Guest guest Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 --Today for you 33 new articles about earth's trees! (354th 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 issue: EU-Africa-Mid-East Latin America Index: --UK: 1) Carved tree trunks take over streets, 2) It's not logging, it's just coppicing, --Germany: 3) Petrified tropical forest dug up --France: 4) Chirac lauches website / campaign --Sweden: 5) Loggers think there are still trees to harvest --Africa: 6) New Atlas: shock waves of well-documented devastation, 7) Twice as fast, --Sierra Leone: 8) Waiting to know what happens from export ban lifting --Nigeria: 9) Gov responsible for deforestation --Ivory Coast: 10) Global consumer products company poised to destroy it all --Pakistan: 11) More stumps, misappropriated money and no seedlings, 12) Heat-zone, --Afghanistan: 12) Illegal timber industry a threat --Suriname: 13) Broader strategy to protect the world's biodiversity --Paraguay: 14) WWF celebrates gov for only cutting 8 ½ of every 10 trees? --Bolivia: 15) 3.7-million-acre national park in northeastern Bolivia --Guatemala: 16) Collapse of Mayan culture --Amazon: 17) Summary / Wealth of biodiversity so immense we can't even estimate it --Brazil: 18) 433 sq. miles cleared in one month! 19) Restoration in only 65 years? 20) Cattle confiscation drive planned, 21) Selective logging finally documented and it doubles deforestation estimates, 22) New enviro-minister goes after the least significant cause of deforestation, 23) New enviro-minister says even more rainforest will have to be cut down, 24) Three new protected reserves, 25) World will have no political authority in Brazil? 26) More on the lost tribes of the Peru-Amazon border, 27) Anti-hunger program to be funded by confiscations, 28) More on April's deforestation record, 29) Con-servationist fined £137 million for illegally cutting down Amazon rainforest, 30) Con-servationist claims fine is wrong and will go take it to court, 31) Ecological Farmers of the Amazon, --Dry Tropical Forests: 32) Summary --World-wide: 33) REDD is so complicated it may never get off the ground Articles: UK: 1) Tourism London which is about to launch an online guide to the growing number of carved tree trunks springing up across the Forest City as London is implementing its public art policy. Mike Harris, the tourist attracting agency's manager of membership and communications, has been tasked with creating an online directory – or Tree Trunk Tour – by July 1. " Tourism London felt there was an interest in developing a tourist product with a concentration of products or tree carvings downtown, " Mr. Harris says. Adds John Winston, general manager of Tourism London: " It's a symbolic approach to a characteristic public art that we've been involved in. The key is to take some nice photos and put them in a format that people enjoy. " That good news story was discovered trying to track down a comprehensive list of London's public art. The search began with Robin Armistead, cultural office with the City of London who also suggested Museum London, noting that the office supported, but did not maintain that information at present. Considering that she is the only city staff member tasked with looking after London's estimated $400 million cultural industry compared to the London Economic Development Corporation's staff of 11, it's easy to see why that list wasn't readily available. So where is our public art is located. Seems like a simple enough question until you attempt to define public art and for our purpose, The Londoner selected outdoor publicly accessed sculpture. It's an important distinction because what was once public, like the inside of the Provincial Courthouse where security now regularly restricts access, or the University of Western Ontario that has taken to locking doors for security reasons also, has changed the definition of public. Then there are other considerations like who is the artist, is it high or folk art or a community project or in the case of Victoria Park, monuments and memorials. There's the numerous works by Fanshawe students on display at Zubick's Scrap Metal on Clarke Rd. – are they art or a great marketing tool? Consensus is often difficult and subjective to name just a few of the obstacles. http://www.thelondoner.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1067163 & auth=Ben+Benedict 2) The firm's owner Jason Scarlett says angry people have come into the shop and accused him of chopping down woodland. " But we are not cutting down trees, the word is coppicing, " Mr Scarlett says. " And if we don't coppice it, it is bad for the woodland. " The traditional method of coppicing involves cutting down trees in a way that encourages regrowth. And that is important to Mr Scarlett, an unlikely environmentalist who began his working life putting up scaffolding around oil rigs in Malaysia. " Even though I learnt my trade working in the fossil fuel industry, I saw the decimation that was going on due to logging in Sarawak [in Malaysia], " he says. The Solid Fuel Association estimates that sales of wood burning stoves have risen by 30% in the last 12 months alone. Many have made the choice for environmental reasons. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7439542.stm Germany: 3) An unusual excavation is underway in the eastern German city of Chemnitz, one which conjures up hard-to-believe images of the time when the area was covered by tropical rainforest. A team led by researchers from Chemnitz's Museum for Natural History has been excavating a 290-million-year-old petrified prehistoric forest in the city's Hilbersdorf district since April. Now they have found the first preserved trees. " We have found four vertically standing and two prone gymnosperm trunks to date, " said excavation leader Ralph Kretzschmar in a statement released by the museum Tuesday. Gymnosperms are a group of plants whose seeds are not enclosed within plant tissue, such as modern-day conifers or cycads. The team has already found traces of further trunks, Kretzschmar said: " It would therefore be accurate to say that we are excavating a forest. " The researchers are already able to make estimates regarding the density of the former rainforest, which was buried under a thick layer of ash following a volcanic eruption 290 million years ago. The volcanic ash helped to petrify the wood, with the lack of oxygen preserving the trees' cells. One of the researchers' most interesting finds is a small branch which had broken off a tree. To the experts' surprise, the wood turned out to have an unsual structure, exhibiting a malignant growth like those which can be seen today on sick trees. Researchers believe the growth could be evidence of a fungus infection or a pathological reaction of the wood, which could have killed the tree before it was buried under the volcanic ash. " This could be a key find, " said museum director Ronny Rössler. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,559006,00.html France: 4) Former president Jacques Chirac of France puts aside his legal troubles and returns to the public eye this week to launch his foundation for sustainable development and cultural diversity. Surrounded by friends like the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammad Yunus and former president Abdou Diouf of Senegal -- all members of the foundation's honorary committee -- Chirac inaugurates the foundation in Paris on Monday. The 75-year-old former president will unveil a first batch of development projects for Africa and plans to travel abroad, including a trip to China that was delayed after he underwent a pacemaker operation in April. " In the face of major world challenges, I still want to fight, " Chirac said in an interview last week with the daily Le Figaro, his first since leaving office last year. " And the foundation is the tool for this. I want to stir and awaken consciences. " The high-profile event marks a rare public appearance by Chirac, who has been battling corruption allegations since he lost his presidential immunity and became a private citizen again after 12 years in office. After handing over to Nicolas Sarkozy in May last year, Chirac retired to a quiet life with his wife Bernadette in a Paris Left Bank apartment. But in November, he became the first former French head of state to be placed under formal investigation -- a step toward full criminal charges. Chirac is suspected of misappropriating city funds for political ends when he was mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995. He has denied any wrongdoing. The foundation was announced last year when Chirac stepped down and pledged to continue serving " in another capacity " . It was legally established in March, with a modest endowment of one million euros and a small staff. Half a dozen projects have been launched to promote access to water and medicines in west Africa, to combat deforestation in the Congo Basin and to save dying languages in Polynesia, said Michel Camdessus, a former director of the International Monetary Fund who helped set up the foundation. The projects reflect Chirac's commitment to sustainable development, the environment and the " dialogue of cultures " -- areas that were close to his heart during his tenure as president, Camdessus told AFP. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jyHbiQwT8A2VnasPh30A3G8kbt3w Sweden: 5) " We still have all those trees to harvest and what are we going to do with them? If we can't make paper, maybe we can make energy, and make energy for our own people, " said Stephen Brunet. The mayor of Bathurst believes ideas from the World Bio-Energy conference in Jonkoping, Sweden could be turned into reality for the former Smurfit-Stone paper mill in Bathurst. From May 25 to May 30, Mr. Brunet was in Sweden where he gained a wealth of knowledge on alternatives to oil energy. He said the trip was a chance to see what could be done for the dormant mill in Bathurst, which closed in 2005 due to market conditions. " I had found out there was going to be people from Dalhousie, St. Quentin and the Peninsula there trying to find out if there is anything for their areas as it related to bioenergy, " said the mayor. " I said, 'If they're going there, we lost our mill in Bathurst too so maybe there's something that Bathurst should be part of'. " Fifty-four countries were represented at the conference, and there representatives from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and western Canada. " It was an eye opener with what they're doing with their fuel situation, " noted Mr. Brunet. " They are really using their forest for energy, much more so than we do...Over there, they don't rely so much on oil and no wonder because gas was $2.20 a litre. " They try to heat their homes with material that they have in their own back yard and that would be material from the forest. " Mr. Brunet said he visited a village of 18,000 where there was a heating plant just outside the community. Sawdust and chips ran the plant and underground piping would go throughout the village to heat homes. The ash that was produced by the operation was used as fertilizer in forests. Fifty-five per cent of the plant was owned by the municipality and the remaining percentage was privately owned. http://thenorthernlight.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/320335 Africa: 6) The atlas, launched today by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, charts the march of cities over the countryside, protected areas shrinking as farms encroach on city boundaries and the driving of roads through forests. Before and after satellite images, sometimes spread over decades, show Dakar, the capital of Senegal, expanding from a small urban centre to a great metropolitan area of 2.5 million people spread over a wide area. They show falling water levels in Lake Victoria, the loss of forests in Congo DRC, and the decline of plant varieties in South Africa. But other pairs of images in the atlas suggest that good management is having a positive effect on many environments. Wetlands in Mauritania have been restored, tree planting in Niger has transformed once deforested areas, and action on overgrazing in Tunisia has revitalised pastures. " There are many places across Africa where people have taken action. These are beacons we need to follow to ensure the survival of Africa's peoples and their economically important nature-based assets " , said Achim Steiner, the UN environment programme's executive director. He added that the atlas, " shows the vulnerability of people in the region to forces often outside their control, including the shrinking of glaciers and impacts on water supplies linked with climate change. " According to the atlas authors, refugee migrations caused by conflicts are now causing significant pressure on the environment. But the greatest environmental threats, they say, come from land degradation, which is now affecting 32 African countries; forest loss, which is a concern in 35 countries; and biodiveresity loss which is taking place in 34 countries. According to the atlas, Africa is losing more than 4m hectares of forest a year – twice the world's average deforestation rate, with some areas consequently losing over 50 tonnes of soil per hectare a year due to the erosion of exposed areas. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/10/climatechange.conservation 7) Africa is suffering deforestation at twice the world rate and the continent's few glaciers are shrinking fast, according to a U.N. atlas on Tuesday. Satellite pictures, often taken three decades apart, showed expanding cities, pollution, deforestation and climate change were damaging the African environment despite glimmers of improvement in some areas. " Africa is losing more than 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) of forest every year -- twice the world's average deforestation rate, " according to a statement by the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) about the 400-page atlas, prepared for a meeting of African environment ministers in Johannesburg. Four million hectares is roughly the size of Switzerland or slightly bigger than the U.S. state of Maryland. Photographs showed recent scars in forests in countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Nigeria and Rwanda. It said forest loss was a major concern in 35 countries in Africa. http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN057411.html Sierra Leone: 8) The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Dr. Joseph Sam Sesay who gave the keynote address stated among other things that since the ban on logging was imposed six months ago there has been a lot of problems between stakeholders and the Ministry but that now that the ban has been officially lifted stakeholders are expected to work with the new policies outlined by the Ministry and not to create any situation that may lead to another ban being instituted. The Minister further disclosed that his Ministry has worked out modalities to ensure that the lifting of the ban is done out of national interest and called on all stakeholders and businessmen to demonstrate corporate responsibility to enhance sustainability of the forest. According to the Minister of Agriculture, a new draft policy has been formulated to ensure that the national endowment of Sierra Leone's forest is restored. Furthermore, certain stakeholders such as Guma Valley Water Company and Grafton Spring Water that are benefiting from the protection of forest reserves will assist in catering for protectors of the