Guest guest Posted August 17, 2008 Report Share Posted August 17, 2008 --Today for you 35 new articles about earth's trees! (385th 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: Asia-Pacific-Australia Index: --China: 1) Kobi desert expands by 1,900 sq. miles a year & other dictorship ecofailings --Russia: 2) Save Lake Baikal's ecosystem --India: 3) Supreme Court approves steel mill destruction of 1,200 hectares of forest, 4) Villagers hope to use Forest Rights Act against Steel mill, --Thailand: 5) Queen follows up one year later on preservation requests / efforts --Bangladesh: 6) Creating awareness among masses, 7) Protecting indigenous peoples, --North Korea: 8) Production of saplings --Philippines: 9) Country's history of war and forest cover, 10) Operatives have shut down at least 95 illegal sawmills, --Vietnam: 11) New road leads to poachers taking ancient trees in Avo-Balin, 12) Save the last 100,000ha of Cajeput forests of the Mekong River Delta, 13) Eleven charged for cutting down Khe Dien forest, --American Samoa: 14) High Court protects Tafuna lowland rainforest from developers --Malaysia: 15) Plunder so wide-spread that not even forest reserves are spared, 16) Malua Wildlife Habitat Conservation Bank (biobank), 17) Logs seized by police now suddenly are no longer illegal but are now legal logs, --Indoneisa: 18) Palm Oil companies make more false pledges to end expansion, 19) Kapiraya tribal chiefs speaks out about harms done by Freeport's gold mine, 20) Riau pledges to halt destruction of forests, --Sumatra: 21) Orang Rimba peoples forest being lost --Solomon Islands: 22) Resource owners must get maximum benefits from resources, 23) Radical new scheme to ensure that landowners get a fair price for trees logged, --New Zealand: 24) Jawless, toothless, blind slimy hagfish depends on coastal forests, 25) Reeling from a decline in both volume and quality, 26) Catastrophic gales costs a year's worth of logs? --Australia: 27) Carbon scheme full of loopholes, Here's a new scheme, 28) Yarra Valley holds 20 times the amount of natural carbon than previously thought, 29) More on Fallout from Mackey report, 30) New add campaign to save Tiwi and Daly river, 31) Gunns stock slumped by 40% this year, 32) Native forests in south-east New South Wales will not be used for electricity generation, 33) Premier Bartlett intends to ignore carbon report that proves high value of protecting native forests, 34) Gov stalling on River Red Gum forest protection, 35) Greens working to end felling of Native trees, Articles: China: 1)China has 16 of the world's 20 filthiest cities. The Gobi desert is expanding at a rate of 1,900 square miles a year because of deforestation and over-farming. Approximately 660 cities have less water than they need and 110 of them suffer severe shortages. The state-run Xinhua news agency reports that pollution is poisoning the aquifers. Eighty per cent of the sewage dumped into the Yangtze is untreated. Effluent, human and industrial, has driven one third of the native species of the Yellow River to extinction. About 190 million Chinese are sick from drinking contaminated water, cancer rates are rising and there are about 1,000 demonstrations a week against the effects of pollution. The gullible admire dictatorships because they think the great leader and his politburo can cut through objections and force the recalcitrant to obey orders, and we have had no shortage of fantasies about the better China that would come if only the party embraced greenery. In The River Runs Black, a book every environmentalist needs to read, Elizabeth C Economy points out that the fantasies can never be realised. Even if the centre wanted to change policy, its writ does not run in the provinces. Local officials are in the pocket of or related to factory owners and ignore inconvenient decrees. If the courts, the press or doctors in local hospitals complain, they silence them. Change is impossible without democratic reform - which is as far away as ever. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/10/china.pollution Russia: 2) BOLSHIYE KOTY: The world's oldest, deepest and biggest freshwater lake is growing warmer, dirtier and more crowded. Lyubov Izmestieva is charting these insidious changes. Marina Rikhvanova is fighting them. And the fate of one of the world's rarest ecosystems, a turquoise jewel set in the vast Siberian taiga, hangs in the balance. For centuries Lake Baikal has inspired wonder and, more recently, impassioned defenders. With more fresh water than America's Great Lakes combined, and home to 1,500 species of plants and animals found nowhere else in the world, Baikal has been called the Sacred Sea, the Pearl of Siberia, the Galapagos of Russia. But these pristine waters, well over a kilometer deep (a mile deep) in some places, are threatened by polluting factories, a uranium enrichment facility, timber harvesting, and, increasingly, Earth's warming climate. The struggle has turned nasty, with Rikhvanova, an environmental activist, claiming the authorities even dragooned her own son into a violent attack on her group. Tourists, most of them newly prosperous Russians, are flocking to the lake, filling the beaches, building vacation dachas and changing the lake's ecology. Resorts are opening. There are more fishermen, hunters and boaters. The lake's significance goes far beyond Russia's borders; its size and fragility, say environmentalists, makes it a sort of test case for such bodies of fresh water around the world. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/10/europe/EU-FEA-Russia-Defenders-of-the-\ Lake.php?page=2 India: 3) When the whole world is emphasising on 'going green' the Supreme Court has approved the project of Posco India Pvt Ltd.,a subsidiary of South Korean steel company POSCO to set up Rs 51,000-crore mega steel plant and captive minor port in Paradeep, Orissa. The firm had signed an agreement with the Orissa government in 2005 .But,since this project involved the requisition of 1253.225 hectares of forest land which would result not only in severe deforestation but also in the eviction of the native tribals it created a stir among the tribal people and there was protest and agitation against this mega project. According to reports,a special environmental bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan gave the green signal to Posco to go ahead with its plans.It was ruled that 5 percent of the profit from the turnover of the company or 10 crore Indian rupees whichever is higher will be allotted for regaining ecological balance due to this heavy deforestation as well as for the rehabilitation of the evicted tribal people.A centrally empowered committee was appointed by the apex court to supervise the ecological aspect and to implement compensatory afforestation. Reportedly the state government-owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) had agreed to supply iron ore and other minerals for the project. While this huge step towards industrialisation will open new avenues of development and employment,it will have a huge disturbing impact on the ecological balance. http://www.newsline365.com/20082028/the-supreme-court-gives-the-go-ahead-to-posc\ o/ 4) NEW DELHI: Posco and Vedanta might have cleared the hurdles at the Supreme Court but villagers on the ground are hoping the card up their sleeve — the Forest Rights Act — is really an ace and can stall the take over of their lands. In a strategic move, Dhinkia in Jagatsinghpura, the village in the eye of stormy protests against the Posco plant, has passed a resolution declaring its forest as 'protected' community forests under the Forest Rights Act. Under the FRA, even the government cannot acquire such declared forest land without the consent of the gram sabha. In a precedent-setting move, that sources say, powerful tribal groups are thinking of replicating, Dhinkia villagers have also passed a resolution demanding that any land taken over be stopped till their rights are settled under the Act. The Forest Rights Act, which is being rolled out across the country, disallows any entity, including the government, to displace people from forest lands till their rights have been settled. With tribal groups, which have found greater political support to tie-up with the implementation of FRA, keen to file similar petitions in other controversial mining projects such as the Vedanta bauxite mining in Nyamgiri hills of Lanjigarh, Orissa, the tribal displacement issue could take a new turn, this time in favour of the forest dwellers. Sources said that the key tribal groups have been aware that the cases before the apex court have hinged on the Forest Conservation Act and the Environment Protection Act, both of which do not consider tribal or forest dwellers' rights but merely deal with 'ecology'. One set of people within the groups thinks that it could help delay reaching out to the option of last resort — the apex court — which acts like a double-edged sword. But as of now, the Orissa government has not appreciated the move with the local administration refusing to accept the notice from Dhinkia gram sabha under FRA. The village council had to finally send the notice by registered post. