Guest guest Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 --Today for you 33 new articles about earth's trees! (393rd 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: --Russia: 1) They can increase harvesting capacity significantly in coming years? --China: 2) Country's richest man jailed for forest destruction --India: 3) Felling and smuggling of sandalwood, 4) Pulp-leading ambitions, 5) Women forest guards in forests of Gir, 6) Large scale logging of cotton silk trees 'cuz they cause eco-harm, 7) What is currently keeping forest guards out of the woods, 8) Patrolling with Elephants is safest, 9) Christians flee church attacks and hide in forest, 10) Annual cultural traditions harm trees, 11) Encroachment upon last few patches in Bangalore, --Vietnam: 12) Cutting every Uoi tree in sight for its fruit leaves fewer trees every year --Thailand: 13) Kaeng Krachan forest complex --Philippines: 14) Mountain Bike Ride raises money for treeplanting, 15) Governor Baguilat promises forest / watershed planning, 16) Destroying 200,000 hectares of Surigao del Sur forest doesn't create enough jobs, --Papua New Guinea: 17) New Greenpeace campaign to protect forests / climate change --Malaysia: 18) Oil palm oozes pure gold 'cuz its earning double it value of a year ago, 19) Halt sand dredging activities along Sungai Berang, 20) Minister caught in illegal imports of Indonesian logs, --Indonesia: 21) Help save the last Merbau trees --Java: 22) The last great Teak forests are mostly gone --Sumatra: 23) Park in Riau Province to double in size to 86,000 hectares --New Zealand: 24) Pine plantations can provide biofuel to run all nation's vehicles, 25) Cost blowout in the Nelson City Council's harvesting operations, --Australia: 26) Gunns unable to give an assurance that the controversial project will proceed, 27) New Pulp project to allegedly divert wood chip exports, 28) Gunns project is about to collapse, 29) New " post-Olympic " treesit in Styx valley, 30) Tasmania Together 2008 Progress Report reveals gov. dragging its feet, 31) Tasmania's Wilderness Battles: A History, 32) Tassie Gov. again suing protesters, 33) 40 per cent of Australia is world's largest intact wilderness? Russia: 1) With the Russian economy continuing to flourish and demand for timber rising domestically as well as abroad, industry experts believe that Russia can increase its harvesting capacity significantly in the coming years. The total area of forests in the Russian Federation is 1173.4 million hectares and the reserves of standing wood exceed 82 billion m3 (cubic meters). (6) U.S. Commercial Service reports that in order to increase the share of Russia's forestry industry in world trade and to change the situation in favor of the production and export of value-added products, the industry requires modern equipment (7). In 2005, forest harvesting in the Russian Federation totaled around 186 million cubic meters (m3), making Russia the world's third biggest harvester, after the U.S. and Canada. (8) The current harvesting yield is around a third of the Government's estimated total technical annual allowable cut which has been set at 576 million m3 per year. (9) Removals have increased sharply in recent years as demand for industrial round wood and raw logs has increased in domestic and export markets. European associations believe that with the recent Russian legislation (2007 forest code), modernization, and new equipment, the country has the potential to increase the harvest to 250 million m3 within five years. (10) http://www.russiablog.org/2008/08/russias_forestry_industry_over.php China: 2) The former richest person on China's mainland was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison yesterday for deforestation, illegally seizing and using farmland as well as interfering with testimony. The People's Court in Qingzhen City, Guizhou Province, found Luo Zhongfu guilty as his company deforested 133 hectares of land for building villas without government permission. The court found that Luo's Fuhai Fuyingshi New Materials Technology Development Co Ltd signed a contract with Guizhou Academy of Forest Sciences and its subsidiary Luyuan Landscape Technology Engineering Co to develop a villa resort on a local forest with a total investment of 320 million yuan (US$46.86 million). The two parties agreed in the contract to build 1,200 villas on the land and make profits on the real estate project. However, government authorities vetoed their project as it broke environmental laws. The two parties then forged a new agreement without mentioning the villa project and changed the date of the agreement. But the province's government never approved the project up till now. Luo then ordered his employees to seize the land and launched construction from September 2006. Luo's wife Yang Xiurong, one of Guizhou's political advisors, lobbied for the project and raised a lot of funds for Luo. To build the villa resort, Luo's Fuhai company cut down 775 cubic meters of trees to build fire-proof passage across the forest. Yu Shuming, head of the academy, lobbied with Guizhou's forest authority and obtained the license for deforestation. After Luo was detained, Yang hampered police's investigation several times in December 2007 and ordered several of Luo's employees to travel overseas to avoid testimony. Luo, a 57-year-old Guizhou native, was listed as the richest man in the country in 1994 and 1995 by Forbes. http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=371896 & type=National India: 3) Vadodara - Felling and smuggling of sandalwood trees rampant despite arrest of gang members Sandalwood thieves in the state were never so daring as they have been of late. A series of thefts took place in Sankheda on four occasions right under the nose of the police. On August 26, the Sankheda police had arrested seven members of a nine-member gang involved in the thefts. That same night the gram panchayat felicitated the town police for its feat, but a tree was felled in the premises of the Pataleshwar Mahadev temple, located some 100 meters from the Sankheda Police Station and the Sankheda Taluka Panchayat Office. The village panchayat members have alleged that the felling of sandalwood trees has continued despite the arrests. Gram panchayat officials said sandalwood thieves have felled five trees on four different occasions this August at the temple premises. Parmananda Goswami, a priest from the Kabir Temple in Sankheda said that thieves have struck the temple three times and felled four trees in the premises in 2006. " They have felled some 20-25 trees at the H N Parikh High School in the last two years. When I went to register a complaint, the police said they would book me instead, " he said. Sankheda, a town in the east of Vadodara, is known for its lacquer furniture. But in the last two years, it has become a hotbed of the sandalwood smugglers. The Sankheda village panchayat called for a bandh on August 27 to protest against the callousness of the local police officers. " Sandalwood trees are reserved under the Forest Act and are considered government property. It is a daunting task for the forest officers to check on the trees growing in private places or in the public areas. People have to seek the permission of the Forest Department in that area before felling a sandalwood tree. But practically, these reports are very few, and moreover there are no records for the number of trees growing in any area, " he said. