Guest guest Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 --Today for you 34 new articles about earth's trees! (372nd 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-Mid-East: Latin America: Asia-Pacific-Australia: Index: --UK: 1) Ancient tree Forum, 2) 200-acre expansion of Durham beauty spot, 3) Limewoods Native Woodland Challenge, --Spain: 4) Logging industry has advantage when it comes to biofuels --Turkey: 5) Selling licenses to " operate " national forests --Tanzania: 6) Jane Goodall's legacy: a primate-filled island forest surrounded by pasture --Kenya: 7) Recovery of Meru national park --Nigeria: 8) Ground-zero for coming resource wars --Uganda: 9) Forest loss most severe in Kibaale and Nakasongola --Pakistan: 10) Clandestine plan to clear mangroves discovered --Mexico: 11) UN designation likely won't help save the Butterfly forest --Brazil: 12) Limiting Soy when its value is rising? 13) Saving the edible heartwood of the Juçara palm, 14) Stora Enso found to be criminal in courts again, 15) Economy vs. environment conundrum, 16) What the forest minister resignation means, 17) Palm Oil Barons plan to take over Brazil, 18) Nature reserves are being thoroughly ransacked, --Ecuador: 19) Site of Greatest Bat diversity ever being studied, 20) New constitution recognizes rights for nature and ecosystems!!!!! --China: 21) Farmers get forest contracts to lift production and promote conservation? --India: 22) Kutch Biosphere reserve sets up 2 management committees, 23) Kolar congress burns forest minister in effigy, --Philippines: 24) Warning chiefs not to tolerate logging, 25) Caraga tightening its monitoring of 188,000-hectare pulp concession, --Papua new Guinea: 26) Government lying about illegal logging being non-existent --Malaysia: 27) OP3-Danum project --Indonesia: 28) Filing a slander complaint against Yale, 29) Sponsoring trees in Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park, --Fiji: 30) 70,000 hectares lost in 15 years --Australia: 31) Stopping destruction of Shire and Yarra ranges, 32) Benedict Arnold of treehugging rejects UN call for greater forest protection, 33) Compensation demanded for unpaid council rates, 34) " Tenants in common " property falls apart when one person wants to develop his share of it, Articles: UK: 1) From a 5,000-year-old yew said to have sheltered the young Pontius Pilate, to an oak which inspired Mendelssohn and a sycamore under which the Tolpuddle Martyrs met, many of the trees have played a key role in the nation's history. Britain has more old trees than anywhere else in northern Europe, but many are now at risk. Although some can be protected by preservation orders, conservationists say these can be rescinded if a tree is claimed to be dead, dying or dangerous. The Government is preparing to bring in rules that would give greater protection to ancient trees and conservationists have compiled the register to highlight as many as possible. Jill Butler, from the Woodland Trust, which compiled the list with the Ancient Tree Forum and the Tree Register of the British Isles, said: " These are representatives of our history and heritage, in the same way that old buildings are. " Trees are classified according to three stages - growing, mature or ancient. Once a member of the public has nominated what he or she believes to be an ancient tree, a verifier from the register will study its girth and the conditions in which it is growing. From this age can be established and whether it qualifies as ancient. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/07/13/eatrees113.xml 2) Almost £500,000 is to be spent on creating a 200-acre extension to a woodland beauty spot in Durham. The Woodland Trust will create the extension to Elemore Wood, at Easington Lane, which will be planted out and tended over the next 15 years. More than 100,000 native trees and scrubs such as oak, ash, willow and rowan will be planted alongside rarer species such as spindle, so named because its wood was used for looms, and small leaved lime. Establishing woodland cover will be spread over four planting phases, with the first trees going in the ground at the beginning of 2009. Forestry Commission spokesman Mike Riley said the site would be called White Hill Woods. " This ambitious scheme ticks all our boxes. Expanding Elemore Wood will produce massive dividends, with mixed habitats including trees, glades and open spaces producing a tremendous boost to wildlife. " Local people will also get a place to relax and enjoy healthy exercise. This part of the region is relatively low on tree cover, so this scheme will have a major impact. " When mature, Elemore and White Hills will provide continuous woodland cover for two and half miles between Easington Lane in Tyne and Wear and Littletown in County Durham. Wildflower meadows and an area of magnesium limestone grassland - a rare local wildlife habitat - will also be created. http://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/latest-north-east-news/500000-to-create-b\ eauty-spot.4282 073.jp 3) The woodlands stretch between Wickenby and Woodhall Spa and are made up of scattered individual woods with lots of lime trees. Landowners and farmers can apply for cash from the scheme – the Limewoods Native Woodland Challenge Supplement - to extend or link existing semi-natural woodland by establishing new native woods. It is hoped the isolated woods might be reconnected to create 'wildlife corridors' and help safeguard habitat for years to come. David White, woodland officer with the Forestry Commission, said: " This grant scheme will run for one year only, so we'd urge people to come forward quickly and tell us about their plans. " The importance of the Lincolnshire Limewoods should not be underestimated. " As a habitat they are unique, yet also very fragile. " By expanding tree cover we will improve their prospects and help the wildlife and flora that depend on them. " The woods date back to at least the time of the Domesday Book and support an astonishing range of plants, insects and wildlife, together with a rich human history. http://www.horncastlenews.co.uk/news/85000-to-help-protect-fragile.4279199.jp Spain: 4) Opportunities abound for forest, paper and pulp industry to play a leading role in the development of second-generation biofuels, such as gasifying refining so-called " black liquor " – the oily liquid residue produced in pulping wood to produce paper – to produce both bio-synthesis gas and liquid fuel. Progress has been relatively slow due to a variety of factors, however, including the challenge of instilling a new industry mindset and culture geared towards innovation and R & D as opposed to one focused on cost-cutting to compete in commoditized markets. Managements can take a big step in direction by taking a holistic perspective of their forest, pulp and paper resources as integrated biorefineries, according to a growing number of industry participants, researchers and analysts. A process of developed by Sweden's Chemrec that converts biomass to motor fuels based on black liquor gasification looks like it can be a promising element of emerging new industry biofuels business strategies and plans. http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=44320 Turkey: 5) It is better for Turkey to sell licenses to operate national forests because the state is doing a poor job of managing this public land, Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan said on Wednesday. Non-state companies would do a better job running the millions of hectares of Turkish woodland, Unakitan said at an energy meeting on Wednesday. Countries like Canada have sold such rights to companies that manage their forests better, Unakitan also said. " We had alienated the forests. How do the millions of hectares of Turkish woodland being operated? ... In my opinion, they are not operated well. Let the private sector enter in this area... Check how this is being done in Canada. " Turkish government has sold $27 billion