Guest guest Posted June 23, 2008 Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 --Today for you 33 new articles about earth's trees! (361st edition) --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 Index: --EU: 1) ¼ of Europe's forest need logging ban to protect diversity, --UK: 2) Gov busted for maladministration of woodland, 3) Of 36,000 acres of ancient woodland in North Yorkshire 21,000 acres is re-planted, 4) UK fund for Congo, 5) Edinburgh University studies African reforestation, 6) 100 year-old carvings in Sheffield trees reveal land's history, 7) Woodland is fragile without the right care, --Scotland: 8) Unprecedented investment spree defies fast-sinking wood markets --Sweden: 9) Bio-energy junket of Canadian loggers, 10) 1/3 of woodlot owners willing to place half of forest into " special management plans " where logging is limited, --Portugal: 11) Save the oak forests, buy lots of cork! --Slovenia: 12) Forests and climate change --Armenia: 13) Save the Teghut forest --Africa: 14) Paul Martin's new constituency, 15) 90% of original moist forest in W. Africa is gone, 16) Tropical forest logging cause large scale spread of pathogens / HIV, 17) Long shrouded in mystery: " the Dark Continent, " 18) Spy satellite now watching central Africa, 19) Congo is 26% of the world's tropical rainforest --Mozambique: 20) Vast areas fall to Charcoal production, 21) International Charcoal and Communities conference, 22) History / why 70% forest cover still exists, --Congo: 23) History of Genocide and Chinese investments, 24) Congo Basin Forest Fund, 25) More on Britain and Norway's forest protection donation, 26) Rhino numbers, --Nigeria: 27) President wants to mine coal instead of wood, 28) About Katsina State, --Sierra Leone: 29) A group called SHADE, --Cameroon: 30) Gov defends charges of logger lawlessness, 31) Log seizures, --Uganda: 32) Tobacco growing causes deforestation in Southwest --Madagascar: 33) French make US$20 million debt payable to conservation fund EU: 1) At present, to safeguard biodiversity around a quarter of Europe's forests is not harvested. Between 2000 and 2005, protected forest areas were increased by almost 40 per cent in area. In addition, farmers have converted significant areas of agricultural land to forests. However, this can sometimes have negative effects: intensification measures such as peat land drainage, fertilisation, genetic 'improvement' of forest trees (including with biotechnology) and excessive prevention of natural disturbances such as fires can all have an impact on biodiversity. The report from the European Environment Agency suggests that sustainable forest management will increasingly require balancing traditional forest production of wood for timber and paper with the harvest of biomass for bioenergy. There is also the need to maintain and, where appropriate, enhance biodiversity. The continuing decline of threatened plant and animal species is highlighted in the report. According to a recent assessment, eleven European forest mammal species are threatened, including the Iberian lynx, the most endangered species of cat in the world. A number of forest birds are also declining in parts of Europe. Despite this, managed forests in Europe are improving, becoming increasingly diverse, with higher numbers of tree species, larger trees and an increase in deadwood. However, some invasive alien species can affect forest biodiversity. For example, the tree-of-heaven, Ailanthus altissima, causes a significant threat to forest biodiversity in Italy, in some cases displacing native tree species. Air pollution also threatens forest ecosystems. Presently there is great concern about the impact of nitrogen on animal and plant species. Climate change is likely to have an impact on forest biodiversity in a number of ways. Predicted effects of climate change include more droughts, floods, increased salinity, a greater risk of spring and autumn frost and insect and pathogen damage, all of which could affect the health of European forests and the abundance of wildlife in them. The frequency of such events is as important as the degree of temperature change, the report suggests. http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachPressRelease.aspx?cid=8819 & codi=33\ 119 & idproductty pe=8 & level=0 UK: 2) A HAMPSHIRE council has been found guilty of maladministration over the destruction of a popular woodland. The local government ombudsman has blamed Fareham civic chiefs after hundreds of trees were felled at Sylvan Glade in Titchfield within the space of a few days in March 2006. Now they will have to pay compensation to residents of Titchfield Park Road who lost their screen from the noise of the busy A27. The ombudsman found the council guilty on two counts of maladministration after finding that the council's failure to update tree preservation orders (TPOs), as instructed by Government guidelines in 2000, meant there was ambiguity over which trees were protected and did not safeguard the growth of new trees. The report also found that the council failed to contact the Forestry Commission in early 2006 despite the status of the land being Ancient and Semi- Natural Woodland. The report recommended that the council should pay Reg Rose, of Titchfield Park Road, £750 for pursuing his concerns, that it review the effectiveness of the replacement trees in screening traffic noise and review its procedures for keeping TPOs up to date. It said: " These failures go to the heart of the injustice claimed by Mr Rose and his view that the council could have done much more to protect the trees and the amenity of adjoining residents. " Mr Rose said: " We fear the report does not really go far enough but what we would like to see is the council buy back the land and restore it to its former glory. " Fareham Borough Council leader Sean Woodward said: " I will be proposing to the full council that we accept the ombudsman conclusions and recommendations and that we implement them. " http://www.thisishampshire.net/display.var.2351573.0.council_found_guilty_after_\ woodland_felled. php 3) There are around 36,000 acres of ancient woodland in North Yorkshire, but over 21,000 acres has been re-planted to varying degrees by non-native trees and conifers, like pines, spruce and larch. Regional Forestry Commission director Crispin Thorn said: " We are working to restore 4,345 acres of ancient woodland under its management in North Yorkshire, including Kilburn Wood, near Thirsk. " But 90 per cent of our ancient and native woodland is either in the private sector, or run by charities or local authorities. " At Castle Howard we are grant-aiding the estate in an ambitious project to restore a significant area of woodland. This project is a shining example of its kind, so it's fitting we hold this meeting here. It is an opportunity for woodland managers to join the debate on how we protect an important, but fragile habitat. " Ryedale is North Yorkshire's hotspot for ancient woodland with more than 12,000 acres. Elsewhere, Richmond has 3,300 acres and Hambleton a similar amount. http://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/news/northyorkshire/display.var.2354\ 804.0.protectin g_ancient_trees.php 4) A multimillion-dollar fund launched in Britain on Tuesday will help preserve the Congo Basin by paying for projects that make the world's second largest rainforest worth more as a living resource than chopped down. Britain and Norway started the funding pot with $160 million, with the expectation it will grow as businesses, individuals and other governments make contributions. As part of the Congo Basin Forest Fund, Britain will also build and send a satellite monitoring system into space by the end of 2010 to monitor deforestation in the area. " Preserving our forests is vital if we are going to reduce global emissions and tackle climate change, " said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in a press release. The Congo Basin covers an area twice the size of France and stretches across six countries — Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Governments, non-governmental organizations and other agencies can apply for money from the fund for projects, such as sustainable farming, that help protect the forest. " The fact is that we are the ones who caused the climate change problem and we are the ones who must find a solution, " said former Canadian prime minister Paul Martin, who will co-chair the group running the fund. The forest is home to more than: 1) 50 million people. 