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Smalltime-Veerappans-on-prowl-in-Sankhed\ a/355476/ 4) The places that manufacture paper are changing. The earlier centres of paper making — the US, Canada and Scandinavian countries — are slowly but surely losing out to Brazil, Chile, Indonesia and China. Only two or three Indian companies have sourced funds through foreign equity offerings or availed of debt from financial institutions such as the IFC and ADB. In manufacturing, the Birlas were the first to have ventured into Kenya long ago. In the seventies, the Thapars with others promoted a large pulp company in Thailand from which they later exited. They have now acquired a large pulp and paper mill with huge forestry concessions in Malaysia. The Aditya Birla Group has also acquired large rayon grade pulp mill in Canada and is pursuing plantation activity in Laos. Apart from these, the industry has been exporting small tonnages, 2.5 per cent of total production, to nearby countries in Saarc and West Asia. On the other hand, the exposure of global paper companies to India has also been limited to marketing their finished paper in the Indian market. In manufacturing, the only example is of Sinar Mas of Indonesia having invested in a greenfield project of coated paper, which was later sold as it decided to concentrate on China. Using degraded forest lands for commercial plantation, if allowed, can change the face of the industry. Large use of Clean Development Mechanism benefits could also be availed. Getting into plantation by setting up large labs to develop new native bio-engineered clones of pulp-wood with higher cellulose content and multiplication thereof through tissue culture are areas where investments would reap rich returns. Consulting: Many small and mid-range paper companies requite technical help in managing their business. Their number is more than 700 and most of them are keen to upgrade their facilities but don't know how to go about it. Technology: A need exists for setting up pulp and paper machinery manufacturing facilities in India to meet the requirements of the subcontinent. Technology helps reduce usage of power, water, fibre and chemicals ..http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2008/08/31/stories/2008083150741500.htm 5) GANDHINAGAR: If you are in the Gir forests to watch the Asiatic lion, don't be surprised to find women forest guards in the woods. It's another male bastion which has been busted. Gujarat forest department has sought to break the sex barrier, by introducing for the first time a large number of women guards and foresters in the jungles. Of the 307 forest guards recruited through special camps in districts over the last one year, 51 are women. And out of 180 foresters recruited at four zonal camps held this May in Surat, Junagadh, Vadodara and Gandhinagar as many as 44 are women. Till these recruitments, there were just two women working in the forests and both were Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers. Anita Karn is posted in Junagadh and Aradhana Sahu in Mehsana. Fourteen women foresters have been posted in Gir and their boss, Anita Karn, is happy to have them around. " They have been quite useful in gathering information, carrying out raids and talking to womenfolk in the forests, " she told TOI over phone. Aradhana Sahu added: " Lady forest staffers are proving to be extremely useful in every sector, be it joint forest management, in which involvement of village women is critical, or guiding tourists in the wild and guarding wildlife. " Forest officials in Gandhinagar say the women were recruited on the basis of their physical fitness and knowledge of neighbouring forest areas. The physical test included long jump, high jump and rock-climbing. " We are happy such a large number of women applied for the jobs and also made it in the end, " said a senior forest official. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Women_foresters_New_rage_in_Gujarat/ar\ ticleshow/3423939.cms 6) Theni - At a time when the focus is on afforestation, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department is facing a strange situation -- large scale felling of cotton silk trees in reserve forest areas in the district as these trees were found be be causing extensive damage to the ecology. About 10,000 trees raised by settlers in Varushanadu, Vellimalai and Megamalai hilly reserve forests have already been cut to protect the flora and fauna, official sources told PTI here. They said the silk cotton trees, though providing a livelihood to the settlers, harmed the growth of herbal plants native to the hills and also turned out to be a parasite nourishing on the moisture and nutrition of the wild trees in the forest. A silk cotton tree would suck water from four square metre range. Besides, when the pod of the tree bursts, it causes pollution and affects the health of birds and wild animals. The department realised that if the rare trees, native to the hills perished, there would be a chain reaction affecting the fauna also. Birds, squirrels and other species of animals would not get their food. The trees consumed a lot of ground water and would not allow other plants in the neighbourhood to blossom and grow, said an official. The settlers were asked to take care of the forest, the wild animals and birds and go for afforestation by cultivating rare trees. But they violated the guidelines and started burning the trees for charcoal. Besides, they started raising silk cotton trees which proved disastrous, an official said. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200808281221.htm 7) But since yesterday, the GJMM has made the 'GL' number plates mandatory for all vehicles, including those on hire with the various government departments in the DGHC area. This has triggered a peculiar problem in the hills, as government servants cannot use a vehicle for duty, which features an illegal registration number ~ 'GL' in this case. While almost all the government departments are bearing the brunt, the case with the state forest department is really worse. " The problem is that our functions directly concern the wildlife species and the forests ~ who cannot speak for themselves and we need to be proactive to save them from dangers like disease, poaching or felling. But in the absence of conveyance, we are not being able to reach out to the most of the forest areas and as obvious, this is adversely affecting the wildlife surveillance, " said the DFO, Mahananda Wildlife -I, Miss Sumita Ghatak. The story is same with the rest four forest divisions, viz., the Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong and the Silvi Culture Division (Darjeeling). Of them, barring the latter, all the three have a sizeable numbers of wildlife concentrations. The numbers of vehicles that the five forest divisions own here, but are languishing in the garages due to the 'GL' menace are as follows. Darjeeling division - five vehicles, Silvi Culture - one, Kurseong - four, Kalimpong - 13 and another eight vehicles belonging to the Mahananda Wildlife-that extends up to the foothills in Siliguri. Out of these 31 vehicles, at least 20 are normally used by the wildlife squads for anti-poaching and anti-smuggling patrolling across the forest divisions. The wildlife squads are now carrying out the patrolling on foot, but even the DFOs confess without hesitation that these would not be effective to the extent required and hence, there is a serious threat of a rise in wildlife poaching and timer smuggling in the concerned forests.The DFOs here have written to the state forest authorities, who are yet to sit up to the impending danger. The principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) and the chief wildlife warden Mr SS Bist said that he was 'not aware that the situation has turned so worse' and promised to look into the matter as a priority. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=10 & theme= & usrsess=1 & id=219921 8) An elephant patrol will roam the deep forests of Kerala in a bid to check poaching. The anti-poaching patrol in Wayanad district consists of three elephants, mahouts and forest officials. " We started the patrol Monday. The team has around 15 members. We arranged this patrol following information from Tamil Nadu authorities that poachers could become active along Kerala-Tamil Nadu border this season, " K. Radhakrishna Lal, assistant wildlife warden at Muthanga in Wayanad, told IANS. Wayanad district shares border with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The elephants in the patrol, Dineshan, Kunju and Suryan, belong to the forest department. The forest officials say that elephant patrol has many advantages. " With the help of elephants we can enter even thick forests and marshy areas. Elephants clear the way for those on foot. While riding on elephant better surveillance is also possible, " Lal said. The patrol at a stretch will spend three days inside the forest, keeping a close watch on all activities. " The presence of elephants ensures protection to the team from wild animals. Our elephants are good-sized and even wild elephants won't dare challenge them, " he added. http://www.freshnews.in/elephant-patrol-to-check-poaching-in-kerala-forests-6015\ 3 9) The stench of burning tyres, walls coloured black with soot, glass splinters strewn across the streets, broken furniture and people hiding in the forests — Orissa is again caught up in communal rage. " We have been running to the forest now and then. We are terribly scared to remain inside the convent and be burnt alive, so we thought the forest would be a better option, " said Sister Ramya, who along with 11 nuns and school girls is now hiding in a Christian-run school in Phulbani district. " It's raining and we had to take shelter in the school. It is better to die together, " she said. Running for life since Saturday after the killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, Sister Ramya said they have been surviving on bananas. " We are too scared to even go to the convent and cook. " Sister Ramya's plight is shared by several others belonging to the Christian community, at the receiving end of the latest onslaught by saffron mob on the prowl to avenge the killing of their leader who had once said, " The sooner Christians return to the Hindu fold, the better it would be for the country. " Though communal flare-ups are quite common in southern Orissa where Hindu groups and Christians are posed on either sides of a war over conversions, people working in the churches — taking care of the poor and orphaned — are the worst-hit. Aware of the possibility of being attacked, they are now living in fear. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Flight_for_life_Nuns_forced_to_take_she\ lter_in_forests/articleshow/3409215.cms 10) MUMBAI: As city residents get into the festive mood after breaking dahi handis for Janmashtami and with Ganesh Chaturthi around the corner, tree lovers are wary that this fervour may end up harming trees. Tree lovers say that instances of branches being illegally chopped and trees being trimmed to increase visibility of banners and hoardings is on the rise, especially during celebrations that draw huge crowds. In some areas, trees are also being illegally trimmed to make way for construction of mandals for Ganesh Chaturthi. During Janmashtami celebrations on Sunday, branches of three trees in Nerul's Sector 19 were chopped to make banners more visible. Residents of Madhavi building , who witnessed the trees being trimmed, said that all this happened under the nose of the local corporator whose office is located opposite the site. Some activists like member of F-North Ward Citizens Federation G R Vora say that government apathy in dealing with cases governing tree trimming may be behind this practice. " A citizen who spots this being done can lodge an FIR at the local police station, but the case doesn't come up for hearing for years together,'' he said, adding that after trees are illegally cut, the branches are immediately whisked away in trucks. " The offenders leave behind no clues. Then, it becomes difficult to even prove the crime,'' he said. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/Trees_felled_in_festive_fervour_/artic\ leshow/3405572.cms 11) Growing pressure on land in the periphery of Bangalore is not only consuming agriculture fields, but is also threatening to encroach upon the last few patches of forests land, especially under social forestry in high growth areas of Devanahalli and Hoskote taluks, and confusion over the ownership of land is further causing trouble. Bangalore Rural district has a forest cover of around 45,000 acres spread across Nelamangala, Hoskote, Doddaballapur and Devanahalli taluks that are mostly raised under social forestry. These patches of forests are under eucalyptus, acacia, neem and other local species that also harbour small wildlife. Original forests in the nature of shrub forests are found in Doddaballapur and areas adjoining Magadi taluk in Ramanagara district. " Forests in Bangalore Rural are under tremendous pressure, as land value has increased phenomenally in recent years. We are trying to identify encroachments and removing them, and in most cases it would be the owner of a neighbouring plot who would have encroached upon the forest land, " Bangalore Rural Deputy Conservator of Forests Krishna Udupudi told The Hindu. He said that protection of land from public has been the main concern, as everyone around is trying to encroach, and recently encroachments of forest plantations at Koramangala in Devanahalli taluk were cleared. " Normally, 15 to 20 acres of land are encroached upon by individuals. We are trying to remove smaller encroachments, and others that could create law and order problems would be dealt later, " he added. Officials say that the forests are on the revenue land given to the department a couple of decades ago for development of social forestry, which were subsequently notified as forest land. According to officials, Nelamangala has around 10,000 acres of forest land while Doddaballapur has around 15,000 acres. Hoskote and Devanahalli have 12,000 acres and 8,000 acres of land respectively. Confusion over the clear demarcation of land is said to be one of the prime reasons leading to encroachments. Mr. Udupudi said: " In several areas, the part of notified forest land, gomala and land allotted to land less under land grant scheme come in the same survey number making problems more complex. " If the forest land has been encroached upon a couple of decades back, it is very difficult to remove such encroachments, he added. http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=50122 & n_tit=Bangalore%92s+Hung\ er+for+Land+Threatens+Forest+Patches+too+ Vietnam: 12) Their parents are gone for several days, even weeks at a time. " They go to the forests, " one of the children says. Only late at night do some adults return to the village, looking worn out and tired. Villagers leave their homes for the forest every summer in search of uoi (Scaphilum lychnophorum), a sweet fruit the region is known for. They scour the province's western districts of Nam Giang, Phuoc Son and Tra Mi, chopping down every uoi tree in sight. They used to wait for the red fruits to fall after ripening, but now the pickers are not so patient. As a result, the uoi season – which used to last for months – now only lasts a few weeks before all the trees with ripe fruit are chopped down. Uoi prices are particularly high this year, says Aho Buoi, head of Dung Hamlet in Nam Giang District. A few days of hunting for fruit in the forest usually brings in hundreds of thousands of dong in profit to each household. Uoi are drying in nearly all front yards in Nam Giang, and locals say they're selling like hotcakes. The price of the ripened dry fruit was around VND50,000 (US$3) a kilogram at the beginning of the season but this has nearly doubled recently. Even green unripe uoi now sells for VND50,000 a kilogram.Even people in distant districts where no uoi grow, like