of state assets since 2002 during Unakitan's period. Establishing woodland cover will be spread over four planting phases, with the first trees going in the ground at the beginning of 2009. Forestry Commission spokesman Mike Riley said the site would be called White Hill Woods. " This ambitious scheme ticks all our boxes. Expanding Elemore Wood will produce massive dividends, with mixed habitats including trees, glades and open spaces producing a tremendous boost to wildlife. " Local people will also get a place to relax and enjoy healthy exercise. This part of the region is relatively low on tree cover, so this scheme will have a major impact. " When mature, Elemore and White Hills will provide continuous woodland cover for two and half miles between Easington Lane in Tyne and Wear and Littletown in County Durham. Wildflower meadows and an area of magnesium limestone grassland - a rare local wildlife habitat - will also be created.http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/finance/9404132.asp?scr=1 Tanzania: 6) Goodall has referred to Gombe's lush forests as a cathedral and tries to visit there twice a year for " spiritual strength " . But its forest and the others that make up the lush Congo Basin are vanishing fast, cleared for crop growing, grazing and timber. Loggers are destroying vast tracts, opening the door for commercial hunters, who indiscriminately exterminate the forests animal inhabitants to satisfy the burgeoning taste for bush meat. In 1900, there were up to two million chimps in Africa - that number has plummeted to fewer than 150 000 today. The expansive forests that Goodall once ventured into have disappeared and its 100 chimps are surrounded by farmland. " They're trapped. There are only bare fields around them. They used to go out of the reserve to feed, but not anymore. " Thousands of refugees fleeing war in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo into Tanzania have put more strain on the fragile forest region. Goodall points out her institute is working with Gombe's poverty-stricken villagers with education, health and microcredit schemes, to ultimately safeguard wild habitat. " We're giving fish hooks instead of fish. Each of the villagers puts aside an area for regeneration and this creates a corridor for the chimps so they can go out again. " http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1 & click_id=31 & art_id=vn20080712085637623C8\ 09619 Kenya: 7) WHEN I VISITED MERU NATIONAL Park for the first time at the turn of the new millennium, it seemed like a ghost town — if the expression can be used for one of Kenya's premier parks today. It had gone through a devastating era of poaching that was evidence of a complete breakdown of law and order in the area. The only animals remaining were a few herds of frightened elephants that hid at the slightest sound, antelopes and the elusive cats that had somehow managed to escape the bullets. Only one black rhino remained — Makora — who passed away last year due to old age. He became the flagship for peace after he was brought back from the private ranch where he was taken for safety. Not only were there scarcely any animals left but the infrastructure was in complete shambles. The park headquarters was in ruins, the patrol vehicles were either bullet ridden or unroadworthy, the roads barely passable and just a handful of rangers with little more than a gun to guard the park. The only lodge in the park at that time, Meru Mulika, shut down, bringing tourism to a grinding halt. Meru National Park seemed to have become the poachers' playground. Yet, this is the park that was immortalised in the Born Free series shown on TV and the film screened across the globe. It was safe enough in the sixties for the legendary Joy Adamson to bring Elsa the lioness and later Pippa the cheetah to the wild because it had the space and a diverse landscape full of rivers, grass plains, woodlands and rock kopjes. Tourists went there to see Elsa's home and the big game country where elephants, rhinos and the big cats were in plenty. Today, the tarmac ends at the park's entrance through the newly built Murera gate. The gate office is modern and bigger, fitted with communication gadgets and a secure environment for rangers to work in. The main roads in the park have been graded smooth and the main ones fitted with signposts. Within a few minutes of entry into the park, we come across a herd of elephants close to the road with little ones suckling. On my first visit almost a decade ago, we had spotted a frightened herd of elephants, which quickly scampered back into the bushes. That was the only sighting of them for the next two days. Apart from elephants, I saw one male Greater Kudu, a few antelopes on the plains and no cats. But I got to visit Makora in the newly established rhino sanctuary. Next on the list is a beautiful herd of reticulated giraffes wearing their finely-patterned coats from which comes their name. By the time we arrive at the recently renovated Kinna Bandas by the river that carries the same name, it is already dark. The caretaker brings out the lanterns and we have the log fire on. He has just one warning — not to stray off the pathways or walk in the dark. There are lions around. And to prove it, although we don't see them, we hear them roar every night. " Meru National Park has had the largest translocation of animals in the world, " explains senior warden Robert Njue sitting by the Kinna River. " Over a period of five years, 1,750 animals were translocated here. http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Magazine/mag140720081.htm Nigeria: 8) Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, which juxtaposes the arresting graphics of award-winning photojournalist Ed Kashi with the geopolitical insights of UC Berkeley professor Michael Watts to present Africa's most populous nation as a possible epicenter for the full-blown resource wars to come. [You can watch a short multimedia presentation of Kashi's photographs on the right-hand side of this page.] They are wars that are already well under way. In mid-June, a Shell facility was attacked by local militants, disrupting production and sending the already sky-high price of oil to further heights before coming back online a week later. Attacks like those have increased in frequency, as Nigerian factions have fought for control of the nation's lucrative petroleum resources, which are the largest in Africa. The problem, especially as indigenous populations caught between Nigeria's prosperous rich and their oil industry's environmental devastation see it, is that viable land and resources have been wasted on a handful while the majority of the country falls into further disrepair and depression. From natural gas flares and oil spills to the destruction of native plants, animal species and other salable commodities, Nigeria's oil industry has wreaked havoc across the land and its people. And it's only getting worse. And if you think it doesn't affect America, think again. The future of Nigeria and the Niger Delta in the short and medium term will be that more oil and gas will be produced. There are perhaps 40 more years of oil left, much of that offshore in deep water, and the government and oil companies will continue to produce it at high prices. What's America's stake in the region? Nigeria is a major supplier to the U.S. market, as well as a major plank in America's energy security policy. The Gulf of Guinea in West Africa is a major new oil supply area in the context of the instabilities in Venezuela and the Middle East. It will be business as usual. And the establishment of AFRICOM is part of the U.S. interest. http://www.alternet.org/story/89692/ Uganda: 9) Loss of forest cover in the country is most severe in Kibaale and Nakasongola, posing risks of fuel wood scarcity and food insecurity, according to a study by the National Forestry Authority (NFA). Both districts lost over half of their forests in the last 15 