419 - EU-Africa-Mid-East Tree News

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In this issue:

 

EU-Africa-Mid-East

 

Index:

 

--EU: 1) A selection of statistics concerning forests in EU27, 2)

Half-assed way to stop illegal log imports, 3) EU opposes inclusion of

forest credits in carbon markets, 4) EU will lose credibility for

opposition to forest credits in carbon markets,

--UK: 5) Nation's forest destroyed at rate faster than Amazon, 6)

Extinct Ravens returned to Braydon Forest, 7) Woodfuel East project to

encourage forest liquidation, 8) Canopy Capital, 9) Protest seeks to

save forest from parking lot plan in King's Park, 10) Postive spin on

Willenhall Wood logging for airport safety, 11) Newton Stewart Golf

Club expansion harms trees,

--Luxemborg: 12) Grand Duke Henri annually inspects the forests

--Norway: 13) Half-billion dollars for tropical forest protection will

try to promote indigenous rights?

--Germany: 14) Nation's forest production exceeds that of Montana, 15)

Clearcutting all pines in Helderberg Nature Reserve,

--Switzerland: 16) Value of Town forests

--Sweden: 17) World's first factory for producing biodiesel from

pinewood? 18) Södra thinks their brand of forest management will save

the world,

--Hungary: 19) Search on for wood thieves near Budapest

--Portugal: 20) President shuts down pine logging near Ria Formosa

natural park and Faro Airport

--Africa: 21) Rougier gets FSC certification so they can get away with

destroying 2 million hectares,

--Congo: 22) Woods Hole research data may be wrong

--Ivory Coast: 23) Chimp population drops 90% in 20 years

--Uganda: 24) Immigrants depleting forests

--Nigeria: 25) $5 billion in losses per year from eco-degradations

--Kenya: 26) Bird expert studies effects of human disturbance on tree

populations, 27) Demands to lift logging ban, 28) North Rift region's

rare plant species' food value being lost to degradation, 29) Gov.

banned all logging activities in West Pokot, 30) Logging ban makes

illegal logging lucrative, 31) Children's book about Wangar Maathai,

--Ghana: 32) Age old promise of loggers claiming that they will

improve social-economic conditions

--Gambia: 33) arrest and sentencing of six people for illegal felling

--Lebanon: 34) Effort to " trim and clean " forest will save the forest?

--Jordan: 35) Environment Police Department (EPD) tried to stop three

wood dealers who escaped and are still being sought

 

 

Articles:

 

EU:

 

1) In connection with European Forest Week, Eurostat, the Statistical

Office of the European Communities, presents a selection of statistics

concerning forestry in the EU27. European Forest Week, which takes

place between 20-24 October 2008 highlights the contribution of

European forests in mitigating climate change, providing wood and

renewable energy. In 2005, forests and other wooded land covered 177

million hectares in the EU27, or 42% of its land area. The largest

area covered with forests and other wooded land was found in Sweden

(31 mn hectares or 75% of its land area), Spain (28 mn or 57%),

Finland (23 mn or 77%), France (17 mn or 31%), Germany (11 mn or 32%)

and Italy (11 mn or 37%). Together these six Member States accounted

for more than two thirds of total forest area in the EU27. The Member

States with the largest proportion of their land area covered by

forest and other wooded land in 2005 were Finland (77%), Sweden (75%)

and Slovenia (65%), while the lowest shares were found in Malta (1%),

Ireland (10%), the Netherlands (11%) and the United Kingdom (12%). In

the EU27, 73% of the forest (129 million hectares) was available for

wood supply in 2005. Among the six Member States with the largest area

covered by forests and other wooded land, the proportion of forest

available for wood supply varied from 37% in Spain and 69% in Sweden

to 99% in Germany and 86% in Finland. Roundwood production comprises

all wood removed from the forest and other wooded land. In the EU27,

roundwood production has increased by nearly 20% between 2001 and

2006, to reach 426 million m3, although this was down from the 454

million m3 recorded in 2005. The largest producers of roundwood in

2006 were Sweden (65 million m3), Germany and France (both 62 mn m3),

Finland (51 mn m3) and Poland (32 mn m3), which together accounted for

nearly two thirds of EU27 production. Sawlogs and veneer logs, which

are used in the production of sawnwood and veneer sheets, made up

nearly half of total EU27 roundwood production in 2006. 30% of

roundwood production was pulpwood, which is used in the production of

pulp, particle board and fibreboard. One fifth of the production was

fuelwood, which is used as fuel for heating, power production and

cooking. The highest production of sawlogs and veneer logs was

registered in Germany (38 million m3), Sweden (32 mn m3) and Finland

(22 mn m3). The main producers of pulpwood were Sweden (27 mn m3),

Finland (24 mn m3) and Poland (14 mn m3). The highest production of

fuelwood was recorded in France (33 mn m3), Germany (8 mn m3) and

Sweden (6 mn m3). (Eurostat)

http://www.ihb.de/wood/news/roundwood_Forest_18113.html

 

 

2) European Commission plans to halve rather than halt tropical

deforestation by 2020 have been sharply criticized by WWF today. The

European Commission's communication on reducing emissions from

deforestation and a legislative proposal to tackle the problem of

illegal logging are unlikely to meet their intended objectives of

halting deforestation and eliminating the trade of illegal wood,

according to the global conservation organization. At the Convention

on Biological Diversity, last May in Bonn, representatives of more

than 60 countries signed up to a WWF commitment to achieve zero net

deforestation by 2020. WWF urges the European Union to maintain this

target. " The EU has finally recognised the need for legislation to

address the trade in products from illegally sourced timber, " said

Anke Schulmeister, Forest Policy Officer at WWF. " However, the draft

proposal presented today does not have the teeth needed to seriously

clamp down on this trade. " says Anke Schulmeister, Forest Policy

Officer at WWF. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible

for about 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and illegal

logging is one of the major causes. Every year about 27 million cubic

meters of illegal timber enter the EU. Today's proposal does not bind

companies all along the supply chain to provide credible assurances

that their timber is legally sourced. It also does not clearly specify

whether source country laws, such as those protecting land tenure

rights of local peoples, need to be covered by these assurances. WWF

calls the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers to move

rapidly to strengthen the proposal so that, as soon as possible,

legislation is in place to effectively stop the trade of illegal wood

and paper products.

http://yubanet.com/world/EC-issues-lame-deforestation-plans.php

 

