162 - Earth's Tree News

[Guest guest]

Today for you 41 news items about Mama Earth's trees. Location, number

and subject listed below. Condensed / abbreviated article is listed

further below.Can be viewed on the web at http://www.livejournal.com/users/olyecology or by sending a blank email message to

earthtreenews---British Columbia: 1) Year review, 2) Carmanah, 3) Cathedral Canyon, 4) Stanley Park, --Pacific Northwest: 5) Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation makes region more dry

--Washington: 6) Urban Forest Stakeholders issued a manifesto--Oregon:

7) Cascadia Forest Defender protest, 8) Battling urban sprawl, 9) Bull

Run water ruined by logging, 10) Wallowa-Whitman logging SW of Unity,

11) Biscuit--Montana: 12) Big Swan Valley logging project targets Old Growth--New Mexico: 13) State Land Office plans to lease 43,000 acres for Biomass--Wisconsin: 14) Climate change will eliminate certain tree species

--Vermont: 15) Logging the Hinesburg Town Forest--North Carolina: 16) Forest Service is ignorant of historic forest conditions--USA: 17) Two methods perfected by the Bush administration--Czechoslovakia: 18) Less & Forest awarded tenders for logger work

--Guyana: 19) All forests now go to China--Uganda: 20) Against Bugala rainforests in Kalangala going to oil firm Bidco--Cuba: 21) Forest coverage goal is nearly 30%--Costa Rica: 22) Rain Forest Alliance's Monitoring and Evaluation Methodology Award

--Chile: 23) Gold miners swindle land, get caught--Brazil: 23) Diamond miner murders by natives makes mining more difficult--India: 24) Kendu trees absorb chromium and nickel--China:

25) Dead husband saves Osmanthus trees via wife, 26) Oaks and climate

change, 27) leading foreign-owned commercial forest plantation operator,--Thailand: 28) Prime Minister builds illegal home in nature reserve--Philippines: 29) Near-extinct type of forestry operator--Borneo: 30) Heart of Kalimantan, 31) Penan road blockade continues

--Malaysia: 32) Finding the mastermind behind illegal logging, 33) gazette all sea mangrove areas, 34) Forest foods,--Indonesia: 35) Landslides caused by logging, 36) Shrimp farms fail from forest damage,--Australia: 37) halting logging in Wielangta State Forest, 38) Climbing the honey tree, --World-wide: 39) Indigenous and plantation forestry, 40) Planting trees not pointless, 41) FSC and remote sensing technology,British Columbia:1)

More trees were cut down in 2006 than in any year in the past. Raw Log

Exports have increased, the annual allowable cut has increased, and the

number of forestry job has been cut dramatically. BC Ministry of

Forests sells our trees at extremely low prices to logging companies.

Low stumpage fees allow for the price of exported wood to be

considerably lower than competitors south of the border. Ironically

Timber companies continue to post massive profits. The soft-wood lumber

agreement, being signed and negotiated by provincial and federal Forest

Ministers, does not include raw logs. The closing of many saw mills

through-out BC is directly related to the disagreement and has allowed

for the increase in raw log exports. http://www.pej.org/html/modules.php?op=modload & name=News & file=article & sid=6313 & mode=thread & ord

er=0 & thold=02)

East Creek, Carmanah Valley, and three watersheds in Clayoquot Sound

are all that remains of the intact ancient rainforest on Vancouver

Island. This year logging began in East Creek and the Clayoquot Sound

watersheds, despite the fact that most people believe that these areas

are protected by the BC government. Logging licenses on these publicly

owned lands have been granted by the BC Ministry of Forests. http://www.pej.org/html/modules.php?op=modload & name=News & file=article & sid=6313 & mode=thread & orde

r=0 & thold=03)

Timberwest has logged to the banks of the Englishman River across from

Morrison Creek and the Salmon Enhancement Canals. Island Timberlands

Helicopters have logged the narrow steep banks of the Cameron Rivers,

in an area know as Cathedral Canyon. Island Timberlands also plans to

log the steep slopes directly above Englishman River Falls Provincial

Park. The logging of Hamilton Marsh has been put on hold while the RDN

negotiates with Island TImberlands (owned by Brookfield formerly

Brascan)http://www.pej.org/html/modules.php?op=modload & name=News & file=article & sid=6313 & mode=thread & ord

er=0 & thold=04)

