352- Earth's Tree News

June 8, 2008

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In this issue:

BC & Canada

Asia-Pacific-Australia

World-wide

Index:

--British Columbia: 1) Bioenergy: Gov. makes lemon out of lemon aid,

2) Cherry Ridge community forest, 3) Gov lied about tree planting

promises, 4) Workers want forest land reserves to fend off Real Estate

mob, 5) Scavenging for rubbish amid the ruins,

--Canada: 6) No one is talking about how loggers caused the flood, 7)

Future management of Nova Scotia landscape, 8) 90% say: kick 'em out

of the Boreal, 9) Remote monitoring technology, 10) Clear-cutting a

waste of soil and money,

--Russia: 11) BBC Travels Siberia with forest destroyers

--India: 12) Propane or wood for fuel? 13) World Enviro Day a joke,

14) Buddha's tree,

--South East Asia: 15) Greenpeace regional director interviewed

--Philippines: 16) Nation's top musicians protest, 17) Boycotting food

from recently deforested farmland, 18) Is conservation a lost cause?

--Malaysia: 19) John Seed's Bird watching excursion uncovers horrible

devestation

--Indonesia: 20) Abuse of forest permit issuance, 21) AP & P building

massive logging highway, 21) Illegal logging linked to corruption NOT

administrative errors,

--Pacific Island forests: 22) Deforestation is devestating islands

--Hawaii: 23) 16,000 acres of Big Island forest are protected from development,

--Fiji: 24) National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan

--Solomon Islands: 25) Crystal clear water disappears around New Georgia Island

--Papua New Guinea: 26) More on disclosure of much greater deforestation rates

--New Zealand: 27) Septer Manufandu speaks out for Kwila trees

--Australia: 28) Superannuation funds must not be spent on pulp mill,

29) NSW's new forest director only knows logging and nothing else, 30)

Disgust of felling of Karri trees,

--World-wide: 31) We must raise our expectations of mainstream enviro

groups, 32) We're like a one year old finally turning two, 33) $78

billion in damages every year, 34) Corruption depriving developing

countries of their ability to develop,

British Columbia:

1) The B.C. government says it will be ready by July for bids from

bioenergy producers for the mountains of debris in B.C. forests not

being used now by sawmillers. The bids will be for a new form of

forest tenure aimed at utilizing waste wood and will coincide with a

B.C. Hydro call for proposals on large-scale bioenergy plants, Forests

Minister Rich Coleman said at a Prince George bioenergy conference

this week. The forests ministry estimates that in the Interior alone,

4.4 million cubic metres of wood a year is being left after loggers

leave. A cubic metre of wood is equivalent to a telephone pole. Most

of the waste wood is in the regions hit hardest by the mountain pine

beetle - the western Interior from Fort St. James in the north down to

Merritt in the south. Those regions are also well away from the

existing pulp and paper industry, which is now paying from $25 to $35

a cubic metre in transportation costs for dead pine logs hauled from

the bush to mills. The most economic way to get the waste to power

plants would be through overlapping forest tenures, where a bioenergy

producer piggy-backs on an existing forest licence, sharing harvesting

and transportation costs with the primary licensee, said David

Gandossi, chair of the B.C. Pulp and Paper Task Force. The pulp sector

had been concerned that the province's bioenergy plans, if not

co-ordinated with existing fibre users, could push up wood chip costs

for their plants. " Our industry believes the government gets it and

understands the issues, " Gandossi said Friday of the new tenures.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=c22c9476-5e4b-4fd4-a08b-39\

18ae3d98ce

2) CHERRYVILLE – The Province's invitation to the Cherry Ridge

Management Committee to apply for a Probationary Community Forest

Agreement will enhance long-term stewardship in the area,

Okanagan-Vernon MLA Tom Christensen announced today on behalf of

Forests and Range Minister Rich Coleman. " This agreement would allow

the management decisions of the forest on two Cherryville mountain

sides to be made in Cherryville, " said Christensen. " The committee

will be able to make decisions that affect the forest and the

community's environment, water and recreation options as well as

pursuing the economic and employment opportunities a community forest

provides. " The agreement would allow the committee to manage areas on

Cherry Ridge and Heckman Ridge that the community of Cherryville uses

as water sources, and also highly regards for recreation values and

wildlife habitat. The agreement would carry an initial five-year term,

and also grant the committee the right to harvest a total of up to

1,500 cubic metres of timber per year from the two areas. The Cherry

Ridge Management Committee has operated small-scale salvage licences

over the years to log beetle-killed and other dead timber and

voluntarily replanted areas. " The agreement would lead to forestry and

ecosystem management techniques and priorities that are favoured and

selected by area residents, " said Cherry Ridge Management Committee

president Wayne Cunneyworth. " The committee looks forward to the

long-term stability and stewardship a community forest will bring to

Cherry Ridge. " Community forest tenures are area-based, and give

communities exclusive rights to harvest timber, as well as the

opportunity to manage forest resources such as timber and plant

products, recreation, wildlife, water and scenic viewscapes.