years. The study, which compared satellite images of 1990 and 2005, shows that out of the 80,000 hectares of high forests in Kibaale in 1990, only 26,000 hectares were left in 2005, representing a loss of 68%. In Nakasongola, the forest cover reduced from 127,000 hectares to 60,000 hectares over the same period, or a loss of 53%. The land conversion, for farmland in Kibaale and for charcoal burning in Nakasongola, is to blame for the looming disaster. Central Uganda is cited in the report as the most affected by deforestation. It consists of the charcoal- producing districts of Nakasongola, Nakaseke, Luweero, Kiboga, Mubende and Wakiso. It is followed by western Uganda, where forests in Kibaale, Kyenjojo, Hoima and Masindi are being mowed down by Bakiga immigrants who come from the heavily populated southwestern Uganda. Uganda's total forest cover has halved in the last two decades. In 1988, 26% of the country was covered by forests. This has reduced to 13% in 2008, says John Diisi, NFA's coordinator for Global Information Systems and Mapping. The country loses an average of 86,000 hectares of trees per year, or 2.1%. Most of the destruction is taking place on private land, outside Government protected areas, according to NFA. " The future is not good. What is being destroyed is not restored, " Diisi noted. " This is because what is being destroyed is on private land, where the Government has no control and where it can not touch people who cut down trees. " Within the protected areas, encroachment is the biggest problem. Since President Yoweri Museveni issued an executive order in 2006 stopping evictions from the reserves, the number of encroachers has increased from 180,000 to 240,000, according to the NFA report. http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/638476 Pakistan: 10) A clandestine plan to clear out mangroves has been discovered by a visiting team of environmentalists. It is alleged that, once cleared out, the land near Ibrahim Hyderi and Gizri will be put to commercial use. The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) have hurled allegations at the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) officials, saying that the area comes under the jurisdiction of the DHA. A large number of people have been hired by the agents of the influential timber mafia to cut the endangered mangroves from inside the forests and they have destroyed wide expanses of mangroves from the inside of the forest, alleged a PFF spokesman while talking to The News. However, he said, this clever eradication of flora is not obvious from the outside. The Sindh forest department had deployed officials near Rehri, a fishermen locality, to keep strict vigil over the move, but the officials have allegedly joined hands with the mafia to wipe out the mangroves. When contacted, the local forest department officials claimed that they were there to impose fines against those caught red-handed. However, the situation observed by the visiting team reveals that influential officials, local sea lords and certain government bodies have initiated a joint move to clean the forest area, leaving millions of the city's inhabitants vulnerable to natural calamities. " When we entered the mangroves forest on boat we saw the horrible sight of trees being chopped down. People who introduced themselves to us as labourers on daily wages were axing live trees openly without any fear, " said Abdullah Khoso, who is conducting a study on mangroves and keeping an eye over the destruction of thick forests. " It needs proper attention nobody can calculate how much area these people have already cleared. Each labourer is being paid Rs200 daily wages for the work, " added Khoso. The concerned traders take the wood cutters to the forests on boat in the morning and pick them up in the evening. Timber is being transported by boats to the seashore where trucks and tractor trolleys are loaded with the ill-gotten cargo. This is an organised move and environmentalists have been unable to take notice of this up until now. Though the activity takes place in broad day light, civic authorities as well as environmentalists are silent over the issue. It is unfortunate that the institutions made to safeguard the people and the natural resources of the country are completely dysfunctional and are destroying everything around there, the PFF spokesman added. http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=123624 Mexico: 11) Environmentalists fear the decision to list Mexico's wintering grounds of the Monarch butterfly as a U.N. world heritage site may do little to halt deforestation that threatens the butterflies. UNESCO bestowed the global landmark distinction Monday on the Monarch reserve, a series of mountain forests west of Mexico City where the butterflies spend the winter after migrating thousands of miles (kilometers) from the United States and Canada. " The listing isn't going to produce results unless there is an integral plan for the reserve, " Mexican environmentalist Ivan Restrepo said Tuesday. " I hope this serves as a wake-up call and doesn't just serve as an advertisement. " The Mexican government says it has turned the corner in defending the dense fir forests that shelter the Monarchs from the winter cold. Ernesto Enkerlin, Mexico's commissioner of natural protected areas, said the deforestation problem today is confined to a few small farming communities that account for about 6 percent of the 139,000-acre (56,259 hectare) reserve. It is mostly in those areas that the reserve continues to lose about 100 hectares (247 acres) of trees per year. He acknowledged " it's a disaster " in the problem communities where much of the land is clear-cut, but said trees are starting to grow back in the rest of the reserve, where local residents are cooperating. " We are entering into a new phase of the Monarch butterfly reserve, one of recovery, " Enkerlin said. Boundary disputes, indigenous issues and local rivalries are also making it difficult for authorities to work in those areas, he said. Enkerlin acknowledged that illegal logging was so bad at the reserve three years ago that if authorities had proposed it World Heritage status, " we would have gotten absolutely nowhere. " http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/08/america/LA-Mexico-Butterflies.php Brazil: 12) The price for soybeans is soaring as more and more soy is being used to replace petroleum. These days you'll find the flexible bean in everything from plastics to gasoline. With increased demand comes increased pressure on farmers to plant soy wherever they can - and even places they're not supposed to, like Brazil's Amazon Rainforest. That's why a new agreement to ban soybeans grown in the rainforest could play a big role in preserving the region. The moratorium removes the farmers' economic incentive. Lindsay Allen of Greenpeace helped broker the deal. So how does this moratorium work? ALLEN: Well the moratorium works by ensuring that there isn't new deforestation in the Amazon for soy and it sets in place the monitoring mechanisms so that the big traders like Cargill, ADM, and Bunge can know that the soy they're getting and sending to market isn't coming from farmers who have deforested. GELLERMAN: Well what's in it for Cargilll and ADM and the other companies to observe this moratorium? ALLEN: It's their economic interests because before we announced the moratorium we released a report called " Eating up the Amazon. " And it was essentially a case study that walked from soy in the hands of the farmers to the hands of Cargill, Cargill would then send it to Europe to be animal feed, and those animals were then going into McDonalds' chain of custody. So the pressure that we were able to exert on McDonalds they in turn exert on Cargill. And knowing that deforestation of the Amazon not only is devastating to biodiversity but it also has an impact on climate change, given Brazil is the fourth-largest greenhouse gas emitter, McDonald's