Guest guest Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 This message was forwarded to you by yitzeling. Comment from sender: This article is from The Star Online URL: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2004/2/10/features/7280530 & sec=f\ eatures ________________________ Tuesday February 10, 2004 Forests still under threat By TAN CHENG LI DESIGNATING forests as protected areas is not a foolproof way of safeguarding biodiversity as they continue to be threatened by illegal logging, poaching, agricultural encroachments and over-harvesting of non-timber products. A survey by conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on 200 protected areas in 34 countries & #8211; covering about 34 million ha, an area about the size of Germany & #8211; found that these sites lacked planning and monitoring, law enforcement, funding and often failed to include the concerns of indigenous people and local communities. The WWF also found that only 12% of these protected areas have approved management plans. “Protected areas have become like jewel boxes with highly valuable species. As species in surrounding areas are exploited and decline, the rich species in protected areas become valuable and easy targets,” says Leonardo Lacerda, manager of the WWF Protected Areas Initiative. The survey results were released at a press conference on the sideline of the Seventh Conference of the Parties held in Kuala Lumpur. He said the study also found an imbalance of funding for protected areas between European and developing countries. “The average budget for a protected area in Europe was eight times that of Latin America. And in Europe, a staff looked after 2,000ha while his Latin American counterpart is responsible for an area 40 times larger,” said Lacerda. To be successful, he said management of protected areas should at the very least include secure funding, good law enforcement, well-trained and committed staff, a good monitoring system as well as education and community outreach programmes. Lacerda says most parks were struggling to deal with people living within park boundaries and their needs. “When these communities and indigenous people are not consulted in the creation of the protected area, there will be problems,” he said. Thus he urged nations to look at community-created parks rather than state-created ones because large tracts of land were often owned by the community. In light of the survey results, WWF urged parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to address the problems plaguing the management of protected areas and to assess the management effectiveness of at least 30% of protected areas in each signatory country by 2010. “The future of the world & #8217;s biological riches relies very much on a strong network of protected areas. However, protected areas will work only if they are really protected, which currently is not always the case,” said Lacerda. Meanwhile, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned that the world & #8217;s cloud forests, vital and unique habitats for thousands of rare and endangered species as well as supplier of water, are under increasing threat from factors such as agriculture, road construction and climate change. In a statement on the release of the report “Cloud Forest Agenda” , UNEP underlined the need for improved monitoring and conservation measures, including regeneration of damaged and degraded cloud forests if these habitats are to survive the 21st century. The report also found that these high altitude forests covered an area of under 400,000 sqkm or less than 2.5% of the globe & #8217;s tropical rainforest, and most of it was located in Asia rather Latin America as previously estimated. It singled out Indonesia and Papua New Guinea as priority areas as both hold large areas of cloud forest. Such forests often host species found nowhere else and are important water catchments.<p> ________________________ Your one-stop information portal: The Star Online http://thestar.com.my http://biz.thestar.com.my http://classifieds.thestar.com.my http://cards.thestar.com.my http://search.thestar.com.my http://star-motoring.com http://star-space.com http://star-jobs.com http://star-ecentral.com http://star-techcentral.com 1995-2003 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Star Publications is prohibited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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