http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2008FOR0094-000852.htm

3) The replanting of British Columbia's forests is falling behind

because of economic woes affecting industry and a funding lapse in the

government's reforestation program and unable to keep pace with the

voracious mountain pine beetle. Fewer trees will be planted next year

than at any time in the past two decades, even though the pine beetle

has ravaged vast tracts of land, the head of a tree planting

association says. In April, Premier Gordon Campbell and Forests and

Range Minister Rich Coleman also held a ceremony, near Kelowna, to

mark the planting of the six-billionth tree and highlight B.C.'s

reforestation efforts. " Planting the six billionth tree symbolizes our

approach to sustainable forest management. We have nearly as much

natural, diverse forest as we had 150 years ago, " Mr. Coleman said at

the time. " This year we had expected to plant around 260 million trees

based on the sowing requests. But a number of companies have since

cancelled or reduced their programs, so this year we are planting 250

million trees, which is more or less the average we've been doing

since the turn of the century, " said John Betts, executive director of

the Western Silviculture Contractors' Association. " Meanwhile, the

mountain pine beetle has just been eating away into the woods. So it

doesn't seem quite to line up, " said Mr. Betts, whose association

yesterday had ceremonial plantings around the province to celebrate

the six billionth seedling to go into the ground since reforestation

programs began in the 1930s.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080606.BCFORESTS06/TPStory/TP\

National/Briti

shColumbia/

4) An alliance of workers and environmentalists has called for a

forest land reserve in B.C. that will put private forest lands under

the same kind of protection from development as farmland. The United

Steelworkers Union and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee said

Tuesday that tens of thousands of hectares of B.C. forest lands are

coming under intense development pressure. An Agricultural Land

Reserve-style designation could prevent that, they said. The loss of

forest lands affects jobs and wilderness values -- clean drinking

water to animal habitat -- according to the two allies. " Those options

are off the table once you have residential development on the land, "

said Ken Wu, campaign director of the Wilderness Committee's Victoria

office. " We want a Dave Barrett-style Forest Land Reserve, something

like the Agricultural Land Reserve that would prevent the conversion

of lands under forestry use into lands for residential use. " Lands in

the ALR are subject to land-use and subdivision restrictions. It was

highly controversial when introduced in 1973 by the Dave Barrett NDP

government as a means of preventing prime farmland from being

converted to residential or industrial use. Now, the downturn in the

B.C. forest industry has led forest companies to re-examine their land

holdings in a search for a new stream of revenue. Selling land to

developers can provide that stream.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=ee6e5a03-daaa-4bd\

4-9c78-9c113702

e1eb

5) As the mountain pine beetle munches a devastating path through B.C.

forests, another blow for the down and out forestry industry,

governments and corporations are working on better ways to use the

dead wood in everything from furniture to energy production. West

Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (TSX:WFT) and Epcor Utilities said recently

they are contemplating building a power plant near Houston, B.C. that

could be fuelled by pine-beetle-killed wood. Pinnacle Pellet Inc. is

one of a handful of private B.C. companies that has started turning

shavings from beetle-affected wood into pellet fuel, a practice that

is popular in Europe and gaining recognition in North America. The

University of Northern British Columbia has received government

funding for a pilot project comparing beetle-wood pellets to natural

gas for fuel in terms of cost, productivity and emissions. Researchers

are also studying more X-ray style methods of looking inside the wood

to find other uses.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5isEFudLQtQCa3IblLWqVusB6FVRA

Canada:

6) People in New Brunswick should be sending letters of gratitude to

the forest decimating companies for our spring floods. Since the flood

of 2008, I have heard talk of possible causes, but not a word about

the most obvious - the clear cutting by the forest decimating

companies. It is a simple truth that for every action there is an

equal and opposite reaction. If one cuts down all of the trees, which

is a very unnatural thing, then that unnatural human action will, in

turn, produce a very natural reaction - that being massive floods. It

is our people's belief that creator's creation is sacred and perfect

as created, requiring no help from one of creator's creation (humans)

to " improve " upon her sacred creation. Our responsibility, as humans,

is to recognize and acknowledge the sacred and the perfection of

creator's creation. And to remember, honour, respect and protect

creator's creation. The reason that Euroman found the paradise on

Earth that is our homeland, is this worldview of the sacredness of

creator's creation. In order for things to begin to change for the

better, in terms of the self-destructive path humans find themselves,

there needs to be a revolution - revolution of the heart in which

humans begin to see themselves as being part of Creator and part of

her sacred creation. Not separate, not divided but whole and complete,

all possessing the power of creator to create or destroy. --Dan Ennis,

Tobique First Nation, Tobique, N.B.