2) 10,000 species of plants. 3) 1,000 species of birds. 4) 400 species of mammals. But the forest is coming under increasing pressure from logging, agriculture, population growth, and oil and mining industries, causing deforestation and threatening to drive species to extinction. 5) Researchers at Edinburgh University are encouraging African farmers to plant trees and preserve woodland as part of a project to promote biodiversity. Participants are being encouraged to adopt sustainable techniques which promote biodiversity and improve local livelihoods. Lessons learned from the pilot project, in N'hambita, Mozambique, will be used to help draw up guidelines for similar schemes when experts gather in Edinburgh this week. Dr Mat Williams, of the university's school of geosciences, who is involved in the N'hambita project, said: " N'hambita lies within an African savanna woodland and supports a diverse range of plant and animal species. " The area has suffered from deforestation and savanna fires. If we can encourage and assist farmers to manage the land sustainably while boosting their income, both the land and the villagers can benefit. " We hope that the pilot project will provide lessons for increasing carbon storage in savanna woodlands and for reducing poverty in future schemes. " Experts will discuss the project at the Carbon and Communities in Tropical Woodlands event, hosted by the university from today until Wednesday. http://news.scotsman.com/education/Capital-researchers-planning-tree-boost.41882\ 26.jp 6) The researchers focussed on a number of tree carvings on a long border of mature beech trees which line Woodhead Road, located North of Grenoside. This area of Sheffield is generally believed to be part of ancient woodland which has undergone a great deal of historical change, particularly with regard to the establishment of stone quarries and forestry plantations. The trees, which were planted in the nineteenth century, are deeply incised with writing that depicts first or last names and date marks from the early decades of the twentieth century. Although it would be difficult to trace the individual authors of these deliberate marks, they are able to provide clues about the changing history of this part of Sheffield. By crossing carved dates, names and messages with other historical material, the researchers were able to build up a sense of the character of the lives of people that used the road. By mapping out the physical quality of carving and comparing them with other places, the team were also able to capture a sense of the different levels of intimacy that people had with such landscapes. Dr Jeff Oliver, one of the researchers on the project, explained: " When the carvings were made the car was still a luxury, public transport was limited – except in the city – and local journeys were still commonly made by foot. " Considering how traffic speeds through this landscape today and the fact that inscriptions have not been fashioned here for more than half a century, what's most peculiar about this place is its former pace of life. The names and dates seem to suggest a form of intimacy with this landscape in marked contrast to the detached experience of today's travellers who whiz by in their cars. http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/headlines/Sheffields-history-lingers-on-tagg\ ed.4188784.jp 7) We all enjoy the chance to relax close to nature and enjoy the peace and quiet that our woods and copses provide. Yet our woodland is fragile, without the right care it can become devoid of the wildlife, flora and fauna that are an essential part of our woodlands' rich biodiversity. Last month I held an event in the north of the constituency celebrating what could be a great renaissance for British woodland. The High Weald is the historic centre for British Coppicing: the traditional practice of felling and planting, by rotation, fast growing trees for fuel. This old fashioned practice of countryside management, by providing low carbon fuel, is suddenly being looked at again in the light of our struggle with Climate Change. Wood fuels are now economical, clean and low carbon. My summit at Flimwell brought together Rother District Council, local schools, local councillors, local farmers and business people as well as experts from across the country to explore ways that local landowners and businesses could develop new networks of locally sourced wood fuels that would lower emissions, save money for the users and protect our ancient woodlands for future generations. http://www.ryeandbattleobserver.co.uk/gregbarker/Green-horizon-dawns-over-local.\ 4190988.jp Scotland: 8) SCOTTISH FORESTRY owners and wood processors are combining to show their faith in their industry with an unprecedented investment spree in defiance of fast-sinking markets. In the past month alone one wealthy investor has begun planting more than one million trees at Langholm in the Borders while new sawmills have been commissioned by the likes of James Jones & Sons, BSW and James Callendar & Sons at a total cost of some £60 million. The investment comes at a time when demand for wood products has fallen sharply as a result of the downturn in the UK construction industry, while global prices have slumped by 20% or more from peak levels reached last year. Producers are having to cope also with the effects of the high oil price on both transport and harvesting costs. " Unfortunately timber is a cyclical business and there have been reports that some processors are having to make temporary cutbacks which is almost unheard of at this time of the year, " said Stirling-based David Sulman of the UK Forest Products Association. " But the level of present investment shows that the industry is taking very sensible steps to increase its efficiency and to take a bigger share of the market from overseas competitors once demand resumes its normal growth pattern. " Most experts say the present situation would have been still worse but for the impact of the rising value of the euro on timber exports from mainland Europe and Scandinavia and wind damage in the big eastern European forests. Keith Ainslie, sales director at Howie Forest Products, believes some of his overseas competitors may also have sacrificed goodwill by forcing through unsustainable price increases during the boom times which came to an abrupt end last September. " We are in it for the long haul and value our customers so we held our prices at around £140 a cubic metre at a time when Swedish and Baltic suppliers were charging anything from £180 to £190 a cubic metre, " he says. " They may have obtained a short-term gain but we have the continuing support of our customers. " http://www.sundayherald.com/business/businessnews/display.var.2342187.0.record_i\ nvestment_in_ forestry_despite_slump.php Sweden: 9) When the 77-person Canadian delegation stepped off the plane in Sweden, they knew they were in bioenergy country. " The whole Arlanda airport is heated with biomass, " says Paul Smallman, a woodlot owner from Prince Edward Island. Like many Canadian delegates on the trade mission to World Bioenergy 2008, the largest biomass conference in the world, Smallwood went to Sweden with a mission: to learn from the best, network and turn the experience into a viable renewable energy business back home. " The wood and forestry sector is going broke by relying on conventional