Dai Loc, now travel to Nam Giang with electric saws and supplies to live in the forest collecting the fruit for days.But the real cost for the precious fruit is the loss of the trees, which are being killed in larger numbers than ever. There are many areas where the uoi used to flourish that no longer have a single uoi tree. Trees some 60-70 years old are cut down regularly. Soon, they'll be no more uoi, no more forest, " says Arat Ngheu, a Dung Hamlet resident. http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10 & newsid=41408 Thailand: 13) The Kaeng Krachan forest complex - encompassing the Kaeng Krachan National Park, the Mae Nam Pha Chi Wildlife Sanctuary, the Kui Buri National Park and the Chalerm Phrakiat Thai Prachan National Park - is a massive oxygen pumping machine stretching from Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi to Prachuap Khiri Khan in the upper southern region. As the Thung Yai Naresuan and Huay Kha Khaeng band together to create the Western Forest Complex, the Kaeng Krachan complex provides the setting further south for the kind of fauna and flora that can hardly be found elsewhere. The Kaeng Krachan complex is a huge 2,914 sq km forest on the eastern side of the Tanaosri mountain range. The complex includes the catchment areas of Phetchaburi and Pran Buri rivers and is home to numerous species of plants and wildlife. The forests are also home to tigers, leopards, bantengs, gaurs and wild elephants. There are also over 400 species of birds, including Rachet-tailed treepies, which exist only in Thailand. Apicha Yusomboon, chief of the Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province, said the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department was compiling all the needed information demanded by the World Heritage panel in charge of considering the application. The key information is the rare species of plants and wildlife, as well as endemic species, found in the region. Mr Apicha said the Kaeng Krachan forest complex is the largest and the most fertile forest complex in Thailand as evergreen forests account for 60% of its total area with extraordinary biological diversity. There are 91 species of mammals and 461 species of birds. Also native to the forest is a creeper plant " Taeng Phanoen Thung " (Trichosanthes phonsenae) which thrives along with other rare plants like " Jam Pee Phet " (Magnolia mediocris) and " Jam Pee Doi " (Magnolia gustavil). Many new species of plants have been discovered in the forest, Mr Apicha said. The forest complex is also just one of the world's three habitats for freshwater crocodiles, or Siamese crocodiles, which are a critically endangered species. Photographic evidence has confirmed that Siamese crocodiles live along a specific stretch of the Phetchaburi river. Thamnoon Temchai, assistant chief of the Kaeng Krachan National Park, said there may be around three or four Siamese crocodiles up to three metres long. http://www.bangkokpost.com/300808_News/30Aug2008_news92.php Philippines: 14) " [We] will dedicate each kilometer that [we] will cover in 24 hours toward establishing a seedling fund to plant new [trees] in the many denuded areas of the mountains, " said Alipio. He said private donors can pledge P1 up to P1,000 for each kilometer the biker traverses. " [The] number of seedlings will depend on how much money we will be able to raise, so I can't say at the moment [how much seedlings would be put up]. Hopefully, we can raise enough to plant a substantial number [of trees], " he said. Donors may even send the bikers seedlings, Alipio said. Alipio also opened an exhibition of his nature photographs, hoping to donate 30 percent of its proceeds to the " Binhi " fund and to Cordillera Coffee's trust fund to support coffee farmers in the region. Alipio said the bikers have started training for the trek on Nov. 15. " Much of the Cordillera's mountains have, in recent years, suffered severe deforestation from logging and other human [activities] that have slowly deteriorated the quality of the forests in the region, " Alipio said in a letter sent earlier by e-mail. " Many of these forests are important watersheds and repositories of biological wealth that may be lost to time if the deforestation is not slowed, " he said. The bikers, he said, would pedal through mountain trails in the towns of La Trinidad, Tublay, Kapangan, Kibungan, Bakun, Kabayan and Bokod before returning to Baguio City. " At the end of the 24-hour ride this coming November, the riders will tally the total distance that the team will be able to cover and that will be multiplied by the pledge that you have promised. You will be sent a notice of how much your total pledge will be so you can officially donate the funds for the seedlings, " Alipio said in his e-mailed letter. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20080825-156785/Bike\ rs-seek-pledges-to-revive-forests 15) In a bid to save mossy forests while boosting agriculture, the provincial government here conducted a formal dialogue with the municipal, barangay officials and farmers here to come up with appropriate action on the destruction and unregulated conversion of watershed areas into agricultural lands here. Governor Teddy Baguilat said that the provincial government will provide resources to carry land use and zoning, protection of watersheds, development of enterprise and reforestation. Baguilat said farmers could continue gardening for as long as it does not encroach in the protected areas and heavy equipment is not used. This requires inter-agency coordination, he said. Baguilat disclosed that the parties agreed to have a land use and zoning to identify protected areas or watersheds and to ask the Department of Environment to continue its plan to delineate the watershed line. During the Regional/Provincial Peace and Order Council Meeting in Banaue, Provincial Environment Officer Basilio Mamanteo, said that swift action teams in the tri-boundary area where deforestation occurs are being organized. The parties also agreed to limit vegetable gardening to existing agricultural lands and avoid expansion into steep and watershed areas, stop new declaration of watersheds and guard against sale of real property tax assessments to Benguet businessmen. In order to explore viable alternative livelihood, agroforestry and organic agriculture were recommended. http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12 & r= & y= & mo= & fi=p080822.htm & no=84 16) Picop Resources Inc. (PRI) has only 1,200 workers under its employ, despite the exclusive privilege of exploiting about 200,000 hectares of Surigao del Sur forest, indicating the province has not benefited in terms of employment from the pulp-and-paper company. Protection of the vast concession by PRI has also been a dismal failure for lack of forest guards, leading not only to environmental rape of the forest but also an outright denial for more than 100,000 residents to benefit from the natural wealth. Church leaders in Surigao del Sur are pushing for exclusion of grant of concession area to PRI, as part of rehabilitation program now being heard by the court as PRI reels from a P7 billion debt. Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) filed a case at a Makati RTC Court in May this year to place PRI under a rehab program to recover its P2 billion loan exposure in the company based in Bislig City in Surigao del Sur. Much of the woes of the company—operating at a loss for 30 years—on chairman Teodoro Bernardino, according to the church leaders. He has been replaced by former congressman Prospero Pichay, who is positioning himself to be named as receiver which is being opposed by church leaders. In a comment submitted to the court and published in newspapers, Church leaders opposed Pichay as receiver in a six-point comment that included an appeal against renewal of timber concessions of PRI. " The rehabilitation of PRI should not extend to the consequential grant of any concession area to PRI in whatever form of tenurial instruments from its expired Timber License Agreement (TLA) No. 43, Pulp and Timber License Agreement (PTLA) No. 47 and Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) No. 35, " said the church leaders from the Diocese of Tandag. They said the exclusion has already been affirmed by a decision of the Supreme Court in G. R. Case No. 162243 (filed by then Environment Secretary Heherzon Alvarez against PRI) denying conversion of area covered by PRI's expired TLA 43 into IFMA. http://durianpost.