has European customers who refuse to buy Amazon soy. GELLERMAN: Well why now? I mean these farmers have been cutting down the forest to grow food for years. What's the impetus for the action now? ALLEN: Well we've seen a huge surge of soy moving into the Amazon and while logging and cattle-ranching are still greater threats, this expansion of soy was a reason for us to say, " We can stop this now and we can put in place a moratorium that really protects the biome, " while setting a precedent. So as we see biofuels expand, as European customers came to understand that animal-based products being fed to animals causes mad cow we see an increase desire for soy in the international markets and that's what's really driven this expansion. http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=08-P13-00028 & segmentID=8 13) The juçara, a palm tree in danger of becoming extinct due to over-exploitation of its edible heart, is beginning to recover thanks to sustainable management by the Afro-Brazilian communities of the Atlantic tropical forest, Brazil's most deforested biome. " I began cutting palm at age seven with my father, the first 'palmiteiro' of Eldorado, " says Antonio Jorge, now 63, and a student of social sciences through a university distance-learning programme. " We did it out of necessity and lack of knowledge, " he admits. But, since 1990, he said, they have been planting juçara instead of cutting it in order to use only its edible bud, the heart, or palmito, which is in high demand on the market. This turnaround occurred in recent years in the Brazilian communities that descended from African slaves in the Ribeira river valley, a basin of 28,306 square kilometres between two industrial cities in the south, São Paulo and Curitiba, and which constitutes the largest preserved area of the Atlantic tropical forest, a coastal ecosystem that has already lost 93 percent of its tree cover. These communities are known as " quilombolas " , emerging from the former " quilombos " , enclaves of blacks who escaped slavery and fought for their freedom in centuries past. A project of the non-governmental Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA) buys juçara seeds gathered by the quilombolas at 1.87 dollars per kilogramme for cultivation in their own lands. In Ivaporunduva, the oldest quilombo in the valley, 13 youths and adults climbed two hills on Jun. 26 carrying sacks full of seeds on their backs to plant in the forest. It was a " mutirão " , an indigenous word used today to describe any community effort that is exceptional and voluntary. Planting has to take place in forested areas because the juçara, whose scientific name is Euterpe edulis martius, needs shade in its early lifetime, and patience, because it takes about eight years to produce fruit and a good palm heart. Silvestre Rodrigues da Silva, a 63-year-old father of five, contributed 250 kg of seeds gathered by his family for the " mutirão " , earning 468 dollars. He was lucky to have preserved hundreds of palms near his house. " I never imagined that their seeds could produce this money. For me, the juçara was just beauty and bird food, " he said. Some communities are growing seedlings in nurseries as another source of income. They are also discovering the benefits of the fruit, whose pulp has nutritional value similar to that of the açaí, an Amazonian palm of the same family that has already conquered a large market share as an energy source. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43164 14) The world's top paper and board maker Stora Enso said on Friday its associated firm, Veracel of Brazil, would appeal against a court decision which said it had no valid deforestation permits. Stora said a decision issued by a federal judge in Bahia, originating from a claim in 1993, said Veracel's permits are not valid and no environmental impact assessment study was undertaken for the licensing. Veracel was at the time accused of having deforested a 64 hectares area of native forest. " According to the decision, 47,000 hectares of Veracel's current plantations should be cut down and reforested within one year with native trees, " Stora said, adding that the decision also imposes a possible fine of BRL 20 million (8 million euros or $12.6 million) on Veracel. But Stora said an environmental impact assessment study was undertaken in 1994-1995 and permits were obtained. It said Veracel disagreed with the court's findings and planned to appeal. " Veracel vigorously disputes the findings of the court and is analyzing the content of the decision, " Stora said. " The preparation work for possible expansion of Veracel will continue. " http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssPaperProducts/idUSL1126401320080711 15) Overall, a stalwart environmentalist might say that the gains in recent Brazilian federal government policy (PAS and PPCDAM) regarding Amazon conservation do not in any way counter the negative aspects of PAS-related development projects that will inevitably cause deforestation and environmental decline. However, Minister Unger says these projects are necessary to provide economic opportunity in the region, and the rhetoric of the PAS claims innovative technology will be used to conduct such projects with minimal environmental impact. Still, environmentalists correctly argue that any such development is detrimental. Also, it remains to be seen whether the highest degree of technology used for projects will, in fact, have a low environmental impact. Will such technology be available to the projects? And will, as is often the case, technology be sacrificed for cost-efficiency? Recalling the history of Brazilian government culture in the 1970s and 1980s, one encounters a Brazilian model of " development " that was environmentally devastating. Governor Blairo Maggi (a controversial figure at the forefront of debate on the Amazon paradox) noted in a speech in Washington on June 10, 2008 that government programs at the time promoted exploitation with no regard to environmental cost. Maggi added, however, that attitudes have changed including his. The lack of past awareness of the environmental impact of development in the 1970s and 1980s was reminiscent of similar ignorance in U.S. history in various eras of frontier life when people falsely sensed that they lived in a land of endless bounty. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0807/S00290.htm 16) The Brazilian president is confronted with a difficult set of circumstances made evident by the bitter debates within Lula's administration, which came to a head with the May 13 resignation of the dejected Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva. Although it is difficult to anticipate how Brasília's current measures will affect deforestation in the Amazon, the most important ecological initiative of Lula's six-year tenure thus far has been the Plan for a Sustainable Amazon (PAS). The document was originally signed in 2004 and later enhanced in 2007, but its implementation only began this year. It is characteristically more pro-economic development than pro-environmental preservation. However, the PAS and related initiatives such as the 2004 Plan of Action for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDAM) could potentially slow deforestation by designating new areas as nature reserves, combating illegal logging and farming, and eradicating falsified land deeds throughout the region. Overall, Brasília deserves some applause for developing a policy that responds to the international outcry against deforestation. Unfortunately, the needs of a growing economy and agricultural sector, in concert with high commodity prices, conflicts markedly with environmental groups' unwavering commitment to preserving the region crucial to the survival of mankind. For some critics, Minister Silva's resignation, coupled with new reports of increasing rates of deforestation, signify a lack of progress in the Brazilian government's modest