forest. http://www.christiantrede.com/webdesign/clients/newcitizen/localnews.php?subacti\ on=showfull & id=1213180695 & archive= & start_from= & ucat=2 Nigeria: 9) Inadequate control of the ecosystem by the federal government is responsible for the deforestation in the country. Mr Lawrence Ogundare, the Desk officer, International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja. He lamented that government has not taken full control of Nigerian forests as provided by law. '' At the national level, the federal government is the policy maker,'' he said, adding that states manage those within their jurisdiction. '' As a result of this, the states cut the trees indiscriminately,'' he said. He said a policy on forestry, which is being fine-tuned, would be domesticated in all the states of the federation. The policy, he said, needs legislative backing, otherwise it would be regarded as an ordinary document. '' As soon as this is done, the federal government would hold states responsible for massive deforestation,'' he said He blamed those who planned the forest in the past for not putting in place adequate measures to check deforestation. '' We have a lot of forest plantations all around but no proper maintenance of these forests,'' he said. '' If we had been maintaining our forests, we wouldn't be talking about the depletion of our forests today " he said. (NAN) http://www.leadershipnigeria.com/product_info.php?products_id=29249 & osCsid=600c1\ 5929adf803aa09 83775c1861cbf Ivory Coast: 10) " Leading global consumer products company poised to destroy Ivory Coast's rainforests as both investor and customer, pushing three primates to extinction, just after its future commitment to rainforest protection and certifies oil palm in 2015 was much heralded by some. One of Côte d'Ivoire most important primary rainforests is to be cleared by global consumer product company Unilever and others, despite Unilever's recent promises to buy only " sustainable " palm oil from lands not cleared of rainforests for their production. Tanoé Swamps Forest in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is one of the last remaining old growth forests in the country and the last refuge for three highly endangered primates -the Miss Waldron's Red Colobus, the Geoffroy's colobus and the Diana roloway -as well as home to many endangered plant species. Tanoé Forest is thought to contain the last remaining population of Piliocolobus waldronae (known as Miss Waldron's Red Colobus). This is a species formerly widespread in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, but hunted to extinction over most of its range and declared extinct in 1998; yet a freshly shot specimen was found, in the early 2000s, having been hunted in the Tanoé Forest. If Unilever goes ahead with this project, it may be the first time in history that any company has deliberately profited from the extinction of a species. Despite international protests, the palm oil company PALM-CI has just begun destroying this 6,000 hectare forest to convert it to oil palm plantations. They are currently building drainage systems at the periphery and, once the rainy season is over, they intend to clearcut all of the forest. If the forest is destroyed, the three primate species as well as many plant species will almost certainly become globally extinct. Large amounts of carbon dioxide will be released from the carbon-rich swamp forests. " http://decideforyourself.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/ivory-coast-rainforest-threat-\ take-action/ Pakistan: 11) PESHAWAR: Owing to unabated felling of trees and inability of the government to launch plantation projects already approved, deforestation is continuing at an unprecedented scale in NWFP, which has almost 17 per cent of its area under forest cover. The deforestation poses a threat to those living close to the banks of rivers and plain areas. In the past, the Forests Department was tasked with launching plantation projects in the volatile Malakand region, Kohat, Hangu and Tank. However, the department failed to realise the projects in these areas. Pakistan has almost five per cent of its total area under forest cover, which should be at least 25 per cent according to international standards. The plantation target for NWFP is 1.4 million, but an official said the NWFP government was not in a position to meet the target due to lack of resources. The extensive deforestation can be gauged from the statistics of tobacco grower associations, which burn more than one million trees in the tobacco furnaces annually. Similarly, unavailability of natural gas is another factor behind deforestation in most areas of the province where wood is used as fuel. According to a report, the timber mafia has felled more than 0.5 million trees in Malakand region. " The timber has been stored in different godowns in Tahana, Batkhela and other towns of Malakand Agency, " an official said on condition of anonymity. The policy of the provincial government for promotion of forestation is in fact linked to deforestation. Though the government has banned cutting of trees, the trend is still increasing the revenue target of the department. " The revenue target of the department for the current financial year was Rs585 million, but we have been once again directed for efforts to increase it further, " stated Chief Conservator Forests NWFP Nazir Mohammad Mohmand. Once the department allowed cutting of old trees to generate revenue and provide a source of livelihood to scores of people. The persistent ban on the timber harvest has deprived the owners of the private/Guzara forests covering almost 0.549 million hectares area, while reserve forests cover 0.0967 million hectares and protected forests 0.512 million hectares area. The lack of resources is also creating hurdles in the initiation of the forest promotion project. The provincial department failed to launch Rs.550 million project this year, as the Finance Department refused to release funds. http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=117492 12) KARACHI: Deforestation is the main reason for the expansion of the heat-zone, reduction in the flow of the Indus and shrinkage of the Indus Delta, said PCSIR (Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) former director general Dr Mirza Arshad Ali Baig. He was speaking at a seminar on " Challenges of Global Warming " Sunday. The seminar was organised by the Memon Professional Forum (MPF) in collaboration with the Institute of Engineers Pakistan (IEP), Karachi Centre, at the IEP Auditorium. Calling deforestation a major cause of global warming, Mirza said forestry has been registering a negative growth for the last three years in the country. It was taking place at the rate of 800 sq. km., 0.2-0.5 percent per annum, which affects over 43 million acres of land annually. He added that three to four kilometers of glaciers have already retreated in the Eastern Himalayas, and the glaciers at its western end, the Pakistani side, were consolidating rather than melting. NGO Shehri-CBE's Sameer Dodhi pointed out that studies have proven that a 10 percent increase in green space may reduce the area's temperature by four degrees centigrade and tree-lined streets also lessen the chances of asthma. Shehri is in the process of documenting all amenity and open spaces across Karachi's 18 towns and cantonment areas to monitor whether these public spaces are being used as planned or not. The documentation is almost complete along with picture records and a report would be made public by the end of this year. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C06%5C09%5Cstory_9-6-2008_pg\ 12_2 Afghanistan: 13) Environmentalists have warned that the illegal timber industry is threatening the future of Afghanistan's woodlands, with large parts of the country's forests already feared destroyed. Mass logging has decimated huge areas across the lawless eastern provinces bordering Pakistan, increasing the risk of flooding and landslides while also enriching warlords. The trade generates millions of dollars each year, but only a fraction of the money goes to locals whose habitat is being steadily wiped out. " It's a problem that is not measurable, " said Hazrat Hussain Khawareen, director of forests at the ministry of agriculture and animal husbandry. " It's too big. " In 2003, the United Nations reported some provinces had lost more than half their woodland in the previous 25 years. Insiders told The National that logging mafias have grown in strength since then, with the government unable and – sometimes – unwilling to intervene. " All this is illegal and it's happening because of instability and war, " Mr Khawareen said. " It's happening because of those who have dollars, power and arms. " Scores of lorries bring illegal timber to Kabul every day, driving unchecked into the city. Asked how this was possible, Mr Khawareen simply rubbed his thumb and fingers together, indicating that bribery was rife. " There are police, there are so many different forces, but still the wood keeps coming and all we can do is cry, " he said. However, most of the money is made from exports. Timber is regularly driven east across the border and taken to Pakistan's port city of Karachi, before being shipped to the Gulf and Japan. According to one environmentalist with a long history in the field, more than 100 lorries transport wood illegally into Pakistan on a daily basis. " Yes, the problem has gotten worse, " said Ghulam Mohammed Malikyar of Save the Environment – Afghanistan. " The government has no control over the forests. Warlords and commanders are the main smugglers and there have been clashes between them and the government many times. " Areas throughout the country are affected, with everything from cedar to pistachio trees being cut for either timber or fuel. In west Kabul, wood can be seen piled up metres high by the river that snakes through the city. Haji Halim bought his in Paktia using Pakistani rupees and when he sells it to merchants here the deal will also be made in the same currency. " These are the rules, " he said. " There are thousands of people working in this business and none of them are thinking about the trees. " http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080603/FOREIGN/173041274/-1/ART Suriname: 14) The Guiana Shield region of South America could play a significant role in efforts to fight global warming as part of a broader strategy to protect the world's biodiversity hotspots and high biodiversty wilderness areas, said a leading conservationist speaking in Paramaribo, Suriname at a gathering of tropical biologists. In an address to the annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC), Conservation International (CI) President Dr. Russell Mittermeier said the largely intact forests of Suriname, Guyana, and French Guiana serve as a refuge for biodiversity and a massive store of carbon. Protecting these forests could help reduce the risk of global mass extinction and offset the worst effects of climate change, he said. " The [Guiana Shield] has the most intact rainforest on the planet, " he said. " It's really a region that has all of its options left. " Mittermeier pointed to the emerging policy mechanism known as REDD or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation as a potential way to fund tropical conservation efforts. Because deforestation accounts for around a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions — more than the entire transportation sector — efforts to reduce deforestation can help fight climate change. While REDD was explicitly excluded from the Kyoto Protocol, policymakers meeting at climate talks in Bali last December signaled that forestry would play a role in future emissions mitigation schemes. Mittermeier noted that Guyana president Bharrat Jagdeo has already offered up his country's forests for permanent protection by an international body in exchange for development aid and technical assistance. Meanwhile several REDD initiatives are already in development, including a CI project on the island of Madagascar. Mittermeier said CI is in talks with the government of Liberia to establish a carbon conservation program. The West African country — ravaged after years of war — contains one of the few remaining expanses of Guinean forest, a critically endangered biodiversity hotspot. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0609-mittermeier.html Paraguay: 14) The World Wildlife Fund today congratulated the Republic of Paraguay for its efforts in reducing deforestation rates by 85 percent. This was achieved through the implementation of the Zero Deforestation Law which prohibits the transformation and conversion of forested areas in the eastern region of Paraguay. Before the law came into force in December 2004, Paraguay had the second highest deforestation rate in the world. Through satellite monitoring, WWF has verified that deforestation in the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest, a habitat for endangered species such as the Jaguar and Harpy Eagle, has decreased from between 217,453 -- 420,079 acres, an area larger than Rocky Mountain National Park, annually before the implementation of the law, to a current level of approximately 40,000 acres annually, a reduction of more than 85 per cent. " At a time when governments are getting into the debate on the role of deforestation in greenhouse gas emissions and therefore climate change, Paraguay is already setting an important precedent in tackling the problem, " said Leonardo Lacerda, Conservation Manager with WWF's global forest program in presenting the Paraguayan Government with a Leaders For A Living Planet award. http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2006/WWFPresitem875.html Bolivia: 15) From the air, this 3.7-million-acre national park in northeastern Bolivia seems a vast carpet of lush timberland, cloaking jaguars, howler monkeys, and giant anteaters beneath. Outside the tiny window of a three-seat plane, the terrain rises from rainforest to flooded savannah. There is not a person in sight. But in the distance is a trail of lighter, younger canopy the width of a road, a remnant from when logging paths carved this forest into pieces. That was before The Nature Conser¬vancy, its Bolivian partner Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN), the Bolivian government, and three international energy companies devised a plan to protect 1.5 million acres threatened with deforestation and degradation. The idea was simple: This national park in the Amazon basin, perhaps the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's " The Lost World, " would do its part to fight climate change. It is perhaps the best current example of how poor countries and rich countries can come together in the fight against climate change. It is a model of research and monitoring; it's a lesson in the benefit of involving the central government; and it's a cautionary tale about the need to include the local community as a full partner. The Noel Kempff Climate Action Project is a prime global case study. As negotiators work this week and next in Bonn to craft a new climate agreement to take effect in 2013, a consensus has emerged on the crucial role forest protection plays in re¬ducing greenhouse-gas emissions, and en¬¬vironmentalists are looking at an international carbon-trading model as an incentive to save forests. It is called REDD: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. Now countries are looking to devise two-year pilot projects, in