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/318842

7) The hearings on the future management of most of Nova Scotia as a

physical entity – its forests, parks, mines and general ecology – have

ignited something. They're drawing crowds the way travelling hearings

usually don't. I was at the Yarmouth gathering this week, one of 26

across the province, where some 150 people showed up – complaining

that if it had been better publicized, a lot more would have come. The

meeting was in the hands of pleasant volunteers with the arm's-length

provincial agency Voluntary Economic Planning (VEP), and everyone on

all sides had their say without raised voices. I mention this because

it counts as progress, in itself, in a province where even calm talk

about forest management has been extremely scarce. Remember that

ecology groups fought a long battle just to get VEP to run these

hearings instead of the Department of Natural Resources. The DNR has

administered a decades-old policy of industrial forestry that has

reduced this province to one long clearcut with only a few accidental

stands of old forest still standing, worse economic outcomes than most

other provinces, and has largely lost public confidence. Just getting

this little bit of the process out of DNR's clammy hands caused the

MacDonald government some headaches. At the Yarmouth meeting, someone

– obviously not up to speed – asked: " Where's DNR? " The moderator

explained that they weren't here, in order to avoid an

" us-versus-them " situation. That is, with DNR there, the reasonable

tone in the room would have disappeared. It happened last time there

was such an exercise, about a decade ago. At that time, I attended a

meeting in Sackville, where we were jammed into a small room. DNR

field people took a barrage of hostile policy questions that only

their superiors could have properly answered, and with a long line of

angry questioners still standing, shut down the meeting because " we

only hired the hall until 8 o'clock. "

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Columnists/1060693.html

8) Nine in ten Canadians with voting intentions across all party lines

support greater protection of the Canadian Boreal Forest, according to

a new national poll conducted by McAllister Opinion Research for the

Canadian Boreal Initiative. " Like the Boreal itself, Canadians think

big. They overwhelmingly view this part of the country as a national

treasure, and believe that more than half should be protected from

industrial development, " said Larry Innes, the Executive Director of

the Canadian Boreal Initiative. " The poll results demonstrate that the

public strongly supports Boreal protection, and they are using it as a

yardstick by which to measure government environmental performance, "

added Innes. The results revealed that 87% of respondents are

concerned about the threats posed by industrial development, and 69%

do not accept the argument that protecting the Boreal is ineffectual

in the face of forest fires and pests such as the pine beetle. In

fact, respondents overwhelmingly championed increased protection for

Canada's Boreal Forest. When asked to recommend how much of Canada's

Boreal Forest should be protected from industrial development, the

average response across voting preferences was 67%, with Conservative

voters giving an average response of 61% and Liberals voters 69%.

Currently, only 10% of Canada's Boreal Forest is permanently

protected. Last year, over 1,500 leading scientists recommended that

at least half of Canada's Boreal Forest be protected. Over the past

year, the Governments of Canada and the NWT have set aside nearly

140,000 square kilometres of Boreal Forest in the Northwest

Territories for new protection. This is one of the largest areas of

wilderness ever protected in Canadian history and one of the greatest

conservation achievements in North America. When provided with this

information, close to 70% of respondents said that this action would

have a positive impact on their perception of the federal government,

with nearly 90% of respondents wanting to see more protection

initiatives. Additional areas have been nominated for protection

across the Boreal Forest.

http://www.thegreenpages.ca/portal/ca/2008/06/canadians_strongly_favour_bore.htm\

l

9) Have you ever wondered what happens in the rainforest when no one

is looking? University of Alberta's Faculty of Science may soon be

able to answer that question. The departments of computing science and

earth and atmospheric science have been working together to create a

Wireless Sensor Network that allows for the clandestine data

collection of environmental factors in remote locations and its

monitoring from anywhere in the world where the Internet is available.