crusade to conserve the Amazon. Silva had been considered the essential spokesperson within Lula's administration for the environmental movement. Her six-year tenure as Minister of the Environment was littered with tough battles against powerful agribusiness and development interests that ultimately would destroy the Amazon, the area where she was raised as the daughter of rubber-tappers. To understand Silva's ouster, one must take into account the way Brazilian politics function. The country's political system is a complex, relational game of corporatism at every level and Lula's cabinet is no exception. The enormous executive branch currently contains more than 35 ministries--and is known for its non-stop inter-ministry feuding. These ministries, when not given the leeway to work autonomously, fight for the ear of the president on nearly every issue. When dealing with a controversial issue like Amazon conservation, it is easy to see how Silva was overwhelmed by other ministers' promotion of development and business in the region. http://ranforestpower.blogspot.com/2008/07/contemporary-efforts-to-address-amazo\ n.html 17) Malaysia's Land Development Authority FELDA has announced plans to immediately establish 100,000 hectares (250,000) of oil palm plantations in the Brazilian Amazon. The agency will partner with Braspalma, a local company, to form Felda Global Ventures Brazil Sdn Bhd. FELDA will have a 70 percent stake in the venture. " As a start, 20,000ha in Tefe will be opened for oil palm planting. After that, between 3,000ha and 5,000ha will be opened yearly, " said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. " Felda wants to emulate Petronas as a global player, " he added, referring to Malaysia's national oil company. Wednesday's announcement had been expected. Last month Najib said Malaysia would seek to expand its booming palm oil industry overseas. The country is facing land constraints at home. Accordingly, Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Yusof Noor said the agency had been offered 105,000ha in Papua New Guinea, 45,000ha in Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and 20,000ha in Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The establishment of oil palm plantations in the Amazon will be seen by environmentalists as a new threat to the world's largest rainforest. Presently little commercial palm oil is produced in the region due partly to the traditional nature of Brazilian farmers and pest concerns, but the entrance of industry-leading Malaysian producers could serve as a model and quickly increase palm oil's visibility as a viable form of land use. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0709-amazon_palm_oil.html 18) Brazil's nature reserves, which harbor much of the world's biodiversity, are grossly mismanaged, underfunded, and often ransacked by intruders, the environment minister said on Tuesday. Nature reserves account for more than eight percent of Brazil's vast territory, an area equal to the U.S. state of Texas. Brazil also claims to have the world's largest forested national park, the Tumucumac park in Amapa state with 3.8 million hectares (9.39 million acres). But several of Brazil's parks, which harbor treasures from the Amazon forest or the Pantanal wetlands, are sanctuaries not for wildlife but illegal loggers, miners and ranchers. Of 299 protected areas, 57 percent have no permanent law enforcement officials, 76 percent have no management plan, and nearly one-third have no manager, an internal study showed. " We discovered a very serious problem and we called the public to show this ecological striptease, " Environment Minister Carlos Minc told a news conference in Brasilia. " The current situation is not sustainable, " he added. In the Bom Futuro or " Good Future " National Park in northwestern Rondonia state, around 1,600 wildcat miners, farmers, loggers, and ranchers are raiding natural resources. In some years the rate of deforestation in protected areas of the Amazon was higher than in unprotected areas, Minc said. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7638401 Ecuador: 19) Bats are a remarkable evolutionary success story representing the second largest group of mammals, outnumbered only by rodents in number of species. Now, researchers of the Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin (Germany) and Boston University (U.S.A.) have discovered the place that harbours the highest number of bat species ever recorded. In a few ha* of rainforest in the Amazon basin of eastern Ecuador, the authors have found more than 100 species of bats. Dr. Katja Rex and colleagues captured bats at several biodiversity hotspots in the New World tropics, in the lowland rainforest of Costa Rica, the slopes of the Andes and a site in the Amazon rainforest of Eastern Ecuador, at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station1 located adjacent to the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve. During many months of strenuous nightly field work, exposed to rain and mosquitoes, the researchers captured bats, identified species and recorded the total number of each species they captured. Based on these numbers, they calculated the species richness and diversity present in each of these forests. " The forest at Tiputini Biodiversity Station is known as one of the global biodiversity hotspots with extremely high numbers of plant, insect and bird species " explains Dr. Christian Voigt (IZW, Berlin). " We expected a high number of bat species when we started our study, but we were amazed ourselves by our final estimates. This forest is just super diverse in life forms, including bats. " Forests of the temperate zone are regionally inhabited by only 3 to 10 bat species which all feed exclusively on insects. In contrast, tropical forests harbour more than 10 times as many species as temperate forests. Now the researchers want to study how so many bat species manage to coexist together in such a small area. " The forest is like a large city with people of various professions, some are specialised and some are generalists. The ecological role of bats in the forest is quite similar. Among bats we observed dietary specialists and generalists " states Voigt. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080712150148.htm 20) On July 7, 2008, the Ecuador Constitutional Assembly – composed of 130 delegates elected countrywide to rewrite the Ecuador Constitution – voted to approve articles for the new constitution recognizing rights for nature and ecosystems. " If adopted in the final constitution by the people, Ecuador would become the first country in the world to codify a new system of environmental protection based on rights, " stated Thomas Linzey, Executive Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. " Ecuador is now leading the way for countries around the world to make this necessary and fundamental change in how we protect nature, " added Mari Margil, Associate of the Legal Defense Fund. Over the past year, the Legal Defense Fund has been invited to assist delegates to the Ecuador Constitutional Assembly to re-write that country's constitution. Delegates requested the Legal Defense Fund to draft Rights of Nature language for the constitution based on ordinances developed and adopted by municipalities in the United States. The Legal Defense Fund has assisted communities in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Virginia to draft and adopt new laws that change the status of natural communities and ecosystems from being regarded as property under the law to being recognized as rights-bearing entities. These local laws recognize that natural communities and ecosystems possess an inalienable fundamental right to exist and flourish, and that residents of those communities possess the legal authority to enforce those rights on behalf of those ecosystems. In addition, these laws require the local governments to remedy violations of those ecosystem rights. In essence, these