which rich nations pay poorer ones to conserve their forests. Not everyone agrees this mechanism is valid, mainly because its track record is so short. But here in Bolivia, a REDD program that's been under way for more than a decade has lessons for some of the concept's more controversial features, including measurement impediments, the role that indigenous communities should play, and the support required from national governments. The money hasn't arrived yet because the Bolivian government – a full partner in the project with a right to 49 percent of the carbon offsets – has yet to cash in its shares. Staff turnover, political uncertainty, and structural changes have also affected the project, leaders say. http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/06/05/bolivia-gets-clean-by-stayi\ ng-green/ Guatemala: 16) There are various theories surrounding the collapse of Mayan civilization; some theorists refer to the intense deforestation activities and exhaustive use of the soil. Others have narrowed it down to rapid population growth and armed conflicts between cities as well as drought and repeated earthquakes. Whatever the cause of the Maya's Downfall, the Rainforests with their capacity to self-heal, grew back at incredible speed. That doesn't mean " great! Let's grab a chainsaw and chop a tree! It will grow back anyway " because facts tell a very different story. The Maya Biosphere Reserve, which incorporates El Mirador has lost around 70% of its forests in the last decade alone. The amount of annual deforestation in Central America is at a worrying rate of 3.7 per cent. If there is no slowdown to this process, entire forests will be wiped out, along with their ancient ruins. Between 1990 and 2005, Guatemala lost some 17.1% from its rainforests. In other parts of the world, the story is basically the same. To be more specific, between 2000 and 2005 the deforestation around the world rose at a shocking 25.6 per cent annually. Nature has the ability to regenerate and rainforests can grow back without the need of artificial forestation or any outside interventions. People may have to understand that even if rainforests can regenerate themselves, exploiting the forests for their resources must be strictly limited if we are to have any forest left. http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/ecology/what-we-can-learn-from-lost-cities-\ in-the-rainf orest/1253 Amazon: 17) The Amazon Rainforest is so large and filled with life, that its defenders aren't sure exactly what they are protecting from harm. " The wealth of biodiversity is so immense, we cannot even estimate the amount we don't know, " says Cláudio C. Maretti, Brazil-based director for conservation for the World Wildlife Fund. " Every new expedition you do to the Amazon, you might find one new species of fish. Every other, you might find some new bird or frog. " The Amazon Rainforest stretches across nine countries and covers just as much land as the continental United States. It is considered the world's richest and most varied natural habitat, with several million species of insects, plants, birds and fish calling it home. It also plays an important role in regulating Earth's temperature as its dense vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen into the air. But this wonderful land and habitat has been reducing in size for the last 40 years, almost 20% of the forest is gone. " We have been deforesting at enormous rates, " Maretti says. The chief drivers of this deforestation are large-scale business interests involved in logging, mining, agriculture and, especially, cattle ranching. Some of this activity is sanctioned by the government; much of it is not. Greenpeace estimates as much as 80 percent of the logging is illegal. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that 50,000 square miles of forest, more than three times the size of Switzerland, are lost each year because of clearing and degradation. Majority of this clearing and degradation occurs in the more tropical areas of South America, Africa and Southeast Asia. Cambodia lost nearly 30% of its primary forests from 2000 to 2005, according to FAO. Vietnam lost close to 55% of its primary forests. And Nigeria lost nearly 56% of its primary forests over the same period, the worst rate of forest loss in the world, according to FAO. http://greenopolis.com/myopolis/blogs/mightyducks/deforestation-continues-around\ -world Brazil: 18) In just a month, an area nearly the size of New York City was cleared in the Amazon rain forest—an " alarming " and " worse-than-imagined " development, the Brazilian government said in a statement. At least 433 square miles (1,123 square kilometers) were deforested in Brazil in April 2008. That's eight times more than the 55 square miles (145 square kilometers) destroyed the month before, according to data released last week by the Brazilian National Space Research Institute (INPE), which monitors the Amazon. The results suggest that the deforestation rate has accelerated, INPE said. Between August 2006 and August 2007, 1,920 square miles (4,974 square kilometers) were destroyed. From August 2007 to April 2008, this rate climbed to 2,250 square miles (5,850 square kilometers). " The situation is very alarming. With the data we have, we can be sure that there is a clear increase in deforestation in the Amazon, " said INPE's director, Gilberto Camara. " The process of deforestation is more intense than we imagined. " http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080610-amazon-clearing.html 19) We all know it takes a long time for cleared rainforests to regenerate, but how long exactly? According to a study focusing on the Brazilian Atlantic forest, certain aspects can return surprisingly quickly – within 65 years. But for the landscape to truly regain its native identity takes a lot longer – up to 4000 years. The Atlantic forest originally stretched along the southern half of Brazil's Atlantic coast, covering some 1.2 million square kilometres. Once lush, the forest has been continually exploited for food, wood and space. Today, land it used to occupy is home to most of the country's population, including Brazil's two largest cities, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and only 100,000 square kilometres of forest remain. In 1993, however, the government created several protected areas to conserve the forest's remnants. To determine how long it would take for the forest to regenerate, Marcia Marques and colleagues at the Federal University of Paraná collected data on different parcels of forest that had been virtually cleared and left to recover for varying amounts of time. They then plugged the data into a computer model to calculate how long it would take for the forest to recover entirely. The researchers looked at four different measures of forest regrowth: the proportion of tree species whose seeds are dispersed by animals, the proportion of species that can grow in shade, tree height, and the number of native species. " Animal-dispersed trees sustain a large number of fruit-eating animals, that sustain other animals including large carnivores, " says Marques. " Thus, from the proportion of animal-dispersed trees we can estimate how complex the forest's ecological web has become. " Animals are key to the successful regeneration of cleared areas and, typically, 80% of the tree species in a mature tropical rainforest are animal-dispersed. The researchers found that it took just 65 years for a forest to recover to this level. http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn14112-how-long-does-it-take-a-rain\ forest-to-regen erate.