The research team, including Pawel Gburzynski, Mario Nascimento, and

Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa, recently launched EcoNet, a functional model

of a WSN for environmental monitoring in the display house in the

University of Alberta's Agriculture/Forestry Centre. The display house

hosts a small but feature-rich environment that mimics that of a

tropical forest. Using a WSN, a number of sensors can continuously

monitor factors like temperature and luminosity and will process,

store and transmit data co-operatively and wirelessly with other

sensors to generate data that can then be collected and made available

to users virtually anywhere on the globe. The sensors represent a

technology for researchers to monitor diverse phenomena continuously

and inconspicuously. The opportunities these sensors will provide to

scientists are paramount in a global environment that is changing at

an ever-increasing pace. Once the display-house prototype is tested

and customized, at least two sites are to be fully deployed in the

fall, one likely in the Brazilian rainforest, and the other in a

forest in Panama. The project has been made possible by close

collaboration with Olsonet Communications Corporation in Ottawa, which

has implemented the WSN nodes and supported the project since its

inception. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080604165554.htm

10) The root systems and associated plant cover, so important to

holding the soils on these fragile rocky slopes, is being removed.

Once the soils are gone, the centuries-old cycle of soil-building will

stop. Mother Nature will have a difficult time restarting the process.

What a waste. Do the Ministry of Natural Resources managers and

responsible company foresters truly believe that by eroding the

hillside and streaming the nutrient riches into the valley bottoms

that forest sustainability can be ensured? What about all the other

natural resources that used and/or inhabited those sites? I have been

a logging contractor for about 40 years. Knowing that clear cutting

was damaging to sites, we understood that careful logging was

necessary to ensure that harvesting could again be done in the

foreseeable future. This kind of environmentally sound harvesting can

still be done. But with today's harvesting practices, the emphasis is

on the need for large heavy equipment. One feller-buncher can destroy

10 acres of trees in one day and provide jobs for only three people.

Only one harvest of timber products could be realized during an 80- to

100-year rotation. The net volume of timber harvested under a careful

logging scenario would yield at least twice as much timber as the

one-shot removed-all process. Furthermore, the timber from the

partial-harvesting method would be of higher quality, and therefore

command a significantly higher return. So, why do our government

officials allow these destructive harvesting practices on our lands,

where the forest are really ours, the people of Ontario? Perhaps if

more control over harvesting practices had been exercised, our weather

patterns and global warming would not be such a concern.

http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1060881

Russia:

11) Jonathan Dimbleby's BBC 'Russia' programme, recording his travels

through the vast country of Russia is fascinating. Last night he

headed east into Siberia. Part of this trip showed loggers at work in

the huge forests, using their machines to fell the trees. In 2007

'Boreal Boris' and his team felled 750,000 trees from this part of the

Tomsk forest. 'A ferocious destruction,' according to Professor

Kirpotkin. At a logging camp outside Tomsk 'Boreal Boris' explains, 'I

love the forest … but the forest has to be cut.' But professor of

biology Sergey Kirpotkin (beside him) says, 'We are facing an

ecological disaster'. Siberia constitutes about 20% of the total world

forested area and nearly 50% of the total world coniferous-forested

areas. The coniferous species are the dominant species throughout

Siberia. Pine is the main species in west Siberia and in other regions

larch dominates, being the most common tree. The machines above take

just seconds to take out a tree. The men work continuously. Learn more

about Russian deforestation.

http://environmentdebate.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/russians-wipe-out-forests-with\

-no-replacement

-policy/

India:

12) Environment Minister Jayant Malaiya distributed gas stoves and

cylinders to 93 members of Gram Van Samitis of Imliya Ghat, Jamuniya

Parewa, Suhela, Majha (Manka), Kankar, Chirai Manka and Patna (Raja)

villages at function organised by Forest Department on the occasion of

World Environment Day at village Imliya Ghat in Damoh district.

Speaking on the occasion, Malaiya said that life depends on forests

and it would come to an end it forests were destroyed. He exhorted the

people to conserve forests for preservation of life. He said that

forests have been cut but new plantations have not been undertaken.

