394 - EU Africa Mid East Latin America Tree News

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In this issue:

 

EU-Africa-Mid-East

Latin America

 

Index:

 

--Norway: 1) Caterpillar attack is largest forest ecology change in

modern history?

--Cyprus: 2) " Protected " hazelnut forest of Pitsilia suffering from drought

--Libya: 3) Massive destruction of forests due to human activities

--Kenya: 4) 700 fake title deeds to land given out as bribes in weeks

prior to the election, 5) Most efficacious way of removing and

resettling those who had invaded, 6) Greater Horn of Africa Climate

Outlook Forum, 7) Rivers and lake Victoria fed by the vanishing

forest's giant moisture reservoir, 8) Saving the forest is likely to

be painful and may be violent, 9) Town of Narok drying up,

--Uganda: 10) National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to invest in forest

development, 11) Fracas with forest reserve encroachers in Hoima,

--Zimbabawe: 12) Chihota is one of the country's districts hardest hit

by deforestation

--Ghana: 13) Windstorms, decreased rainfall and increased solar

intensity consequences

--Congo: 14) Chief Warden for the Virunga National Park, 15) Forest

elephant distribution and abundance, 16) New chip plant uses 2,000

tonnes of eucalyptus per day,

--Sierra Leone: 17) Decision by minister of forestry to lift the ban

will be disastrous

--Madagascar: 18) Agreements to protect unique forests

--Pakistan: 18) New Army Housing on 10,000 hectares of forest land in Bhakkar

--Costa Rica: 19) Pineapple plantations acres triple in a 10yrs, 20)

Restoration of habitat, --Venezuela 21) Gov. to translocate 100,000

people to new city in El Avila National Park

--Peru: 22) Mostly peaceful protest by several thousand tribespeople

--Guyana: 23) $80M for breaches occurring in its forest concession,

--Brazil: 24) Greenpeace broadcasts live webcast from

still-smouldering rainforest ruins, 25) From Stone Age to Internet

age, 26) Deforestation rates have fallen? 27) Deforestation rates have

risen? 28) Amazon was once covered in a vast sprawl of interconnected

villages, 29) Supreme court to rule in case that pits indigenous

people against rice farmers, 30) Thirty to forty tribes still hiding

out in most remote reaches of rainforest, 31) Minc must provide

economic advancement to 25 million people in the Amazon, 32)

Instrument-maker Raúl Lage loves the rainforest,

 

 

Norway:

 

1) Researcher and ecologist Snorre Hagen at the University in Tromsø,

says to NRK that the birch caterpillar attack on forests in northern

Norway is the largest ecosystem change in Norway in modern history.

Several thousand square kilometres of birch forests have been totally

stripped of green leaves by these small caterpillars, and nothing

seems to stop their spreading. When the caterpillar is finished eating

all the leaves, it starts consuming the under shrub. Hagen believes

many of the birches which have been attacked by the caterpillar also

will die within the next years to come. Since year 2000 birch

caterpillars have attacked 1/3 of birch forests in northern Norway and

many of the attacked trees will die. The caterpillars is still moving

east, and have destroyed forests also in the municipality of

Sør-Varanger, bordering to Russia. When the attack started the

researcher thought it would last for 4 or 5 years. Now it has lasted

for eight years, and it doesn't seem to stop yet. Instead the attack

has spread to an even wider territory, both to the east and west.

There are a lot of speculations to whether the extent of the attack is

due to climate change. Hagen says that there are many indications that

warmer climate in the north the last 10 years has had strong impact on

the caterpillar attack.

http://www.barentsobserver.com/caterpillars-killing-norwegian-forests.4505254-16\

176.html

 

Cyprus:

 

2) The " protected " hazelnut forest of Pitsilia (villages of Alona,

Platanistasa, Polustupos and others) now show signs of drying out due

to the drought problem. The whole green area of the brooks that was

full of adult hazelnut trees is now dried up. After many years of

neglect and before the Cyprus government implemented their plans to

rejuvenate and maintain the natural habitat of the area, the last few

years drought now comes to strike the final blow. The responsible

authorities do not seem to have any plan to protect the traditional

hazelnut forest despite the efforts the local authorities and

concerned residents and the submission of good suggestions.

http://www.famagusta-gazette.com/default.asp?sourceid= & smenu=81 & twindow=Default & \

mad=No & sdetail=4957 & wpage= & skeyword= & sidate= & ccat= & ccatm= & restate= & restatus= & reo\

ption= & retype= & repmin= & repmax= & rebed= & rebath= & subname= & pform= & sc=2350 & hn=famagus\

ta-gazette & he=.com

 

Libya:

 

3) One of the most worrying factors today is the massive destruction

of forests in Libya due to human activities, which are chopping down

trees for construction purposes and clearing forests in order to

accommodate expanding urban areas. For example, most people use wood

to build their houses in order to support their ceilings during the

construction of the houses. In addition, wood is renewed for making

various kinds of furniture. Regarding paper products, wood is the most

important factor in the paper industry. Furthermore, the quality of

the wood reflects the quality of the paper in almost all its uses.

Farmers try to clear forests in order to accommodate expanding urban

areas. It's obvious to me that there are two benefits, which are

growing seeds for agricultural activities or useful kinds of trees

such as olive trees and palm trees because they have good benefits for

farmers to sell their fruits and products. The other benefit for

farmers is to sell to the urban areas to become rich because nowadays

one square meter costs from 100 dollars up to 2000 dollars, and this

has been reflecting badly by disappearing forests. Why some people in

our country have logged trees? I know that for a number of reasons,

which include the need for timber and space for agriculture. If human

beings continue logging the trees for their own purposes, this will

become a disaster for all the people who live in my country and

animals as well. Therefore, my country will become difficult to live

in because all the requirements of our lives become unavailable. I

hope this will not happen in my country or any other place.

http://ucrsr500.blogspot.com/2008/08/causes-of-deforestation-in-libya.html

 

Kenya:

 

Kenya: 4) Kamungei village is nicknamed " Sierra Leone " because the

land was first bought by Kalenjin soldiers who had served in Kenya's

peacekeeping force in that country a decade ago. Lambrechts said about

700 fake title deeds to land in protected forest were issued five

weeks before the 1997 election. The process was extended and

formalized in 2001. Encroachment has continued ever since, including

in last year's election. Locals say Kibaki told people previously

burned out of their houses by authorities to return to the land. " This

has been a campaign tool. That is why people are suffering here, " said

Daniel Koskei, another " Sierra Leone " inhabitant. But despite

resistance, most of those living in the forest seem sure to be

removed. " We must bite the bullet as a nation, " Nkako said. " People

must understand that this is not their property. We must secure the

national good, the international good. "