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Orissa_village_to_use_forest_Act_to_blo\ ck_Posco_proje ct/articleshow/3347658.cms Thailand: 5) In her 75th birthday address last year, Her Majesty the Queen implored that action be taken to preserve what remains of the nation's environment and cited examples of obvious neglect. It came as little surprise when she returned to the theme on her 76th birthday this week, because there has been a distinct lack of any substantive progress or sustained initiative. The richness of our natural beauty and resources continues to be squandered. Short-term knee-jerk responses, fine-sounding but unfulfilled promises and vague, ill-defined projects are no substitute. Even these have been in short supply as recent governments wallowed in apathy. They went to great lengths to get enough power to be able to make a difference and then failed to do so. But there is still reason for hope and this year it came in the encouraging response from the general public. Many Thais from all walks of life were sufficiently inspired to use the public holiday set aside for celebrating Her Majesty's birthday to benefit the environment. They planted trees in Nakhon Ratchasima, cleared water hyacinth from Chiang Rai Lake and opted for plants over jasmine garlands to commemorate the accompanying Mother's Day. One part of Her Majesty's speech demanding careful reflection is her warning of the danger of a scarcity of freshwater resources a couple of decades from now. It is easy to underestimate such a threat in a rainy week in which the Mekong River rose to its highest level since 1966, but the risk of disruption to vital water supplies is nonetheless a valid one. Rampant deforestation is another factor creating a scarcity of water. One day there will just not be enough water to go round. Even now, conservationists say that fresh water only accounts for 3% of all the water available on our planet. And yet we selfishly continue to pollute our rivers and ignore the consequences. Her Majesty's fears and concerns must be those of all of us. http://www.bangkokpost.com/160808_News/16Aug2008_news16.php Bangladesh: 6) Speakers at a discussion meeting yesterday laid emphasis on creating awareness among the masses for protection of the country's forest and its bio-diversity. They also called upon the government to take initiatives for eliminating mismanagement and corruption prevailing in the sector. Strict implementation of laws and community forest development are urgently needed for saving the forests, they opined. This observation was made at the discussion meeting on ' Transparency and Accountability in Forest Management: Problems and Way out ' organised by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) at the VIP lounge of the Jatiya Press Club. Special Assistant to Chief Adviser Raja Devasish Roy, who is in charges of Forest, Environment and CHT Affairs Ministries was present as chief guest. Manzoor-e- Khoda of TIB presented the keynote paper. With Advocate Sultana Kamal, former adviser and trustee of TIB in the chair, the function was also addressed, among others, by Abul Hasan Mohammad Rezaul Kabir ndc , secretary, ministry of Forest and Environment ,AKM Shamsuddin, Chief Conservator of Forest, Rezwana Hasan of BELA, Fariduddin Ahmed, Arnok Foundation, Filip Gyan, Dr Iklil Mandal, Dr Khandaker Mokaddem Hossain and Dr Ifterkharuzzaman, executive director of TIB. TIB conducted a research from 2006 to 2008, which found illegal trading of forest timber, irregularities in implementing the projects, gross corruption in the case of appointment and transfer and encroachment of reserve forests. Raja Devasish Roy said, the government was working to update the national forest policy. He said that the age-old forest laws would be amended for better conservation of forest. " Only gun alone could not protect the forests and its resources " , he said and suggested involvement of the local community for co management of forests protection. " Attitude of the people living adjacent to the forests is important for protecting the forests, " he mentioned and added that the government was taking measures for curbing corruption in the forest sector. He said, the government was holding meeting for protecting wildlife sanctuary. " We are going to hold discussion with the local people for ensuring the best protection of forests and its resources, " said the special assistant. http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/08/15/news0859.htm 7) Speakers at a seminar yesterday called for protecting indigenous people to save forests of the country. They said the indigenous people are the part of the forests and they know how to protect them. The seminar titled 'Environmental degradation in forest: Socio-economic crisis of indigenous people' was organised by the Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa) at WVA auditorium in the city. Speaking as chair Bapa President Prof Muzaffer Ahmad said there is a debate over the name of Adibashi but there is no debate about it that those who live in forests also protect them. " Those who consider forests as the raw materials of industrialisation do not protect them, " he said. The existence of Adibashi people is being threatened in the name of participatory forests, he added. In a keynote paper, Prof Khandaker Mokaddem Hossain of Dhaka University said the ethnic communities constitute, according to a government statistics, about 1.2 percent of the total population, but the actual number of indigenous people is considerably higher than this.He said a huge number of Bangalee settlers have been rehabilitated at Matiranga and Ramgarh thanas in Khagrachhari district, Lama thana in Bandarban district, and Madhupur Tracts of Tangail and Mymensingh districts. As a consequence, the indigenous people have become marginalised and lost their traditional rights over land and trees, he said. Prof Hossain said the government should implement ILO's Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention 169 to protect their human and land rights. He said the land and tree resources of indigenous people should be protected from the activities that are not sound environmentally. Apart from the rehabilitation of Bangalee settlers and commercial plantation of tea, pineapple, orange, lemon and rubber trees, infrastructural development including construction of roads, bridges and highways, industrialisation and urbanization process, and control of forest lands by military and para-military troops in Chittagong Hill Tracts are the main causes of deforestation. Philip Gain, director of SHED, said the aggression of alien trees in forest is not acceptable. There were 100 species of indigenous trees in Madhupur forest but in the name of participatory afforestation these trees have been replaced by acacia and eucalyptus, he said. http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=49593 