Water has been drawn by sinking bores at innumerable places but no

efforts have been made to conserve water. Bundelkhand, Vindhya and

Mahakaushal are in the throes of drought. The government can

distribute money. But even one hundred drops of water cannot be made

to fall down on earth by spending Rs 100 crore. He expressed concern

on the spectre on dwindling fuel resources. He patted the Forest

Department for its efforts to inspire members of Van Samitis to adopt

alternative sources of energy.

http://www.centralchronicle.com/20080608/0806021.htm

13) While debates and seminars would be held across the state to

symbolize the World Environment Day Thursday, the dying water bodies

and vandalized forests as usual would continue to crave for practical

steps by the authorities. Where the day would begin with usual

official speeches stressing the importance of environment, it would

end up like any other day making no difference on the ground. If

experts are to be believed, all the lakes of the Valley including the

once sparkling Dal and Asia's largest freshwater lake, Wular, are in

last throes. Though measures were initiated for their restoration, but

they were aborted half-way mainly due to political pressure,

corruption and lack of commitment. One of the glaring examples of

government's cold attitude towards conservation of environment is the

transfer of 800 kanals of forest land in Baltal to the Shri Amaranth

Shrine Board (SASB), despite stiff opposition by the

environmentalists. Reports state the Board plans to construct hutments

and lavatories for the pilgrims in the fragile zone. Environmentalists

believe it would wreak havoc on the fragile environs and disturb the

wild animals. Reports state that the extensive felling of trees in

connivance with some unscrupulous officials is going on war footing in

higher reaches of north and south Kashmir. But no effort has been made

to stop the destruction of the green gold.

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=5_6_2008 & ItemID=42 & cat=1

14) The Sri Maha Bodhi or sacred Bo tree in Anuradhapura is apparently

taken from a cutting of the original Figus Religiosa where Buddha

attained enlightenment. It is the oldest historically authenticated

tree in the world for it has been tended by an uninterrupted

succession of guardians for over 2,000 years, even during periods of

foreign occupation. Today it is difficult to get close to the tree

which stands on a platform in a temple complex. Firstly there is the

security situation. Terrorists have targeted sacred sites in the past

and rather disconcertingly for what is meant to be a spiritual

experience, it is necessary to be frisked and have your bag checked

before entering. Then there are the constant stream of pilgrims coming

to make offerings or simply to meditate near the holy tree. Squeezing

past school children bearing lotus flowers or old ladies reading from

sacred texts to catch a glimpse of what looked like a perfectly

ordinary tree, I was soon caught up in typical temple confusion. Even

after 12 weeks in Sri Lanka I have struggled to understand Buddhism or

at least the complex rituals around " auspicious times " . A weekend trip

to the ancient cities in the north of the country helped a little.

Cycling around Polonnaruwa, the royal capital of Sri Lanka over a

thousand years ago, it is possible to get an idea of the glittering

dynasty that once ruled the land.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/06/06/easrilanka106.\

xml

South Eat Asia:

15) Von, who is now executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia,

tirelessly promotes and advocates environmental protection. His eye

opener, or what he claims as " his baptism of fire " , was the 1991 Ormoc

tragedy in Leyte province, where more than 8000 lives have perished

due to flooding from the abnormal rainfall and landslides brought

about by deforestation. Then a Green Coalition volunteer, he traveled

to the province to participate in relief efforts. After seeing the

harrows and despair of the victims, Von vowed to take a step further

and become a stauncher ally of the environment. In this Greater Good

Philippines interview, Von Hernandez talks about how he has become a

volunteer for the environment and how his family, children especially,

play their roles in pushing him further particularly in turbulent and

challenging times. Von also mentions having hope despite all the bleak

signs. " This is the important message, our forecast is bleak but after

the heavy rain, out comes the sunshine. " All these and more only on

Greater Good Philippines. Listen to the interview here:

http://www.podango.com/podcast_episode/2641/76132/Greater_Good_Philippines/Von_H\

ernandez__Exec

utive_Director_of_Greenpeace_Southeast_Asia

http://bp3.blogger.com/_lgrG2xMG3Gs/SEObSlQcKVI/AAAAAAAAB8s/q9ctr5AQHJA/s1600-h/\

borneo_defore

station_map.jpg

Philippines:

16) An environmentalist group has gathered some of the country's top

musicians for a different protest against the continued destruction of

the country's environment -- an album launch. On Wednesday, a day

before World Environment Day on June 5, the Center for Environmental

Concerns-Philippines (CEC) will launch the album " Rapu-Rapu Atbp:

Taghoy ng Kalikasan " (Rapu-Rapu and Others: Lament of Nature).

Inspired by the island of Rapu-Rapu in Albay, where conflict continues

over an Australian-owned mining operations, the album will be launched

at the 70's Bistro along Anonas Street in Quezon City. " Rapu-Rapu

Atbp: Taghoy ng Kalikasan " contains songs by Geneva Cruz, Aiza

Seguerra, Bayang Barrios, Coffeebreak Island, and Cooky Chua, among

others. " The songs in the collection speak about the current state of

the Philippine environment: how our forests have been laid bare by

logging, how our mountains and islands have been turned into

wastelands by mining, how the access to natural resources such as

water, have become restricted to…a few, " CEC executive director

Frances Quimpo said in a statement. The two main themes of the album

are deforestation and mining. Rampant deforestation, brought by

logging operations by foreign and local firms have resulted to " only

5.4 million hectares of mostly secondary-growth forests are left,

covering less than 18% of the total land area in 2003, " Quimpo said.