3) The European Union should not allow industry to meet climate goals

by funding tree planting or cutting deforestation in developing

countries before 2020, said a leaked EU Commission paper due for

release on Friday. But EU governments can 'test' such forestry carbon

offsetting for national compliance with international goals under a

successor climate pact to the Kyoto Protocol from 2013, said the paper

seen by Reuters on Thursday. 'Inclusion of forestry credits in the EU

ETS should only be considered after a thorough review of the

experience of using deforestation credits for government compliance

and for the period after 2020,' said the paper. 'For a global forest

carbon mechanism to be operational in 2013 and to test the feasibility

of including forests in carbon markets intensive preparatory work will

be necessary.'

http://www.hemscott.com/news/static/tfn/item.do?newsId=68240588777423

 

4) Europe will have " no credibility " in international climate

negotiations without some sort of forest-related policy framework,

said Doyle, who wants to see the issue " stitched through " both the EU

ETS and a separate proposal on 'effort sharing', which spells out

member states' commitments to reduce CO2 emissions in sectors not

covered by the ETS. Mechanisms to prevent deforestation – by giving

landowners EU ETS credits for leaving forests standing, for example –

were not included in the Commission's climate proposals, put forward

on 23 January. This was due to apparent difficulties related to

measuring emissions from these sectors with accuracy. But the issue

was also not " on the radar screen " of officials working on the EU ETS

proposal in the EU executive's environment service (DG Environment),

Dr. Bernhard Schlamadinger, a consultant to the UNFCCC secretariat,

the World Bank and the FAO, told EurActiv in November 2006 (EurActiv

30/11/06). Increasing EU energy demand may be at least partly to blame

for this apparent oversight. A push to use biomass for biofuels in

transport or in home heating means that forests, and the land on which

they stand, have a higher and more immediate economic value if

exploited for energy-related purposes than if left standing. The

Commission attempted to address the issue in its 2006 Forest Action

Plan (EurActiv LinksDossier). But environmentalists, and industries

that use forests for non-energy purposes, are increasingly worried

that Europe's energy thirst will put too much pressure on forests and

that the non-binding action plan is too weak to prevent an overshoot.

Forests may also be far from the climate change 'radar screen' of

European citizens. A new Eurobarometer survey on 'Europeans' attitudes

towards climate change' highlights citizens' concerns about climate

change without addressing the issue of forests at all. At

international level, parties to the 160 nation talks towards a

successor deal to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of

2012, are faced with their own set of difficulties in forging an

adequate international forest protection framework. Even

environmentalists are wary of draft proposals to include forests in

global carbon markets due to fears that they could backfire (EurActiv

22/08/08). source -

http://myeuropeandream.blogspot.com/2008/10/forests-in-europe-or-whats-left-of-t\

hem.html

 

 

UK:

 

5) Ancient woodland in Britain is being felled at a rate even faster

than the Amazon rainforest, according to new research today. It shows

that almost half of all woods in the UK that are more than 400 years

old have been lost in the past 80 years and more than 600 ancient

woods are now threatened by new roads, electricity pylons, housing,

and airport expansion.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/21/forests-conservation

The Woodland Trust needs everyone to act as our eyes and ears on the

ground - find out where you local ancient woodland is and keep an eye

out for any signs of development threats to the wood - if you hear of

any let us know by visiting www.woodwatch.org.uk and get out there and

organise a local campaign against the plans. We know that if you are

early enough you can stop this destruction. Research by the Woodland

Trust has revealed that the total area of ancient woodland threatened

by destruction or degradation over the last decade has covered a total

of 100 square miles (26,000 hectares) - equivalent to the size of

Birmingham! In the last 10 years we have discovered over 800 woods

threatened by all forms of development from roads, housing and

airports to power lines, gas pipes and golf courses. Right now we are

dealing with over 400 cases of woods under threat from development.

This level of destruction or degradation is extremely worrying because

ancient woodland is our richest habitat for wildlife and completely

irreplaceable. Ancient woods cover only 2.4% of the country and are

the UK's equivalent of the rainforest. You would think a habitat so

special, so important would be protected and theoretically ancient

woods are protected in national planning policies. The problem is

local councils are allowed to ignore national policy and develop an

ancient wood if they believe social and economic benefits of that

development outweigh the benefits of keeping the woodland. It stands

to reason that if a council wants a development to go ahead they will

be able to " find " some economic or social reason why the development

is important. This means priceless ancient woods are lost to short

term economic gains. Often you hear of plans to " compensate " for the

loss of ancient woodland by planting new woods but this simply can't

be done - centuries of undisturbed soils and seedbanks are protected

in these habitats and planting new trees just can not make up for

their loss.

http://wtcampaigns.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/ancient-woodland-area-the-size-of-bi\

rmingham-threatened/

6) The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust (WWT) project shows ravens are living

and breeding in Braydon Forest. The birds were blamed for killing

livestock and so were shot, trapped and poisoned and became extinct by

1900 in much of lowland Britain. The WWT said improved wildlife

protection laws had helped the birds. The WWT project team has spotted

ravens in several parts of the woodland which were originally named

Ravensroost, Ravenshurst and Ravensbrook. Paul Darby, from the WWT,

said: " It's easy to miss them unless they call because they can look

like crows or rooks at a glance. " They are big black birds with a

four-foot wingspan and a chunky, powerful bill and they give a much

deeper sounding call than other corvids. " We are just delighted that

we've got them back in the area. " Although the bird survey was mainly

for birds such as skylark and reed bunting, a few significant raven

records were collected too. We definitely regard the raven as a bird

of good omen. " A spokeswoman for the RSPB said: " Ravens had been lost

from lowland Britain by the end of the 19th Century. " It's always good

news to hear that a hitherto persecuted bird is making a natural

return. " According to a Birds of Wiltshire survey, carried out by the

Wiltshire Ornithological Society, a pair of ravens came to Wiltshire

from Somerset in 1992.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/7683456.stm

 