markets, " he says. " I want to set up a small pellet plant and use large wood-burning furnaces to make renewable heat and power and sell it to local people in [Prince Edward Island]. Scandinavians are leading the bioenergy industry, and I wanted to learn from the best. " The Canadian Bioenergy Association organized and led a 42-member trade mission from six of the country's 10 provinces. Another 35 independent Canadian delegates also attended the May event held in Jönköping, Sweden. Participants came from the across the bioenergy sector, including forest owners, biomass-rich communities, researchers and technology providers. Everyone was there for the same reason: to do business. " Our international colleagues knew we meant business when Canada brought the largest delegation to the World Bioenergy event, " says CANBIO President Doug Bradley. http://www.biomassmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=1739 Finland: 10) Finnish forest owners in general take a positive approach to forest management and harvesting that take into account conservation measures. A new study shows that 44% of forest owners would be willing to implement special timber harvesting plans. The study, commissioned by WWF, the forest products company Stora Enso and Finland's Forestry Centres found that around a third of owners would be willing to place up to half of their forest holdings in special management plans. They would also be ready to give up some of their present income from timber harvests if the costs of drawing up customized, environmentally lower-impact forest management plans were the same as for traditional plans. Such plans outline recommendations and best practice for long term care and management for the future, and include information about expenses, yield estimations, lot maps and forest biodiversity data. These " green? management plans put at least half of the forest land into maintaining important habitats and significant landscapes. If the implementation of such plans were to make owners eligible for public environmental protection supports, nearly half of owners say that would order one. http://www.yle.fi/news/id93999.html Portugal: 11) The WWF environmental group urged Portugal on Tuesday to expand its cork forests to act as a barrier against accelerating desertification of its south due to global warming. Portugal is the world's largest producer of cork used in wine bottles but the density of trees in cork forests has fallen in recent years, threatening increased desertification as the dry, hot climate of the south moves north. Because cork trees are not cut down and water is retained in the forests because of falling leaves, they are uniquely environmentally sustainable, WWF said in a study. The bark of individual trees is cut for cork only every nine years. The group said in a study carried out together with the country's Higher Institute of Agronomy that a 20 percent expansion of the current area of cork trees could stop desertification at its current limits by 2020. Failure to expand cork forests and tree density could raise desertification levels to more than one kilometer per year. " Cork trees have every potential to act as a barrier to desertification, " said Angela Morgado, communications and fundraising officer at the WWF in Portugal. Due to cork trees' ability to grow in relatively dry climates and if average temperatures continue rising due to global warming, the WWF recommended that cork be planted further north in Portugal to reduce the threat of desertification. Cork currently represents 2.7 percent of Portugal's exports and the cork industry employs up to 14,000 people. http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL1729620320080617 Slovenia: 12) A three-day meeting of Directors-General for Forestry began Tuesday in Slovenia. The main topics of the meeting concern forests and climate change, and the question of what role forests should play in adapting to and mitigating climate change. The Directors-General will also discuss the initiative for concluding a legally binding agreement on forests in Europe which was previously dealt with at the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe in November last year. They will further discuss the important protective role of forests, which will be particularly emphasised in terms of climate change, in respect of protection against erosion, regulating the outflow of water and framing the most appropriate policies for adaptation and methods of forest management in anticipation of climate change. As far as the mitigation of climate change is concerned, thes-General will consider the role that forests play in this process. The main issues will refer to a sustained increase in the growing stock of forests and multi-purpose management, capacity and appropriate use of wood for energy, increased use of wood instead of other high-energy consumption materials, and an adequate balance of the above strategies. The Austrian delegation will take the initiative in concluding a legally binding agreement on forests in Europe laying down minimum criteria for the protection of forests. Thes-General will open a discussion on strengths and weaknesses of such an initiative for forestry in the EU. The Slovenian Forestry Service will organise an expert excursion to Rakov Škocjan, where forest management planning will be presented. One hundred years ago, Schollmeyer, a forester in the Snežnik forests, devised a method of verification of management decisions, which has been in use ever since. http://green.info-please.co.uk/20080618_role-of-forests-in-climate-change.html Armenia: 13) YEREVAN - Armenian groups trying to protect the Teghut forest confront a familiar obstacle: the government. Earth-movers are already clearing swaths of trees in one of Armenia's most pristine regions, but that has not stopped environmental pressure groups from lobbying the National Assembly to scrap a mining concession in the Teghut forest. " We will be gathering here until the government deems the decision on Teghut [mine] exploitation nullified, " one protester said during a recent demonstration at the parliament, amid shouts of " Keep Your Hands off Teghut, " " Green and Clean Armenia, " and " Healthy Generation. We want to personally meet the prime minister and prevent the exploitation at any expense, because it may otherwise destroy one of the unique forests of Armenia and also threaten the health of the future generations, " said Sona Ayvazyan, a member of the Teghut Defense Initiative and country director for Transparency International. It is a familiar fight for conservationists in Armenia, where mining for copper, molybdenum, and other metals has enjoyed resurgence after production slumped in the years following independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The industry provides badly needed jobs and export revenue but worsens the deforestation from illegal logging and poor land-use practices. Armenian Forests, a conservation group that works to restore threatened woodlands, estimates that the amount of forested land in the country has fallen from 25 percent to 8 percent in the last century. In November the National Assembly approved a 25-year license to operate an open-pit copper and molybdenum mine in Teghut, located in the country's Lori province 190 kilometers north of the capital, Yerevan. Teghut is being developed by the Armenian Copper Program, a Yerevan-registered company backed by investors in Liechtenstein and Russia. The mine has the support of senior government leaders, including the president, who see the thousands of jobs expected to be created as vital to helping the economically blighted region for decades to come. http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1 & IdPublication=4 & NrIssue=274 & \ NrSection=1 & Nr Article=19688 Africa: 14) Paul Martin has a new constituency. This one is twice the size of France and home to 50 million people - as well as 10,000 species of plants, 655 species of birds and 400 species of mammals. After 18 years in Canada's Parliament - the final two as prime minister - he was named co-chair yesterday of a major European initiative to conserve Africa's Congo River Basin rain forest, the world's second-largest. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced the creation of the Congo Basin Forest Fund, with roughly equal contributions from Britain and Norway totalling $215-million. The basin represents about a quarter of the planet's remaining rain forest cover, and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization has estimated that deforestation is reducing its size annually by 940,000 hectares or roughly 1 per cent of its total. The loss is largely attributed to legal and illegal logging using unsustainable harvesting methods. The cutting of wood for fuel is also a factor. Mr. Martin, who recalled several years ago visiting the legendary Walden Pond made famous by U.S. transcendentalist philosopher - and icon of ecologists - Henry David Thoreau, said the initiative will assess and fund projects aimed at preventing illegal activities, assisting local communities in protecting the forest, introducing sustainable harvesting practices and looking for alternatives to cutting trees for fuel. The project also will include high-resolution photographic monitoring by satellite to record the rate of deforestation, with pictures beamed directly to Central Africa to enable regional governments to see what is happening. Since leaving politics in 2006 - earlier than expected, he joked - Mr. Martin has divided his time equally between working on African and aboriginal projects. He said his work with the ADB has meant spending a lot of time in Africa. He recounted one incident where he had been taken to see a community-managed part of the Congo Basin forest only to find that all the trees had been logged. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080618.MARTIN18/TPStory/Busin\ ess 15) In West Africa, nearly 90 percent of the original moist forest is gone, and what remains is heavily fragmented and degraded. Today, West African unspoiled forests are restricted to one patch in Côte d'Ivoire and another along the border between Nigeria and Cameroon. The forests of Africa cover 520 million hectares and constitute more than 17 per cent of the world's forests. They are largely concentrated in the tropical zones of Western and Central, Eastern and Southern Africa. With more than 109 million hectares of forests, Congo Kinshasa alone has more than 20 per cent of the region's forest cover, while Northern Africa has little more than 9%, principally along the coast of the western Mediterranean countries, according to FAO. This still, however, makes Africa on of the continents with the lowest forest cover rate. African forests include dry tropical forests in the Sahel, Eastern and Southern Africa, humid tropical forests in Western and Central Africa montane forests, diverse sub-tropical forest and woodland formations in Northern Africa and the southern tip of the continent, as well as mangroves in the coastal zones. 1) Almost 6.8 million square kilometers of Africa were originally forested. 2) Over 90% of West Africa's original forest has been lost; only a small part of what remains qualifies as frontier forest. 3) Within the Congo Basin, between 1980 and 1995, an area about the size of Jamaica was cleared each year (1.1 million ha). 4) During 1990-95 the annual rate of total deforestation in Africa was about 0.7 per cent. 5) In Africa, for every 28 trees cut down, only one tree is replanted. 6) Large blocks of intact natural forest only remain in Central Africa, particularly in Congo Kinshasa, Gabon, and Congo Brazzaville. 7) Since 1957, two thirds of Gabon's forests have been logged, are currently being logged, or were slated for logging as logging concessions in 1997. http://www.afrol.com/test2008/features/10278 16) Logging activities in tropical Africa may pose hidden health risks to wildlife and humans according to a veterinary pathobiologist speaking at a scientific conference in Paramaribo, Suriname. Thomas R. Gillespie, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said that primates living in logged and degraded forests in Uganda and Republic of Congo have higher incidence of potential pathogens relative to their counterparts found in undisturbed areas. The findings have implications for human health in that some of these disease agents dramatically increase mortality of people suffering from HIV/AIDS. Since the study areas have high HIV/AIDS infection rates, an increase in the abundance of these disease agents could have significant health impacts. Analyzing the the abundance, variety and density of potentially harmful parasites in gorillas, chimps and monkeys living in Kibale (Uganda), Bwindi (Uganda), and sites in the Republic of Congo, Gillespie and colleagues found higher prevalence of infection among primates living in distrubed forest areas. In logged areas in the Republic of Congo, the researchers reported the presence of Strongyloides stercoralis, a parasitic roundworm that results in a hyper infection in HIV patients that carries a 98 percent mortality rate. Gillespie said the roundworm — which is not typically found in Central Africa forests and was likely introduced by loggers who defecate on the edges of logging sites — was recorded in 12 percent of plots in logging areas but none of the forest park zones. Still because primates are now being picking up Strongyloides stercoralis, it is possible that infected individuals could move into pristine forest areas, speading the pathogen to unaffected populations. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0614-aids_wildlife.html 17) It was long shrouded in mystery, called " the Dark Continent " by Europeans in awe of its massive size and impenetrable depths. Then its wondrous natural riches were revealed to the world. Now a third image of Africa and its environment is being laid before us – one of destruction on a vast and disturbing scale. Using " before and after " satellite photos, taken in all 53 countries, UN geographers have constructed an African atlas of environmental change over the past four decades – the vast majority of it for the worse. In nearly 400 pages of dramatic pictures, disappearing forests, shrinking lakes, vanishing glaciers and degraded landscapes are brought together for the first time, providing a deeply disturbing portfolio of devastation. The atlas, compiled by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at the request of African environment ministers, and launched yesterday simultaneously in Johannesburg and London, underlines how extensively development choices, population growth, regional conflicts and climate change are impacting on the natural world and the nature-based assets of the continent. The satellite photos, some of them spanning a 35-year period, offer striking snapshots of environmental transformation in every country. The purpose of the atlas is to inspire African governments to improve their records as environmental custodians, and as such, its language and tone are studiously neutral, generally referring to environmental " change " rather than destruction. But although there are some examples given of change for the better, the vast majority of the case studies are of large-scale environmental degradation, and the atlas compilers freely accept that this represents the true picture. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/nature-laid-waste-the-destruction\ -of-africa-8 44370.html#a 18) A spy satellite is to be trained on the vast rainforests of central Africa as part of a British project designed to protect them from illegal logging under plans to be unveiled today. The £1m high-resolution camera will beam images of the Congo Basin Rainforest to a new ground station to allow governments, NGOs and local communities to prevent the rainforests being lost. The equipment, which can photograph objects as small as 10 metres across, will hover 650km (400 miles) above the rainforest to track illegal logging operations, as well as monitor pollution levels and help monitor agriculture. A £1.5m satellite ground station will also be built in the region as part of an £8m package of measures to be announced today to prevent dangerous deforestation in the region. British ministers hope the satellite camera, likely to be launched in two years' time, will also provide images for a £1.8m mapping project designed to help the 51 million inhabitants of the rainforest to establish their land rights and prevent loggers seizing territory. The new initiative will be unveiled at the launch of a global fund to back projects to preserve the rainforest, the world's second-largest tropical forest. The forest covers an area twice the size of France and contains 26 per cent of the world's remaining rainforest, extending across six countries; Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo. Estimates suggest that 3,600 square miles of forest are cut down in the forest each year. Britain has donated £50m to the new fund, which ministers hope will rise to £250m to prevent the rainforest suffering the type of deforestation which has depleted the Amazon's rainforest. The fund is part of an £800m initiative to help developing countries cope with the effects of climate change and develop environmentally friendly technology. It will be chaired by Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who founded the Kenyan Green Belt Movement, which has been responsible for planting 40 million trees across the country to prevent soil erosion. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/spy-satellite-will-monitor-illeg\ al-logging-ac ross-six-african-countries-848506.html 19) The Congo Basin rainforest is the world's second largest expanse of forest accounting for 26% of the world's tropical rainforest. Dense , deep, humid and seemingly impenetrable the Congo Basin forests stretch from the coasts of the Gulf of Guinea to the West as far as to the Albertin mountain ranges to the East and over seven latitudes and longitudes along the equator. With an estimated total area 200 million hectares, the Congo Basin rainforests cut across 10 countries with 63 million people who benefit from the forests' 10,000 species of plants 1000 species of birds and 400 species of mammals. The countries Burundi , Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad , Congo, DR Congo , Equatorial Guinea Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe , and Rwanda. The Bank Group has financed a total of 81 operation in the Congo Basin amounting to U.A 1,7 billion (as at the end of December 2007) spread over 10 different sectors of which the bulk was in agriculture , multi-sector and social. The Bank Group adopted a multi-sectoral approach to its intervention in the Region. Bank Group operations in water and sewerage sector has increased substantially since the establishment of African Water Facility (AWF), while operations in Environmental protection has continued to lag behind. The launching of the Congo Basin Rainforest Fund and the increased awareness of the international donor community of the ecological importance of the zone to the world climate, are expected to stimulate investments in the sector in the coming years. http://appablog.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/afdb-bank-group-intervention-in-the-con\ go-basin/ Mozambique: 20) Vast areas of tropical woodland in Mozambique are disappearing, as locals turn the trees into charcoal to make a living. As a result, Professor John Grace and colleagues at the University of Edinburgh have devised a scheme to guarantee locals an income, and save the forests at the same time. Using £2 million of European Union funding, they have formed the N'hambita Community Carbon Project. Companies and individuals in the West pay to offset their carbon use, and the money goes to secure jobs for people in the community. Prof Grace said: " There are plenty of people in the world who are willing to pay for offsetting their carbon dioxide emissions. " It has taken five years to establish the project. This week, environment experts from all over the world, including Gambia, Zambia and Mozambique, spent a day in Edinburgh at a Carbon and Communities in Tropical Woodlands Conference, organised by Prof Grace. They discussed the potential for the N'hambita project to be adopted more widely in Africa. http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Creating-jobs--and-helping.4205710.jp 21) The Mozambican government should strengthen its capacity to inspect the exploitation and transport of charcoal in order to reduce its contribution to deforestation. This is one of the recommendations from a study on " The Maputo City Charcoal Marketing Chain " , presented on Monday, the first day of an international conference on " Charcoal and Communities " . The study notes that much charcoal production is entirely informal, since many of the producers have no licences. Only those who transport the charcoal to the city, where they sell it, hold licences. " Care is still not being taken to replant the tree species cut down for charcoal, although this measure is observed when trees are logged for timber " , the study remarked. To make matters worse, the trees were being hacked down in an entirely disorganized fashion, which will make reforestation more difficult. The study recommends better, less wasteful techniques for producing charcoal, as well as the use of cheaper alternative fuels, which will reduce the pressure on forests near Maputo. Speaking at the opening of the conference, the Deputy Agriculture Minister, Catarina Pajume, said that charcoal production leads to considerable deforestation, causing environmental problems in many African countries. " Despite the government's efforts to control the use of forest resources, along the main roads in Mozambique we witness a reduction in plant cover, and charcoal production is one of the main causes of this " , she said. This amounted to an attack on the natural resources on which many households depend, and charcoal production was thus " contributing to a worsening of poverty " , Pajume added. About 70 per cent of the energy consumed in Maputo comes from charcoal, and the situation is likely to be similar in the other major cities. Charcoal producers are relatively well off. By producing 20 to 30 sacks of charcoal a month, a producer can earn between 100 and 150 dollars - which is much more than the statutory minimum wage (of less than 70 dollars a month). Some 150,000 families are believed to make their living from charcoal. http://allafrica.com/stories/200806161361.html 22) When Mozambique became independent from Portugal in 1975, it immediately became listed as one of the worst places in the world to live. Organized crime, years of government corruption, crooked police forces, a massive AIDS crisis, annual floods, a 16 year civil war that killed a million people by 1992 and their citizens currently live on less that $2.00 a day. Only 8% of the country's houses today have electricity. China has built many businesses here and provided a $2.3 billion dollar loan for a controversial dam from which the World Bank had previously backed away. What Mozambique does have is tens of thousands of acres of prime timber that cover 70% of the country. And as is also reality, China, (that has massive, widespread logging bans on its own mainland), is the world's largest importer of unprocessed timber. It is stated that of every 10 trees traded in the world, 5 are destined for China. The Smithsonian Institute's chief biologist say that; " Most logs imported into China are effectively stolen. " And the majority of these illegal timber logs are turned by the Chinese into finished wood products and furniture that eventually find their way as Chinese exports to the US and other