North Korea: 8) Kim Jong Il [Kim Cho'ng-il], general secretary of the Korean Workers' Party and chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission, gave field guidance to the Nursery Shop of the Riwon County Forest Management Station in South Hamgyong Province. He expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the station has created an excellent nursery reminiscent of a big botanical garden and put the production of saplings on a scientific basis. He highly appreciated the noble patriotic spirit displayed by Choe Ki Jong, former head of the Forest Management Station, who made his life rewarding along with the forest for years and other officials and workers of the station. The experience gained by the Riwon County Forest Management Station has proved in practice the truth and tremendous vitality of the great juche [juche] idea that calls for transforming man, society and nature as required by juche [juche], he said, stressing that there is nothing impossible in this world when the creative ingenuity of people is given fullest play. We can turn all the mountains of the country into thick woodlands in a brief span of time if we make tenacious efforts to change the appearance of the mountains and rivers of the country just as the Riwon County Forest Management Station did, he said, setting forth on the spot tasks to be fulfilled to create forests. He noted that in order to turn the whole country into a thick woodland and greenery it is necessary to plant many trees and pay deep attention to protecting and managing forests. He stressed the need for the scientific research institutions to obtain saplings of good species which are of economic value and suited the climatic and soil conditions of the country and actively push forward the research work to widely disseminate them. He called on the whole party and army and all the people to turn out as one to wage a dynamic drive to create forests in order to convey the land which has been covered with thick forests and which has turned into " mountains of gold and treasures " down to posterity. He was accompanied by Kim Ki-nam [Kim Ki Nam], secretary of the KWP Central Committee. http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1516674/north_koreas_kim_jongil_visits_riwo\ n_county_no_da te_given/ Philippines: BAGUIO CITY – Wars have damaged the country's forests and may have been the key to its current state of deforestation, according to archival records unearthed by a British historian. But Dr. Greg Bankoff, a visiting professor from the University of Hull in the United Kingdom, said he was also surprised by information that suggests that years of insurgency and rebellion are keeping the rest of the country's forests intact. Bankoff last week spoke about the legacy of human conflicts on the country's forests for the University of the Philippines Baguio's centennial lecture series. " Forest history… is actually [the] charting [of] the rise of complex societies, " he said. The depletion of Philippine forest cover, he said, occurred side by side with the buildup of conflicts from the start of the Spanish colonial period until 1945. His thesis involved the impact on Philippine forests of the Spanish drive to harness shipbuilding to thwart Dutch invaders in the 16th century, the fortification of the Cordillera in the 19th century, and World War II. Bankoff said this was the reason Filipinos should find it fascinating that thickly forested lands today in Northern Luzon and in Mindanao also host rebels. He said common sense dictates that rebels make sure their lairs are protected, which is why they also protect their forests. " In contemporary times, the notion of [rebels as] custodians of the forests is a very interesting one…One could argue that one could encourage insurgency to preserve watersheds and forest cover. There is a direct relationship [evident between forests and rebels that would make us ask them to] do that but I don't think we are going to do that, " he said. " What it does suggest is that not all forests need to be touched. If we can leave the forest alone for whatever reason Ö we should be able to do that even when there is no intense insurgency, " he said. He added: " It's easy to forget how ubiquitous a material wood was in the past given an age of plastic, concrete and steel, especially our age of plastic bags. " But Filipinos cut trees to build homes and to cook. Wide-scale forest exploitation began when Spain set up huge shipbuilding areas in Mindanao to sustain its colonial hold over the islands. Bankoff said some of the world's largest warships of that period were built in the Philippines, using now gone species of timber for the sturdy Spanish ships. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20080812-154024/Rebe\ ls-keep-forest s-alive--UK-historian 10) DENR operatives have closed down at least 95 illegal sawmill plants in several areas in Caraga Region over the last two months in line with the intensified campaign of Secretary Lito Atienza, Jr on anti-illegal logging. About 193 pieces of old-cut logs were also apprehended by the DENR at a remote village in Loreto while the laborers were trying to haul them out from a private land for transport. In Tandag City, Surigao del Sur the DENR operatives have padlocked eight sawmill plants which are illegally operating in that area as a result of an intensified anti-illegal logging drive of the DENR region wide. PENRO Diego Escano said in his report to the OIC, Regional Executive Director Edilberto S. Buiser, that the DENR team lead by CENRO Leonardo Aya-ay have conducted a surprise-visit at several sawmill plants in Tandag City, Barangay Gamut, Tago, and Barangay Aras-asan, Cagwait, and found out that the operators have no permit to operate a sawmill factory. The operators, while their wood processing plants were padlocked, were advised to secure the necessary permits and other pertinent documents with the DENR pending immediately of the filing of the necessary criminal complaint for violation of forestry laws, rules and regulations. These erring operators were also requested to wait for the approval of the Secretary of the Regional Rationalization Plan, before the DENR can issue the permits. This brought to 95 the total number of sawmill plants that were closed down by the DENR for operating without valid permits since it began the crackdown against illegal logging operators in the region in June this year. In Butuan City and Nasipit, Agusan del Norte, PENRO Rosendo Asunto reported that seven sawmill plants have been closed down by the CENRO personnel for operating without permits. The team headed by CENRO Achiles Ebron has dismantled the apparatus and equipment of six mini–sawmills in Barangays Anticala, Pianing, Ampayon and Riverside in Butuan City. He said the owners of the sawmill plant in Nasipit, Agusan del Norte have volunteered to dismantle the equipment and apparatus of their factory and have it deposited at CENRO office in Bading, Butuan City. http://www.