7) The Woodfuel East project aims to cut carbon emissions by providing

locally produced and sustainably sourced fuel. Landowners will be

urged to manage woodlands, and wood which may otherwise go to waste

will be used for fuel. The scheme also aims to create jobs and

businesses in the rural economy. Under the plan landowners will be

encouraged to manage any neglected woodlands, which will also create

new habitats for wildlife. There are about 140,000 hectares of

woodland in the East , around 7% of the total land area, but 50,000

hectares are undermanaged or not managed at all, EEDA said. Felled

trees and cut branches, which might otherwise go to waste, can be

chipped for use in specialised boilers and provide heat and hot water

for buildings such as schools, village halls and offices, particularly

in rural areas with no gas supply. David Sillett, EEDA Rural

development manager said: " Woodfuel East, which covers Cambridgeshire,

Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, will

encourage a co-ordinated supply chain, from land owners through to the

marketplace for wood chips. " With new markets, come new opportunities

which will be of particular benefit to the rural economy. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7684368.stm

 

8) " Commercially, forests are worth more dead than alive. That's why

they fall and that's what we have to change. " That's the succinct

synopsis of Andrew Mitchell, executive director of Canopy Capital, and

the driving force behind the company's forest-based fund. Its

experiment in monetarising the world's forests concentrates on the

million-acre Iwokrama Reserve in Guyana. The president of the former

British colony has earmarked the reserve for research into sustainable

development policies. The future cost of saving forests such as those

of Guyana will dwarf the current bail-outs for the financial sector,

says Mitchell. " This is not about markets versus donor funds, it's

about an emergency. The economic losses from degrading nature are

three times the credit crunch, " he says. " We need markets and a new

global agreement on the economy but this time with natural capital

firmly on the balance sheet. " Canopy Capital denies that local people

will lose out in the market-based system it is proposing. The funds

already secured from investors will be used to pursue conservation

projects and " business partnerships " for Iwokrama's 7,000 residents.

" Paying communities and governments to maintain forests for us, like a

global utility benefiting the world, will one day be as natural as

paying for your electricity bill, " says Mitchell.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/20/conservation-forests

 

9) About a dozen people gathered at King's Park in Stirling to protest

against council plans to cut down trees to make way for a path and

parking meters. The police confirmed a peaceful protest had been held

near Victoria Place, where the felling was carried out. Campaigners

said they were not properly consulted on the move, arguing the trees

added to the area's " charm " and the parking spaces were unnecessary.

Stirling Council said 20 trees were being cut, but they would be

replaced. One of the protesters, Patrica Pizarro, said she was

disappointed the trees were being cut down. She said: " Although some

of the mature trees felled have been identified as diseased, they

could have been managed in a different way. The majority of the trees

felled were perfectly healthy. " A council spokeswoman said the local

authority appreciated the protestors concerns and it had tried to

advertise the decision to cut the trees as much as possible. She said:

" Victoria Place is well used for parking especially for visitors to

the park, and at the moment there are no footways on the park side and

cars that park on the verge are causing damage to the verge and the

tree roots. For people parking, the lack of footways is unsafe and

inconvenient. " Unfortunately, it is not possible to make this

improvement without felling some trees. " In total, 20 trees are to be

removed, and replaced with 23 semi-mature lime trees. Each tree will

be between 4m and 5m high and have a life expectancy of about 100

years. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7678852.stm

 

10) A historic wood in the city is set to be given a new lease of life

- with help from Coventry Airport. Willenhall Wood, which features in

the Domesday book, will undergo a string of work to entice wildlife

and walkers back to the area. The scheme is part of Coventry Airport's

plans to offset compulsory work in Willenhall Wood to ensure the

safety of planes leaving or approaching the Baginton airfield. These

will also involve planting more than 500 trees to create a new wood in

Coventry. Craig Southwell, technical director at Landscape Planning,

which created the woodland management plan, said: " Coventry Airport

needs to carry out work on some of the trees in the wood and could

invoke powers to do that. But we are trying to find a middle ground

and use this as an opportunity to increase biodiversity in the wood. "

The work will be carried out by Coventry City Council and paid for by

Coventry Airport. It includes: 1) Pruning, or removing and replacing,

some large trees to allow more sunlight to reach the forest floor. 2)

Planting new trees. 3) Installing bat boxes in some trees. 4)

Restoring footpaths and building information boards for visitors. 5)

Reintroducing the medieval practice of coppicing - heavily pruning ash

trees to encourage new trunks to grow - to harvest timber from

Willenhall Wood. 6) Cracking down on fly-tipping and joyriding in the

wood. Andrew Needham, consulting tree specialist for Landscape

Planning, hopes the woodland management will help to return bluebells

and threatened species to Willenhall Wood. Although there is no

evidence there are dormice in Willenhall Wood, they are in surrounding

areas and coppiced trees are their ideal habitat. It is hoped this

would attract them, he said. Talks are under way for the airport to

plant a new wood in the city, with several sites being considered.

Residents in Willenhall Wood have spent four years campaigning for the

airport to plant 500 trees, which were promised as compensation for

some trees in the wood being pruned. The work was ordered as a safety

measure after five people died when a plane crashed into Willenhall

Wood in 1994.

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2008/10/14/coventry-airport-\

gives-willenhall-woods-new-lease-of-life-92746-22028908/

 

11) Rik Langham feels the loss of the trees will cause havoc for

wildlife in the area near Newton Stewart Golf Club and claims there

wasn't enough consultation before the felling started. But developer

Jim Scott yesterday insisted he was well within his rights to chop the

trees down and that everything was being done to the letter of the

law. Mr Scott's workers have taken down the oak and beech trees to

make way for a road to the development, near Minnigaff Primary School,

which was granted planning permission almost two years ago. But Mr

Langham, of nearby Doocot Terrace, feels the developers could have

liaised more with nearby residents and woodland authorities. He said:

" I am livid at the wholesale destruction of these mature trees, some

of which are over 100ft tall and 100 years old. I also believe these

trees were established stop-overs for various species of bats which

roost in the nearby Minnigaff Primary School. " Mr Langham added:

" There are over 300 species of beetles living in those trees and I

have been told that Mr Scott was advised by many people he shouldn't

fell them. " This is what I can only call wanton wildlife destruction

and is, from what I believe, the builder going against strong advice

from leading figures in woodland and animal conservation. " The local

woodlands trust was not asked for input and we have not been made

aware of any efforts in the plan to compensate for ecological

footprint or carbon offset issues. Nor have they been offered even a

small sum of money to help with re-planting. " Mr Scott instructed a

bat survey following the suggestion that bats used the area but this

came back negative, with experts saying there was no bat activity

within the trees. But Mr Langham disagrees and says he has seen the

bats for himself many times - as have some of his neighbours. One, who

did not wish to be named, said: " I walk the dog down there every

single day and am almost always, without fail, buzzed by bats as I

pass those trees. " Whether they used them or not is a matter for the

experts - but they were certainly present. It does seem a shame to see

such old trees felled for houses. I'd rather walk past woodland than

buildings, but you can't try to stop the provision of new homes I

suppose. "

http://www.gallowaygazette.co.uk/news/Anger-over-builder39s-39wildlife-destructi\

on39.4601552.jp

 