The forest around him, his home for 15 years, lay in chaos. Some giant

trees were ripped up by the roots; others had snapped off halfway up

and some were simply shattered, as if they had been torn apart by an

explosion. The man, who wouldn't give his name but who just might know

Stanley Park better than any member of the parks department, looked at

the damage and shook his head. "It shouldn't have been this bad." The

reason the park suffered so much, he argues, is because of the way the

forest has been managed since the 1800s, when it was set aside as a

park after extensive logging altered the landscape. While large parts

of the park were allowed to grow in a wild and natural state, many

areas were carefully managed to create space for commercial buildings,

open green lawns and gardens, or to build pathways, highways and scenic

drives. "They won't like me saying this," he said of the park staffers

he knows well, "but 50 per cent of it [the storm damage] is because of

the cutting practices. They opened up holes in the forest." When

hurricane-force winds raced in from Georgia Strait on Dec. 15, gusts

fell into those openings, he says, caught the tallest trees and knocked

them flat, creating a domino effect. "Looking back on it, I would say

it would have been better to leave the park on its own, rather than do

all that manicuring and forest silviculture," he said. "There would

still have been lots of damage, but nothing like this." The man who

calls Stanley Park home said he's now worried about what will happen in

the cleanup. Will the forest managers use the damage as an excuse to

make the park more manicured than ever? "First they will want to log

it. Then they will say, 'Get all the deadfall off the ground because of

forest fires,' " he said, shaking his head. The storm damage, he

thinks, should be left alone as much as possible. "It's nature," he

said, gesturing to a nearby swath of trees in a jumble near Third

Beach. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061227.BCHUME27/TPStory/National Pacific Northwest:

5)

A new tree-ring study led by the University of Comahue in Argentina and

involving the University of Colorado at Boulder that links episodic

fire outbreaks in the past five centuries with periods of warming sea

surface temperatures in the North Atlantic. States like Washington,

Oregon, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and South Dakota all

had an increased prevalence of wildfires in recent centuries when a

phenomenon known as the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation -- similar

but longer in duration than the better known El Nino-Southern

Oscillation -- periodically shifted from a cool to a warm mode that

lasted roughly 60 years each time, said the study authors. Warmer

waters in the North Atlantic correspond with episodes of drought and

subsequent fires in the West as shown by fire scars in annual tree

rings studied by the researchers, said Thomas Kitzberger of the

University of Comahue, who led the study with researchers from

CU-Boulder, the University of Arizona, the U.S. Forest Service and

Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research Inc., a private lab in Fort Collins,

Colo. University of Colorado at BoulderPublic release date: 26-Dec-2006 Contact: Thomas.Veblen 303-492-8528Washington 6)

A group calling itself the Seattle's Urban Forest Stakeholders issued a

manifesto this summer calling for " protection of what we already have.

Our first goal should be, as it is in San Francisco's 2006 Urban Forest

Plan, to maintain and conserve the existing urban forest. " Local

landscape consultants also have pointed out that the mayor's plan is

undermined by an absence of adequate staffing. But what makes Nickel's

Urban Forest Management Plan the worst sort of greenwashing is that his

own policies aggravate the loss of tree cover in Seattle. Upzoning the

city - trumpeted as a way of preventing urban sprawl - in reality

creates irresistible pressures to cover every square foot of lots with

buildings. Much of our urban forest exists in the back yards of

single-family residential zones, which are coming increasingly under

attack for occupying land that could go to denser development. But what

makes Nickel's Urban Forest Management Plan the worst sort of

greenwashing is that his own policies aggravate the loss of tree cover

in Seattle. Upzoning the city - trumpeted as a way of preventing urban

sprawl - in reality creates irresistible pressures to cover every

square foot of lots with buildings. Much of our urban forest exists in

the back yards of single-family residential zones, which are coming

increasingly under attack for occupying land that could go to denser

development. http://www.zwire.com/site/tab3.cfm?newsid=17650803 & BRD=855 & PAG=461 & dept_id=515262 & rfi=6

Oregon:7)

On Saturday December 23, Sunday December 24, and Monday December 25,

Cascadia Forest Defenders and UO's Forest Action held a candlelight

vigil in front of the Crest Neighborhood home of Seneca Jones Lumber

CEO, Aaron Jones, who continues to log native forests in the McKenzie

River watershed, Eugene's source of drinking water. CFD and Forest

Action set up at dusk in front of Jones' sprawling home and his massive

display of Christmas lights (which have been attracting hundreds of

visitors a night) with a large green and red banner reading: "Pray 4

Aaron Jones to see the light – stop logging our drinking H20 source"

and several signs. A spotted owl with a megaphone read from Book Three

of the "Essene Gospels of Peace" which included such relevant passages

as "Hail be unto Thee! / O good living Tree / made by the Creator" ;

"Now the desert sweeps the earth with burning sand / the giant trees

are dust and ashes / and the wide river is a pool of mud" ; "He who

doth destroy a tree / hath cut off his own limbs" ; "For the trees are

our brothers / and as brothers / we shall guard and love one another."