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=12 & r= & y= & mo= & fi=p080815.htm & no=45 Vietnam: 11) Avao-Balin forest was once a pristine area despite the fall out from the Vietnam War. In 2006, work began on the 13-kilometer stretch of road to connect the heart of Avao Commune and a local border guard station. As more than two kilometers of the planned road was meant to go through the forest, some trees had to make way. But many ancient trees, up to one kilometer away from the road have fallen victim to timber poachers. Quang Tri rangers recently discovered a large number of logs with diameters of 1.4-2 meters but failed to identify the loggers. In some areas only tree stumps remained of what was once lush forest. Many of the remaining trees had also been marked indicating they were next to go. Local area resident, Con Ria, said that before evening the road is busy with logging trucks. http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3 & newsid=41177 12) The lungs of the Mekong River Delta — its cajeput forests — are disappearing daily as local farmers continue to cut down the trees and use the new land for rice paddies as the price of rice soars. Over the last two years, this practice has spread to nearly every province in the region and escalated this year when the price of cajeput trees plummeted and farmers sought more land for cultivation. With its tough roots and covering of brown, multi-layered bark, the trees help to aerate the area and its flowers perfume the humid but cool air. Despite being heavily damaged during the war, the mangrove forests have since spread to cover 200,000ha and are now present in eight of 13 provinces in the delta, providing rich alluvial land at the Mekong River's estuary. The forests also act as a giant water reservoir that curbs salty water and acidity and regulates humidity during the dry season. During the war, they served as hideouts for Vietnamese soldiers. Submerged in brownish red water, the cajeput trees are an ideal habit for numerous kinds of birds, fish and wild animals that are typical of the tropical region. The tree's timber, which is flexible and resists rotting, is often used in house construction and basement floors, and in recent years, thanks to advanced technology, it has been in processing materials to produce paper and furniture. Dr. Pham Trong Thinh, head of the Southern Forest Planning and Investigation Sub-institute, said that between 2002 and 2006 the total area of cajeput forests in the delta varied between 140,000ha and 180,000ha. But as the market price of cajeput timber fell beginning in 2006, the amount of forested area has dropped significantly. http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02SUN100808 13) Police in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum have detained two officials on charges of forest destruction, district police Chief Nguyen Van Cuong said Thursday. The detainees are Nguyen Thanh Tu, the Sa Loong Commune People's Committee Chairman, and Nguyen Duc Gioi, a Ngoc Hoi District inspection official. Earlier, district police caught 10 people cutting down trees on a 10-hectare area in Sa Loong Commune and arrested Thao Vinh, a Sa Loong Commune land survey official. The deforestation amounts to hundreds of cubic meters of timber. http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3 & newsid=41163 13) QUANG NAM — Eleven people are being charged for destroying the Khe Dien forest in Que Son District in the central province of Quang Nam, after provincial police investigations. These people stand accused of co-operating to exploit illegally 670cu.m of timber from the Khe Dien forest. The group includes state officials Ho Tan Son, vice chairman of the provincial party committee's organisation board and former director of the Agriculture Department; Nguyen Xuan Thanh, former vice chairman of Que Son District's People's Committee; and Tran Hai Ha, former vice director of the forestry branch. These people are accused of intentionally causing damage and violating regulations on forest protection. The director of Ngoc Son company, Le Van Ngoc, is being prosecuted for violating regulations on forest protection and cheating. Quang Nam police have completed their investigations and transferred the file to the provincial people's procuracy. To build the Khe Dien hydroelectricity plant in 2005, Quang Nam's People's Committee signed a decision to withdraw from more than 4.6 million sq.m of forest area in Que Phuoc, Que Ninh and Que Trung Communes of Que Son District. The Committee also allowed Que Son district's People's Committee to exploit 12,717cu.m of timber from the designated forest area. The Que Son's People's Committee then signed a contract with Ngoc Son company to exploit the timber. However, the company violated regulations by over exploiting and destroying the Khe Dien forest. In March 2007, the provincial People Committee halted the timber exploitation and started the investigation. http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=03SOC130808 American Samoa: 14) American Samoa's High Court has ruled that there will be no further clearing or development of the Tafuna lowland rainforest area in Ottovile unless the owners of the property or their agents obtain a land use permit. The High Court has granted the government's request for a preliminary injunction to stop Avamua David Haleck, representing the owners of the rainforest acreage, from clearing virgin bush or carrying out any development activity within the existing Tafuna lowland rainforest area, without first obtaining a land use permit. In April the administration petitioned the court for an injunction after Avamua threatened to begin bulldozing the forest. This was after the government announced plans to impose a moratorium on development in the area. The government said that the rainforest is home to trees, plant and bird species not found anywhere else and should be protected. The High Court said in its ruling that the land at issue is a unique area and its unlawful and unauthorized development would result in irreparable injury to the land. http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read & id=41486 Malaysia: 15) MIRI: The plundering of Sarawak's forest resources has become so widespread that even protected forests and forest reserves are not spared, said Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) president S.M. Mohamed Idris. This is in addition to land clearing in secondary forests or native customary rights land. These protected forests and forests reserves are being blatantly encroached on and cleared of timber so oil palm plantations and pulpwood estates can be developed, he said. Mohamed Idris said SAM recently discovered that the Sarawak Forests Department had licensed out some 2.8 million hectares of forested land to 40 plantation concessions. This meant at least 23% of Sarawak's land mass was now under department concessions for plantations, he said. " This is larger than the size of the state of Perak, " he told The Star. He added that information from environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports on the 40 concessions showed many of them were within protected forests and forest reserves. He urged the state government to be more transparent in its land development policies. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/16/nation/22077657 & sec=nation 16) Sitting adjacent to the Danum Valley Conservation Area, one of the last pristine lowland tropical rainforests, the Malua BioBank will use a multimillion dollar investment from the Eco Products Fund to restore and protect 34,000 hectares (roughly 80,000 acres) of formerly logged forest. This area provides a crucial buffer between virgin lowland tropical rainforest and oil palm plantations and is home to one of the highest concentrations of orangutans in the world. Clouded leopards, pygmy elephants and over 300 bird species also inhabit the area that will be protected. " Nothing like this has ever been done for the biodiversity in tropical rainforests, " said David Brand, Managing of Sydney-based New Forests Pty Limited, the parent company of New Forests Inc. " The Malua BioBank translates rainforest protection into a salable product so that biodiversity conservation can compete with other land uses on a commercial basis. " The Malua BioBank will generate Biodiversity Conservation Certificates, with each Certificate representing 100 square meters of rainforest restoration and protection. The sale of Biodiversity Conservation Certificates will endow a perpetual conservation trust and generate a return on investment to both the Sabah Government and the Eco Products Fund. " The Sabah State Government has been actively seeking innovative ways to balance economic development and rainforest conservation. This project enables private sector companies working in Malaysia or sourcing products from the country to help fund the restoration and protection of a high conservation value rainforest, " said Sam Mannan, of the Sabah Forestry Department. " This project is designed to help economic development and