Luxemborg:

 

12) Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri annually inspects the forests to

check on issues of biodiversity and historical heritage. Instead of

walking through the Mullerthal as in recent years, yesterday he chose

to stroll through the forests in Mersch. It was orgnaised by a local

group " Commission de sauvegarde de la Petite-Suisse et de la région du

grès de Luxembourg " whose mission is to preserve and protect

Luxembourg's sandstone. Although prolific in the Mullerthal (Little

Switzerland), sandstone is also abundant in the Hunnebur region of

forest in the Mersch area which also offers a rich biodiversity with

rare mosses and ferns. The guided walk also included a visit to a

cave. http://station.lu/newsDetails.cfm?id=21960

 

Norway:

 

13) Norway promised on Wednesday to promote indigenous peoples' rights

as part of investments of almost $500 million a year in tropical

nations to slow deforestation and combat global warming. But

Environment Minister Erik Solheim rejected calls by some human rights

groups for Oslo, the leading international donor on forests, to set

stiff pre-conditions for governments to respect indigenous peoples'

rights from the Amazon to the Congo basin. Deforestation is blamed by

the U.N. studies for causing about 20 percent of greenhouse gas

emissions from human activities. Trees soak up carbon when they grow

and release it when they rot or are burned, often to clear farmland.

" We will do what we can to influence " governments to ensure the rights

of indigenous peoples, Solheim told Reuters during an international

conference about indigenous rights and deforestation. " Dialogue is

much more likely to succeed than a small nation on the outskirts of

Europe ... running around the world setting conditions, " he said of

the Nordic country. Some experts at the meeting urged Solheim, whose

government in late 2007 pledged up to 3 billion Norwegian crowns

($477.1 million) a year to slow deforestation, to attach more strings.

" We've not been recognising indigenous peoples' rights, " said Andy

White, of the Rights and Resources Initiative, a Washington-based

non-profit organisation. White said international plans for overseeing

forests should include tougher reviews of human rights -- many

indigenous peoples fear they could be evicted from forests because

they have no formal land rights. " They've never been consulted, "

Adolphine Muley, of the Union for the Emancipation of Indigenous

Women, said of pygmy people in Democratic Republic of Congo. But

Solheim said rich nations were not in a position to preach to

developing nations, saying Norway had in the past discriminated

against indigenous Sami reindeer herders in the Arctic. He also said

the global financial crunch should not divert attention from a drive

to agree a new U.N. climate pact by the end of 2009. Solheim favours

use of carbon markets to help slow deforestation.

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnLF597044.html

 

 

Germany:

 

14) Though Germany's and Montana's forests are roughly comparable in

size, Germany's forest production greatly exceeds that of Montana's,

according to Peter Kolb, a Montana State University Extension forestry

specialist. Add in Germany's staggering population of 82 million

people in a region about the size of Montana - compared with less than

a million people in Montana - and Kolb says the figures seem even more

counterintuitive. Kolb, an MSU employee who is based at the University

of Montana in Missoula, studies forests and healthy forest management

practices. He said he wanted to understand exactly why Germany could

produce so much more from its forests than Montana. He won a Fulbright

Scholarship to spend six months asking German forestry experts that

very question. Through the Fulbright, Kolb was based at the Bavarian

Land Institute for Forests and Forest Management last February through

August. He said the time was well spent. " My expectations for my time

in Germany were exceeded beyond my wildest dreams, " Kolb said. Kolb

went to Germany to learn about the functionality of German forests,

what the forests' threats are, and how Germans -- who highly value

their forests -- integrate recreation with production. As part of his

research, he examined forest systems in the Northern Alps that have

been intensively managed for five centuries or longer. He said that

understanding historical influences helps explain the value Germans

place on their forests. " Keeping the land productive in Germany is

based on a cultural history of starvation and lack of resources, " he

said. " Forests (in Germany) have also always been a resource people

have gone back to, to help them survive during periods of great need, "

he added. " After World Wars I and II, for example, forests became a

means of survival for people who gathered wood to heat with, as well

as nuts, berries and mushrooms as a food source. "

http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=6366

 

15) The Helderberg Nature Reserve without its pines forests is

inconceivable, say objectors to plans to flatten all the pine trees in

the reserve within the next six months. Owen Wittridge, Reserve

Manager has confirmed that a decision was taken with the Reserve

management to cut down all the pine plantations following a

recommendation by City management and Helderberg Advisory Committee.

They comprise five plantation blocks, totalling 101,1 hectares - or

about 145 rugby fields - with the first block to go, being the one

closest to the entrance of the reserve. Some locals are outraged about

this news and said if the pines are removed, much of the character of

the reserve will disappear. " The forests give a certain ambiance to

the reserve. It frames the reserve and blocks out the houses. Bontebok

lie in the shade of the pines and if cut down, the sparrow hawks will

also disappear. Surely some of the trees can be kept as a compromise? "

an objector told DistrictMail. The decision to cut down the trees was

taken for various reasons, says Owen. One is pressure from local

residents who regard the forests as a huge fire risk, another is that

pine trees are not indigenous and are regarded as an alien species.

" One just needs to take a walk through the forest to see how sterile

the ground is. The reserve is situated in one of the most critically

endangered vegetation areas in South Africa, the alluvium fynbos, and

once the pines are gone, the whole area will be rehabilitated. "

Bontebok, while indigenous to SA, he said, did not naturally occur in

the Helderberg, having been introduced in 1970. Regarding arguments

about the falcons, he asked detractors what the birds did before the

pine forests were planted? " We have over 460ha of land. They will find

somewhere else to sit. " He said the reserve's administration offices

would be relocated once the plantation was removed, but that they

would be built in a small area and be raised from the ground on

pillars. Another conservationist and former rserve curator Gerald

Writght said he didn?t think it necessary to test public opinion about

the removal of pines, as they were not indigenous. " One cannot allow

alien plants or trees to grow in a proclaimed nature reserve. " Gerald

is chairman of both the Friends of the Helderberg Nature Reserve and

Helderberg Advisory Committee who made the recommendation that the

pines be cut down.