industrialized countries. The timber coming from Mozambique to China is many times listed as mostly " legal " . However, legal or not, rare hardwood species are being obliterated by the Chinese without being replanted. In Mozambique, there is only one local " cop " for every 125,000 acres and law enforcement is considered corrupt and is a virtual " Timber Mafia " . The Mozambique parliament passed new anticorruption laws in 2004, but to date, no one has ever been charged under it. China also continues to buy timber-cutting licenses from private land owners for pennies on the dollar, and then they proceed to clear-cut the vast forest areas without replanting. As one citizen of Mozambique stated, " To understand the way the Chinese do things, one must understand America. If America stops buying furniture made from our wood by the Chinese, then perhaps we can preserve our timber. We are all part of the problem. " http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/64968 Congo: 23) The Belgian colony of Zaire became the Democratic Republic of the Congo in June of 1960. The Congo has been devastated by years of successive slave traders, starting from the 1800's and was even declared a " personal possession " by Belgium's brutal King Leopold II. The king also used the Congo for what he called a " showcase for civilizing the Negroes " . From its beginning, the leaders of the Congo have brought nothing but death to its people by being home-grown, brutal dictators such as Mobutu Sese Seko. For three decades, he also used the state's mining monopoly as his personal check book. Today, according to the International Rescue Committee, the death toll in the Congo is 10 times larger than that of the highly publicized genocide and starvation killings in Darfur. Nearly 5.5 million Congolese have died since 1998 in the country's two civil wars and their aftermath of starvation and epidemics. On going smuggling and corruption are involved in all levels of the mining processes. Of the the Congo's 65 million inhabitants, 80% live on 50 cents a day. The Chinese are currently providing a nine billion-dollar mining and infrastructure package. This marks China's single largest commitment in Africa to date and will remake the economic map of the entire continent. Victor Cosongo, the Congo's most powerful mining official says; " If China wants to dominate the world, it's not our business to stop them. Who are we to close the door to them when we don't have water or electricity? If China doesn't come to the Congo, we are in very deep trouble. " The Chinese are long on cash and short on rules. As China's ambassador to Congo, Wu Zexian, has said; " China won the contract because its no-strings offer was all upside for the Congolese government, and there are no other competitors. " Of the $9 billion, one third will be pumped into the Congo's war ravaged mines. The other $6 billion will take the form of a soft loan (backed by the Congo's mineral deposits.) for the Congo's new infrastructure. This will be built by Chinese construction companies, primarily with Chinese labor. The infrastructure will include 4,500 miles of rail lines and roads, a giant mineral smelter in the hub of an industrial distribution center linking the Congo to to the Chinese-built networks in Zambia and Angola and ultimately to sea ports on both the east and the west coasts of Africa. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/64968 24) The Congo Basin Forest Fund, a multi-donor facility established to take action to protect the forests in the Congo Basin region, will be launched on Tuesday, June 17, 2008, in London, UK, in the presence of the Fund's Co-Chairs Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai, and former Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin; along with representatives of international development partners, civil society, private sector and high level officials of the British government. The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, Donald Kaberuka, is expected to deliver a major speech at the launch. The partnership involves the AfDB, 10-member States of the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) - Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, and Rwanda - as well as the UK and Norway The launch will serve as a venue for these organizations to map out innovative ways of deploying the Fund over a ten-year period up to 2018, to finance COMIFAC's Action-Plan in ten different strategic areas aimed at conserving the Congo Basin rainforest. The strategy to attain this goal includes providing help to local communities in order for them to find livelihoods that are consistent with forest conservation and developing transformative approaches to sustainable forest management. The fund will support activities aimed at complementing particular aspects of the Central Africa Forests Commission (COMIFAC) Convergence Plan. Each week, an area the size of 25,000 football pitches is cut down in the Congo Basin rainforest. According to the UN, if action is not taken now, more than 66% of the rainforest will be lost by 2040. This fund provides the best opportunity to the world to protect the second largest rainforest in the world after the Amazon. http://appablog.wordpress.com/2008/06/16/congo-basin-fund-launch-takes-place-in-\ london/ 25) The biggest ever fund set up to battle deforestation was launched today, targeting the vast Congo basin rainforest in central Africa. Britain and Norway are providing £108m and will also supply satellite imaging technology to monitor the area. The fund is intended to provide African governments and people living in the rainforest with a viable alternative to logging, mining, and felling trees for firewood and subsistence farming. The Congo basin rainforest is the world's biggest after the Amazon, at about twice the size of France, but is rapidly dwindling. It is being cut down at the rate of 25,000 football pitches a week. Loss of trees is one of the biggest sources of the carbon dioxide warming the atmosphere, accounting for 18% of annual emissions. Projects will be eligible for funds if they can demonstrate that they will curb the destruction of forest, by providing alternative sources of income or energy for example. Their effectiveness will be monitored from above by high definition cameras being made in the Rutherford Appleton laboratory in Oxfordshire, UK, due to be mounted on satellites and launched into orbit in the next two years. " We are pledging to work together to secure the future of one of the world's last remaining ancient forests, " Gordon Brown said at the scheme's launch. Britain initiated the fund and is providing £58m. " Preserving our forests is vital if we are going to reduce global emissions and tackle climate change. " Jens Stoltenberg, the Norwegian prime minister, whose government is putting £50m in the scheme over three years said the money spent was the most immediate and cost-effective way to combat greenhouse gas emissions. Norway is spending £300m a year on its global forest initiatives. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/17/forests.endangeredhabitats 26) Rhino numbers in Africa have reached record levels but one sub-species confined to a remote and lawless corner of Congo is on the brink of extinction, a leading conservation group has warned. While populations thrive elsewhere, the northern white rhino - found only in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Garamba National Park - has been hounded by poachers. The Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said there were just 30 of them left in April 2003, and only four confirmed animals as of August 2006. " Worryingly, recent fieldwork has so far failed to find any presence of these four remaining rhinos, " Martin Brooks, head of its African Rhino Specialist Group, said in a report. " Unless animals are found during the intensive surveys that are planned under the direction of the African Parks Foundation, the sub-species may be doomed to extinction. " White rhinos are targeted by poachers for their horns, which fetch high prices in Yemen, where they are made into dagger handles, and in the Far East, where they are coveted for their supposed medicinal qualities. But wildlife protection is almost impossible in the eastern DRC due to militia violence that still haunts the region five years after a war that killed some 4 million people, mostly from hunger and disease. Authorities there arrested a senior game ranger in March suspected in the slaughter last year of several rare mountain gorillas in Congo's oldest national park, Virunga. And last month, a conservation group said soldiers, rebels and local villagers in Virunga had recently killed 14 elephants in as many days to meet surging Chinese demand for ivory. In the thick forests of Garamba, further north, the shadowy bands of hunters include heavily-armed guerrillas from northern Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411319/1851886 Nigeria: 27) Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua said on 13 June that the country's energy infrastructure has become so decrepit he will soon have to call a 'state of emergency'. Nigerian environmental experts are urging the government to consider reintroducing coal mining to end the crisis, a move they say would also slow forest loss and desertification. " Nigeria has an estimated 3 billion metric tonnes of coal reserves, the largest in Africa, which it should exploit for domestic use to stave off reliance on wood fuel which causes deforestation " , said Kabiru Yammama, a consultant on rural energy, citing a 1998 report of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) which warned that by 2020 " all the forests in Nigeria will disappear " if the current rate of deforestation is maintained. Yammama, who heads a Nigerian non-governmental organisation called Green Shield of Nations, said forests in northern Nigeria have " almost all vanished " , and lumberjacks are now moving towards the rain forests in the south, felling and burning trees for firewood and charcoal. " Coal provides one of the best alternative sources of energy for Nigeria due to its availability, easy usage and high heat emission " , Yammama said, explaining that domestically refined oil products are too expensive for most Nigerians, and that investment in this area would therefore do little to stop deforestation as most people would still burn cheaper wood and charcoal. At the moment, Green Shield of Nations estimates deforestation at around 400,000 hectares per year, mostly in the north. The country's 140 million inhabitants burn over 40 million tonnes of firewood annually, according to a 1999 survey by the NGO. According to Yammama, 35 percent of arable land in the north has been overrun by the desert, which is encroaching at a rate of between eight and 30 hectares annually, affecting the livelihoods of over 55 million people, more than the combined population of Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Mauritania. These estimates have been confirmed by Nigeria's National Meteorological Agency (NIMET) in a March 2008 report which said crop yield in the north dropped by 20 percent in 2007, in part due to an early end of the rainy season but also because of desertification. http://allafrica.com/stories/200806161345.html 28) Katsina State, although found within the buffer areas below latitude 120N and whereby it is taking in desert-like conditions, has favorable climatic indices that encourages growth of vegetation and forests across the state. From the extreme northern part where it borders Niger Republic it has a mean annual rainfall measurement of 635mm to the extreme southern part where it neighbours Kaduna State where 1,143mm measurement is recorded. Katsina State has had a long history of forest reserves since 1916. Within a decade, a number of reserves were established in many areas, with varying sizes. The reserves were meant to protect the endangered tree species, provide pasture, improve the climate, beautify the environment to provide avenue for recreation and tourism and control hunting or serve as fuel plantation. The establishment of forest reserves, as noted in the abstract started in 1919 in the old Katsina province. Within a decade, a number of reserved with varying sizes were established at Jibiya (2 sq miles); Kankara- Tsaskiya-Ruma area (284 sq miles), the Birnin Katsina Area (193 acres); Karaduwa (6.8 sq. miles) Garunmashi district (66.6 acres) and Makoda-Marusa district (62 miles); Sabuwa-Marusa district (25 acres); Masibi – Ingawa (68 acres); Musawa South (30 sq . miles); Kogo reserves (30 sq. miles). An accelerated establishment of forest reserves began from 1930. By the mid 1940s the number of reserves increased and additional areas included Rogogo Hill, Sandamu, Kaya, Hamis, Gulbin Baure, bringing the total area to 9,466 sq. miles. The state has about 50 forest reserves (see table) scattered all over the state. They vary in size and area extent from few hundred square Kilometers to thousand of square kilometers (map). There are also shelterbelts in the northern part of the state. The belts can be idenfied from satellite imageries. Other forest reserves of great potentials include Guru Gingia, Kandawa, Kabbi, Yashi, Dutsinbali, Mawashi, Karfi, Daura, Dayi, Badauri, Dayingoro, Barawa, Tsanmi and Katsina. Others area Dankabbi, Madarai, Nasssarawa, etc. http://www.leadershipnigeria.com/product_info.php?products_id=29873 & osCsid=6e85f\ c107e518f868a 2740e35ad12093 Sierra Leone: 29) Hi, we operate in a rural area of sierra leone called kambia. Our workers teach the local population how to cultivate the land and look after the nature. We have done much in that field but are always interested in people who are so we can exchange ideas and hopefully help each other.. Thanks, Christian Boas -- The Self-Help and Development Everywhere (SHADE) is a secular, non profit making and non-governmental organization, established in 2000 by a group of like-minded Sierra Leonean with a wealth and varied experiences from organisations like Action aid, Oxfam, GTZ, Norwegian Refugee council (NRC). It started as a voluntary and community based organisation called Community Health Service Volunteers-Sierra Leone (CHSV/SL) with the aim of helping to save humanity through popular community volunteerism and participation. Later, because of its collaborative efforts, this voluntary organisation was transformed to an NGO called SHADE through the advice and dedication of a British citizen called Christian Boas.Mr. Boas is one of the people who are always ready to respond to the social needs of poor communities and institutions. The organisation is a community based in Kambia district, the smallest, the poorest and possibly the worst affected districts by the more than one decade of civil conflict in Sierra Leone. Since 2000/2001, the organisation has organised several community sensitisation and awareness raising programmes in addition to mainstream project implementation. It is also a member of various development and peace building networks, including Concern group Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (SLANGO) and a strong advocate of Democracy and Human Rights including the rights of the disabled and the helpless. http://www.shade-sl.com/profile.php Cameroon: 30) The Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Elvis Ngolle Ngolle has dismissed as false reports by a French Non Governmental Organisation, Les Amis de la Terre , that Cameroon's forest is logged with little or no respect of the law. He was talking within the framework of government communication. The forestry and wildlife boss hinged his presentation on four main axes: report of the French NGO, fight against illegal logging, issuing of licences, and complexity of forest operation. On the report by the French NGO, published on 13 May, 2008, Minister Ngolle Ngolle hailed the organisation