rainforest conservation work for each other, instead of against each other. " As commodity and crude palm oil prices rise, Malaysia is becoming a hotspot for agricultural expansion. Energy, food and cosmetics companies relying on agribusiness products, particularly palm oil, are increasingly scrutinized for perceived impacts on rainforests. By purchasing Biodiversity Conservation Certificates, buyers can make a credible, long-term contribution to forest conservation. Four firms in Malaysia have already purchased Biodiversity Conservation Certificates and several other firms have expressed interest in the project. http://world-wire.com/news/0808140001.html 17) The logs seized by marine police less than a fortnight ago in Tawau waters were legally felled, according to the Sabah Forestry Department. In a statement, Monday, its Director Datuk Sam Mannan said following an investigation, it was found the 314 logs, seized from a scow that was being pulled by a tugboat on July 23 came from a licensed area with a valid coupe permit. He said the royalties and all other prescribed charges on the logs had earlier been paid and the logs duly embossed with the required marking such as property hammer mark, royalty payment and serial numbers. He said the markings on some logs, principally the keruing species, had faded due to coverage by resins or dammar exuding from the log ends. The logs had all the necessary documentation such as the TDPS and removal pass, issued on July 23 and valid until the next day for transportation to a mill in Tawau from Kalabakan, he said. " Unfortunately the skipper did not bother to obtain and carry with him the necessary documents to prove ownership and legalities of the logs on the excuse that he had to move the boat out of the river mouth in a hurry to avoid delays due to the receding tides on the day he was apprehended, " Mannan said. He said with the consent of the Deputy Public Prosecutor's office, the licensee has since been penalised RM10,000 for breaching the Forest Rules 1969, pertaining to the transportation of forest produce. Subsequently, the logs, tugboat and scow would be returned to the owners, as provided for under the Forest Enactment 1968, he added. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=59148 Indonesia: 18) Palm oil companies operating in Indonesia pledged to stop expanding plantations into forests in response to growing global criticism about deforestation and to promote more sustainable products. Executive director of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), Didiek Hadjar Goenadi, said here Monday palm oil companies would focus on utilizing idle land, including former forest concession areas, to maintain Indonesia as the world's largest crude palm oil producer. " We realize the environmental impacts by opening all our forests so we will stop touching the forest and just concentrate on abundant lands which have not been cultivated yet, " Didiek told reporters during a break in a a seminar on climate change, agriculture and trade. There are currently 6.7 million hectares of oil palm plantations in the country — half belonging to private firms, while the rest are operated by small-scale farmers. Only about 600,000 hectares are managed by state-owned enterprises. Didiek estimated there were about seven million hectares of idle land across the country that could be used to plant oil palms or rubber trees. He said the association's members had applied the so-called roundtable on sustainable palm oil (RSOP), an international initiative promoting sustainability up and down the palm oil supply chain. " But since many oil palm plantations are operated by farmers, many of them are still unaware about the RSOP regulations. It is the government's task to educate them, " he said. Indonesia's crude palm oil production reached its highest-ever level of 17.2 million tons last year, passing Malaysia, which produced 16 million tons. http://redapes.org/news-updates/palm-oil-firms-vow-to-stop-using-forests/ 19) Fabianus P., chief of the Kapiraya tribe, said tailings from Freeport's huge gold and copper mine in Indonesia's easternmost Papua province were causing more widespread ecological damage than was known, Antara news agency reported. He said several rivers in his tribe's Kaimana district had been polluted, killing wildlife and poisoning water sources for local people. Mine waste was also fouling parts of the Etna Gulf coastline. " The local village communities were now facing water shortages as their rivers were contaminated by the chemical pollutants from the company, " the Antara report said, quoting the tribal chief. Fabianus said he had hired lawyers to file a law suit against PT Freeport Indonesia over the alleged environmental damage. Freeport Indonesia is 81 percent owned by US-based Freeport McMoRan. The remaining stakes are shared equally between the Indonesian government and Indocopper Investama. Environmentalists say the Papua mine pollutes the World Heritage-listed Lorenz National Park and dumps copper-rich ore around the edge of its operations. The firm disputes the claims. Freeport Indonesia is believed to be one of Indonesia's most significant taxpayers and paid the government 1.8 billion dollars last year. Critics accuse Freeport of not giving enough to the people of Papua in return for the mine. They also allege that the military's protection of the site leads to human rights abuses. Freeport operates concessions totalling 3.6 million hectares (8.9 million acres) stretching from the coast to the central mountain range at Timika, with its copper reserves estimated at 2.6 billion tonnes. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Papuan_tribal_chief_takes_on_US_mining_giant_r\ eport_999.html 20) The Indonesian province of Riau has pledged to halt the destruction of its forests and peatlands; a move that will prevent billions of tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere. At a ceremony in the provincial capital Pekanbaru, Riau Governor Wan Abu Bakar announced the temporary ban, which will remain in place until a law is agreed. The move follows Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's pledge at the G-8 Summit in July to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation by 50 percent by 2009. " The moratorium is an important first step and an opportunity for the local government, forest communities and other stakeholders to improve forest governance, " said Arief Wicaksono, Greenpeace Southeast Asia's Political Advisor. Indonesia ranks third in global greenhouse gas emissions after the United States and China, largely as a result of deforestation. Much of the peatlands and forests are being cleared to make way for palm oil plantations. Palm oil is a major commodity used in food, cosmetics and biofuels. Some 25 percent of Indonesia's palm oil plantations are in the tiny province of Riau and there have been plans to expand these by 200 percent. This would have devastating consequences for Riau's peatlands, which store 14.6 billion tonnes of carbon – equal to one year's global greenhouse emissions. " The Indonesian government should declare a national moratorium on forest conversion in Indonesia to bring a halt to the vicious cycle of peatland drainage, forest fires and resulting biodiversity loss due to forest destruction. " said Zulfahmi, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Forest campaigner based in Sumatra. A separate proposal to halt the conversion of South East Asian forests for palm oil production is to be considered in November at the annual meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=72500 Sumatra: 21) The Orang Rimba people have inhabited the jungles of Sumatra for centuries. But, as Sumatra's forests disappear under the onslaught of chainsaws and bulldozers, keeping to their traditional, self-sustaining, way of life is becoming impossible. Michael Stuewe and Desmarita Murni report. Travelling in tight-knit family groups in the Indonesian forests, hunting, fishing and collecting non-timber forest products on their