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL246908720080903?pageNumber=6\

& virtualBrandChannel=0

 

5) The issue of the Mau forest was bound to be politicized. Already,

some legislators from the area have declared they would not co-operate

with the task force set up to study the most efficacious way of

removing and resettling those who had invaded and nearly destroyed the

Mau. When the evictions do actually begin, the yells of protest by

political leaders, some of whom grabbed parcels of the forest, will be

begin in earnest. There is nothing more saddening than to hear

political leaders who should know better vehemently opposing moves to

protect that water tower. There is absolutely nothing political about

halting the wanton destruction of a forest that constitutes the basis

of livelihoods of tens of millions of Kenyans, not to mention

neighbouring countries. Mau forest is not any different from similar

water catchment areas such as those of Mt Kenya, the Aberdare range or

Mt Elgon which, to its credit, the Government has in the last few

years moved to salvage. Private corporations, local and international

NGOs, as well as environmentalists have done wonders to restore the

Aberdares. This mountain range is the source of rivers, which are in

turn the source of life for millions. The Mau Forest is unique. This

complex is made up of the South, Western, Eastern, and Southern Mau,

Transmara, Mau Narok and Maasai Mara. It is the source of 12 major

rivers that span the western and eastern parts of Kenya. They are the

ones that drain the Mara Game Reserve, Lake Nakuru (whose famous

flamingoes have taken to flight in droves), Sondu Miriu, Lake

Naivasha, Lakes Baringo and Elementaita, and as far north as Lake

Turkana. Rivers Yala, Nyando, Sondu and Nzoia continue to receive

depleted water volumes. Experts from Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya

Forest Working Group, Forest Department, and environmentalists paint a

picture that is extremely grim: one of creeping desertification,

depleted rivers and lakes, not to mention debilitating climate change.

It is, therefore, difficult to understand what our 'representatives

take to be their national duties. Destroying the environment for quick

pecuniary or political gains cannot be what they are supposed to

defend. If anything, the country should be galvanised into expanding

forest and vegetation cover from a paltry two per cent to the

internationally accepted 10 per cent.

http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/-/440808/466198/-/3la41v/-/

 

 

6) Mr Kiptanui, who was addressing the 22nd Greater Horn of Africa

Climate Outlook Forum at a Nairobi Hotel yesterday, termed it

unfortunate that the country's water catchment areas were being

invaded by illegal settlers. This, he said, resulted in deforestation

and land degradation, which reduced the flow of water in stream,

affecting millions of people downstream. Professor Richard Odingo from

the University of Nairobi's Department of Geography and Environmental

Studies, warned that global warming was a real threat in Kenya and

could lead to reduced food production. In Kenya, losses for three

crops — mangoes, cashew nuts and coconuts — could cost almost Sh32

billion with each one metre sea level rise. The don urged the

Government to consider the effects of global warming in its planning

strategy. He said that the sea level was rising fast, following rapid

melting of ice from the world's mountains.

http://asksomenewquestions.blogspot.com/2008/08/look-whos-taking-climate-change-\

and.html

 

7) The rivers fed by the forest's giant moisture reservoir and

generation of rain also supply Lake Victoria, source of the Nile, and

two other Kenyan lakes. " This is ecological rape... taking the

national capital to make money, " Nkako said. " These contested

resources are the epicenter of conflict in this country. " Revenue from

tea, Kenya's third biggest export earner, has declined while the

second biggest, tourism, is also under threat, after already suffering

a 23 percent fall because of a bloody post-election crisis in January

and February. The Mara river, lifeblood of the famous Maasai Mara game

park which draws thousands of tourists every year, is falling.

Tanzanian officials, whose own Serengeti park is under threat, are

among those pressing for urgent action. " This is destabilizing the

environment to such an extent that it has a huge impact on economic

development at a national level... it is basically a suicide process, "

Christian Lambrechts, a UNEP forestry expert, told Reuters. The

government stance changed dramatically earlier this year when first

Environment Minister John Michuki and then Odinga were flown over the

forest. Officials say they were shocked by the huge scars in once

densely wooded areas. " The prime minister could not believe what he

saw, " said Northern Narok District Commissioner Andrew Rukaria.

Officials say Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki -- bitter rivals until

their power-sharing deal ended the political crisis -- are united on

the issue.

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL246908720080903?pageNumber=3\

& virtualBrandChannel=0

 

8) Saving the forest is likely to be painful and may be violent:

Lambrechts estimates there are 25,000 squatters in the forest. " We

don't count out the possibility of some physical resistance, " said

Professor Fredrick Owino, chairman of the task force, which was

ordered by Odinga to report by February after auditing forest

boundaries and legal claims. Owino told Reuters 250 armed forest

guards, park rangers and police had already been drafted in to seal

the forest and prevent further logging. The task force will recommend

who should be relocated and who compensated. This sparked a brief rush

into the forest in recent weeks by hundreds of people hoping to cash

in. A task force member of the small Ogiek ethnic group, the original

hunter-gatherers of the forest, was recently assaulted in his home

after being accused of betraying their interests. Experts say only a

few Ogiek still pursue traditional activities like honey-gathering

while the rest clear land and farm like other Kenyans. " The rights of

the indigenous people should be respected, but if you find they are

armed with chain saws you have to treat them differently, " Owino said.

In an indication of how charged the issue is, members from the Maasai

and Kipsigis ethnic groups were sacked from the task force after

repeatedly arguing. " WHEN GOD DESCENDS " " We are not going to go

anywhere. When God descends he will find us here, " said Nicodemus

Yegon, one of thousands of people living in the southern Maasai Mau

block who say they have title deeds to land in what officials say is

protected forest.

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL246908720080903?pageNumber=4\

& virtualBrandChannel=0

 

9) NAROK - Maasai goatherd Joseph Nkolia points dismissively at two

shallow pools, the only water in a parched stream west of the Kenyan

town of Narok. " It rained yesterday and look at it, " he says. " Two

years ago it used to flow strongly through here. Now I often have to

get a lorry to bring water from Narok for us and our animals, and it

costs a lot. " His flock wanders past without bothering to drink the

scant brown water. The stream is a tributary of the Ewaso Ngiro, one

of 12 rivers fed from the Mau Complex, Kenya's biggest forest and a

vital water catchment in the west of the country. Destruction of the

woodland by rampant illegal settlement, logging and charcoal burning

threatens severe damage to Kenya's economy with an impact on energy,

tourism, agriculture and water supply to cities and industry. A

familiar Kenyan saga of corruption, illegal landgrabs and the use of

state resources to buy votes has destroyed a quarter of the 400,000

hectare forest in the last decade, with an impact that may be felt as

far away as Egypt. The Mau was broken into 22 blocks by human

settlement over the last century but the real destruction began in

1997, when large plots were given away by the government of former

President Daniel arap Moi to win votes in an election. " My life will

be completely ruined if I cannot get water for us and our livestock,

our land will turn into a desert. We will all die, " said another

Maasai, Moses Mundati, standing on sunbaked ground where the Ewaso

Ngiro no longer extends. As he spoke, people brought yellow containers

to gather water from the narrowed river beside him. But if the saga is

familiar, the recent reaction is not. Kenya's new coalition government

set up a task force in July to reverse the destruction of the forest,

which the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) says could cost

the tourism, tea and energy sectors alone at least $300 million. " Such

an extensive and ongoing destruction of a key natural asset for the

country is nothing less than a national emergency, " said Prime

Minister Raila Odinga.