laws represent changes to the status of property law, eliminating the authority of a property owner to interfere with the functioning of ecosystems and natural communities that exist and depend upon that property for their existence and flourishing. The local laws allow certain types of development that do not interfere with the rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish. Shireen Parsons, Virginia Community Organizer, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund http://www.celdf.org China: 21) Farmers will be given the right to manage collectively owned forestry tracts through 70-year contracts, China's State Council, or Cabinet, announced yesterday. The reforms, to take effect immediately, will boost farmers' income, get farmers more involved in the planting and growing of trees, lift production and promote conservation culture, the council said. The reforms have been recognized as another milestone in the country's transformation of rural production after it adopted the system for collective farmland more than two decades ago. The forestry reforms will not change the nature of collective ownership, the State Council said. It called for ensuring equal access to operating rights among farmers and guaranteeing their rights to know information about the tracts and to take part in the decision-making process about the uses of land. The government said yesterday that it planned to complete the reforms within five years and form a sound development mechanism for collective forests based on the reforms. The system has already been implemented in Fujian, Jiangxi, Liaoning and Zhejiang provinces since 2003, where 58.5 million hectares of collective forestry land have been contracted out to farmers for management. The trial has turned into a win-win situation - farmers were getting richer and the forests received better protection, said the State Council. The practice of the household contract system for collective farmland was initiated by a group of farmers in a small village in the central Anhui Province in 1978. The system was adopted nationwide later and helped boost the country's agricultural production. The government said it expected the system to work again for the collective forestry land, promote the development of the forestry industry and improve living standards for farmers, according to the statement. http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=366864 & type=National India: 22) In a double bonanza to the fragile ecology of Kutch, the state government has declared Chharidhandh wetland a conservation reserve, and set up two committees for the management of Kutch Biosphere Reserve (KBR). The decisions have been taken in a bid to project Kutch as an international nature destination, according to officials. In two separate notifications last week, the Forest department upgraded its conservation efforts for Kutch with officials hoping this will substantially improve Kutch's biodiversity protection, at the same time bringing greater visibility to the region. On Friday, the huge wetland of Chharidhandh – known for its Flamingo city and habitation of lakhs of migratory birds in winters – was upgraded as a 'Conservation Reserve'. It will cover over 22,000 hectares of land in the three Kutch talukas of Bhuj, Nakhtrana, and Lakhpat. The notification said " given its ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological, natural, and zoological significance " , the aim of declaring Chharidhandh a conservation reserve is to protect, propagate, and develop wildlife and its environment. In its second related development, two committees – State Level Steering Committee (SLSC) and Field Level Steering Committee (FLSC) – have been set up by the department to manage the ecology of KBR in its entirety. The SLSC will be headed by the Chief Secretary and have Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) (Wildlife) as its Member Secretary. Principal Secretaries of Forests and Environment, Revenue, Agriculture, Industries, and Secretary (Rural Development), PCCF, (Fisheries) and Conservators of Forests (Kutch and Junagadh) will be its members. This committee will critically examine the management action plan and make appropriate recommendations to the Central government and other financing agencies through the state government. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Chharidhandh-wetland-on-its-way-to-becom\ e-an-internatio nal-nature-destination/335326/ 23) Kolar Congress on Saturday staged a demonstration and burnt the effigy of forest minister Kunwar Vijay Shah in protest against his alleged insulting statement on Brahmin Samaj. Few days back the forest minister stated that its better to plant a tree than to provide food to Brahmins which has not only insulted the complete Hindu religion and Indian culture but also an effort been made by BJP to perish the long lasting tradition. This has brought forward their Anti-Hindu policies and that it's such a party whose leader went Pakistan to offer flowers at the grave of Jinnah. Keeping this in view in the direction of the state congress committee, the congressmen demonstrated against the BJP. On this occasion a letter has been submitted in the name of Chief Minister to the administration for dismissing Vijay Shah from the ministry. On this occasion, the Spokesman and Media Person, Rahul Singh Rathore, the Chairman of Municipal Corporation, Munni Mangal Singh Yadav, District Secretary, Kaushal Tyagi alongwith thousands of party members appealed for instant dismiss of the Forest Minister. http://www.centralchronicle.com/20080713/1307022.htm Philippines: 24) Isabela Governor Grace Padaca on Friday warned village chiefs against tolerating illegal logging in their jurisdictions, even in the province's impoverished " forest region. " " Hindi sapat na rason ang kahirapan ng buhay para kunsintihin ang illegal logging (Poverty is not a valid reason to tolerate illegal logging), " she told reporters during a visit in nearby Echague town. After defeating a dynasty that thrived on the logging industry since the height of martial law, Padaca is facing another battle, this time, against another giant called poverty. Sporting her trademark crutches that symbolize her triumph over polio disease at an early age, Padaca warned village chiefs who kept their eyes close and their mouths shut as truckloads of lumber go out of their villages. " Alam ni Kapitan yan, hindi pwedeng hindi (Village chiefs know it [illegal logging], it could not be that they don't), " she said. Task Force Illegal Logging, a composite team from the provincial government and the DENR intercepted more that 2,000 board feet of softwood and another truckload of Narra lumber last week. The rising cost of petroleum products and basic commodities, including rice, has drove people into seeking economic relief through easy but illegal means like timber poaching. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/106480/Poverty-not-an-excuse-to-allow-timber-poachin\ g--Isabela-gov 25) The DENR in Caraga Region has tightened its monitoring of all forest products that are coming out in all exit roads of the 188,000-hectare concession area of the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines Resources Inc. (PICOP) in the wake of a widespread timber poaching and illegal cutting of trees within the area over the last two weeks. DENR OIC, Regional Executive Director for Caraga Region Edilberto S. Buiser and RED Ricardo Calderon of Region 11 made an urgent meeting on Thursday at the DENR Regional Conference Hall in Butuan City to look for immediate measure that would stop a stream of poachers that began to invade the concession area of PICOP since its management has opted to stop its milling and logging operation on June 13, 2008 in the face of the country's economic uncertainties. Buiser and his Regional Technical Director for Forestry Management Services Adeluisa Siapno have been in touch with DENR Secretary Lito Atienza, Jr. since last week to inform the central office about the situation of the forest resources in the PICOP area. Several groups of environmentalists including the parish priest of Bislig City Fr. Floria Falcon have reported to the DENR about widespread cutting of trees in the area but this information have to be verified yet on the ground by the DENR personnel including their exact locations. The personnel of Bislig under CENRO Philip Calunsag and PENRO Diego Escano of Surigao del Sur made a quick ocular inspection in some service roads inside the PICOP area over the weekend and found several scattered cut logs on some roads. PENRO Escano said, the DENR personnel took several hours to haul the cut logs at least on one of the 80 access roads inside the concession area but the two logging trucks the they have used in the retrieval operations were insufficient. He said the sight of cut logs along the roads are just too many. The DENR has imposed " Oplan Pako " in which at lease six pieces of six inches headless nails are driven onto different parts of the logs to discourage timber poachers but the vehicles of the personnel and military escorts have been constantly bothered by punctured tires owing to lots of spikes placed by the antagonists along the way. http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12 & r= & y= & mo= & fi=p080711.htm & no=41 Papua New Guinea: 26) Papua New Guinea's Eco Forestry Forum has disputed claims by the Forestry Ministry that illegal logging is practically non-existent in the country. The Ministry's first secretary, Alistair Endose, says the PNG Forest Authority has full control over logging operations and monitors them for compliance. He says while there may be violations of certain conditions of the logging agreement, he doesn't feel it constitutes illegal logging. The forum's executive director Thomas Paka says the Ministry seems to be downplaying non-compliance with industry regulations as minor issues. However he says non-compliance is rife. " We know that there is gross illegal logging taking place. We have more than five government-sanctioned reports that point to the fact that there is elements of illegal logging and in terms of definition, we are still saying that as long as somebody is not following what the law says, any operation is deemed illegal. " http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read & id=40854 Malaysia: 27) Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said the launching of OP3-Danum project demonstrates Malaysia and United Kingdom's readiness to embark on new activities to address environmental issues of global concern, including climate change and biodiversity loss, based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. He said though the tropical rainforest was one of the most dynamic forest types on this planet, its environment has been the least studied and understood by scientists worldwide. Unggah said that almost 70 per cent of the oxygen in the atmosphere comes from the tropical rainforest through the process of plant photosynthesis. He said the delicate balance between emissions and absorption of carbon dioxide and oxygen and emission of other reactive trace gases determine the local, regional and global scale atmospheric composition. " We are aware that forest biodiversity is at risk from land use change and climate change. Forests throughout the world are home to many species of rare plant and animal speciesÉthey also play a role in the carbon and energy balance of the earth, which in turn influences global climate, " he said. He hoped at the end of this project, Malaysian scientists and policymakers will be better appreciative of the importance of the inter linkages between forests and the climate of the planet. Nevertheless, he said in so far as climate change is concerned, the major cause is use of fossil fuels and " we cannot address climate change merely by understanding the interaction between the forests and climate. " " We would be more effective if we could also deploy on a wider basis the use of alternative fuels and transfer technology and finance from developed to the developing countries to directly address climate change, " he said at the soft launching of OP3-Danum project, yesterday. British High Commissioner to Malaysia, Boyd McCleary, meanwhile, said the RM16 million funding from the British Government through NERC to the OP3-Danum project was the largest single foreign donor contribution to a fundamental research project in Malaysia to date. He was also happy that the University of Lancester will be leading the UK consortium of research institutions in the said project, while the Malaysian Meteorological Department will be the main local counterpart working with them. He said the British Government commissions a wide range of work to support the development of the policy in response to man-made climate change, an area of crucial concern at national, regional and global levels. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=58685 Indonesia: 28) Indonesia will lodge a formal protest against Yale University for its environmental performance index (EPI) report, which ranked Indonesia one of the world's least environmentally friendly countries, a local news report said Monday. The Jakarta Post reported that Amanda Katili, the State Ministry for the Environment's special expert on climate change, was scheduled to fly to the United States Monday to present the newest forestry data in an attempt to refute the EPI report. State Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar was quoted as saying the report was unfair. 'It is absurd because all the data is invalid,' he said. The EPI report, published in the US magazine Newsweek's July 7-14 edition, ranked Indonesia 102nd out of 149 countries in environmental matters. 'Where the two biggest carbon emitters, China and the United States, have coal plants and cars to blame, the number 3 culprit - Indonesia - produces 85 per cent of its carbon emissions from forest,' the report in Newsweek said. The report said that forests were almost wiped out on heavily populated Java island, while Sumatra lost 35 per cent of its forest and Kalimantan lost 19 per cent in the 1990s. Deforestation is also threatening the Sumatran rhinoceros and the orang-utan with extinction. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1416780.php/Indo\ nesia_to_protes t_Yale_University_environment_report 29) The tree adoption program organized by the Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park (TNGP) and Jakarta's Green Radio is proving very popular, with listeners and corporations already sponsoring 2,000 trees. Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri is among the many individuals, communities and corporations to have adopted trees through the program. State-owned electricity firm PT PLN has also pledged to adopt a 50-hectare stand of trees in TNGP. Santoso, Green Radio's director, said the program had been many months in the planning. " It started out with an idea we proposed to Green Radio listeners. We ask whether they want to contribute and adopt trees in TNGP, " he said. Green Radio has pledged to plant 4,000 trees in a 10-hectare plot in the park. " However, for the first step, 2,000 trees were planted, " he said. " The tree adoption is not restricted to radio listeners alone, but includes all the staff of Green Radio. I personally adopted 10 trees. " Bambang Sukamanato, head of TNGP, said those interested in participating in the program would have to pay Rp 3,000 every month for three years, or a flat fee of Rp 108,000. He said some of the money raised would be used to help subsistence farmers in the park. He added the program also served to educate the public on environment conditions in the Bogor and Cianjur highlands. http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailcity.asp?fileid=20080712.C03 & irec=2 Fiji: 30) The forestry situation in Fiji has worsened over the past decade, according to academics Annette