Forest defenders also sang a new version of "The Twelve Days of

Christmas" Hundreds of people drove by, several stopping to speak with

defenders, a few yelling threats. Unlike the previous rally, Aaron

Jones didn't come out to greet CFD, but forest defenders briefly

conversed with the teenaged granddaughter of Aaron Jones as she drove

up in her bright yellow, brand new Hummer. Cascadia Forest Defenders

and Forest Action believe it to be a sacred duty to wake up the

sleeping masses and alert them to the importance of protecting the

forests that sustain our life on this planet. http://www.forestdefenders.org/8)

Leading the charge are the Southeast Neighbors - a city-recognized

neighborhood association that has hired experts to build cases against

a series of recent development requests in its neck of the urban woods.

Some might view the group's relentless brand of opposition as an

over-the-top example of the NIMBY (not in my backyard) principle at

work. But organizers say their concerns extend well past the

neighborhood association's boundaries. " There is a global crisis of

biodiversity, and we recognize these (development-threatened

properties) are key links in the ecosystem of the upper Amazon

watershed, " said Kevin Matthews, president of Southeast Neighbors. " The

people in this neighborhood know and appreciate these remaining wild

areas, and they have a genuine feeling of stewardship for the

community, " he said. " There's a real commitment to getting the right

thing done with this area. " In recent months, group members have held

community fundraising events and dug deep into their pockets to hire

attorneys, scientists and other land use consultants to testify against

a pair of subdivision proposals in forested areas off Dillard Road. http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/12/29/a1.southeugene.1229.p1.php?section=cityregion

9)

Bull Run has been such a reliable source of clean drinking water that

it wasn't until the 1996 floods, more than 100 years after Bull Run

first began providing water to Portland, that city officials were for

the first time forced to temporarily shut down water intakes and turn

to an alternate source. Since that first shutdown in 1996, Bull Run has

been shut down several more times, including 14 days this November.

What is causing the shutdowns? Is increased rainfall causing more

erosion? It turns out we can't blame it entirely on the rain. Rainfall

patterns have remained relatively steady over the years. And while Bull

Run did receive a couple days of intense rain in early November,

monthly rainfall was 8.5 inches below the record set in 1942. What has

changed is not the weather, but Bull Run's forest landscape. Between

1960 and 1990, nearly one-third of the once-pristine Bull Run watershed

was clear-cut, leaving behind thousands of stumps and 300 miles of

logging roads. These damaging activities, conducted illegally until

1976, reduced Bull Run's capacity to handle the Pacific Northwest rain.

Bull Run serves as an important lesson for Eugene, which gets its

drinking water from the McKenzie River watershed. Like Bull Run, much

of the McKenzie watershed is public forest land. And, even though

McKenzie water is filtered (unlike Bull Run), it remains important to

safeguard water quality. Why? Because health risks and costs increase

when filtration operators are forced to treat waters muddied by a

logged landscape. In order to ensure safe, clean drinking water in the

future, it is important to act today to protect unspoiled roadless and

old-growth forests within the McKenzie watershed. All logging proposals

should be carefully scrutinized and damaging projects like the

Willamette National Forest's Trapper and Two-Bee timber sales should be

halted. Crumbling logging roads should either be fixed or

decommissioned. http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/12/29/ed.col.heiken.1229.p1.php?section=opinion10)

The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest wants to cut about 12 million

board-feet of timber in the mountains southwest of Unity during the

next few years, a project that would rank as one of the forest's larger

logging jobs in the past 15 years. Wallowa-Whitman officials recently

released the 273-page environmental study for the Mile 9 project. It

encompasses 19,000 acres of public land along the South Fork of the

Burnt River, about seven air miles from Unity. The Wallowa-Whitman's

proposal calls for commercial logging on about 4,400 of those acres.