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL246908720080903

 

Uganda:

 

10) The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) plans to invest sh49b in

forest development. NSSF board chairman Edward Gaamuwa on Thursday

told the commissions and state enterprises committee that the forest

project is categorised as an agricultural investment, with a project

life of 24 years. The Fund intends to plant 10,000 hectares of

eucalyptus and pine over a five-year period in central, Bunyoro,

western, northern and eastern regions. According to documents

submitted to the MPs, the project was approved by the finance

ministry. Gaamuwa said the investment would generate a net income of

sh550b over the 24 years. He said to implement the project this

financial year, the board budgeted sh8.7b to buy 10,000 hectares of

land, sh3.4b for establishment costs and acquire land in Gomba and

Wakiso not exceeding sh870,000 per hectare. The Fund will also acquire

land at Bweyale in Masindi district, currently registered as a ranch

at a price not exceeding sh870,000 per hectare. However, Gaamuwa did

not give the total acreage, the Fund intends to purchase. Currently,

NSSF is under probe by the MPs over purchase of land in Temangalo,

Wakiso district, at sh11b, which was above the valuer's price. Gaamuwa

told MPs that the board had also approved the acquisition of land in

Gayaza at a price not exceeding sh4m per acre. The MPs were further

informed that the finance minister had not yet approved the NSSF plan

to invest sh20b in a Crane Bank mortgage-backed bond at a fixed

interest of 14% per year. NSSF managing director David Chandi Jamwa

told the MPs that the board had approved the investment. The crane

bank deal was one of the four long-term investments that NSSF had

submitted to the minister for approval.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/647411

 

 

11) The National Forestry Authority (NFA) has been involved in a

fracas with forest reserve encroachers in Hoima. NFA staff were

replanting trees in Wambabya forest where encroachers had taken over

2,000 hectares out of the 9,000 hectares the forest covers. Wambabya

forest is a catchment area for River Wambabya on which a hydro-power

dam is to be built. However, because of the destruction of the forest,

the river has been heavily silted. This is one of the many examples

where destruction of environment has severe economic and ecological

effects. Wambabya forest is not the only forest that has been

destroyed. Many people do not seem to understand the importance of

forests and wetlands to the environment. Continued destruction of

these invaluable natural resources has started exhibiting adverse

effects on the seasons in the country. Rain no longer comes when it is

expected and floods have wreaked havoc in some parts of the country.

The fact that the encroachers could attack the NFA team proves that

the officials are perceived as intruders who have no business

interfering with their livelihood. NFA must not be intimidated because

it is doing the right thing even for the encroachers. However, NFA

needs to take a tougher stand against all forest encroachers

countrywide. For the past years, NFA has not been vigilant as massive

swathes of forests have been cleared. Forest cover has drastically

reduced from the original 24% to about 10% and the encroachment still

continues. The contribution of forests to the economy and environment

cannot be overstated, but people who encroach on them contribute very

little in terms of taxes. The global economy is shifting to strategies

that conform to standards of good environmental governance for the

survival of mankind. We must not live as if we are the last generation

and must conserve our resources for posterity.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/14/646486

 

Zimbabwe:

 

12) Voice of America English to Africa Service reporter Safari Njema

visited the area and says Chihota is one of the country's districts

hardest hit by deforestation and environmental degradation. Only a few

indigenous trees remain, while the vegetation includes mostly

scattered thorn bushes and short grass. Erosion has set in and gulleys

dot the landscape. Residents now travel long distances to resettled

farms to fetch firewood; others use cow dung for cooking. Cutting down

trees, including indigenous species, incurs heavy penalties. But

locals avoid fines by felling trees under the cover of darkness.

Thirty-two-year-old Sandra Tunha from Materera village says locals are

aware the area's threatened by desertification. The mother of two says

politicians have focused on flimsy issues rather than tackling more

serious issues like solar energy. She says she's convinced officials

believe rural communities don't have the capacity to contribute to the

national energy debate. She says " They must provide us with solar

panels rather than lie to us. I think we can use solar, since in

Africa we have got a lot of sunshine. We can use that sun as an

alternative rather than lying to us telling us about other political

issues. " Seventy-two-year old Dasbom Chadya is a retired school

teacher from Samuriwo. He says rural residents obtain information on

solar-powered energy when they travel to towns, adding they're aware

it can transform their lives. Dasbom -- who now grows tomatoes and

other vegetables for sale in Chitungwiza – explains many can no longer

afford paraffin or candles.

http://voanews.com/english/Africa/2008-09-01-voa36.cfm

 

Ghana:

 

13) " We used to cut down many trees for agricultural use, which

brought us a lot of hardship including windstorms, decreased rainfall

and increased solar intensity, " said Nana Opare Ababio III, the

traditional chief of a 620-member village. But with conservation

efforts, " the amount of rainfall has dramatically increased in the

last five years and heat from the sun has reduced and we now have

better yield, " he said through an interpreter. In recent decades, the

forests in this west African state have been severely depleted,

raising " serious concern for future economic development and sustained

rural livelihoods, " said Daniel Kwamena Ewur, manager of Kakum

National Park which lies 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of the

capital Accra. In 1960, Ghana's tropical rain forests covered 63,400

square kilometres (24,500 square miles) but human activity has shrunk

them down to about 13,500 square kilometres, or 25 percent of their

original size. Logging, slash-and-burn agriculture, poaching, mining

and quarrying as well as wood collection for fuel have mainly been

responsible for decimating the country's primary forests, Ewur said.

The current forest area includes seven national parks, six resource

reserves, two wildlife sanctuaries and five coastal wetlands.