http://www.news24.com/Regional_Papers/Components/Category_Article_Text_Template/\

0,2430,303_2410776~E,00.html

 

Switzerland:

 

16) Living in Switzerland after college, I was amazed by the way

communities both revered and used the landscape. Every facet of

efficiency was enthusiastically explored, small farms abounded

(growing grains on plots as small as an acre or less), and mountain

trails were thick with orchids, green woodpeckers, and bell-toting

cows. But my favorite thing was the town forest. Everyone had a right

to enjoy and use these forests, and anyone who wanted firewood from it

merely had to help in gathering it. Threaded with inviting access

roads, there were long stacks of wood that had been cut and split. And

they didn't look over-managed: the one closest to me looked to be on

its way to becoming old-growth. Something similar is sprouting in the

northeastern U.S. right now, especially in Vermont and New Hampshire,

where citizens are getting together to cooperatively buy/own wooded

acreage for mutual enjoyment and use. The Vermont Town Forest Project

is a fine example. It's helping communities remember their deep tie to

the land while building a stewardship ethic and giving folks who live

in town with no land of their own a chance to explore a new sense of

tenure. There's a great article on it in Northern Woodlands magazine

here. As the author says, town forest benefits include: Everything

from watershed protection, forest products, and wildlife habitat to

public recreation and community rallying points. They function in the

same way town commons have for centuries in New England and New York.

Every community member is responsible for their stewardship, and every

member also benefits from their presence.

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/10/16/111735/99/

 

 

Sweden:

 

 

17) Work has started in the northern city of Piteå on building the

world's first factory for producing biodiesel from pinewood. The €27

million plant will be the first in the world to produce green diesel

from wood raw material on an industrial scale. Using technology

pioneered by Swedish company SunPine, the plant will convert crude

tall oil (CTO) – a byproduct of pinewood processing for pulp and paper

– into crude tall diesel, also known as pine diesel. The plant –

co-owned by SunPine, pulp company Södra, state-owned forest owner

Sveaskog and oil firm Preem – is due to open in a year's time. It will

produce 100 million liters of tall diesel annually, sufficient to

power 100,000 diesel vehicles that travel an average of 10,000

kilometers per year. " This project is a unique cross-border industrial

collaboration that benefits both the economy and the environment, "

said Gunnar Olofsson, Sveaskog chief executive officer. Mikael

Staffas, Södra chief financial officer, added: " Sweden's forests are

an enormous energy resource. The breakthrough for tall diesel means we

can harness the energy from wood to produce yet another product that

benefits society. "

http://jobsinstockholm.blogspot.com/2008/10/worlds-first-pine-diesel-factory-in.\

html

 

 

18) VAXJO -- If half the world's forests were run like Sweden's, the

entire greenhouse effect could be eliminated- this is the finding of

researchers at Sweden's largest forest owner and woodpulp producer,

Södra (1). A radical overhaul of global forestry along Swedish lines

would see carbon locked in a growing reserve of timber rather than

remaining in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, which is

responsible for the greenhouse effect. Göran Örlander, siviculture

manager at Södra, explains: " The world's forests cover some four

billion hectares. We could increase forest growth by more than 1% per

year across half of this area (only half of the world's forests are

suitable for management based on the Swedish model). To implement

this, we would need to break the negative trends of deforestation,

forest damage and poor forest management on a global basis, but we'd

be rewarded with an increase in carbon uptake of almost two billion

tonnes per year (2). " Initially this would reduce the level by which

emissions of carbon dioxide increase every year. But continuous forest

growth of one percent in half the world's forest could halt the

increases altogether, possibly within as little as 20 years. The

Swedish model does not entail a ban on felling trees - quite the

opposite. Timber is Sweden's most valuable natural resource, and

Swedish companies process millions of tonnes of it every year. But

thanks to intelligent forestry, Sweden manages to increase the amount

of timber in its forests year in year out, despite harvesting it

constantly. http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=239642

Hungary:

 

19) Police are searching for wood thieves who fired several shots at

wardens in a forestry area near Budapest's Ferihegy Airport on October

13. At around 10 p.m., forest patrol officers were checking the area

bordered by Csévéző út and the road leading to the airport when they

noticed a pile of logs next to a dirt road. When they got out of their

vehicle, unidentified perpetrators fired several shots in their

direction. Nobody was injured in the incident, but it's nice to see

the wood thieves taking attention away from their metal-stealing

competition. [stop.hu]

http://www.pestiside.hu/20081016/midweek-briefing-brother-can-you-spare-ft-1-gaz\

illion/

 

Portugal:

 

20) FARO CÂMARA president José Apolinário ordered an embargo on the

cutting of pine trees at a private woodland area near the Ria Formosa

natural park and Faro Airport. A spokesman for Faro Câmara said the

site was in the council's urban area so any developments or

construction " required a licence from the council " . He said the

embargo, which was imposed on Thursday, October 9, would last for six

months and may be revalidated for similar periods thereafter depending

on the owner's reaction to the order. The woodland is owned by the

Faro Diocese's seminary instruction college, Seminário de São José. No

comment was available from the college at the time The Resident went

to press this week.

http://www.portugalresident.com/portugalresident/showstory.asp?ID=29801

 

Africa:

 

21) Rougier, the specialist in African tropical timber, with two

million hectares of forest concessions managed in Cameroon, Gabon and

Congo, announces that its Rougier Gabon subsidiary has obtained

FSC certification (Forest Stewardship Council) for the major part

of its forest concessions in Gabon and its chain of custody. Rougier

Gabon has just obtained the FSC certificate for three of its FCSM

(Forest Concession Under Sustainable Management) managed in Gabon:

Haut-Abanga, Ogooué-Ivindo and Léké (allocated to CIFHO, a Group

subsidiary). This means that a total of 688,262 hectares of forest

concessions are simultaneously FSC certified. With this FSC

certification, Rougier reaches a key milestone since the certification

is internationally recognized by the large environmental NGOs. The

certification attests that the Group's forest concessions are managed

in a responsible manner from three perspectives: 1) Optimization and

conservation of the resource: Study of the allocation and evolution of

the long-term resources available. 2) Protection of the biodiversity

(fauna and flora): Evaluation of the impact of hunting and poaching,

development and introduction of protective measures. 3) Socio-economic

development: Contribution to the social development of the local

populations, workers and residents of the forest worksites. - Major

Progress in the Continuous Responsible Forestry Management Policy

Francis Rougier, President of Rougier's Executive Board, affirms:

'True to its commitments in terms of management and protection of

tropical forests, Rougier has for over ten years mobilized its teams

in favor of strong and sustained commitment. We are making excellent

progress towards the target that we have set ourselves: Gradually

obtaining internationally recognized responsible management

certifications for 100% of our concessions and hence rising to a

double environmental and commercial challenge.'

http://www.ad-hoc-news.de/Rougier-Gabon-obtains-FSCTM-Certification--/de/Unterne\

hmensnachrichten/19748955

 

Congo:

 

22) A growing number of forestry, conservation and remote sensing

experts are questioning the role in the REDD debate being played by

the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Research Centre (WHRC). The Centre,

which is widely recognised for its high quality research, such as by

Dan Nepstad, who has now left the organisation, is a relative newcomer

in policy discussions on forestry and climate. But questions have been

raised about WHRC's work in other parts of the world, and about the

scientific integrity of some of the organisation's recent 'policy'

positions, such as the extent to which industrial logging contributes

to forest degradation and climate change. At the Bali UNFCCC

Conference in December last year, Woods Hole launched a series of

reports looking at deforestation in each of the major tropical forest

regions, and purporting to describe who was responsible for it, and

how much it would cost to stop it. The report for the Democratic

Republic of Congo concluded, on the basis of analysis of satellite

imagery, that the main problem is slash-and-burn farming being carried

out by hundreds of thousands of poor subsistence farmers. The

document, which has subsequently had the name of the Congolese

government appended to its front cover, suggested that this

deforestation could be halted by paying such farmers a few hundred

dollars each year in 'compensation' for their lost agricultural

activity. What is not clear is whether WHRC's analysis has taken into

account that rotational slash-and-burn farming as widely practiced

right across the Congo Basin, often takes place on a limited area of

often secondary forest that is allowed to regenerate afterwards, and

which cultivators return to in later years. So 'snap shots' of

deforestation at any one moment can give a very misleading picture of

where forest is really being lost permanently, and carbon is being

released to the atmosphere. An area of forest that might from

superficial analysis of low-resolution satellite images appear to be

'deforested' in any one year might appear in subsequent years to once

again be forested. Some experts believe that it might require analysis

of satellite images over a 15-30 year sequence, along with careful

'ground-truthing', to be able to distinguish between areas that are

being deforested by farmers from those that are part of a broadly

sustainable forest-fallow system. Unless the careful distinctions are

made, tropical country governments are likely to be encouraged to

blame the wrong 'culprits'.

http://boilingspot.blogspot.com/2008/10/woods-hole-research-centre-reliable.html

 

Ivory Coast:

 

23) In a population survey of West African chimpanzees living in Côte

d'Ivoire, researchers estimate that this endangered subspecies has

dropped in numbers by a whopping 90 percent since the last survey was

conducted 18 years ago. The few remaining chimpanzees are now highly

fragmented, with only one viable population living in Taï National

Park, according to a report in the October 14th issue of Current

Biology, a Cell Press publication. That catastrophic decline in

chimpanzees is especially strong in forest areas with low protection

status, where the researchers saw no sign of the chimps. Even in

protected areas like Marahoué National Park, chimpanzees have clearly

suffered since surveillance and external funding support were

disrupted by civil unrest in 2002. " Following my transect lines in

Marahoué National Park was similar to doing so in classified forests

throughout the country, where I had to search long and hard to find

any wild trees, " Campbell said. " It was saddening that I only found

one nest in this park, as during the previous survey they found 234

nests along the same transects. The one nest I did find was also in an

area that had just been cleared for agriculture. " The only remaining

refuge for the dwindling West African chimpanzees is Taï National

Park. However, this population is also extremely threatened by

poaching activities, Boesch said. External financial support in that

park is scheduled to end in 2010, a move that will probably have

disastrous consequences for the last vestiges of chimpanzees in Côte

d'Ivoire. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081013124419.htm

 

Uganda:

 

24) The natural forests were the most depleted by the increasing

number of immigrants into the district who opt for virgin land in the

forests. Kyamuhondeire said the forestry department had this week

impounded over 400 pieces of timber and two power-saws from illegal

timber cutters. He said his office had also confiscated 10 hand-saws

from illegal sawyers. " Our efforts to protect forests are being

frustrated by illegal pit-sawyers who indiscriminately cut trees. " The

most affected sub- counties were Kasambya, Nkooko, Nalweyo and Kakindo

in Bugangaizi county, he said. Kibaale district has planted 150,000

trees in a programme aimed at replacing the fast disappearing forests

in the district. " Our target is to plant at least 200,000 trees before

the rainy season ends to counter the high rate at which forests are

being cleared for cultivation, " the acting district forestry officer,

Wilson Kyamuhondeire, said. He said the forest department was now

focussing on plating trees at sub-county headquarters and other

institutions in the district. Kyamuhondeire was on Thursday addressing

journalists at the district headquarters after touring the district to

assess the state of forests. " In the last three years, we have planted

over 950,000 trees but there is still need to plant more, "

Kyamuhondeire said. http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/18/655298

 

Nigeria:

 

25) Nigeria losses 5 billion dollars (about N650bn) annually from

environmental degradation, the Agricultural and Rural Management

Training Institute, has said. Julius Adebayo Onietan, an Environmental

expert, disclosed this in a paper presentation during the workshop on

environmental issues in Agricultural/Agro- Industrial and Rural

Development Projects in Abuja. Julius noted that annually, Nigeria

records an estimated loss from soil degradation and forestation to the

tune of about $3, 000 and $1, 000m, coupled with the loss of

biodiversity, wildlife and fishery resources which accounts for 10 and

50 million dollars respectively. He said that the loss of vegetation

arising from agriculture, fuel wood and commercial timber extraction,

among others, leads to desertification, declining soil productivity

and loss of farmlands, flood and siltation of water bodies which are

serious environmental problems. According to him, it is estimated that

about 17million hectares of tropical forests have been destroyed

between 1981 and 1990, while 75 percent of deforestation is

attributable to agriculture, commercial timber extraction and fuel

wood which are also significant, adding that internal and external

factors are responsible for the large scale deforestation of forest in

the tropics, while the internal factor is related to

commercialization. http://allafrica.com/stories/200810160630.html

 

 

Kenya:

 