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/catholic-church-against-renewing-pico\ p-concessions/ Papua New Guinea: 17) Greenpeace protest ship Esperanza is preparing to tour Papua New Guinea and Indonesian waters in a campaign to protect the forests and highlight climate change. Papua New Guinea is home to a third of the world's rainforest and Greenpeace says it is disappearing at an alarming rate through logging. Greenpeace says the Esperanza ship will carry a banner while in PNG waters reading " protecting forests saves our climate " in local pidgin language. The ship and its 18 crew arrived in Port Moresby to plenty of fanfare. PNG Governor General Sir Paulias Matane also received a tour of the ship and lent his support to environmentalists' aim to have zero deforestation by 2015. Scientists estimate that around 20 per cent of the world's annual greenhouse gas emissions are released through deforestation. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/27/2348346.htm?section=justin Malaysia: 18) If you were the owner of a decent-sized Malaysian palm plantation, early March this year was a truly wonderful time to be sitting on the verandah. Stretched before you in the tropical heat were the same old trees that had always grown there, but suddenly they were oozing pure gold: a lazily lucrative multi-layered proxy for astronomical hikes in food and energy markets. The biofuel controversy, snowstorms in China and the early ramping of inflation were your friend. Procter & Gamble's and Cadbury's pain were your gain. As a farmer, the oily bounty of your trees was earning more than twice what it had done at the start of the year and trading at three times the price it commanded in 2006. Just five months later, and the view from the verandah is somewhat less cheerful. Inflation is not quite such a one-way bet because Chinese and Indian consumers have turned out to be more rational than rapacious. So as a Malaysian farmer, your palms are still there, the plantation itself – to the justifiable fury of environmentalists - may be even larger, but the price of your product has crashed 45 per cent from its peak of 4,500 ringgits per tonne. Now in virtual freefall, crude palm oil futures have slid another 9 per cent this week alone, and there is nervous talk among traders of the index heading back down to 2,000 ringgits/t by the end of summer. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resource\ s/article4612309.ece 19) HULU TERENGGANU: Falling on deaf ears. This can best describe the pleas by several quarters to halt sand dredging activities along Sungai Berang, which are damaging the ecosystem and endangering wildlife. " We promoted this place as a rainforest river with many wild animals. It is disappointing that this had to happen. " We have no choice but to move the cruise to the Lata Berkoh river in Pahang, which is another rainforest with a river. " When the New Straits Times first carried a report last month, there were at least five sites that were being dredged for sand. A check with the Hulu Terengganu land office yesterday revealed that the number of sites had increased to seven. It is also learnt that nine more companies have applied to dredge in the area. In the report dated July 2, it was stated that Sungai Berang and its surrounding forests near Kampung Pengkalan Ajal here were home to various flora and fauna such as wild orchids, terrapins, pig- tailed monkeys and kingfisher birds. The NST quoted Malaysian Nature Society member Wan Nurzalia Wan Saelan as stating that sand dredging in such a sensitive area would have negative effects such as the increase in water turbidity. Even state Industrial, Trade and Environment Committee chairman Toh Chin Yaw said then that the river was a natural heritage site which must be preserved, and the state government had ordered a stop to all dredging activities. The Hulu Terengganu land office, however, denied receiving such an order. Ping Anchorage managing director Alex Lee, who runs a boat cruise along the river, also claimed that ever since sand-dredging activities began, Sungai Berang had turned murky. When contacted yesterday, Lee said he received a lot of complaints about the river being polluted and it was becoming harder to spot wildlife. http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1531759/more_sand_dredging_sites_despite_pl\ eas/ 20) Sarawak's Chief Minister, Taib Mahmud, has been linked to a timber trade scheme involving illegal imports of Indonesian logs and which were then re-exported as Malaysian timber to other countries, including China, Taiwan, and Japan, reports the Indonesian newspaper Tribun Pontianak. An environmental group is using the scandal as the basis for a request for the E.U. to delay timber trade talks with Malaysia. The Bruno Manser Fund, a Switzerland-based NGO that promotes the rights of forest people on the island of Borneo, says the allegations show that " Malaysia is currently unable to fulfill the requirements of a voluntary partnership agreement with the EU, because of widespread corruption at government level, particularly in the timber-rich state of Sarawak. " Malaysia hopes to have all of its timber exports to the EU certified as being of legal origin. The negotiations have carried on for nearly three years to date. The timber scam was uncovered during a joint investigation by an Indonesian-based NGO and a UK-based charity. Bribes were paid to the forest controller. Sarawak Timber Industry Development, a state agency, has also been implicted in the scheme, which is similar to othersmuggling operations uncovered in recent years. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0825-sarawak.html Indonesia: 21) Merbau (Intsia spp.) is a luxurious hardwoodprized for its dark red colour and durability. Found only in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia, merbau has been systematically looted from the forests of Papua, Indonesia, to feed international demand for flooring, decking, doors and furniture. These forests form part of the last remaining tracts of intact rainforests in the Asia Pacific region, provideessential livelihoods for local communities and support a wealth of unique biodiversity. The merbau trade isemblematic of the problem of illegal logging in Indonesia and the limitations of government actions to tackle the problem. In 2005 the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Telapak released a landmark reportdetailing how around 300,000 cubic metres of merbau logs were being smuggledout of Papua, Indonesia, to China every month to be made intoflooring. The sheer scale of the theft and the involvement of corrupt government officials prompted a swift response from the Indonesian government. An enforcement team was dispatched to Papua and the illegal logging of merbau virtually halted. By the end of the operation in May 2005 over 400,000cubic metres of illegal merbau logs had been seized, and 186 suspects named bythe police. The effects of the operation were quickly felt overseas; the price for merbau logs in China more than doubled to $700 per cubic metre and traders in southern China were struggling to source raw merbau timber. Yet despite such decisive