CEC also blamed the Mining Act of 1995 for " large-scale and mostly

foreign-controlled mining projects on the environment, " resulting to

almost 40% of the country's land area being converted to mining.

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/breakingnews/breakingnews/view/20080603-1404\

80/Music-stars-i

n-CD-vs-rape-mining-deforestation-in-RP

17) Environmentalists of Benguet are mounting a boycott of salad

vegetables grown on farms that have displaced some of the province's

vital mossy forest cover. Kenneth Kelcho, curator of the Kabayan

museum that hosts the region's only mummies, said gardens have again

sprouted around Luzon's second highest peak, Mt. Pulag, destroying

forests that serve the watershed lakes around Benguet and Ifugao.

Kelcho started the campaign using text messages: " Dear friends and

fellow environmentalists. Let us stop buying products taken from the

wild and from our watersheds. Let us boycott them, including the

vegetables coming from our Mt. Pulag watershed. " " They [have been]

clearing the mossy forests and mountain lakes in Barangay Tabeo and

Balay in Kabayan town; Barangay Amlimay in Buguias; [and] Barangays

Eheb and Impugon in Tinoc town, Ifugao. " The Department of Environment

and Natural Resources (DENR) had anticipated that opportunists would

take advantage of the food crisis by destroying more forests to build

new farms. The Inquirer documented once such activity in May at Tabeo.

Unhindered by the daylight, 10 people burned a chuck of the forest and

uprooted the surviving trees or the burned stumps.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20080606-141017/Boyc\

ott-of-veggies-

grown-in-mossy-forests-launched

18) Is conservation in the Philippines a lost cause? We review current

conservation efforts in the Philippines, considering the actions of

academics, field researchers, local communities, nongovernmental

organizations, the government, and other sectors of society.

Remarkably, however precarious the present situation may seem, there

have been some recent positive gains and signs of hope. Although there

is no room for complacency, we conclude that the diversity of

available indicators suggests that conservation in the Philippines,

against many odds, shows signs of success, and thus deserves greater

attention and increased investment. Keywords: conservation,

indicators, biodiversity, Philippines, Southeast Asia. The loss and

degradation of tropical ecosystems throughout the planet are

threatening numerous species with extinction and thereby driving a

biodiversity crisis with serious consequences for human well-being. In

Southeast Asia, the threat is greatest where human populations are

dense, impoverished, and rapidly increasing (Sodhi et al. 2004). The

Philippines exemplifies this critical situation. It is one of the most

biologically rich regions in the world, with exceptionally high levels

of endemism for a country of its size. Nearly half of its

approximately 1100 terrestrial vertebrates are unique to the islands,

and estimates of endemism for vascular plants range from 45% to 60%

(Heaney and Mittermeier 1997). The archipelago is also a center of

nearshore animal diversity, most notably of corals, reef fish, marine

snails, and lobsters (Roberts et al. 2002, Carpenter and Springer

2005). However, widespread environmental destruction has made this

unique and megadiverse biota one of the most endangered in the world.

The country is repeatedly cited as a global conservation priority-a

top hotspot for both terrestrial and marine ecosystems-and there are

fears that it could be the site of the first major extinction spasm

(Heaney and Mittermeier 1997, Myers et al. 2000, Roberts et al. 2002).

Exploitation of many vital habitats has brought the Philippines to the

brink of ecological ruin. The archipelago was once almost completely

covered by forest, but the harvesting of timber and agricultural

expansion during the Spanish colonization, followed by rapid and

extensive commercial logging in the 20th century (Kummer 1992, Bankoff

2007), reduced forest cover to less than a quarter of the land area.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1415788/hope_for_threatened_tropical_biodiv\

ersity/

Malaysia:

19) We have written this " postcard from the forest " to try and convey

an understanding of the consequences behind the actions and decisions

we as individuals make. Here are some images I took yesterday (1st

June 2008). We were supposed to go to this well-known forest reserve

to look for a particular species of bird known to be present there,

but when we arrived, we were greeted with this heart-stopping sight.