According to an official 1992 survey on national living standards,

more than 33 percent of all the people in rural forest regions lived

in abject poverty, hence their reliance on depleting the forests to

make ends meet. With deforestation having already transformed the

north of Ghana into savannah lands and the central region facing a

similar fate, the government took a radical turn in forest and

wildlife management. Until 1994, the central government had handled

everything itself but that year changed tack to actively involve local

communities living on the fringe of the country's forests. " We were

doing everything by ourselves but we realised that we were not

achieving much and we now involve local communities around the

forests, without whose help we would fail in our conservation

efforts, " said Ewur.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iq2Wkhg8jAsyMI5aP74jwA4CUqrA

 

Congo:

 

14) I faced across from Jobogo Mirindi, the Chief Warden for the

Virunga National Park. There is little romance in the challenges his

Rangers face daily. Armed militia-men stealthily poach the game on

this World Heritage site and should a Ranger patrol happen upon the

poachers, it turns into armed conflict which the rangers seldom win,

due to lack of munitions. The Democratic Republic of Congo, located in

equatorial central Africa was called Zaire until 1997 and formerly

known as the Belgian Congo, is the continent's third-largest country,

three times the size of Texas. It shares borders with nine other

countries. In the past 40 years it has been overrun by various

dictators, armies and militias. A civil war was sparked off in 1994 by

a massive inflow of refugees following political unrest in

neighbouring Rwanda and Burundi. The Congolese government of former

president Mobutu Sese Seko was toppled by rebel leader Laurent Kabila

in 1997, who was subsequently assassinated and replaced by his son,

Joseph Kabila in 2001. At the height of the civil war, nine African

countries and at least three rebel groups were part of a latter day

scramble for the Congo's rich resources. During which time (the UN

estimates) four million plus people died from massacre, famine and

disease – this is equivalent to a Tsunami every six months. " Rebels

don't consider Park Rangers as neutral. They think that as we work for

the Government we must support everything the Government stands for.

Therefore Bang! You're dead, " he said, blowing at the end of two

extended fingers and then holstering them in his belt. When

recollecting events from the past, Mirindi's broad shoulders

stiffened. Through a clenched jaw he managed, " In the past ten years

65% of my Rangers have been killed by militia-men " . His chiseled

features hardened, " … but to commemorate my men " , Mirindi continued,

" … we do things the African way. Each man that was lost in the line of

duty is remembered every day because we give a fallen comrade's name

to a mountain gorilla. That way, they live on in memory and their

spirits live on to care for our animals. " Land invasions and intense

poaching has challenged the Park authorities to the limit. " Large

settlements have established themselves within this Park, which is

largely responsible for the de-forestation happening all around us, "

said Mirindi, shaking his head in disbelief. " They cut down trees for

fuel and create grazing land for their large herbs of cattle. " The

resultant effect being vast numbers of displaced game; and those

animals not ousted are caught in poaching snares.

http://www.intheknowtraveler.com/2805

 

15) As expected, illegal killing and other human incursions played a

profound role in shaping forest elephant distribution and abundance.

Altogether, the researchers found 53 confirmed elephant poaching

camps; they found poached elephant carcasses, with tusks removed, in

every protected MIKE site. The probability of encountering elephants

increased as one traveled away from the nearest major road, while the

probability of detecting human signs decreased. The likelihood of

discovering poached elephant carcasses also decreased with distance

from the nearest road; no poached carcasses were found farther than 45

kilometers from the nearest road. " " With logging and road-building in

the Congo Basin projected to increase dramatically, Blake et al. set

out to chart the abundance and distribution of forest elephants across

the Congo Basin. Working in conjunction with the CITES Monitoring of

the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) program, the researchers

systematically surveyed six protected MIKE sites, national parks

expected to have significant forest elephant populations. Between 2003

and 2005, they walked through " some of the most remote and difficult

terrain in forested Africa " to survey over 60,000 square kilometers

for signs of elephants (dung piles) and humans (machete cuts, shotgun

cartridges, snares, and hunting camps), to collect data on the

abundance, distribution, and illegal killing of forest elephants

(indicated by carcasses found with telltale signs such as gunshot

holes in the skull and removed tusks, or by elephant meat on smoking

racks in active camps). Their analysis included data collected during

a " megatransect, " a continuous foot survey through 2,000 kilometers of

" the most remote forest blocks in Africa, " between northeastern Congo

and southwestern Gabon.

http://wildeles.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/forest-elephants-at-risk-from-the-illeg\

al-ivory-trade/

 

16) MagForestry is pleased to announce the successful operation of its

recently commissioned wood chip plant located in the port of

Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo. Production has achieved a target rate

of about 2,000 tonnes of eucalyptus chips per day with total

production to date of approximately 70,000 tonnes. The annual

production target is 500,000 tonnes of wood chips. De-barked

eucalyptus logs are provided to the chip mill in six metre lengths

from the forestry operations of Eucalyptus Fibre Congo SA (EFC) which

is 100% owned by MagForestry. In addition, MagForestry is pleased to

announce the successful delivery of its first FOB shipment of wood

chips to a contract customer in Europe. The approximately 30,000 tonne

shipment was successfully unloaded and payment received by

MagForestry. A second 30,000 tonne ship is currently being loaded for

delivery to a second customer in Europe on a delivered basis using a

purpose-built Mitsiu ship, which has been contracted by MagForestry.

Total contracted sales to large European pulp and paper customers are

for 400,000 tonnes annually with additional volumes planned for the

spot market. EFC is an established sustainable-renewable forestry

operation based on the planting and harvesting of fast-growing clones

of eucalyptus trees which reach 22 to 26 meters (70 to 85 feet) in

seven years, at which point they are harvested and the area replanted.

EFC currently holds an exclusive concession agreement with the

Government of The Republic of Congo which expires in 2076. The

plantation concession covers 68,000 hectares of which 42,000 hectares

are currently planted with the balance expected to be planted from

EFC's expanded tree nursery over the next 18 months.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/magforestry-completes-first-delivery-wood-\

chips/story.aspx?guid={BC9E43ED-8868-4392-BD3E-FF334ABE29C6} & dist=hppr

 

Sierra Leone:

 

17) The Environmental Forum for Action, one of the most influentual

activist groups in Sierra Leone, called Monday on the government to

reimpose the ban on timber exports that was lifted in July. " With less

than five percent of forested areas left in the country, the decision

by the minister of forestry (Sam Sesay) to lift the ban will be

disastrous for the environment and will lead to severe scarcity of

timber in the local market, " it said in a statement to local news

media. It said the decision " threatens Sierra Leone's rich

biodiversity of 3,000 plants, 74 of which are endemic, and several

species of mammals, reptiles and birds which can never be replaced " .