The Wallowa-Whitman will accept comments from the public about the Mile

9 project through Jan. 19, 2007. The estimated 12 million board-feet

figure is almost half as much timber as the 2.3-million-acre

Wallowa-Whitman sold during the past fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

In that fiscal year the Wallowa-Whitman sold 25 million board-feet. The

goal is the same as with commercial logging — removing the smaller

trees to alleviate crowding — except in precommercial thinning the

trees are so small that mills won't buy them. Instead, workers cut,

pile and then burn the trees. After the commercial logging and

precommercial thinning is finished, Wallowa-Whitman officials intend to

ignite prescribed fires, which are supposed to mimic the historic

lightning-sparked blazes, on about 4,900 acres. The idea, Gilsdorf

said, is to replicate the natural fire cycle by lighting prescribed

fires every 20 years or so. Wallowa-Whitman officials also want to

preserve groves of aspen trees (about five acres) and mountain mahogany

(about 340 acres) by cutting conifers that are encroaching on the

coniferous trees. http://www.bakercityherald.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=440811)

Are Oregon's roadless forests being sent overseas and certified as

sustainable forest products by Oregon Overseas? This is a late final

report back on Biscuit roadless logging. Biscuit Logging is mostly done

now, although Silver Creek may finish plundering the North Kalmiopsis

roadless area this spring, and they may still log the massive live

" hazard " trees the Forest Service has rewarded them. They call it an

OSHA requirement to take out the biggest and best live old-growth trees

along roadways. The photos show some of the last remaining green forest

in the North Fork Indigo watershed being hacked apart by loggers who

are outside of actual logging units. Mikes Gulch and Blackberry

roadless logging sales [were] exempted under the roadless victory

ruling. This afront on our forests is being done under the Biscuit

FEIS, the Forest Service maintains that no green trees will be cut but

stumps don't lie and the green trees we photographed were still on the

ground. Listen to this via: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/12/350743.shtmlMontana:12)

The largest timber sale in the Swan Valley in recent years is poised

for approval — a state project that will involve logging in old growth

and new roads, mainly to meet a mandated annual timber target. A state

study analyzes several approaches to the project, but Daniel Roberson,

unit manager for the Swan Lake State Forest, announced that he intends

to select an alternative that will involve harvesting 23.7 million

board feet of timber during three years from 1,884 acres, including

about 1,221 acres currently classified as old-growth forest. In

November 2004, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation

completed a required recalculation of the "sustained yield" of timber

that could be harvested from the state's school trust lands. The annual

sustained yield, generated through computer modeling, was increased

statewide from 45 million board feet to 53.2 million board feet. The

Swan Lake State Forest's share of the statewide target increased to 6.7

million board feet annually. The project is bound to meet resistance

from Friends of the Wild Swan, a group that has objected for years —

often through lawsuits — to most major timber sales in the Swan Valley.

The group submitted lengthy comments to the state with a laundry list

of objections. The group's spokeswoman, Arlene Montgomery, said the

Three Creeks Project is the biggest timber sale she has seen in the

Swan Valley since she started reviewing timber projects in the early

1990s. It easily exceeds the previous volume leader, the 14

million-board-foot Goat-Squeezer project. The study says that of the

1,222 acres of old growth where there would be timber harvest, 658

acres would "continue to be classified as old growth" once harvesting

is complete. http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2006/12/29/news/news02.txtNew Mexico:13)

The state Land Office plans to lease 43,000 acres south of Mountainair

as a source of fuel for a biomass plant. The proposal has raised

questions about how many trees would be cut and what the impact would

be on archaeological resources. Western Water and Power Production,

which is expected to bid on the 25-year lease, wants to cut down brush

and trees, largely juniper, from grazing land west of Gran Quivira

National Monument. The material would be burned in the proposed $74

million, 35-megawatt electrical plant near Estancia. Biomass produces

electricity by burning organic material. It's becoming a popular

alternative energy source, partly because it produces less pollution

than coal-fired plants do. The lease will require environmental and

archaeological studies before trees are cut, Jerry King, assistant land

commissioner, said Tuesday. Bud Latven, who opposed a U.S. Forest

Service project in the Manzano Mountains, said in a letter to the

editor in the Albuquerque Journal that the project " is shaping up to be

a major conflict between the maintenance of forest and rangeland health

and the need for commercial products. " Former state Land Commissioner

Jim Baca, who was defeated in an attempt to regain the office in

November, said environmental studies should have been done beforehand.