Sights like this are not uncommon in Malaysia. Much of the forest in

South-east Asia, Africa and South America has already succumbed to

such ill treatment to fuel our personal demands for timber products,

and the use of products grown on the converted land. This timber is

often used for: 1) Furniture (Tables, Chairs, Dining sets, beds

etc...) 2) Housing materials (Doors, Window frames, Flooring) 3)

Construction materials (plywood, roofing, pallets, etc.) Once denuded,

the land is converted into agricultural based businesses. In the case

of Malaysia/Indonesia/Thailand, the land will be converted into a

monoculture (single species) by planting oil palm trees. Millions of

hectares of oil palm plantations are now in operation throughout

Southeast Asia, fueling the demand for edible oils and bio-fuels. The

oil palm tree is not native to Southeast Asia, it is an introduced

species. Therefore, no animals or plants can adapt to this

environment. There is nothing that feeds or lives in these vast

estates except for rats, snakes and domesticated livestock grazing on

the grass. Other forests around the world have been cleared for soya

plantations, livestock pastures, sugar, coffee, tobacco farming, and

so on. With over 6 billion mouths to feed, the demand for food has

never been greater, and the land required to fulfill these

requirements keeps increasing in area... to the detriment of the

forests.

http://magickriver.blogspot.com/2008/06/postcard-from-rainforest-by-john-and.htm\

l

Indonesia:

20) The court trying Pelalawan Regent Tengku Azmun Jaafar on

corruption charges heard from more witnesses Friday of the regent's

" abuse of power " in issuing forest resource utilization permits.

Tengku Zuhelmi, the former head of the local forestry agency,

testified that Azmun had asked him to pass recommendations needed for

the issuance of authorization letters to four companies. Government

regulations require recommendations from local forestry agencies and

environmental management agencies prior to a regent approving any

request for a forest resource utilization permit. " I received an order

from the regent to sign the recommendations. I eventually did so,

knowing the companies were linked to him, " said Zuhelmi, who is a

distant relative of Azmun's. Prosecutors from the Corruption

Eradication Commission (KPK) have charged Azmun with abuse of

authority for personal benefit. He is accused of issuing authorization

letters to 15 companies for the utilization of more than 120,000

hectares of forest in Pelalawan, Riau, causing Rp 1.2 trillion (US$128

million) in losses to the state.

http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20080607.H04 & irec=3

21) An investigative report released today by World Wildlife Fund

revealed that paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and its affiliates

are in the process of constructing a massive highway for logging

vehicles that threatens one of Indonesia's most important forests. The

highway, described by WWF in the report as being " legally

questionable, " would cut an enormous swath through one of Sumatra's

last remaining large forest blocks, home to two tribes of indigenous

people and endangered elephants, tigers and orangutans. With more than

250 mammals and bird species, the Bukit Tigapuluh Forest Landscape in

central Sumatra contains some of the richest biodiversity on Earth. It

is also the location of a successful project to reintroduce

orangutans, which now reside in an area currently proposed for

protected status but that is already being cleared by APP-affiliated

companies. " APP shows a total disregard for the ecosystem in their

quest for cheap sources of raw materials, " said Adam Tomasek, Director

of WWF's Borneo and Sumatra Program. " Their customers around the globe

should demand that they responsibly manage these forests to protect

the wildlife and people that rely on them. " Construction on the

highway, which would allow logging trucks easier access to APP's pulp

mills in Jambi Province, took place after APP's forestry operations in

neighboring Riau Province were halted in 2006 due to a police

investigation of illegal logging. APP partners have cleared about

50,000 acres of natural forest in the Bukit Tigapuluh landscape and

some of the clearing appears to be in violation of Indonesian law.

http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2008/WWFPresitem4905.html

21) Forestry activists have warned of a sharp increase in the national

deforestation rate if the government fails to deal with overlapping

permits issued for forest concessions and industrial timber forests.

Greenomics Indonesia's latest study found about 18.4 million hectares

of forest concession areas and production forest had mostly been

occupied by plantation and mining companies thanks to permits issued

by regents. " It is an illegal practice. The regents have no right to

issue permits for plantation companies to operate or occupy forest

concession and industrial areas. Only the Forestry Ministry can do

that, " Greenomics national coordinator Vanda Mutia Dewi told The

Jakarta Post on Monday.The government has allocated a total of 60.91

million hectares for forest concessions or for production forests.

" With the overlapping permits, illegal occupation of the forest

concession areas and industrial forests will contribute more to the

national deforestation rate than illegal logging practices, " she said.