for the interest it has on Cameroonian forestry sector, but expressed his surprise at the tone and methodology applied by the organisation in it report. " Les Amis de la Terre, has axed its criticism basically on smaller forest licences " , Ngolle Ngolle said. " I do share the idea that smaller licenses are problematic, but we cannot do without them because they emanate from the Cameroon law " , he said. He said the preoccupation of government is to make sure holders of smaller licenses, the majority of whom are Cameroonians, respect the law. " We have taken draconian measures to this effect " , he said. Holders of smaller licenses, he said represent 85 per cent of forest exploiters but has a less than 10 per cent influence in the sector. " I agree that part of the problem comes from this group but refuse to accept that all of the problems come from there " , he said, stating inter alia that only a serious study on the Cameroonian forest can say how much illegal activity it is and the consequences on the Cameroonian economy. On illegal logging, the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife said there is a problem of poor understanding of the law which is responsible for its poor appreciation of what is legal and what is illegal. " I am not out to say that all is perfect in Cameroon but that illegality in the Cameroonian forestry sector is not as preponderant as people think " , he said. Cameroon, he said is presently a model in forest management in the Central African cub region. About 18 per cent of Cameroon's territory is placed under conservation which largely above the 10 per cent of the United Nations 2010 objective. In effect, nine forestry units representing 900,000 hectares of forest is reserved. http://allafrica.com/stories/200806161583.html 31) Statistics from the East Provincial Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife indicate that 1665 cubic meters of white wood were seized from loggers in the Dengdeng and Goyoum forest reserves between November 2007 and April 2008. According to the Provincial Chief of Forest Control Brigade, Pone, the seizures came within the framework of an operation dubbed " Operation coup de poing " launched on November 12, 2007 by the East Provincial Delegate for Forestry and Wildlife, Bruno Mfou'ou Mfou'ou. The operation was intended to weed out loggers from these forests whose conservation is one of the preconditions for the construction of the Lom-Pangar Dam.The wood, according to Pone, was auctioned for FCFA 22,000,000 and the proceeds deposited in the public treasury. Elsewhere in the Province, 2100 cubic metres of sawn timber were seized from loggers within the same period. Pone further revealed that 18 offence cases related to illegal logging were taken up by the Provincial Delegation the last six months. He said some of the cases have already been forwarded to the Ministry for further action. Guilty parties could be required by the 1994 forestry laws to suffer prison terms ranging from one year to three years or fines ranging from FCFA 3,000,000 to FCFA 10,000,000.It remains to be seen whether those civil proceedings will lead anywhere, given that those in power generally tend to connive with the loggers. A recent study carried out in the East Province shows that 21 percent of civil proceedings taken by forestry officials in the East Province against illegal loggers were " stopped by some one on high up. " Tracking down illegal loggers is hampered by a number of factors. Eco-guards are so poorly equipped that they find it difficult to monitor large areas of forestland. Secondly, they are few in number as one forest controller has to monitor over 20,000 hectares of concessions and loggers have developed the instinct to skirt the controllers. More over, even legitimate loggers, pushed by the profit impulse, usually go beyond their legitimate bounds.A 2001 study by Brown and Ekoto entitled: " Forest Encounters: Synergy Among Agents of Forest and Natural Resources Management in Southern Cameroon " , states that " a company may falsify its tax declarations to conceal illegal logging especially when logging an area for the first time. http://www.icicemac.com/news/index.php?nid=10425 & pid=38 Uganda: 32) I wish to draw attention to the damage tobacco growing has caused to the environment in West Nile, the North, Bunyoro and south-western Uganda. Several acres of woodland have been felled for flue-cured tobacco production in Maracha, Arua, Koboko, Yumbe, Hoima, and Masindi districts. Forests that would otherwise have filtered carbon emissions and protected arable land from erosion are removed, and temperatures in the tobacco-growing districts are rising. Firms like British American Tobacco, Leaf Tobacco and Commodity, as well as Continental, in their fallacy, give eucalyptus seedlings to farmers supposedly to replace chopped forests without considering the long maturity period and its impact on the water table. The tobacco firms do not plough back their high profits yet they hype their cosmetic social responsibility programmes. South African Breweries' " Drive Arrive Campaign " resulted into 10% decline in road accident-related deaths in 1998. What have the tobacco companies done? Apart from the trivial contribution through the mandatory 2000 Crop Ordinance that Arua enacted, tobacco companies have not done much for the community. Since tobacco growing is laborious and an all-year round activity, many food crops are foregone by tobacco farmers, which has caused food insecurity. Besides, during peak seasons, students stay home harvesting tobacco, leading to poor academic performance and child labour. Tobacco companies have not trained farmers to invest their little earnings and this leaves them in a cyclical poverty trap. http://allafrica.com/stories/200806190076.html Madagascar: 33) In its largest ever debt-for-nature swap, Madagascar signed a deal with France this month, in which US$20 million of debt owed to the former colonial power was put into a conservation fund, the Foundation for Protected Areas and Biodiversity (FPAB). " Thanks to this, the money will go into the protection of the Malagasy environment instead of to France, " Nani Ratsifandrihamanana, the environment director of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) told IRIN. Her organisation played a crucial role in brokering the deal that will help protect Madagascar's forests, home to many of the world's most fascinating creatures. Nearly all the island's land mammals, over 90 percent of its reptiles and 80 percent of its plants are found nowhere else. In a separate deal, Madagascar committed itself to selling nine million tons of carbon offsets to help protect its forests. The money will be used to protect the vast Makira forest, one of several under threat as a result of the poverty of the overwhelmingly rural population. Scientists say deforestation in the tropics contributes to about 20 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions and that reducing deforestation is one of the quickest ways to fight climate change. Deforestation in Africa is twice as high as anywhere else in the world, where some 13 million hectares of forest are cleared every year. Thanks to this, the money will go into the protection of the Malagasy environment Conservation International (CI), a non-profit environmental group, said the main drivers of deforestation in Madagascar were slash-and-burn agriculture, charcoal production for use in towns and cities, mining, and the conversion of forest to plant maize. Reducing deforestation is a hard battle to win because more than 75 percent of the island's 18 million people are rural and depend on land and natural resources. The new carbon credit deal, managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), based at the Bronx Zoo in the US, represents an innovative way to tackle the problem. http://allafrica.com/stories/200806190973.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.