" Why are they leasing it if they haven't done the science first? " Baca

said Tuesday. " The Land Office has a responsibility to do that before

they lease out the land. " King said the Land Office is " caught in the

middle " between the need for energy and concerns about environmental

protection. http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/54330.htmlWisconsin:14)

Species such as the balsam fir, white spruce, white birch and perhaps

the red pine are likely to be lost from the state, he predicted. " They

will be affected by drought more frequently or conditions too warm for

reproducing, " Mladenoff said. " Wisconsin is in the southern limit of

their range already, so if things warm as projected, these northern

evergreen species may disappear. And that is our image of Wisconsin. "

Other types, such as white pine, would not be so susceptible, if there

is adequate moisture, he said. " But even something like aspen, which we

think of as characterizing the north, could be reduced, so it only

grows well into big trees and reproduces abundantly in a smaller area

around Lake Superior, " Mladenoff added. " It might be reduced to a small

scruffy thing in the rest of the state, such as it is now in Illinois.

They're not happy there. " http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories//index.php?ntid=112973 Vermont:15)

HINESBURG — Michael Snyder has been busy for weeks, moving quickly

through the with a can of blue spray paint. Snyder isn't vandalizing

each tree he carefully considers, then marks with streaks of paint. As

the Chittenden County forester, Snyder is deciding which trees will

stay and which will be removed this winter, when the ground is frozen

solid. "Mostly, we're removing trees that didn't have very bright

futures as trees," Snyder said. "They were either on sort of the

down-sides of their life curve or had mechanical problems — splits and

seams and holes that may make them highly likely to fall over or

break." Snyder said removing some trees will allow the younger,

healthier trees to flourish. They will produce more seedlings, he said,

and promote the forest's growth. The cut trees will provide wood for

human purposes. Some trees slated for removal face ambiguous futures —

they might become furniture or firewood. Certain white ash trees will

be cut, milled and installed as flooring in the Hinesburg Town Hall.

Town administrators expect the ash flooring to be installed in April. http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061228/NEWS02/61228008/1007 & the

me=HINESBURGNorth Carolina:16)

I am a professional archeologist, having taught and researched both

historic and prehistoric time periods as a professor at Appalachian. In

recent years, I have noted a disturbing trend by forest managers to

take what I consider to be a mistaken view of the degree that human

hands might have "managed" the forests in prehistoric times. This

mistaken view is that when Europeans first showed up in this area in

any numbers in the last half of the 18th century, the Native people

(Catawba, Cherokee) were practicing widespread and fairly heavy-handed

management of the mountain forests. I see this misrepresentation as an

attempt on the part of our own European culture to justify our

undeniably heavy hand, especially the massive logging that occurred

around the turn of the 19th 20th centuries. I also see this

misrepresentation as an attempt on the part of the timber industry to

justify the heavy hand of their management practices. While biologists

such as the Delcourts of the University of Tennessee posit that

prehistoric peoples intensively managed the forests before the

Europeans arrived, I have found most of my archeological colleagues in

the region dismissive of their ideas, instead suggesting that the

Appalachian forests at the time of European colonization were

substantially as they had been for millennia. While aboriginal demand

for forest products was high in the vicinity of Late Woodland and

especially Mississippian agricultural villages, the clearing of forests

for palisade posts, housing beams and agricultural fields was minimal,

especially in the non-riverine settings such as the Globe. While the

hillsides and ridges were occasionally burned to control undergrowth

around the valued and widespread Chestnut groves, trees in these two

locations were not a significant source of wood for the people, and

fires that were set were not canopy fires, but only affected the

under-story, leaving the mature trees and maintaining the canopy. The

only places in the Southeast where the Native Americans intensively

harvested trees were in the large alluvial valleys that are not present

in most mountain locations, certainly not in the Globe. Harvard Ayer,

Professor Emeritus, Appalachian State College, Boone, NC http://www.appstate.edu/USA: 17)

The Forest Service is using two methods perfected by the Bush

administration.The first is a classic: Avoid learning the facts

yourself, and then there is nothing for the public to uncover. The

Forest Service will simply quit looking for environmental impacts from

its long-term plans for America's forests and grasslands. The Forest

Service's second strategy also has been well practiced since 2001 -

elimination of a potent legal tool citizens can use to intervene when

we disagree with plans foisted upon us by politicians. No longer will

the public be allowed to appeal long-term forest plans. Instead, it

appears we will be granted the toothless privilege of objecting during

an invited participation process. The distinction may seem subtle, but

the end result is to make the public's involvement something granted by

the benevolent managers of our own national assets. But they are not

our rulers. In America, we are supposed to be the bosses. In these last

two years of a regime dedicated to transferring America's wealth to

corporate campaign contributors, there certainly will be a concerted

race to strip citizens of any meaningful oversight role. Congress must

steadfastly resist and reveal these shameful manipulations. The sad

fact is that this is just the culmination of a lengthy plot to rob

forest plans of any significance. " The public, including local

communities, deserves a say in how their forest lands are managed.