It went on to express " concern over developments in the logging

industry, " citing the presence in Sierra Leone of Taakor Tropical

Hardwoods, a global timber operator, " despite the small area of forest

remaining in the country " . Chinese and Southeast Asian outfits

dominate the logging market in the west African state, squeezing out

small-scale operators to an extent that has led to constant friction,

environmental observers said. Although timber export data is disputed,

trade ministry figures show that a total of 20,000,000 dollars worth

of timber was exported to East Asia in 2007. Environmental bodies

contend that twice that amount has been smuggled into neighbouring

Guinea and Liberia and then re-exported.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Activists_seek_fresh_ban_on_Sierra_Leone_timbe\

r_exports_999.html

 

 

Madagascar:

 

18) Madagascar has signed a series of environment agreements to

protect unique forests and support local communities as part of a

commitment by the government to ramp up environmental protection on

the Indian Ocean island. In its largest ever debt-for-nature swap,

Madagascar signed a deal with France this month, in which US$20

million of debt owed to the former colonial power was put into a

conservation fund, the Foundation for Protected Areas and Biodiversity

(FPAB). " Thanks to this, the money will go into the protection... of

the Malagasy environment instead of to France, " Nani

Ratsifandrihamanana, the environment director of the World Wildlife

Fund (WWF) told IRIN. Her organisation played a crucial role in

brokering the deal that will help protect Madagascar's forests, home

to many of the world's most fascinating creatures. Nearly all the

island's land mammals, over 90 percent of its reptiles and 80 percent

of its plants are found nowhere else. In a separate deal, Madagascar

committed itself to selling nine million tons of carbon offsets to

help protect its forests. The money will be used to protect the vast

Makira forest, one of several under threat as a result of the poverty

of the overwhelmingly rural population. Scientists say deforestation

in the tropics contributes to about 20 percent of all carbon dioxide

emissions and that reducing deforestation is one of the quickest ways

to fight climate change. Deforestation in Africa is twice as high as

anywhere else in the world, where some 13 million hectares of forest

are cleared every year. Thanks to this, the money will go into the

protection of the Malagasy environment. Conservation International

(CI), a non-profit environmental group, said the main drivers of

deforestation in Madagascar were slash-and-burn agriculture, charcoal

production for use in towns and cities, mining, and the conversion of

forest to plant maize. Reducing deforestation is a hard battle to win

because more than 75 percent of the island's 18 million people are

rural and depend on land and natural resources. The new carbon credit

deal, managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), based at the

Bronx Zoo in the US, represents an innovative way to tackle the

problem.

http://boilingspot.blogspot.com/2008/08/madagascar-new-eco-deals-protect-unique.\

html

 

 

Pakistan

 

19) The government prevented initiation of work on Pakistan Army

Housing Scheme on forest land measuring 10,000 hectares in Bhakkar.

This was disclosed by Federal Minister for Environment Hameedullah Jan

Afridi while responding to questions in the Senate during the question

hour on Thursday. He said for the first time the environment ministry

had gathered official information on non-forestry uses of forest land

in all the four provinces, Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir. He said

the ministry was in the process of putting up a summary to the cabinet

to stop conversion of forest land for non-forestry uses. He said land

measuring 155,915 hectares had been transferred for non-forestry uses

in all the four provinces and Azad Kashmir since 1992. He said in

Sindh alone 110,071 hectares out of a total of 1,087,000 hectares

under the control of the forest department was transferred for

non-forestry uses. He said the ministry was trying to get back the

forest land currently in non-forest use. Acting Chairman of the Senate

Jan Mohammad Jamali also observed that forest land must neither be

used for housing schemes nor for any other non-forest purposes. Mr

Afridi said the management and protection of forests was the

responsibility of the provincial forest departments, but the

environment ministry was taking a number of steps to protect forests

in the country. He said the ministry was reviewing its policy on

commercial harvesting of forests in consultation with all

stakeholders. He said from time to time, the environment ministry

issued guidelines and advices to the provincial forest departments to

improve vigilance for stopping illegal cutting of forests and trade of

wood. http://www.dawn.com/2008/08/29/top18.htm

 

Costa Rica:

 

19) Pineapple plantations, riding a boom that began when Coral

Gables-based fruit company Fresh Del Monte introduced the ''Gold''

pineapple in 1996, have sprawled from nearly 30,000 acres in 2000 to

more than 100,000 acres -- outpacing coffee, African palms and bananas

as Costa Rica's fastest-growing export crop, according to the

country's 2007 State of the Nation report. Three of every four

pineapples consumed in the United States -- 580,000 metric tons -- now

originate from Costa Rica, says Alberto Jerardo, of the U.S.

Department of Agriculture. Exports from Costa Rica, meanwhile, have

tripled in value with rising demand, from $159 million in 2002 to $505

million in 2007. But the music stopped in April, when the country's

Environmental Tribunal, Costa Rica's highest environmental court,

called the burgeoning export industry to task, placing 26 plantations

under investigation for abuses ranging from the illegal clearing of

forest to water contamination and violation of riverine buffer zones.

The revelations prompted a closer look at industry practices. Bernardo

Vargas, executive director of the pineapple chamber, says his growers

responded immediately to concerns, issuing a series of

''social-environmental commitments,'' designed to reduce waste,

conserve soil and water and uphold environmental laws. Many say the

nature of large-scale pineapple plantations could make such promises

hard to keep. Jorge Lobo, a University of Costa Rica biologist, says

the regional trend toward large-scale industrial monoculture is

alarming, particularly in an area so rich in rainfall and

biodiversity. Along the Caribbean slope, just 18 pineapple producers

now manage nearly 40,000 acres. In a nearby province to the north,

roughly the same acreage is divided among more than 1,000 growers,

according to pineapple chamber statistics. ''It's a different kind of

agriculture, much more intensive, and more problematic,'' says Lobo,

who adds that pineapple -- unlike coffee, another traditional export

-- requires direct sunlight for optimal growth and thus, the absence

of trees and forest cover, which help prevent erosion in areas of

heavy rainfall. http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/661565.html

 

 