traditional lands, the members of this indigenous tribe have occasionally traded goods with villages on the edge of the forest, but prefer to keep to themselves. But now experts who have studied the culture of the Orang Rimba, which literally means 'forest people', estimate that fewer than 3,000 individuals still survive. http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=3356 In July 2008, WWF Indonesia and WARSI traveled through Sumatra's provinces of Riau and Jambi. They visited a group of the local tribe of Orang Rimba in the buffer zone of Bukit Tigapuluh National Park. Only about 3000 members of this tribe survive mostly in Jambi. The Orang Rimba report that in about the year 2000, companies began to seriously destroy their forests so they no longer could collect rattan and resins to sustain their livelihood. They were forced to begin converting small patches of forest to rubber, corn and rice to generate food and some cash to live. Palm oil production is one of the serious threats to their survival as oil palm companies are destroying Orang Rimba forests. http://www.wwf.or.id/riaujambi Solomon Islands: 22) The National Parliament has been told the Coalition for National Unity and Rural Advancement Administration will ensure resource owners must get the maximum benefits from their resources. Prime Minister Dr Derek Sikua says the CNURA Government has mandated five ministries to ensure the policy, namely, the Ministry of Rural Development and Indigenous Affairs, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Meteorology, the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry Fisheries and Marine Resources and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. He says the Ministry of Rural Development and Indigenous Affairs coordinates rural development and the participation of indigenous people in income generating enterprises while the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Meteorology will ensure the development of people's resources is in harmony with international conventions. Dr Sikua says while resource owners must get the maximum benefits from the development of their resources, the long term environmental impacts to the lands must be considered. He says the Ministry of Forestry is encouraging traditional forest resource owners to mill their forests and enter into downstream operations. Meanwhile, Forestry Minister Sir Allan Kemakeza said a mechanism is being developed to ensure a fair market price for the trees cut by logging operations from people's forests, adding to ascertain forest owners get the maximum benefits forestry officials now scrutinise logging applications for licenses and carry out random checks on log ponds to ensure proper records are kept before the logs are shipped overseas. He says random checks are carried out also to ensure fair prices for the exports. Sir Allan says the forest resource is important to Solomon Islands therefore it must be guarded by a newly formed Monitoring Division with log monitors being posted throughout the provinces. Earlier, Prime Minister Dr Sikua said logging operators that breach the Forestry Act must be de-registered. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0808/S00201.htm 23) The Solomon Islands government is proposing a radical new scheme to ensure that landowners get a fair price for trees logged on their properties. The government will be providing landowners with portable mills so they can process and sell their own timber, thus bypassing logging companies. A newly formed body, the Monitoring Division, will crack down on logging companies by carrying out random checks to ensure that the timber is not undervalued and that proper records are kept. Logging operators who breach the Forestry Act will be de-registered. Transparency Solomon Islands says logging companies currently take 60 percent of the profits and undervalue the trees to cheat both the government and landowners out of what they are owed. There are currently around 100 logging licenses in circulation but the Permanent Secretary for Forestry Edward Kingmele says he hopes to see landowners start to bypass logging companies. " If the people can cut their logs and put it on the ship and you from New Zealand, you buy it, what is the point of going through the other people? If they have the machinery, if they have the means to do it, I'm sure they can process their own logs into timber and sell it directly to market. " http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read & id=41462 New Zealand: 24) Dr McLeod's research began 420m beneath Doubtful Sound, where the 30-year-old encountered the jawless, toothless and blind slimy hagfish. She began to research the fish's diet, and discovered a complex food web - coastal deep-water creatures relied on neighbouring coastal forests for their food. Slips and rivers transport logs and leaves to the sea. The vegetation sinks, rots like compost on the seafloor and produces hydrogen sulphide. That is then taken up by bacteria and, through chemical reactions, is turned into carbohydrate energy. Those bacteria live inside clams and worms, which are eaten by the hagfish - meaning the forest nearly half a kilometre above is feeding the deep-water fish below. She concluded the fish depended on the forest above for half their nutritional needs. Other common species, including blue cod and rock lobster, also obtained energy originally from the forests, she found. Fiordland was one of the few places where intact rainforest bordered a pristine marine ecosystem, she said. " That environment gives us an insight into how our coastal ecosystem functioned before humans started cutting down trees. That link, between the condition of the forest and marine life, has been largely ignored in the past. " I guess we'll never really know how much the deforestation that's been carried out already has altered the marine environment. " http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1 & objectid=10527135 25) The West Coast timber industry is reeling from a decline in both volume and quality of wood supply and industry leaders blame the Government. The industry employs about 750 people on the West Coast where sawmills have been shutting. Wood processors are critical of state-owned forest owner Timberlands West Coast. " We have just about had a gutsful of the situation we have been left in by the inability of Timberlands to supply promised volumes and the Government for not honouring a moral obligation to rectify the injustices caused by this, " West Coast Timber Association president Peter Anisy said. The Government is closing Timberland West Coast and transferring its assets to Crown Forestry. Timberlands was no longer able to supply enough logs and the quality of those it did supply were inferior for milling, Mr Ainsy said. " They are harvesting 28-year-old trees for pruned logs, instead of 32 years. When the logs are opened up in the sawmill they are not meeting specifications. " He said while Timberlands deputy chairman and former Buller mayor Martin Sawyers might have been justified in recently saying that Inangahua Sawmills had received 96 percent of its quota in 2007 and 92 percent of this year's quota, a good deal of those logs had been rejected. " We have been trying since December 2006 to seek a solution with Government that will be agreeable to all parties. " The industry had assurances from Timberlands in 2004 that there was 300,000 cu m of logs for a sustainable yearly cut, but the forest was just not there. " At a meeting at the Beehive in Wellington last week I was told by an adviser from (SOE Minister) Trevor Mallard's office that there was a known volume of about 150,000 cu m sustainable to cut, and I should advise the industry to restructure to fit that lower volume, and the Government would not be funding that restructure. " We now know through recent windthrow, that volume to be considerably less, " Mr Anisy said. A storm on July 30 blew over trees in the region, depleting Timberlands' future volume. Mr Anisy said there has been a " systemic failure " in the collation of information within Timberlands, and the Crown Companies Monitoring Advisory Unit had accepted the figures without question. http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/west-coast-forestry-crisis-33966 26) Timberlands West Coast (TWC) says last month's catastrophic gales have cost it a year's worth of logs. The immediate impact on supply to local sawmills will be minimal as current harvest areas were relatively unscathed, but total volume available in future years will be reduced, said chief executive Phil Melhopt. TWC did not realise the extent of the disaster until it flew over the Seddonville forest, about 50km north-east of Westport, last week. The July 30 storm had felled most of the trees in the 570ha plantation, Melhopt said. It would deplete Timberlands' future volume by 150,000-170,000cu m. The trees were due for harvest from 2011 to 2017. Their loss would cost Timberlands between $750,000 and $1 million, not including potential clean-up costs, Melhopt said. The Seddonville trees were insured for fire, but not wind damage because the premiums were prohibitively high. Catastrophic windthrow had cost a further 100ha of trees, totalling about 30,000cu m of timber, in the Nemona and Hochstetter forests in Westland. Melhopt said the loss of Seddonville Forest was an extreme example of catastrophic windthrow, but TWC had lost significant areas of forest for similar reasons in recent years. An audit last year revealed TWC had only 150,000cu 1m of timber a year - half the amount previously predicted. The Government announced the state-owned enterprise could no longer operate as a successful business and would be transferred to Crown Forestry. No date has yet been set for the transfer. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3 & objectid=10526640 Australia: 27) We are concerned that the Australian government's proposed " Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme " will be full of loopholes and, by the government's own admission, will allow emissions to continue rising for some years. We believe such incremental measures are unacceptable: we need greenhouse emissions to start to fall immediately and sharply. To begin to solve the problem we need action on many fronts including: 1) No new coal; 2) Massive public spending on renewable energy; 3) More public transport not new freeways; and 4) End logging of old growth forests. - We call for a national week of protests across Australia at the Spring Equinox, in the week beginning September 21. This week of action can highlight the summer melt of the Arctic ice and other worrying signs that demand urgent measures to decarbonise the economy from state and federal governments. We ask climate change campaign groups, networks and all environmentally concerned organisations, across Australia to work together for a coordinated and effective week of public protest around these themes. Call issued by the organising committee for the July 5 Climate Emergency rally in Melbourne: http://www.climaterally.blogspot.com - http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/762/39342 28) VICTORIA'S Central Highlands, which includes areas of the Yarra Valley, contain up to 20 times the amount of natural carbon than previously thought, a forest research by the Australian National University (ANU) revealed. The ANU research team, led by plant ecologist Brendan Mackey, believes the new evidence may shape national and state policies in relation to logging. Previously, according to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world average carbon stock in temperate forests was 217 tonnes of carbon per hectare. Research by Professor Mackey and his ANU team has shown each hectare of natural forests in southeastern Australia absorbs around 640 tonnes per hectare. Forests such as those found in Cement Creek and Armstrong Creek can contain over 2000 tonnes of carbon per hectare, over 20 times the IPCC estimate, the research states. " Protecting the carbon in Australia and the world's natural forests is no longer an option – it's a necessity, " Professor Mackey said. " If natural forests continue to be cleared and degraded then the CO2 released will significantly increase concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. " Local environment groups have welcomed the research findings. C4 Healesville spokesperson Steve Meacher called it a " wake up call for State and Federal politicians and policy makers to stop turning a blind eye to one of the easiest ways to reduce Australia's greenhouse pollution. " Sarah Rees, spokesperson for The Central Highlands Alliance, also based in Healesville, said the findings have given local residents a chance to make a difference internationally. " Locally, we can now play an international role in mitigating the effects of climate change, our forests have just been given the winning ticket for its protection, " Ms Rees said. Timber Communities Australia's Scott Gentle said it was disappointing that environmental groups continued to fail to accept decisions that prove sustainable harvesting was a viable industry. " The UN has found that sustainable harvesting is something that is to be encouraged, " Mr Gentle said. " Unfortunately these environmental groups are always wanting to change the goal posts. " http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/62602 29) In the endless forestry " debate " (too civilised a word for this often-mindless wrestling match), Tasmanians are bushed -- another forest metaphor -- when it comes to working out the effect of logging on atmospheric carbon levels. " The public deserves facts about forest management, based on science, not opportunistic media relations and spin, " Bob Gordon, Forestry Tasmania's managing director, said earlier this year. It's advice the forest industry itself would do well to heed. Last week's report on carbon storage in Australian forests by an Australian National University team led by Professor Brendan Mackey begs for a considered response tackling the specific findings of the report. Instead it got just the same tired old generalisations. We need to be aware that the Wilderness Society helped to fund the Mackey report, but that is hardly grounds for the logging industry to dismiss it as " flawed " . Are they implying that Prof Mackey, a senior forest scientist, skewed his results to please the Wilderness Society? Prof Mackey concluded that the quantity of carbon in unlogged Australian forest is nearly three times the estimate used to determine policies under the Kyoto Protocol, and that Tasmania's tallest forests, including some areas marked for logging, hold as much as six times the Kyoto figure. http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,24167004-5006550,00.html 30) The Wilderness Society have today launched a TV ad campaign challenging the next NT government to rule out further destructive land clearing in special parts of the Territory including the Tiwi's and the Daly River. TWS is supporting a group of traditional owners who are seeking an end to the land clearing of the Islands. Traditional owners Gawin Tipiloura and Marjorie Liddy said 30,000 ha of irreplaceable forest had already been destroyed on the Tiwi Islands and warned that unless action is taken at this election, a further 70,000 ha will be wiped out. The Tiwi Islands, (Melville and Bathurst Islands) despite their immense conservation importance, is home to the single largest native forest-clearing project in the whole of Northern Australia. The ads, produced by the Wilderness Society will place the issue firmly at the centre of the NT election. " Land clearing is now a key political issue that voters will be judging parties on over the coming weeks, " said Lyndon Schneiders, Northern Australia Campaign Manager for the Wilderness Society said today. " The NT is world famous for its rugged landscapes, unique wildlife, free flowing rivers and way of life. All of these are threatened by out of control land clearing, " he continued. Gawin Tipiloura, a traditional