26) Oyugi's research has focused on bird communities because they are

a " bio-indicator " of environmental health. In his travels to his

native Kenya, Oyugi studied how habitat changes, especially changes

caused by deforestation, impact forest bird populations. This research

can help improve ecosystem management and forest conservation in the

face of human pressure. Also, Oyugi, who holds a doctorate in

biological sciences, has studied the effects of human disturbance on

tree populations in Kenyan forests and applied that research to forest

regeneration in Illinois. In the classroom, Oyugi uses his field

research to explain causes of species loss and " how we can conserve

habitats to protect rare species from extinctions, " he said. The

professor hopes students can gain valuable experience by joining him

in his Kenyan research. He has applied for a National Science

Foundation grant that will pay for students to travel to the Kenyan

forests to get firsthand experience in ecological field work.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/norridge/news/1220659,no-kenyawright-101608-s1.artic\

le

 

27) The government has been urged to lift the partial logging ban to

avoid wastage in forests and meet the country's timber demand. The

Kenya Forest Service Board chairman, Prof Eric Koech, on Saturday said

that rising demand for timber for construction and other industrial

purposes has led to increases in prices, making illegal logging a

profitable business. In a statement to the newsrooms, he said that the

ban, imposed nine years ago, has led to illegal logging in indigenous

forest areas while exotic forest areas, planted more than 30 years

ago, were ripe for harvesting. " The current produce ready for

harvesting is worth over Sh3.5 billion annually. This produce

continues to decompose in plantation forest areas, " said Prof Koech.

He said that exotic plantations are in place to supply timber to the

local market. " The partial logging ban is strangling the principles of

fair business practices and to step up fair competition it is prudent

to lift it, " said the statement. According to Prof Koech, the partial

banning affects small-scale millers, leaving only four big actors to

log, resulting in social tension among players in the industry. He

noted that the lifting of the ban would be supported by mechanisms

already in place to ensure maximum value and utilisation of timber.

" The Service will provide technical support to timber industry

business enterprises to assist in adding value to tree products, " he

said. He added that materials in Kenya's forests are mature and that

the Service is on the verge of completing a national inventory meant

to boost plantation management.

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/481772/-/tlfpb8/-/

 

28) A report by the Kenya Forestry Services department indicates that

rare species of plants in the North Rift region which contribute to

increased food production were being degraded through encroachment and

illegal logging activities in public forests. " The life support

systems sustaining forests and improved crop productivity could soon

be overwhelmed unless corrective interventions are urgently carried, "

warns deputy Director of natural resources Esau Omollo in the report.

He cites Mau Complex, Transmara, Ol Pusimoru and Maasai Mau forests as

most affected by the destruction. " The growing demand for more land

for food production and harvesting of trees for timber and fuel is

causing massive destruction to forest cover and measures should be put

in place to contain the menace, " warns Mr John Chumo, Executive of Friends of Nandi, an environmental conservation body in

the North Rift. Most forest stations in Rift Valley suffered wanton

destruction during the post-election violence after illegal timber

merchants took advantage of the chaos to harvest logs. " The Government

incurred a loss of over Sh100 million in terms of revenue generation

and property worth over Sh5 million lost during the violence

translating to great damage to the bio-diversity of natural

resources, " says KFS Director David Mbugua. According to the

Commandant in charge of the Forest Rangers, Col (Rtd) John Kimani, at

least Sh 27 million is required in short term to help stem out the

current wave of destruction of public forests.

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/regional/-/1070/483046/-/6kyst0/-/

29) The government has banned all logging activities in West Pokot

district in an effort to protect the environment from further

depletion. Members of the District Development committee- DDC have

expressed concern over the indiscriminate felling of trees, saying if

no action was taken to protect their existence, a serious

environmental threat was in the offing. Speaking during the meeting

chaired by acting district commissioner Albert Mwilitsa, the members

decried the acute deforestation activities being undertaken by illegal

loggers in Lelan, Kaprech and Kamatira forests, and warned anyone

found in the forest would face the full force of the law. The

committee also decried the increasing cases of insecurity due to

cattle rustling and highway banditry along the Makutano - Lodwar road,

and blamed the vice on the chiefs and their assistants, whom they said

offered protection to the culprits. The D.C said the government would

rein on government officers who were purportedly protecting criminals,

saying any chief in whose area the insecurity escalates would be

sacked. He said the government would set up security police posts in

the volatile areas of the district in a bid to fight the escalating

insecurity due to cattle rustling and highway banditry, adding

already, plans were underway to have a security post at Lonou in

Kamatira forest to fight highway banditry activities which were

frequent in the area. http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=53102

 

30) " The shortage of timber created by the ban has pushed up prices,

making illegal logging of indigenous forest very lucrative, " said Prof

Koech on Friday during a tour of Mau Forest Complex. KFS which

replaced the defunct Forestry Department (FD) becomes the first state

agency to challenge the government ban which nearly brought down the

'timber towns' of Molo and Elburgon after their economic mainstay was

cut off as hundreds of small scale saw millers were driven out of the

forests. The ban order only gave four giant saw millers – the Nakuru

Based Comply, Elburgon headquartered Timsales, state owned Pan Paper

Mills and the Eldoret based Raiply — limited rights to exploit state

forests and replenish them through an afforestation programme which

has since drawn the fury of conservationists for its poor

implementation.

http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=10733 & Itemid=5\

813

 

 

31) Wangari's Trees of Peace is a beautifully imagined account,

designed for young readers, of the life and career of Wangari Maathai,

the Kenyan scholar, activist, and environmentalist who won the Nobel

Peace Prize in 2004 for her leadership of the Green Belt Movement and

her resistance to deforestation. The book represents her clash with

authority—her standing between the trees and men with axes eager to

build an office tower. She is depicted being hit by a club and

bloodied by men who " call her a troublemaker and put her in jail. " And

yet, in spite of her isolation, we are told she is not really alone,

and the women and their trees fill the land with thirty million

symbols of hope. Finally, the book tells of the world's discovery of

Wangari and her victory. Often, " message books " like these

underestimate kids' level of sophistication and come across as preachy

or cloying. In my experience, kids are wary of being propagandized and

tune out adult condescension. On the other hand, they are often

responsive to environmental issues and moved to action by abuses such

as those depicted by Jeanette Winter. What makes this book especially

remarkable is that its author does not soft-pedal the hardships that

Wangari Maathai faced in her challenge to political authority, even

the violence and imprisonment she suffered is represented graphically.