20) The regeneration of tropical forest in Guanacaste Province,

northwestern Costa Rica (90, 93), is particularly heartening for

several reasons: it involves restoration of multiple habitat types; it

is large-scale yet local and decen- tralized; and it was achieved by

using a portfolio of innovative mechanisms and via broad collaboration

among scientists, busi- nesspeople, politicians, and the local

community. The result has been the regeneration and conservation of

700 km2 of tropical dry forest along with abutting chunks of rain

andmontane forest. In poverty-stricken Niger on the fringe of the

Sahara, farmers have helped hold off desertification in many areas by

nurturing saplings in their fields rather than removing them—and they

have begun to reap benefits from this greening of the country- side

(94). In the oceans, researchers have had some success transplanting

live coral fragments onto degraded reefs (95). Likewise, efforts to

rebuild damaged watersheds and wetlands have been a major focus of

scientific restoration ecology (e.g.,ref. 96), with important

implications for the availability of potable water. Large animals are

particularly extinction-prone, at both the population and species

levels. They are also often particularly important to ecological

dynamics. Returningmegafaunal species to what remains of their

historical ranges (97) can yield a number of overlapping benefits: the

return of these charismatic species undoes population extinctions,

makes habitats more interesting and exciting, and can restore

ecological interactions with ap- pealing system-wide consequences. The

repatriation of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 not only

titillated tourists but also revived a multispecies trophic

interaction involving elk, beavers, and trees, which has rejuvenated

the region's riparian ecosystems (98, 99). These examples and others

illustrate that ecological restoration has a critical role in

determining where biodiversity goes from here; we hope for enormous

and rapid expansion of such revival efforts, even if the ultimate

ecological goals take centuries to achieve. Where does

biodiversity go from here? A grim business-as-usual forecast and a

hopeful portfolioof partial solutions Paul R. Ehrlich* and Robert M.

Pringle

 

 

 

Venezuela:

 

 

21) There are 6.7 billion people in the world as we write this, a

number that is projected to grow (according to a mid-range forecast)

to 9.3 billion by 2050 (19). The continued growth of the human

population displaces biodiversity directly, as land is developed to

create living room. In one recent example, Vene-zuelan president Hugo

Chavez aims to translocate 100,000 people into a brand new city in El

Avila National Park to alleviate overcrowding in Caracas (20).

Providing a huge global populace with the resources necessary for

survival (much less comfort) also displaces biodiversity. A recent

spatially explicit analysis showed that humanity already appropriates

nearly a quarter of global terrestrial net primary productivity, and

up to 80% in large regional swaths (21). Where does biodiversity

go from here? A grim business-as-usual forecast and a hopeful

portfolioof partial solutions Paul R. Ehrlich* and Robert M. Pringle

 

Peru:

 

22) On the face of it, a mostly peaceful protest by several thousand

tribespeople in Peru's Amazon jungle this month was a resounding

victory for those who shook placards and spears. On August 22nd Peru's

Congress repealed two presidential decrees, approved in May and June,

that made it easier for companies and individuals to buy land

belonging to indigenous peoples by reducing the necessary consent from

a two-thirds vote by an entire community to that of half the attendees

at a mass meeting. The protesters, who occupied oil installations,

claimed that many of them would lose their land unwittingly. Alan

García, Peru's unpopular president, argues that do-gooding NGOs are

blocking his country's drive for economic development. The protest,

and the repeal of the decrees, was an embarrassing setback for the

government. Other decrees regulating oil exploration will now be

reviewed by an all-party committee. The issues raised by the dispute

are complex—and they apply across much of the Amazon basin. In Peru,

as elsewhere in Latin America, the state owns the subsoil, and any

oil, gas or minerals it contains. Since 2005 the proportion of Peru's

rainforest earmarked for oil and gas exploration has expanded from 15%

to 72%. But Indians have title to much of the land above: 58 of the 64

oil blocks on the map of Peru overlap Indian land, of which 17 overlay

existing or proposed reserves for people living in voluntary

isolation. Peru plans to award 22 more oil blocks, many in the jungle,

next month. Colombia will soon do the same in its southern jungle.

Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's president, has championed an impractical plan

to pump his country's natural gas across the Amazon rainforest to

Buenos Aires. Venezuela's state oil company is helping a newly revived

Bolivian state firm explore rainforest. Ecuador has found oil in the

Yasuní national park. The government of Rafael Correa has promised

Indian tribes not to exploit this—if rich countries pay it $350m a

year over the next decade (half the field's estimated revenue).

Germany and Italy expressed interest, but the latter seems to have

been put off by the deal's fuzziness.

http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12010425

 

Guyana:

 

23) Toolsie Persaud Limited (TPL) has agreed to pay $80M for breaches

occurring in its forest concession but indicated yesterday that it

plans to take legal action against another timber company operating

within TPL's concession which it says is responsible for some of the

breaches. Managing Director of the company, David Persaud told

Stabroek News that another timber company had been granted permission

to work within TPL's concession and it was in that company's portion

that some of the breaches occurred. He said that in the contract, the

company had agreed to pay any fines instituted, were there any

breaches in its portion. But, he stated, the company had not responded

favourably to TPL's demand, as per the contract and so TPL will

institute legal proceedings. The issue of the fines for breaches in

the company's concession had been the subject of court proceedings

between TPL and the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) but after a

decision in TPL's favour was rendered, the GFC said that it had

several defects rendering it unenforceable. Agriculture Minister,

Robert Persaud, who has responsibility for forestry subsequently

intervened and suspended the TPL Timber Sales Agreement. He further

advised the company that a detailed report of the breaches committed

by TPL was submitted to President Bharrat Jagdeo for his final

pronouncement on the matter. The Ministry of Agriculture, in a media

statement yesterday said that TPL has agreed to pay the fines

instituted for the breaches following a meeting with President Jagdeo.

It said that on August 11, Jagdeo met with the Senior Management of

TPL and at that meeting, he pronounced that TPL would be allowed to

continue operations in TSA 4/85, provided that it submitted post

dated-cheques payable to the GFC on or before December 31, 2008,

" Following the submission of these post-dated cheques, and a

commitment by the Senior Management of TPL to adhere to the GFC

guidelines, the GFC has now fully re-instated the operations of TPL at

the Manaka Logging Concession " the release said.

http://www.stabroeknews.com/news/tpl-to-pay-80m-forestry-fine-timber-operations-\

to-resume/

 

Brazil:

 

24) On Friday, a Greenpeace team broadcast a live webcast from the

heart of the Amazon rainforest, in an area which was still-smouldering

after a recent forest fire. Even rainforests have dry seasons and

during the current one, fires both natural and man-made are

devastating huge areas. We are here in the municipality of Nova

Bandeirantes, in the north of the state of Mato Grosso, where a

Greenpeace team has come to transmit live, for the first time, images

of the destruction of the world's largest tropical rainforest. These

images you are seeing now are of a region that used to be forest and

that was burned during this year's dry season. Amazon forests fires

are responsible for 75 per cent of the greenhouse gases emissions that

Brazil emits every year into the atmosphere, making it the fourth

largest climate polluter in the world. The deforestation we are

documenting today is forest conversion for pasture. The Amazon has

already lost 17 per cent of its original forest cover, the equivalent

to approximately 700,000 square kilometers, or 16 times the size of

the state of Rio de Janeiro. Some 70 per cent of this destruction is

currently occupied by pasture. Only last month, in June 2008, an area

equivalent to approximately 1.5 football field were destroyed every

minute.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/forests/live-and-direct-amazon-20080901