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts & nsref=news1_head_dn14112 20) Cattle raised illegally in the region will be confiscated, and all illegal lumber and timber that have been c ut down will be confiscated and auctioned off to finance the social program " No Hunger, " Minc said. The grains and foods grown in these areas will also be cut down and auctioned off to aid the program, he said. The measure demonstrates a " message that we want to send out to all those who are deforesting the area, " the minister said. The operations against illegal cattle will have a " minimal " effect on Brazil's economy, he said. " The rounding-up of some 1,000 heads of cattle will not affect Brazil's meat exports, " he said.Minc said the soaring prices of soybean and meat have given additional incentive to the illegal farming invasion and deforestation of the Amazon. " Time is running out and the situation is worrisome, " he said. Defending the government's measures as " the right thing to do, " Minc said its aim " is to substitute a model of sustainable development for a predatory model of production. " In April alone, a region the size of the city of Rio de Janeiro was deforested, and according to Minc, " the worst is yet to come. " A study by the National Institute of Spatial Research showed that every 10 seconds an area equivalent to the size of a soccer field is cut down. " With the data that we have obtained, we have affirmed with certainty that there has been an increase in the deforestation of the Amazon. The process of devastation of the forestland is much more intense than we had imagined, " Gilberto Camara, director of the institute, was quoted as saying by local media. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/05/content_8315825.htm 21) Selective logging - the practice of removing one or two trees and leaving the rest intact - is often considered a sustainable alternative to clear-cutting, in which a large swath of forest is cut down, leaving little behind except wood debris and a denuded landscape. But a new satellite survey of the Amazon Basin in Brazil reveals that every year unregulated selective logging of mahogany and other hardwoods destroys an area of pristine rainforest big enough to cover the state of Connecticut. The survey, published in the Oct. 21 issue of the journal Science, was made possible because of a new, ultra-high-resolution satellite- imaging technique developed by scientists affiliated with the Carnegie Institution and Stanford University. " With this new technology, we are able to detect openings in the forest canopy down to just one or two individual trees, " says Carnegie scientist Gregory Asner, lead author of the Science study and assistant professor, by courtesy, in the Stanford University Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences. " People have been monitoring large-scale deforestation in the Amazon with satellites for more than two decades, but selective logging has been mostly invisible until now. " Conventional satellite surveys reveal that, in an average year, an estimated 5,800 square miles of Amazon forest (roughly the size of Connecticut) are burned or clear-cut to make way for cattle ranching, farming and other development. But when selective logging is factored in, that figure increases two-fold, Asner and his co-workers found. " This was totally surprising to us and alarming to our colleagues, especially those interested in conservation, climate change and the ability of governments like Brazil to enforce environmental laws, " he notes. A large mahogany tree can fetch hundreds of dollars at the sawmill, making it a tempting target in a country where one in five lives in poverty. " People go in and remove just the merchantable species from the forest, " Asner says. " Mahogany is the one everybody knows about, but in the Amazon, there are at least 35 marketable hardwood species, and the damage that occurs from taking out just a few trees at a time is enormous. On average, for every tree removed, up to 30 more can be severely damaged by the timber harvesting operation itself. That's because when trees are cut down, the vines that connect them pull down the neighboring trees. " http://www.physorg.com/news7448.html 22) Destruction of the Amazon rain forest appears to be on the upswing, and Brazil's new environment minister has wasted no time in aiming at a villain: cattle. The minister, Carlos Minc, says Brazil's government will impound cattle caught grazing on illegally cleared pastures with an operation, dubbed " Rogue Bull, " to attack deforestation in the rain forest. " The price of meat and soy has skyrocketed and there is a historic relationship between prices and deforestation, " Minc said as he announced the new measures late Monday. Officials are going after livestock because ranchers routinely find ways to avoid fines for illegal logging by felling public forests for grazing land. After three years of decline, Amazon deforestation appears to be accelerating again as international demand for agricultural products skyrocket. Minc's announcement marked his first step to prevent deforestation since being named environment minister last month. He replaced Marina Silva, a renowned Amazon defender who resigned May 13, citing stagnation in promoting the federal environmental agenda. Government researchers said Monday that preliminary data indicate the Amazon lost at least 2,258 square miles (5,850 square kilometers) of forest cover from August to April 2008. That was up from 1,920 square miles (4,974 square kilometers) over the same period a year before. The Amazon's 73 million cows outnumber the human population about three to one and feeding them is the biggest driver of deforestation. Cattle pasture already covers 7.8 percent of Brazil's 1.6-million-square-mile (4.1-million-square-kilometer) Amazon region, according to the National Statistics Institute. Burning to clear new or overgrown pasture in the Amazon region accounts for about 75 percent of Brazil's total greenhouse gas emissions. On top of that, cows themselves are living greenhouse-gas machines, emitting methane, one of the gases blamed for global warming. Rogue Bull is only the latest operation to crack down on profits from illegally cutting the rain forest. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hy0m8YXoXuf1aiPOEa8zFBOuxH8QD912VJHO0 23) The new Brazilian environment minister Carlos Minc expects more of the Amazon tropical rain forest will be cut down next year. Mr Minc is one of the founders of the Green Party in Brazil. He entered office last month after his predecessor Marina Silva resigned. The authorities were accused of doing too little to combat deforestation in the Amazon area. Recent information has revealed that in the past nine months the rain forest has shrunk by almost 6,000 square kilometres. Brazilian researchers say the forest is being destroyed to make way for farmland. The Amazon area lies mainly in Brazil, but parts of it are also in another eight countries. A fifth of the Amazon rain forest has already disappeared. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/5813382/More-Amazon-forest-cou\ ld-disappear-ne xt-year 24) Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, under pressure over his stewardship of the Amazon rainforest, unveiled plans on Thursday to create three protected reserves covering an area the size of the U.S. state of Vermont. In a speech marking World Environment Day, Lula said the steps aimed at combating a spike in deforestation would take time to work, and foreigners did not have the moral authority to tell Brazil how to manage the world's largest forest. " It's not easy to discuss the environment, thinking that the mere creation of a law or a decree will solve the problem, " he said. " Sometimes a thing that seems so consensual can take two or three years to materialize because we have to respect institutions. " At least 23 million hectares (89,000 sq miles) of the rainforest are already protected. The new reserves in Para and Amazonas state would expand the area by 2.6 million hectares (10,000 sq miles). Lula's proposal has to be approved by Congress and could face challenges in the Supreme Court. The resignation last month of renowned Amazon defender Marina Silva as environment minister raised worries among environmentalists that Lula is siding with farming and industrial interests that want to develop the forest. The measures were welcomed by Denise Hamu, the head of the World Wildlife Fund in Brazil, who said it was a positive step. Others were more skeptical. " Is it important? Yes. Is it sufficient? No, " said Mario Menezes of Friends of the Earth, adding that the government lacked a systematic approach to protecting the forest. http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN05303874 25) Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came out angrily Thursday against foreign " meddlers " questioning his government's environmental protection policies for the Amazon rainforest. " There are meddlers who have no political authority, who emit carbon dioxide like nobody else, who destroy everything they have, and who put forth opinions about what we should do, " Lula said in a speech marking International Environment Day. " We can't allow people to dictate rules to us about what we should do in the Amazon, " he said. Brazil's government has been embarrassed by official statistics suggesting deforestation of the vast Amazon jungle has picked up since mid-2007, despite many efforts to slow it. An internal struggle within the government between those wanting to develop the Amazon and those wanting to protect it has already resulted in the resignation of environment minister Marina Silva, who was replaced this month. Lula, who has pushed back against critics by insisting that the future of the Brazilian Amazon was only for the Brazilian people to decide, unveiled a number of new measures Thursday meant to reinforce forest conservation. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gLXUKiceRr_xpW-U1GHN7LdpIteQ 26) They have promised to stop loggers encroaching on their land near the Brazilian border. The announcement comes after photographs of an isolated tribe taken near the border with Peru were circulated around the world. The unknown group of native Amazonians were armed with bows and arrows. The images were taken by the Brazilian government from the air, and showed some members of the tribe - their bodies painted red and black - firing arrows at a photographer in an aeroplane. The Brazilian government say they took the photos to prove that dozens of isolated tribes live in the region, on both sides of the border. Although anthropologists were not able to name the tribe it is believed that they had travelled a short distance from neighbouring Peru. Authorities in Peru's Amazon state of Madre de Dios now say they will stop illegal loggers who travel deep into the forest in search of tropical hardwoods. They are often the first people to encounter the tribes. Marco Tulio Valverde, an adviser to the regional government, said: " We haven't determined if there are three different groups or only one, nomadic, which has been displaced. " They only hunt, gather and fish, they don't farm, but they know fire. " http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7435272.stm 27) The funds raised in the sale of cattle, grains and timber seized from illegal areas will help finance the government's anti-hunger program, Minc said. Minc, who took office last week, said the Amazon forest is his priority. He faces the challenge to fight quickening deforestation without becoming an impediment for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's plans to spur economic growth, which include building two hydroelectric plants on the Madeira River in the Amazon to meet rising demand for energy. ``It will be very difficult for deforestation this year to stay below last year's,'' Minc said. ``The worst months are still to come.'' Deforestation is usually higher in the dry season which lasts from June to September, Minc said. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086 & sid=aHBQ40U4DpSY & refer=latin_ame\ rica 28) Destruction of Brazil's huge swath of Amazon rain forest rose sharply in April, according to a preliminary analysis of satellite photos released by government researchers. About 1,140 square kilometres of deforestation took place in April, nearly eight times more than the 145 square kilometres that were razed in March, the Brazilian Space Research Institute reported. The figures can be misleading: Scientists can only measure what they see by satellite photo, and clouds obscured 78 per cent of the rain forest in March and 53 per cent in April, leaving more of the forest visible, the institute warned. More deforestation could be taking place under cloud cover, or the bulk could be in plain sight. The government did not provide comparable figures from April 2007. The data suggests that Brazil will end 2008 with more deforestation than last year, when 11,000 square kilometres were razed - reversing three years of declines, Environment Minister Carlos Minc said. " There's no way it will be less than that, " Minc said. " But we can't cry over tumbled forest. " To fight the upswing, the government will begin impounding cattle from ranches where illegal deforestation has been detected, Minc said. Cattle ranching, logging and soybean farming are among the main forces driving Amazon deforestation. Brazilian environmental laws require Amazon landowners to leave 80 per cent of forested property as a reserve - although the rule is hard to enforce in a jungle region larger than Western Europe. Most of April's destruction was detected in Brazil's central Mato Grosso state, where Governor Blairo Maggi, a prominent soybean grower, frequently criticises federal efforts to preserve the forest. The Brazilian Amazon covers about 4.1 million square kilometres, nearly 60 per cent of the country. About 20 per cent of that forest has already been razed. http://news.smh.com.au/world/destruction-of-brazilian-amazon-rising-20080603-2l2\ 5.html 29) A company belonging to a Swedish businessman with close links to Gordon Brown has been fined £137 million for illegally cutting down Amazon rainforest, Brazilian officials said yesterday. Ibama, the Brazilian environmental agency, said it would levy a 450 million reals fine on Gethal, a company owned by Johan Eliasch. It was accused of cutting down 230,000 trees and lacking certification for Amazon land it allegedly owned. Mr Eliasch, 46, who is based in London, has an estimated net worth of £395 million. He is a former deputy treasurer of the Conservative Party and now an environmental consultant to the prime minister. But it is his role as the co-chairman of Cool Earth, the British-based organisation with the aim of finding sponsors to buy tracts of Amazon rainforest to protect it, that has angered some Brazilians. The fine followed reports in Brazil's O Globo newspaper last month that police were investigating Mr Eliasch's interests in the country. The paper reported that Mr Eliasch was being investigated for allegedly claiming that foreigners could buy the entire rainforest for " $50 billion " . In fact, Mr Eliasch said, in a speech in 2006, that hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico had cost insurance companies " $75 billion " and it might be cheaper to save the rainforest for " $25 billion " , thereby preventing deforestation and making hurricanes less frequent. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2087169/Johan-Eliasch,-Gordon-Brown-consu\ ltant,-fined-for -illegal-Amazon-logging.html 30) Accusations that the firm Gethal had been illegally logging in the Brazilian rainforest are false and politically motivated, a source close to owner Johan Eliasch told AFP on Saturday. The company has " no intention " of accepting a fine announced by the Brazilian government Friday, and is prepared to take the matter to court, the source said. The Brazilian government's environmental agency Ibama fined Gethal 450 million reals (275 million dollars, 175 million euros) for illegally cutting down 230,000 trees and lacking certification for Amazon land it owns. " Those allegations are false, fabricated and unsubstantiated, " said a source close to the Swedish tycoon, saying the logging stopped once Eliasch bought the firm in order " to protect the rainforest. " " Gethal has been fined because the company didn't comply with its management plan, which had been decided by the previous owners, which planned for the logging in the rainforest, " the source said. The Brazilian authorities did not notify Gethal of the fine and the company will fight its punishment " vigorously " , said the source. " The company will fight in the courts. " Ibama's decision is absurd. Gethal has not violated any law, no harm has been caused; on the contrary. The real issue is politically motivated: it's about the foreign ownership of the rainforest. " Eliasch, a 46-year-old London-based businessman with an estimated net worth of 790 million dollars, is the boss of the Head sports equipment company and an environmental consultant to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He is also the founder of a British-based organisation called Cool Earth whose aim is to find sponsors to buy up Amazon rainforest in order to protect it. http://www.france24.com/en/20080607-firm-rejects-amazon-logging-fine-source http://www.france24.com/en/20080607-firm-rejects-amazon-logging-fine-source 31) Three hundred families associated with the Brazilian Cooperative of Ecological Farmers of the Amazon Portal (Cooperagrepa) is re-establishing ecological balance in the forest by means of organic farming and sales of non-wood forestry products. The group has even established its own brand, BioAgrepa, to promote sales. Brown sugar, sugarcane molasses, powdered guarana, powdered coffee and Brazil nut are the products that have been attracting importers attention the most. " We have been exporting sugarcane molasses to Austria since 2006, and brown sugar since last year. This year, we should start selling brown sugar to Italy, " says Gelsí Rosa Siviero, marketing coordinator at the cooperative. According to her, the first international contacts were made when the cooperative participated in the trade fair BioFach Latin America, held in 2004 in Rio de Janeiro (Southeast Brazil). Counting on support from the Brazilian Ministry of Agrarian Development, Cooperagrepa showcased its products, which had been certified by Ecocert two months before the fair was held. In 2005, the cooperative participated in BioFach Germany. " The fair gave us a notion of the size of the global organic market, and provided a basis for comparing packing and product quality. We were also able to take part in several business roundtables. It was during an action to promote the participation of Cooperagrepa in BioFach that we first made contact with Multikraft Austria, which led to the first export by Cooperagrepa, " claims Siviero. According to her, the cooperative is doing business with international companies by means of trade representatives only. A deal should be closed in 2008 with a United States-based supermarket chain of organic products, totaling 300 points of sale. " The product will be packed under the brand BioAgrepa, " asserts the coordinator. http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/9407/1/ Dry Tropical forests: 32) Tropical dry evergreen forest has restricted global distribution — limited to parts of Asia (on the Coromandel coast of India, northern Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand), Africa and Central America — but is highly variable in terms of height and the species it contains, depending on site location, soil type and the level of human impacts. A new study, published in the June issue of Tropical Conservation Science by N. Parthasarathy and colleagues, looks at tropical dry evergreen forest on the Coromandel coast of India where the ecosystem occurs both in patches and as sacred groves or temple forests protected by the local people on religious grounds. Surveying plant diversity and flowering and fruiting events, the team of Indian researchers from Pondicherry University classified the state of tropical dry evergreen forest across 75 sites. " We classified the sites based on the level of species diversity, human interactions and efforts made for site protection into relatively undisturbed, moderately disturbed and much disturbed, " the researchers told mongabay.com. " More importantly plants of medicinal value were listed out and their local traditional knowledge documented. The authors recommend forest protection initiatives for diverse sites with limited disturbance and restoration strategies using native plant species in moderately and heavily disturbed areas. Parthasarathy and colleagues suggest that " revitalizing the cultural traditions associated with sacred groves by promoting awareness of the ecological and bioresource values of tropical dry evergreen forest " would help the conservation effort. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0609-parthasarathy_tcs.html World-wide: 33) My worry is that REDD is so complicated it may never get off the ground,' says programme founder Andrew Mitchell. 'It's also open to abuse. You could spend years cutting down trees, then suddenly reduce your deforestation and earn money on carbon credits. It offers nothing to local communities. Our scheme calls for a valuing of the entire forest ecosystem, with local communities as the custodians.' Rather than trade carbon internationally, the Global Canopy Programme proposes bundling up forest ecosystems into 'funds' to be traded by long-term investors, with profits split between them and the communities managing the forests. Such funds may be 10 years from market, but a legal framework is already being drafted, and is attracting the attention of hedge and pension fund managers. This commodification of ecosystems is raising hackles, however. 'Trading schemes promote an " offsetting mentality " – that the West can pay someone to reduce emissions for us,' explains Friends of the Earth international climate campaigner Tom Picken. 'On an economic level, the price of carbon is simply too low for them to work. The West would need to make serious carbon cuts of its own before the price of carbon became high enough to trade in tons of forest.' Picken also warns an awful lot of people are waiting to make an awful lot of money from 'driving forests to market'. He foresees logging companies, many of which, with state consent, have built up vast land banks, cashing in on land that may not even be their own. He points instead to Costa Rica, where deforestation rates have tumbled through state intervention. By offering families $50 a month not to log their land, it makes sense to become a forest custodian. Picken is insistent solutions should come from the grassroots. 'These people have acted as guardians of the forests since time immemorial, and have done a pretty damn good job of it,' he says. 'And the Costa Rican programme has cost a fraction of an equivalent carbon market programme.' Mitchell agrees community participation is the way to proceed, but argues the Costa Rican experience simply isn't 'scalable'. http://www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=1860 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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