespi20.com/whats-the-carbon-footprint-of-your-furniture 30) Ministers from nearly 60 nations pledged Wednesday on the sidelines of a UN biodiversity conference to support a global effort to halt deforestation by 2020. Top environment officials from every continent literally lined up to make the pledge, organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a highly influential environmental " Wildly successful " is how WWF International's director general James Leape described the event, even as more ministers straggled in after the deadline. " We expected 20 countries, but we got more than 50, " he told AFP. Deforestation has emerged as one of the most pressing -- and contentious -- issues at the United Nation's Conference on Biodiversity, a two-week conclave in Bonn of more than 6,000 representatives from 191 countries. The world's primary forests, especially in the tropics, are the richest repositories of plant and animal species anywhere on land. They also soak up at least 20 percent of the atmosphere's carbon dioxide -- acting as an essential sponge for the greenhouse gases that are heating up the planet. Every year more than 30 million hectares (74 million acres) of forest are lost to largely illegal logging and slash-and-burn agriculture, but agreement on how to halt the devastation has proved elusive. On Wednesday, several heads of state and nearly 100 ministers arrived in Bonn for a three-day " high level " meeting to boost flagging negotiations on how best to craft a new global deal on preserving Earth's wildlife. " The conservation of our forests is of primoridal importance, " German Chancellor Andrea Merkel told the assembly Wednesday. " The forests are the natural habitats of many species and the world's lungs. " http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jatSjCFZLQodSfJHHsM15kK332dQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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