 

25) ``This is about going from the Stone Age to the Internet age,''

Google Earth Outreach manager Rebecca Moore told me following the

sessions. When the Surui's data is ready to go online, it will be

``unlike any layer seen before Google Earth or Maps.'' The tribe is

now creating ``layers'' of data that will be visible to anyone with

Internet access. The hope is that dramatic imagery showing the

precipitous decline of rain forest will garner worldwide attention --

and put an end to illegal logging. Encouragingly, there is some

indication that deforestation in the Amazon is stabilizing. Last year,

the region lost 11,224 square kilometers (4,334 square miles), its

smallest decline in more than 15 years. A comparable loss is expected

for 2008. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tightened

rules against illegal logging in December, and there are reports of

crackdowns by federal police in recent weeks on Surui lands. Vasco van

Roosmalen, director of the Amazon Conservation Team's Brazil program,

says the Surui are fast learners. ``They are able to very quickly pick

up these new technologies and concepts, and integrate them into their

traditional world views.'' Can tradition survive the Surui's growing

comfort with the Internet? One Google trainer, writing on the Google

Earth and Maps blog, said he felt at once ``proud and sad'' as he

watched trainees with no computer experience become Internet

``addicts'' in a single day. The Surui's new images, not yet online,

are stunning. One of the most important events to be mapped is the

first contact, the moment on Sept. 7, 1969, when the Surui met

``civilization'' during construction of the 2,000-mile Trans-Amazon

Highway. One immediate side benefit to the project is that younger

tribe members are developing a bigger interest in their own culture.

``One of the very important goals is not only to tell the story to the

outside world but also to the young people about their own culture and

how precious and fragile it is,'' Moore says. The Surui youth are

interviewing elders who recalled their 1969 introduction to the modern

world. In the process, they are learning about, and preserving, their

own history through the creation of Web pages and Youtube.com videos.

Experts say some 200 distinct tribes have been wiped out throughout

the Amazon, so there's no overstating the gravity of situation.

http://www.amazonteam.org -

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088 & sid=aZwZqMh4VvuQ & refer=muse

 

26) The deforestation rate in the Amazon rainforest fell by 63 percent

in July from the previous month, the third consecutive month in which

deforestation rates have fallen, studies showed. From April to June,

the deforested area was 1,124 square km, 1,096 square km and 870

square km respectively, said a study released Friday by Brazil's

National Institute of Space Research (INPE). Brazil's Environment

Minister Carlos Minc attributed the decrease to the efforts in curbing

wood transportation in the region and close supervision over wood

deals. The imposition of increased fines on environmental crimes since

May has also proved effective. From Aug. 2007 to July 2008, the

deforested Amazon rainforest has accumulated to 15,000 square km. In

the last 20 years, about 9 percent of the Amazon rainforest has been

wiped out, which amounts to 360,000 square km.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/30/content_9738871.htm

 

27) Amazon deforestation jumped 69 percent in the past 12 months — the

first such increase in three years — as rising demand for soy and

cattle pushes farmers and ranchers to raze trees, officials said

Saturday. Some 3,088 square miles of forest were destroyed between

August 2007 and August 2008 — a 69 percent increase over the 1,861

square miles felled in the previous 12 months, according to the

National Institute for Space Research, or INPE, which monitors

destruction of the Amazon. " We're not content, " Environment Minister

Carlos Minc said. " Deforestation has to fall more and the conditions

for sustainable development have to improve. " Brazil's government has

increased cash payments to fight illegal Amazon logging this year, and

it eliminated government bank loans to farmers who illegally clear

forest to plant crops. The country lost 2.7 percent of its Amazon rain

forest in 2007, or 4,250 square miles. Environmental officials fear

even more land will be razed this year — but they have not forecast

how much. Minc says monthly deforestation rates have slowed since May,

but environmental groups say seasonal shifts in tree cutting make the

annual number a more accurate gauge. Most deforestation happens in

March and April, the start of Brazil's dry season, and routinely

tapers off in May, June and July: Last month, 125 square miles of

trees were felled, 61 percent less than the area razed in June.

Environmentalists also argue that INPE's deforestation report wasn't

designed to give accurate monthly figures, but to alert and direct the

government to deforestation hot spots in time to save the land.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26472726/

 

28) The " pristine " Amazon rainforest was covered by a vast sprawl of

interconnected villages between 1,500 and 500 years ago, according to

a study that shows how nature has felt the impact of man for much

longer than realized. Explorers have long sought lost cities of the

Amazon, now almost entirely obscured by forest. Today it turns out

that the " garden cities " , which date back 1500 years, were too spread

out to make sense of on foot. Assisted by satellite imagery,

researchers have spent more than a decade uncovering and mapping the

lost and obscured communities to show they held more than 1000 people

each and were once large and complex enough to be considered " urban "

as the term is commonly applied to medieval European and ancient Greek

communities. In the Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon, these garden

cities radiated out over a diameter of 150 miles, covering an area of

18,000 square miles that exceeds the sprawl of Los Angeles by 35 fold.

However, they only held around 50,000 people, compared with the 13

million in LA. The extraordinary conclusion is reached by

anthropologists from the University of Florida and Brazil, and a

member of the Kuikuro, an indigenous people who are the descendants of

the settlements' original inhabitants. " If we look at your average

medieval town or your average Greek polis, most are about the scale of

those we find in this part of the Amazon, " said Prof Mike Heckenberger

of the University of Florida, lead author of the paper published today

in the journal Science. " Only the ones we find are much more

complicated in terms of their planning. " The paper also argues that

the size and scale of the settlements in the southern Amazon in North

Central Brazil means that what many scientists consider virgin

tropical forests were shaped by human activity hundreds of years ago.