owner from Melville Island said that the company undertaking the clearing, Great Southern, must be cease operations and be swiftly prosecuted for numerous environmental breaches. " The community wants land clearing to end and the NT Government to refuse stage two of the land clearing project. They must stop destroying Tiwi forests. " Marjorie Liddy, another traditional owner has expressed dismay at the changing environment. " Tiwi Islands are sacred land. All our bush food has been destroyed. I used to call this place land of honey, and now we can't find that sugarbag – all the sugarbag has gone. " http://www.wilderness.org.au/articles/tv-ad-blitz-calls-for-political-action-on-\ land 31) Gunns, planning a $2 billion wood pulp mill in Tasmania, slumped to a 5-year low in Sydney trading after saying it may divest part of its plantation forest to help raise about A$170 million. Gunns shares declined 15 cents, or 6.5%, to $2.16 on the Australian stock exchange, poised for its lowest close since January 2003. The stock has fallen more than 40% this year, valuing the company at $878 million. The plantation sale is part of a broader review of the company's capital structure, Gunns said in a statement today. Unaudited net profit for the year ended June 30 was about $67 million, it added. The result includes costs linked to ''the revaluation of financial instruments'' associated with its pulp mill project, the company said. Gunns said key drivers of the result were a strong performance from hardwood operations, challenging industry conditions in the softwood market, and higher interest costs, in addition to non-operating items. The profit result includes non-operating costs of $11.7 million, which include the revaluation of financial instruments related to the Bell Bay pulp mill project ($7.6 million) and business acquisition and restructuring costs ($4.1 million). http://business.smh.com.au/business/gunns-shares-slump-to-5year-low-20080815-3w1\ g.html 32) The federal Member for Eden Monaro, Mike Kelly, has ruled out the future possibility of using native forests in south-east New South Wales for electricity generation. A university study has found that untouched forests can absorb far more greenhouse gases than previously thought. Mr Kelly says biomass used to generate power, such as what is being proposed at the Eden chip mill, will only be permitted from industrial plantations. He says the contribution native forests make in controlling climate change is becoming more apparent. " I think the timber industry has a lot to offer in terms of our climate change issues and certainly with our carbon pollution reduction scheme to encourage planting and improvements to the forestry industry to contribute to that effort, " he said. http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=10492 8 33) Premier David Bartlett says he has no plans to conserve more Tasmanian forests despite a report showing they contain up to six times as much carbon as previously thought. The Australian National University research said commercial harvesting of Australia's native forests led to carbon loss and a reduction in the ability of the forests to offset carbon gas emissions. But Mr Bartlett said he had seen conflicting research that showed the benefits of plantation forestry. And the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania said the report was flawed because it received a financial contribution from the Wilderness Society. Chief executive Terry Edwards said it was natural for a report sponsored by an " extremist " environment group to conclude that native forests should be conserved. The ANU team led by plant ecologist Brendan Mackey said the new evidence might force a rethink of national and state policies encouraging logging of native forests. Greens leader Nick McKim called on Mr Bartlett to make native forests off-limits to loggers. " The science is now in and as a result here is an urgent and unarguable need to protect Tasmania's remaining threatened unlogged native forests, " Mr McKim said. " Someone has to fund these things and I don't think because that's the Wilderness Society detracts from the issue at all. " Wilderness Society spokeswoman Virginia Young said the research was proof there was an urgent need to end logging of carbon-dense native forests. " Given that Australia has enough plantations to meet almost all our timber needs and that every other major greenhouse-gas emitter is being asked to substantially reduce emissions, it seems absurd to exempt this sector from close examination, " Ms Young said. Timber Communities Australia manager Barry Chipman said the Federal Government Green Paper demonstrated forestry was the only industry sector that was carbon-positive and removed more carbon from the air than it emitted. Forestry Tasmania welcomed the findings as a sign the state's forests were adequately managed. http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,24136365-3462,00.html 34) What do you do when, after a three-year investigation, experts you appointed tell you many of northern Victoria's river red gum forests risk being lost forever and need to be locked up in five new national parks? If you are the Brumby Government, you hand-pick a new panel to tell you how much you should listen to the first lot of experts. This was the blunt analysis of frustrated sections of the conservation lobby this week after the Government did not immediately accept recommendations that it protect 103,000 hectares of stressed red gum forests, mostly along the parched Murray River. While federal Water Minister Penny Wong drew headlines for suggesting the Murray's lower lakes were beyond salvation, a recent report into the health of ecosystems along the river through Victoria painted a picture nearly as dire. The $2 million river red gum forests investigation, by the government's Victorian Environment Assessment Council — created to independently investigate public land use issues — estimates up to 75% of red gum forest is dead or dying in some stretches. After holding community forums and analysing 9000 public submissions, the council called for the new parks to save threatened species along the Murray, Ovens and Goulburn rivers. Controversially, it includes the creation of a new national park in the internationally recognised Barmah Forest wetlands, which would close down most local forestry. Overall, the amount of timber available for harvest would be slashed from 37,000 hectares to about 10,000, costing an estimated 80 jobs. The final council report also calls for a boost to environmental water flows, but omits a draft recommendation to flood the wetlands with 4000 billion litres of water every five years, instead leaving the figure up to the Government. http://www.theage.com.au/national/government-finds-itself-up-a-gum-tree-over-for\ est-inquirys-p rotection-plan-20080808-3sez.html 35) The Greens are trying to garner support for their new policy to end the felling of all native forests. The party has announced it wants the logging of native forests to end and for timber to be sourced from tree plantations. Greens South West MP, Paul Llewellyn says the party will allocate preferences in the coming state election to whichever major party supports their stance. " Clearly the Greens are a rising force across Australia, in the Northern Territory we saw the Greens get 15 per cent of the vote, we do determine which government goes into power by our preferences and native forest logging is going to be one of the important considerations in our decision about who to support, " he said. " I do think that there is a unified voice across the conservation movement that native forest logging must stop and that we must make a complete transfer to plantations and farmed forestry. " Our forefathers were preparing us for this by planting many thousands of hectares of pine and blue gum plantations. " http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/14/2334799.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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