The Forestry Ministry has to change the status of forest concession

areas and industrial forests before licenses can be awarded to

plantation firms to dig up the forests, she said. Greenomics found the

overlapping permits occurred mostly in Kalimantan and Sumatra. " About

80 percent of 18.4 million hectares of concessions and industrial

forests has been deforested in Kalimantan and Sumatra. In Kalimantan

alone, deforestation has reached 8.16 million hectares, " she said. In

Sumatra, more than 6.04 million hectares of production forest have

been illegally occupied by other parties, including plantation

companies. " We found that a plantation company operating in East

Kalimantan obtained a permit from a regent to occupy an area for which

the ministry had issued an industrial production license, " she said.

Greenomics also discovered 1.4 million hectares of production forests

in West Kalimantan had been turned into plantation areas. In Riau,

about 845,000 hectares of production forests have been illegally

occupied and repurposed for plantation and agricultural use.

http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20080603.H04 & irec=3

22) Forestry Minister MS Kaban said judicial officials should treat

illegal logging as corruption case because the practice causes losses

to the state. " I hope illegal logging will be classified as corruption

because it causes losses to the state. So far, judges always link

illegal logging to technical and administrative matters. This is not

right because illegal logging causes losses to the state, " the

minister said on the sidelines of a function to observe National

Environment Day at the State Palace here on Thursday.He said trees in

state forests were all state assets so that if they were stolen the

state would suffer losses. That`s why such a case should be handled

like a criminal corruption case. " Judges should change their

perception by linking illegal logging with state losses, " the minister

added. Besides illegal logging, the confiscation of such logs must

also be supervised with a corruption criminal approach because the

auction of confiscated logs often did not meet the target set by the

government. " I agree with the idea of the Indonesian Corruption Watch

(ICW) that there were potential state losses if logs are auctioned

with proceeds different from the target set by the government, " the

minister said.

http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2008/6/5/illegal-logging-must-be-treated-as-corru\

ption/

Pacific Island forests:

22) A devastating environmental issue facing many Pacific Island

countries is deforestation, says Department of Environment Director

Epeli Nasome. He says it is an issue countries with big areas of

forest cover like Papua New Guinea, the Solomons and Fiji face. He

says this is not so much the case in smaller coastal areas such as

Kiribati, Niue and Tuvalu. Mr Nasome says the environment plays a

crucial role in the functions of daily life. This is not only because

of our dependency on the environment for food, water and shelter but

also because of the vast opportunities the environment is linked to.

Deforestation has been an ongoing environmental issue and the need for

more awareness on this environmental hazard is very important. In its

simplest term, deforestation is the removal of forest trees for

various reasons normally done by man. Some of these reasons include

the cutting of forest trees for commercial and development needs or

for subsistence use like firewood or to build a house. Whatever the

reasons for deforestation, the matter is of serious concern not only

for government but also for people concerned with the state of the

environment. Mr Nasome says deforestation is considered an

environmental problem by the department especially if the removal of

trees in an area is undertaken without any control or management plans

that would ensure the natural state of the area is maintained. He says

the natural environment is at its most stable state if man does not

invade the area for development activities.

http://redapes.org/news-updates/the-pacific-islands-and-deforestation/

Hawaii:

23) Another 16,000 acres of important Big Island forest are safe from

hotel and housing development, officials said. The U.S. Forest Service

and the state announced a deal Friday to keep the area pristine for

future generations. About 9,000 acres of native forest above

Kealakekua Bay are among the lands to be preserved. John and Gussie

Pace bought the property four years ago to rescue it from a Japanese

company planning to develop a golf course and 500 homes. The Federal

Forest Legacy program offered $4 million to partner with the Paces to

save the forest. " We have been conservationists throughout our lives.

It means a great deal to us to improve everything we do, " John Pace

said. About 3,000 acres in Kona will also be preserved through a deal

worked out with Cynthia Salley of the McCandless Ranch. " These are

private landowners who have said that the preservation of these lands

is more important than any profit they can make off of them, and I

think they deserve a tremendous amount of credit for making that

decision, " State Land Board Chairwoman Laura Thielen said. Another

4,000 acres at Honomalina in Kona will be protected in partnership

with the Nature Conservancy. The conservancy said it is already there

restoring native koa trees. " When you give it the opportunity, koa

regenerates very quickly. If you give the koa seed bank a chance to

break through, you really get wonderful koa regeneration, " Hawaii

Nature Conservancy Director Suzanne Case Said. Landowners offering to

preserve their forest land get hefty tax breaks.

Conservation officials said they hope other land owners will embrace

the effort. http://www.kitv.com/news/16535017/detail.html

Fiji:

24) A devastating environmental issue facing many Pacific Island