action, overseas demand for merbau has remained high, and the logging and trade of merbau in Indonesia remains riddled with illegality. In this context a host of timber processors and traders have continued to find ways to smuggle illicit merbau out of Indonesia. In 2004 the Indonesian government banned the export of sawn timber. The relevant decree was revised in 2006 to clarify the types of timber covered by the ban; in essence all exports of rough sawn timber are banned, as are shipments of planed timber (S4S) above a specified size. In April 2008 the IndonesianMinistry of Trade granted a special " dispensation " to the sawn timberexport ban to three companies based in Surabaya, a major timber processing centre and port in Java, allowing them to export " housing components " of merbau timber to China. The three firms CV Surabaya Trading & Co., GrafityMerindo, and TriasHasil Alam Lestari were granted the exception on the grounds that the " housing components " were destined for a construction project in Mongolia. Initial permission was granted for the three firms to ship 24,000 cubic metes of merbau, with a total of 70,000 cubic metres being requested before the end of 2008. Thecompanies began shipping the timber in May 2008. http://media-kalimantan.blogspot.com/2008/08/media-kalimantan-re-mediacare-press\ ..html Java: 22) Java, an island of Indonesia, used to be home to one of the world's oldest teak forests. But illegal logging, fires and government mismanagement have destroyed the trees. Authorities are making efforts to educate the public about tree conservation and to re-forest the island. From Deutsche Welle Radio and Java's Radio Bass (BASE) FM, Michael Lawton reports: Indonesia is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases and 85 percent of that comes from cutting down trees - largely in the lush lowlands on the island of Java where Michael Lawton has our story, originally produced by Radio Deutsche Welle and Java's Radio Bass FM. There are many problems which threaten to destroy state teak forests in Java: overexploitation, forest fires, illegal logging and theft are just a few of them. There's also corruption and mismanagement by the state forestry authorities. The political change which came with the downfall of President Suharto in 1998 proved to be disastrous for Java's teak forests. People started cutting down teak trees and literally plundered the forests. The forest destruction between 1998 and 2002 is a dark chapter in the history of the state forest company Perhutani, which is part of the Indonesian Forest Department. The Indonesian government amended the law on forest preservation in 1999. In 2002, based on this new law as well as past experiences, Perhutani designed a program called community-based forest preservation. This program tries to include locals in forest preservation measures. Villagers who live near the forests are encouraged to help keep the forests in tact. As a reward, they can use land surrounding the forests for their needs. They're also entitled to 25 percent of the earnings from the forests' produce. Community-based forest preservation might sound like a good idea at first, but the program has yet to who any evidence of success. But are the illegal loggers and the thieves the only ones to blame for the destruction of Java's teak forest. Yuliani (phonetic spelling) an environmental activist in Bojonegoro, blames the sketchy and ambiguous measures which the government has tried to introduce to preserve the peak forests. A so-called master plan for East Java, states that the area of the plan is to be increased but no one knows how this is going to be implemented. http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=08-P13-00034 & segmentID=3 Sumatra: 23) The Park in Riau Province contained only 38,000 hectares of forest when it was created in 2004 but this will be increased to 86,000 hectares by the end of this year. Riau Province has the highest deforestation rate of any province in Indonesia suffering an 11 per cent loss between 2005 to 2006. It has lost more than 4m hectares of forest in the past 25 years which represents almost two-thirds of the original forest. The province is home to an estimated 210 Sumatran elephants - the remainder of an 84 per cent population decline in the past 25 years - and 192 Sumatran tigers after a 70 per cent loss over the same period. It is estimated there are 60-80 elephants and 50 tigers within the new boundaries of the Park which is one of the last strongholds for both species. With more than 4,000 plant species recorded so far, the forest of Tesso Nilo has the highest lowland forest plant biodiversity known to science with more than 4,000 plant species recorded so far and many more still to be chronicled. WWF, the conservation organisation, has been supporting the Indonesian government's effort to extend and protect the park as the last block of lowland forest in central Sumatra large enough to support a viable elephant population. Dr Mubariq Ahmad, WWF-Indonesia's chief executive, said: " This is an important milestone toward securing a future for the Sumatran elephant and tiger. " To ensure that the commitment is effectively implemented, we must redouble our efforts on the ground to eliminate poaching and illegal settlements within this special forest. " Tesso Nilo is still under serious threat from illegal activities, but if we can protect the forests there, it will give some of Sumatra's most endangered wildlife the breathing room they need to survive. " And while we greatly appreciate this precedent for more protection from the Indonesian government, there are other areas on Sumatra that need safeguarding for the sake of its wildlife, its threatened indigenous peoples and to reduce the climate impacts of clearing. " http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/28/easumatra128.x\ ml New Zealand: 24) Forestry researchers say robust scientific investigation has backed up a proposal for sustainably managed pine plantations to provide enough biofuel to run the nation's trucks and cars by 2040. State science company Scion said today that forestry " slash " and other waste streams, as well as purpose-grown " energy forests " can be environmentally sustainable and can make New Zealand self-sufficient in transport biofuels. Cellulose from trees grown on less than 2.8 million hectares of medium to low quality grazing land, about a third of the land of that type, would supply enough fuel for the land transport. Expanding the plantings to 3.7 million ha would also provide jet fuel and fuel oil for planes and ships. But the research announced today also shows that the economic viability of the biofuels will depend on national sustainability policies, improving conversion technologies and the price of competing transport fuels. Forestry and biomass can in help New Zealand meet the Government's aspirations for carbon-neutral energy, said Scion chief executive Tom Richardson. " Purpose-grown energy forests, if planted today, could meet all of New Zealand's future road transport fuel and industrial heat energy needs, without threatening the country's important agricultural industries, " he said. This year a third of the United States' corn crop will be turned into subsidised ethanol, and policymakers around the world are increasingly looking to the sustainability of biofuels, such as whether they displace food crops. Dr Richardson said the latest report canvassed a range of bioenergy opportunities and compared them in terms of the scale needed to meet demand, the environmental impacts and benefits of each, and their economic viability. The " pathways analysis " compared a range of biomass resources, including straw, canola, kiwifruit, forest residues and purpose-grown forest, and the technologies needed to convert them to bioenergy. Not enough information was