Not only that, but the settlements - consisting of networks of walled

towns and smaller villages, each organised around a central plaza -

suggest future solutions for supporting the indigenous population in

Brazil's state of Mato Grosso and other regions of the Amazon, the

paper says. Around the communities the scientists found dams and

artificial ponds that indicate the then inhabitants farmed fish, which

today could be a valuable new food resource.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS & grid= & xml=/earth/2008/0\

8/28/sciamazon128.xml

 

29) Brazil's Supreme Court is expected to rule on Wednesday in a case

pitting indigenous people against rice farmers on the country's

northern borders. The case has big consequences for indigenous land

rights, while analysts and campaigners argue it also has implications

for national security and the survival of the Amazon rainforest. The

court will decide whether the Raposa Serra do Sol Indian reservation

in the northern Amazonian state of Roraima, on Brazil's border with

Venezuela and Guyana, should be maintained as one continuous area or

divided into separate " islands " . The reservation, which occupies about

1.7m hectares of land - an area the size of Kuwait - is home to about

18,000 Amazonian Indians living in about 200 villages. Many analysts

have argued that keeping the reserve intact would present a threat to

national security, as the indigenous populations would have near

autonomy over a large area of frontier territory. But supporters of

the indigenous peoples say the army's ability to operate is unaffected

by the reservation and that those wanting to break it up are acting on

spurious economic grounds. The reservation was proposed in the late

1970s, delineated in the early 1990s and signed into law by President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2005. Since the 1970s it has also been

occupied by ranchers, wildcat miners and, more recently, rice farmers.

Many of its non-Indian residents have recently been relocated and

compensated by the government. But an attempt by federal police in

April to remove a group of rice farmers present since the early 1990s

resulted in violent clashes, and the Supreme Court ordered the police

to suspend its operation pending a ruling on the legality of the

reserve.The president of the Supreme Court said Wednesday's ruling

would act as a precedent for future rulings.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/121435be-73cf-11dd-8a66-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check\

=1

 

30) It is not unusual for conflicts with loggers to end in death and

the 30 or 40 groups that still exist have retreated, traumatised, to

the most remote and inhospitable parts of the Amazonia. Remarkably

there are still dozens of these tribes that remain virtually

uncontacted. And one man - Sydney Possuelo - has made it his life's

mission to ensure their ancient way of life can continue unharmed. The

70-year-old Brazilian has dedicated his entire working life to

protecting these Indian tribes, lobbying and campaigning on their

behalf for more than 40 years and gaining international recognition

for his achievements. Now Southampton film-maker Steve Bowles is

making a documentary about Sydney's extraordinary work, focusing on

the traditional communities he strives to preserve and protect. It was

during a research expedition in 1983 that Steve first encountered the

indigenous tribes of Brazil. He and a team of fellow Southampton

University graduates were there to study diseases among the

tribespeople, carry out botanical surveys and investigate the effects

of deforestation. But, from the moment he met Sydney, Steve had other

ambitions. " I knew from that first meeting that I would make a film

about him one day, " said Steve, of Lordswood. " As you go through life

you meet a small number of outstanding individuals. Sydney impressed

me enormously. He had this tremendous vision of a more equitable

world. " The extraordinary thing about him is the two sides to his

character: the shrewd politician and his passion and love for the

indigenous people and the environment. He understands the importance

of their culture and has empathy with them. With my environmental

background the latter is something I share. " It was Sydney who first

made the radical proposal of ceasing contact with the tribes in an

effort to protect them. " The policy used to be to contact them, "

explained Steve, " but when that happened around half the community

would die from disease, their culture was turned upside down and the

effects were traumatic. One of Sydney's great achievements was to say

let's leave these people alone; let's protect their land to preserve

their way of life. That's their right and they have made their

choice'.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/features/display.var.2433907.0.an_incredible_jou\

rney.php

 

31) Carlos Minc, Brazil's new minister of environment and the former

environment secretary for Rio de Janeiro state, is facing a set of

challenges just a few months into his new post. Topping the list is

providing opportunities for economic advancement to the 25 million

people in the Amazon region while limiting environmentally detrimental

development. The Amazon covers 2.4 million square miles, with 63

percent of its territory in Brazil. About 20 percent of the original

forest has been destroyed by ranchers, loggers and developers.

Minister Minc's term has been marked by sensitive issues such as the

international community's suggestion that protection of the Amazon

region is too crucial an issue to rest solely in the hands of

Brazilian authorities. Unsurprisingly, this has caused irritation both

among the people and within the administration. Earlier this month,

President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva declared that Brazil will take

" all the responsibility " to protect the region. Added pressure also

comes from national and international corporations wishing to reap

increasing economic benefits from the Amazon region, particularly in

the areas of agriculture and energy. On August 1, President Lula

formally created the Amazon Fund with the signing of a decree. Among

other initiatives, money collected will be used to control illegal

logging. Brazil's state-run development bank (BNDES) will administer

the fund and has already received assurances of a forthcoming $100

million Norwegian donation in addition to assurances that Norway will

continue to offer substantial funding over the next five years. BNDES

is setting up the fund to receive " hefty donations " from other

countries, with the expectation that donations could reach $21 billion

in just over 10 years time. The BNDES has previous experience with

environment issues, including management of credit lines for companies

that develop environmentally clean and energy-efficient projects and

respect the Kyoto Protocol. http://www.as-coa.org/article.php?id=1215

 

 

32) Cuban instrument-maker or luthier Raúl Lage came for six months,

but has already spent seven and a half years in Manaus, the city in

the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. " The project is really fantastic, "

he says, explaining why he plans to renew his work contract again in

September. What is keeping him in Brazil is the Oficina Escola de

Lutheria da Amazônia (Amazonia String Instrument School Workshop -

OELA), where teenagers from poor families learn the complex skills of

making musical instruments, which provides them with a possible route

out of poverty while helping to preserve the rainforest. String

instrument-making has opened up employment and cultural opportunities

for young people all over Brazil, but OELA is " the only such school in

the world that works with certified tropical wood, " which combines

environmental and social aims, says a proud Rubens Gomes, executive

secretary of the organisation that he founded in 1998. The guitars and

other string instruments produced at OELA are made with the wood from

tropical rainforest trees, like the breu branco (Tetragastris

panamensis) and the tauari (Couratari guianensis), which have no

commercial value but are well-suited for musical instruments. " This

way we add value to species that the market does not recognise as

useful timber, " Gomes tells IPS. The diversification of the sources of

wood used from the jungle reduces the pressure on the most coveted

species of trees and strengthens the value of the rainforest, helping

" consolidate sustainable forestry management, " he explains. It is one

way to help prevent the deforestation of the Amazon jungle, by using

limited amounts of wood to produce goods with high added value. OELA

also trains riverbank communities in forestry management, by means of

a mobile school on a boat, and in the production of wooden objects and

marquetry (decorative inlaid patterns of wood, ivory, etc. used in

furniture and instruments). The project's main school in Manaus, Unit

I, also offers courses in computer science, graphics, music and

environmental education, besides providing psycho-pedagogical support.

In addition, it has a movie club and an Internet centre for youngsters

from the poor neighbourhood where it is located, Zumbi, on the east

side of the city. More than 200 people a day pass through Unit I.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43674