Lees and Suliana Siwatibau. Their findings are in a report on the review and analysis of Fiji's conservation sector wrapped up at the start of the year. It is conservatively estimated that 70,000 hectares of forest in Fiji has been lost in the past 15 years and forest loss continues. " This is very serious for a small nation such as Fiji which depends on healthy forest cover to protect its water catchments as well as other economic benefits that forests return, " said Ms Lees. The Austral Foundation-based academics report highlighted that forest degradation in Fiji was through agricultural clearance, plantation establishment and destructive and unsustainable logging in large areas of the remaining tropical rainforests of Fiji. " The forests contain the remaining stocks of native terrestrial biodiversity in a country that was once totally covered in tropical forests. " Destructive logging has implications for the sustainable development of Fiji. It is depriving Fijian resource owners of long-term forestry assets and income with the degradation of productive forests and soil, " said Ms Lees. Forest clearing for agriculture was said to have resulted in major loss of forests in smaller islands and the drier and lowland rainforests of the higher islands. A report on sustainable forest management in Fiji by International Tropical Organisation four years ago concluded that much of the damage was done by the timber harvesting in indigenous forests in the mahogany plantations and to a lesser degree in the pine plantations. Ms Lees said Fiji's forestry situation was of concern for species and habitat conservation causing ecosystem degradation, erosion, sedimentation and predator and weed invasion. http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=95027 Australia: 31) Logging in the Central Highlands region may not resume in 2008, that is, if the Shire of Yarra Ranges has anything to do with it. At last week's council meeting, councillor Samantha Dunn called on fellow councillors to support her in seeking a federal review. She raised a motion that the council write to the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke to seek an urgent review of the Central Highlands Regional Forest Agreement 1998 and that logging within the Central Highlands should not resume until such a review has taken place. Cr Dunn said the current agreement committed those within the industry to the objective of ecologically sustainable forest management and a five yearly review process that allows members of the public to comment on the performance of the agreement. " The Regional Forest Agreement has been compromised as no review has taken place, it was due five years ago, " Cr Dunn said. " The review would normally allow for the community to provide important input to address any areas of concern in relation to the agreement and is an opportunity for them to voice their aspirations in relation to management of Victoria's forests. " She said current logging practices in water catchments needed to be subject to a detailed review. " To date 12 Victorian local government authorities, with a constituency representing more than 1.4 million people in the city of Melbourne, have resolved to advocate that logging should cease immediately in Melbourne's water catchments in the Central Highlands, " Cr Dunn said. " The lack of a comprehensive review has lead to a failure to measure the impacts of logging on nationally listed threatened species, which is a clear indication that the legislation and management measures meant to protect these species is currently failing. " Cr Dunn's motion was supported by the majority of councillors, with the exception of councillors Ken Smith and Graeme Warren. http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/61410 32) A July 6 meeting of the 21-country United Nations World Heritage Committee unanimously called for the extension of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA). The WHC's recommendations would protect some of the native forests currently threatened by logging, but federal environment minister Peter Garrett has ruled out extending the heritage area boundary. Huon Valley Environment Centre spokesperson Will Mooney said in a media statement, " Tasmanian and federal governments must now heed the requests of the international community and IUCN experts, by moving to impose an immediate moratorium on logging in these areas and take steps towards extending the boundary of the TWWHA to protect their values " . The WHC recommendations follow a series of wins for Tasmania's anti-logging and anti-pulp mill campaigns, including the ANZ bank's withdrawal of funding for logging corporation Gunns' pulp mill and the resignation of pro-Gunns premier Paul Lennon after his popularity rating dropped to 17%. On July 10, Gunns closed its Tonganah sawmill at Scottsdale, leaving 130 workers without a job. The mill closure happened with less than a fortnight's notice and followed the company's previous acceptance of $4 million from the state government to guarantee no retrenchments. http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/758/39179 33) Bega Valley Shire Greens' councillor Keith Hughes has given Forests New South Wales a bill for $18 million, for what he says is compensation for unpaid council rates. Cr Hughes presented the invoice covering the past 18 years to a forestry representative at a council meeting this week. The council will increase this year's rates by 9 per cent, 6 per cent more than what is allowed under rate pegging legislation because it says it is having trouble meeting rising costs. Cr Hughes says State Forests should be carrying its share of running the shire. " Every other trading enterprise, every other business has to pay rates on their land, " he said. " State Forests own over a quarter of the land in the shire and they paid no rates and in effect they are getting a free ride on the back of all the other ratepayers. " I think it is time they paid up. " http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/11/2301109.htm 34) A feud has erupted between neighbors in a jointly owned enclave at Myola as bulldozers rolled in to clear an area claimed to be a cassowary sanctuary. The " tenants in common " property, where more than a dozen people own sections of a 36ha plot, are fighting over one owner's decision to develop her 3ha section. Angry co-owner John Willerton, who lives next door to the disputed section, said its owner, Mehery Vudrag, had called in bulldozers to knock down a stand of rare licuala fan palm forest. " They are at least 10m tall and home to two cassowaries, " he said. " She (Ms Vudrag) just wants to rip through there to make it more attractive to buy. " Ms Vudrag said the other owners' concerns were " a nonsense " and they were complaining because she had declined to sell her land to them. " I have done everything by the book and have council and Department of Natural Resources approval, " she said. " We have surveyed the area and not one licuala tree will be lost. " Ms Vudrag questioned the motives of her neighbours saying that if they believed it was cassowary habitat why did her neighbours allow their " savage dogs " to roam free? Mr Willerton conceded Ms Vudrag had the correct development approvals but could not understand how she had obtained them. " The council has been duck-shoving it and DNR say it is not their responsibility, " he said. Mr Willerton said all of the 14 other tenants had signed a letter saying they wished to buy the land. But Ms Vudrag said her neighbours did not have the money and that their offer for her to finance the sale was unacceptable. " The offer they made was ridiculous, " she said. " If they are not happy I will buy the properties of the three main protagonists if they get them properly valued. " http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2008/07/11/5378_local-news.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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