yet available on other technologies, such as turning algae on sewage ponds into biofuel, a process being eyed by Air New Zealand for jet fuel. http://3news.co.nz/News/NationalNews/Statescientistssayenergyforestsshapeupwellf\ orbiofuels/tabid/423/articleID/68894/cat/64/Default.aspx 25) A cost blowout in the Nelson City Council's harvesting operations on the Grampians and Oyster Island could leave ratepayers having to meet a shortfall of close to $100,000. Higher than expected costs were due to the need for complex felling techniques and low prices for the timber, Mr McArthur said in a report to the committee. The total net expected cost of both projects to the end of this financial year is expected to be $345,793. The council approved projected expenditure of $246,000 for the operations in this year's annual plan, which leaves over expenditure of $99,793. Total revenue was $167,107. Committee chairman Pete Rainey said that while no one was happy with such a result, much of it was due to the " extremely tricky area " of the Grampians in particular which was steep and close to houses, plus inaccuracies in calculating timber tonnage. Mr McArthur said the additional tonnage of trees taken off the Grampians - 2039 tonnes as opposed to the estimated 1200 tonnes - ended up being more of a cost to the council than a benefit. Neither area formed part of the council's investment forestry portfolio, and were not expected to show a net return. " Both are primarily replanting projects, " Mr McArthur said. Both sites required the use of helicopters to haul the timber or distribute fertiliser and grass seed, due to the sensitive environmental and residential areas being worked. A large area of pines and eucalypts was planted on the Grampians in the 1980s as a " quick fix " to control continuing erosion in the area, Mr McArthur said. " Those trees were mature and in danger of being blown over, destabilising the ground they were planted to protect, " Mr McArthur said. http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/4670927a6007.html Australia: 26) The long battle over the proposed Tasmanian pulp mill may soon be over, with proponent Gunns unable to give an assurance that the controversial project will proceed. In a marked change of tone, the timber company last night told the Australian Securities Exchange that it was no longer certain that it could obtain sufficient finance or a joint venture partner. It also told the market it could not meet a deadline for the start of construction of November 30, set by the Tasmanian Government, after which it would lose a sovereign risk agreement and state support. " While the directors believe it is probable that the mill project will proceed to completion, the financing structure is yet to be finalised, " Gunns executive chairman John Gay said. " And Gunns cannot state with certainty that such a structure will be achievable. Nor can it provide an assurance that the mill project will proceed. " This will be music to the ears of many Tasmanians who have fought against the project proposed for the Tamar Valley north of Launceston for the past four years. Mr Gay also announced he would stand down as the company's managing director in June next year, in response to market concerns about his being both chairman and chief manager. Gunns full-year results were lodged with the ASX shortly before 7pm last night, confirming a profit of $64.5 million, less than the downgraded $67 million forecast that prompted a dive in the company's share price. Mr Gay said the company was continuing to pursue financing of the $2 billion-plus mill project with a mix of debt, export credits and equipment finance. " Discussions with potential debt providers are at various stages. Certain debt providers have indicated agreement in principle to facility terms. (With) other debt providers, discussions are ongoing, " Mr Gay said. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24258102-643,00.html 27) ``It's a $2 billion investment bringing a 2.5 per cent increase in gross state product. That's almost $7 billion in additional economic development for Tasmania over the next twenty years.'' The company is due to make an announcement to the ASX soon on the project's progress. ``Modelling conducted by the Allen consulting group shows the project will create 300 direct full time jobs, and 1700 indirect jobs over the life of the project. ``That's 2,000 new jobs for Tasmania. The mill project has a strong environmental position. ``There will be no increases in forest harvesting, the project will divert woodchips that are currently exported from Tasmania to the mill for downstream processing. There will be absolutely no harvesting of old growth forests. ``And there will be no conversion of native forest to plantation or cleared lands this is not allowable under Gunns sustainable forest management and Chain of Custody systems. ``The Mill will be a net exporter of electricity to the national electricity grid. It will reduce Gunns carbon footprint by 1.1 million CO2 equivalent tonnes per annum.'' Mr Frame said the vote says the Tasmanian parliament is right behind the Bell Bay pulp mill. We feel confident that with the Tasmanian Parliament supporting this plantation based project we can move forward to achieve financial close,'' he said. http://northerntasmania.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/economy-business-it-fin\ ance/vote-of-confidence-in-gunns-pulp-mill/1256567.aspx 28) Opponents of the proposed Gunns pulp mill in northern Tasmania say they are convinced the project is about to collapse and are stepping up their fight against it. Police estimate that about 5,000 people marched through Launceston's streets to voice their anger at the mill, but rally organisers claim the turnout was nearly double that. The forestry industry claims the turnout shows that opposition to the project is diminishing. Yesterday former ABC TV personality Peter Cundall urged the crowd to fight against the pulp mill, telling them to " never give up until the project is buried so they can dance on its grave " . Bob McMahon, from the group Tasmanians Against a Pulp Mill, urged the crowd to continue fighting the project and said he was planning more protests. " Gunns is in trouble; they are looking for a foreign venture partner, " he said. But the chief executive of the Forest Industries Association, Terry Edwards, is equally determined in his ongoing support for the mill. He says the protesters were a small minority and the $2 billion project will go ahead. " Interest in this issue I think is waning, " he said. Gunns has not responded to the protest. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/24/2344732.htm?section=business 29) Forestry Tasmania claims a protest in the Styx Valley is a media stunt timed to gain maximum exposure. Police have been called to a logging coupe in the valley after activists set up a tree-top protest. Ken Jeffreys from Forestry Tasmania says the protesters are not really interested in saving the forests. " There hasn't been a protest in the Styx or Florentine valleys for 17 days, in fact a few weeks, " Mr Jeffrey said. " Now the reason there's a protest there now is that the Olympics is finished and there's some media time free for them. " They knew they couldn't do a protest in the last three weeks and get coverage, so they didn't do any. " http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/25/2345417.htm 30) Tasmanian Greens today said that the Tasmania Together 2008 Progress Report reveals that the government is not making progress towards the target of ending the clearfelling of Tasmania's old growth forests by 2010. Greens Leader Nick McKim MP said that even using Forestry Tasmania's data, which he said is deliberately skewed to favour industry and government, the opinion of the Tasmania Together Progress Board is that