Winter, who provides simple yet colorful and evocative illustrations

as well as an age-appropriate narrative, begins the book with an image

of shelter: stylized trees in the shadow of Mount Kenya with goats

frolicking and a young girl basking in the shade. Wangari is

illustrated gathering firewood with her mother, again under the

shelter of trees leafed with birds. She and her mother are depicted

harvesting crops under a benevolent sun. She then leaves to study in

America, and returns to see a land of tree stumps and unhappy women

searching great distances, under a much more menacing-looking sun, for

wood. Wangari asks poignantly, " And where are the birds? " The next

illustration shows Wangari crying as she imagines Kenya becoming a

treeless desert. She then decides to plant trees in her own backyard,

cares for them, and then shares her seedlings with others in the

village. The trees represent hope, and the other village women embrace

the gifts. The trees become " like a green belt stretching over the

land " —the author's nod to the environmental movement Maathai founded.

http://feministreview.blogspot.com/2008/10/wangaris-trees-of-peace-true-story-fr\

om.html

 

Ghana:

 

 

32) In Ghana, legislation requires logging firms to commit a portion

of their financial resources towards the provision of social amenities

to local forest communities. Logging firms must perform this legal

obligation by signing and implementing " Social Responsibility

Agreements " (SRAs) with forest communities. This report is about legal

arrangements for enabling forest communities in Ghana to participate

better in the benefits generated by timber activities. The document

considers whether SRAs serve as effective vehicles for the sharing of

benefits between local forest communities and investors. It reviews

experience with Social Responsibility Agreements, and looks at what

difference they have made to forest communities. In addition the

author assesses the design, implementation and outcomes of Social

Responsibility Agreements in the forestry industry in Ghana, drawing

on a number of SRAs concluded between timber firms and local

communities. Conclusions include: 1) Ghana's experience may provide

interesting lessons for other countries that are looking into

developing arrangements to promote benefit sharing in forestry or in

other sectors 2) the positive features of SRAs include clearly laid

out minimum standards, explicit legal backing, and consideration for

the conditions laid out in SRAs in the selection process for

competitive TUC bids 3) the legal framework provides an enabling

environment for the negotiation of SRAs, the actual practice of

negotiating and implementing these agreements leaves much to be

desired 4) Social Responsibility Agreements may become a more

effective tool if local groups are better equipped to negotiate them.

This requires establishing mechanisms to broaden community

representation, so as to minimise local elite capture of SRA benefits.

http://unladtau.wordpress.com/2008/10/18/forestry-sector-social-responsibility-g\

hana-case/

 

Gambia:

 

33) Following the arrest and sentencing of six people for the illegal

felling down of trees at the Sibanor Forest Park by the Brikama

magistrates court, another batch of three people was on Saturday

arrested for the same offense at President Jammeh's farm in Brufut.

The arrested persons are Saloum Ceesay, Alhagie Njie, and Alpha MK

Leigh. They were apprehended at the said farm and detained at the New

Yundum Police Station where they are awaiting trial. Confirming this

story to the Daily Observer on Monday during an exclusive interview,

the regional Forestry officer, Western Region, Abdoulie Sanneh, said

that two of the accused persons, Saloum Ceesay and Alhagie Njie are to

be charged under Section 109F of the Forest Act, while the third

accused, Alpha MK Leigh, is to be charged under Section 108,

sub-section (1).of the Forest act for illegal charcoal production. He

said that the three will appear in court on Tuesday at the Brikama

Magistrates Court. Mr Sanneh also sent a warning to those involved in

illegal deforestation to desist from the act saying anybody caught

would be shown no mercy.

http://wow.gm/africa/gambia/brikama/article/2008/10/22/3-arrested-for-deforestat\

ion

 

 

Lebanon:

 

34) CHOUF: A new environmental and agricultural project in the Chouf

region aims to protect the area's natural environment against forest

fires, wood cutting and other types of deforestation. According to

Batloun Mayor Sleiman Kamaleddine, the project was launched in late

August in cooperation with the Chouf municipalities and governorate,

the forests center in Beiteddine and the Public Health Department of

the Health Ministry in the Chouf. The project consists of allowing

municipality officials to secure permits from the Agriculture Ministry

to " trim and clean " existing forests, Kamaleddine told The Daily Star

on Tuesday. " The resulting firewood is to be distributed to the needy,

while branches and leaves are sent to a special press where they are

transformed, along with olive residue, into artificial firewood, " he

said. " Supported by [Progressive Soicalist Party leader Walid]

Jumblatt, we have bought the press, which is worth $8,500, and

installed it on a plot of land located in the Seema region, " he added.

" Another machine, worth $15, 000, will also be set up in order to

mince branches and turn them into sawdust.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1 & categ_id=1 & article_id=96989

 

Jordan:

 

35) AMMAN -- Authorities are searching for wood dealers who hit a

patrol vehicle in Ajloun last week, officials said on Tuesday. A

four-member patrol made up of the Ministry of Agriculture and the

Environment Police Department (EPD) tried to stop three wood dealers

trying to escape after cutting down trees in Ajloun late Thursday

night. They were hauling two tonnes of wood in their pickup truck when

they encountered the patrol, an Agriculture Ministry official told The

Jordan Times. An EPD source said that the wood dealers " hit the patrol

vehicle while attempting to flee " . The Agriculture Ministry official,

who preferred to remain unnamed, said one of the men was apprehended

shortly after the collision, but the two others escaped. The

apprehended suspect has a prior criminal record. According to the

official, he was referred to prosecution; authorities expected to

capture the other two " hopefully this week " . The fine for cutting down

a tree in Jordan ranges between JD100 and JD300, and three months

imprisonment, the official told The Jordan Times, adding that illegal

logging activities happen " almost daily " in Ajloun. " Many of the

violators are traders, not citizens cutting trees to heat their

homes, " said the ministry official, adding that dealers sell wood in

Amman at JD280-300 per tonne, and at JD180 per tonne in northern

cities. Late last week, the Public Security Department said a group of

people was interrogated in connection with forest fires in recent

months. At the time, Jerash Agriculture Directorate head Jaafar

Arabiyat told The Jordan Times that wood dealers might have committed

arson in order to " distract the authorities' attention " from logging

activities in Jordanian forests. Jordan has less than 1 per cent of

its total land covered in forests, yet, according to the Ministry of

Agriculture official, judges tend to be lenient, passing on lesser

punishments in case of logging.

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews+articleid_2714645.html