the Bartlett government is unlikely to meet the target of ending the clearfelling of Tasmania's old growth forests by 2010. " If Premier David Bartlett refuses to take action to address this situation he will be exposed as a typical Labor forest destroying Premier in the same vein as Paul Lennon and Jim Bacon. " " This Report throws down the gauntlet to the self-proclaimed 'data driven' Premier, and the question for Mr Bartlett is whether he is actually prepared to take action to reign in the forest industry or whether it will remain business as it always has been under Labor. " " What Tasmania needs is a Premier who values our forests, and sees them as complex ecosystems and carbon stores rather than something to plunder for woodchips. The problem is that Mr Bartlett does not seem be that kind of Premier. " " The best way to meet this Tasmania Together target and fight climate change would be for Mr Bartlett to commit to protecting some of our globally unique old growth forests, " Mr McKim said. " Remember, the initial Tasmania Together target of ending clearfelling in high conservation value forests by 2003 was not met, and now we have to face up to the fact the Labor is simply not interested in protecting forests, but on plundering them. " http://tas.greens.org.au/News/view_MR.php?ActionID=3235 31) Greg Buckman, an environmental campaigner, details the history of environmental battles in Tasmania from colonisation to today in Tasmania's Wilderness Battles: A History. Buckman groups the battles into four areas — the frenzied river-damming agenda of the Hydro-Electric Commission, the destruction of forests for sawlogs, woodchipping and pulp mills and the devastation caused by irresponsible mining practices and the struggle to preserve high-conservation areas in national parks. Time and time again Buckman exposes the " development at all costs " attitudes of present and past state and federal governments when it comes to managing Tasmania's natural heritage. He shows that throughout history, governments have been only too willing to change the laws, ignore public opinion and bend over backward to allow private companies to profit from exploiting Tasmanian wilderness. This has meant colluding with big business to sell hydro-electricity, forest resources and mining leases for dirt-cheap prices as well as turning a blind eye to things like the destruction of the King River by copper mine waste tailings. Buckman traces the development of environmental consciousness and its slow translation into environmental law, and occasionally compares this with progress made in other developed countries. The section on national parks, while a little dry and detailed, does describe the different forces and organisations involved and the various strategies used to fight for the gazetting of national parks. Even this wasn't guaranteed to protect an area though, as Buckman gives examples of where mining, hydro and forestry industries managed to win the right to operate within or excise areas of national parks. In 1989, through signing the " Labor-Green Accord " , the Greens managed to win significant forest protection including a doubling in size of the World Heritage Area to 1.38 million hectares or about 20% of the state. The Labor-Green Accord was successful in stopping the Huon Forests Product Mill, in keeping the woodchipping limit in place and in saving areas like the Douglas Aspley forests. http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/764/39441 32) It will be the first time the Tasmanian government business has pursued recovery of lost production costs since its high-profile failure to do so against Weld Angel Allana Beltran in February. Police Minister Jim Cox warned that a " lot has been learned " since the Weld Angel court case. Huon Valley Environment Centre spokeswoman Jenny Weber said police had spoken with volunteer protesters in a " very casual " visit. " The centre was never contacted directly to respond in any official manner and were never given a formal request to review the document, " she said.The threat comes as protests in the Styx Valley intensified yesterday. " What better proof that these protests have nothing to do with saving forests and everything to do with getting free publicity at our expense, " Mr Jeffreys said. " For this reason, Forestry Tasmania will seek to reclaim any costs associated with the protest. " Protesters yesterday established a tree-top protest and chained themselves to logging equipment in a forestry coupe in the Styx Valley. Meanwhile a group calling itself Still Wild Still Threatened said it wanted to bring an end to the destruction of carbon-rich, old-growth forests. Referring to a recent Australian National University study that found native forests store up to three times more carbon than previously thought, spokesman Christo Mills said governments needed to end the logging. " Today's action highlights that the local climate criminals Forestry Tasmania and Gunns Ltd are destroying high-carbon-dense forests with industrial logging practices, " Mr Mills said. Logging industry groups dubbed the protest a " cynical exercise in media manipulation " . Tasmanian Forest Contractors Association executive officer Ferdie Kroon said private operators were doing it tough amid spiraling production costs and uncertainty over export markets. " And every day that we are stopped from working like this current action, we lose $10,000 a day and that is not only families but also the rural communities where they come from, " Mr Kroon said. http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,24242661-5007221,00.html 33) A study has identified 40 per cent of Australia - three million square kilometres - as the largest intact wilderness on Earth that ranks in quality with the Amazon forest, Antarctica and the Sahara. " Few Australians realise the extent and quality of their own wilderness, " said Barry Traill, a wildlife ecologist who co-wrote the study identifying 12 regions of Australia that remain almost completely untouched by humans. " We just take what's here for granted, not realising how rare it is, " Dr Traill said. " As the world's last great wilderness areas disappear under pressure from human impact, to have a continent with this much remaining wilderness intact is unusual and globally significant. " Fairfax reports that the groupswillhelp Australian organisations improve protection of the areas that range from the stark, treeless plains of the Nullarbor to northern Australia's savannah to lush rain forests on Cape York Peninsula. They want to see at least 5000 Aboriginal rangers employed full-time to manage and care for the land. The study found that while Australia's wilderness supported some of the world's richest concentration of flora and fauna, it faced threats from feral animals such as pigs and buffaloes and noxious weeds. Dr Traill cited the work of Djelk indigenous rangers based in the Northern Territory community of Maningrida as an example of what can be done to preserve areas the way they had existed for centuries. Dr Traill said that over 50,000 years Aborigines managed the land in a sustainable way. " If the land is left empty, it will degrade over time. That's why one of our focuses is to encourage the employment of indigenous rangers, " he said. Most of Australia's 700 indigenous rangers are employed under a work-for-the-dole scheme that is being reviewed by Canberra. " We believe these should be full-time jobs with the rangers having increased resources like four-wheel(-drive) vehicles and where necessary helicopters … 700 is just not enough for these vast areas, " Dr Traill said. About 24% of Australia is indigenous freehold land. http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=105416 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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