They're not getting that say under this administration, " according to

Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, probable next chairman of the Senate

Energy and Natural Resources Committee. http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=23 & SubSectionID=392 & ArticleID=39065 & TM=29786.5

Czechoslovakia:18)

Less & Forest owned by entrepreneur Jan Micanek has won tenders for

logger work on an area accounting for 43 percent of the forested area

managed by LCS (278 territorial units), which is 119 units.

Krusnohorske lesy came next with 44 units and the biggest logging

company in the Czech Republic, CE Wood, is third with 13 units. Unless

participants in the tenders appeal against their results LCR will start

signing contracts with the companies in January, LCR spokesman Tomas

Vysohlid has told CTK. More details about the tenders will be published

by LCR later. A total of 113 companies have submitted 933 bids in the

tenders worth more than CZK 6 billion. The companies will accomplish

work in line with the signed contracts in 2007 when LCR wants to call

new mid-term tenders for at least three years, with contracts to come

into force in January 2008. The tenders are criticised by the

association of forestry industry businesses (SPLH) and the new

management of the Czech Association of Enterpreneurs in Forest

Management (CAPLH). http://www.praguemonitor.com/ctk/?story_id=w48738i20061228;story=Less--Forest-wins-tenders-wor

th-billions-of-crownsGuyana: 19)

Dear Editor: I would like to share with your readers the following URL

sent to me by a friend and which has informative articles on forestry

and timber in Guyana – http://guyanaforestry.blogspot.com/

The site has four photographs of logs from Guyana being loaded on

November 30, 2006 from a pontoon in the Demerara River onto a

Chinese-registered ship named Rong Cheng. I was struck by the large

quantity of logs on the pontoon and the lack of any GFC or Customs

presence in the photograph. I called the Guyana Forestry Commission

unsuccessfully on several consecutive days trying to get information on

this shipment. Through your newspaper I wish to ask the Commissioner of

Forests the name of the timber exporter(s) with cargo on the Rong

Cheng, what timber species/volumes/values of logs were being exported,

and the names of the consignees. Yours faithfully, Patrick Jackson Uganda:20)

TWO members of Parliament have vowed to sue government over the

giveaway of Bugala rainforests in Kalangala to oil firm Bidco to grow

palm oil trees. The MPs argue that the venture is an environmental

danger to the area. Mr Kikungwe said Bugala forest reserves have been

categorised as core conservation forests critical for biodiversity

conservation in Uganda because of their physical isolation in the

middle of Lake Victoria. Bugala rainforests include Towa, Banga,

Namatembe, Gala and Kubanda forests. But according to the duo, these

forests belong to the National Forestry Authority and the National

Environmental Management Authority and that the government decision to

allocated them to Bidco for 'investment' was illegal. The threatened

suit is a follow-up to a move by Mr Kikungwe and former Rubaga South MP

Ken Lukyamuzi who first sued the government for signing an agreement

with Bidco, guaranteeing the firm a $112 million fund. http://allafrica.com/stories/200612290891.htmlCuba:21)

Cuba has dramatically increased its forest and reduced pollution in its

main bays and water sources. Vice Minister for Science, Technology and

Environment, Dr. Jose A Diaz, said Cuba is among the few countries in

the world to report annual forest expansion, by more than 83 thousand

acres just in 2006. Cuban woods were plundered for over four centuries

with a dramatic decline to 14 percent coverage from 1902 to 1959, which

was reverted by the January 1, 1959 victory of the Revolution. The

national forest program plans to enhance coverage to over 29.3 percent

of national territory in barely ten years. Also pollution declined by

3.8 percent in all eight basins in the national territory, three

percent in main bays and 17 percent in mountain ranges. Recent

evaluation by Planeta Vivo 2006 project of the World Wild Fund says

Cuba is the only country to progress towards sustainable productive

development without affecting the environment. The report relied on

human development rates of over 0.8 percent and a 1.5 percent

ecological fingerprint based on average consumer rates and resources

used to provide goods and services. http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B3B5C19B1-EF03-47F8-96CC-1A92AE7DFBF2%7D) & language=EN

Costa Rica:22)

BRODHEAD -- Applied Ecological Services, Inc. recently received the

2006 Best Monitoring and Evaluation Methodology Award from the Rain

Forest Alliance, an ecosystem defense nonprofit organization. The award

was given for AES's work in the restoration of mangrove (tropical,

low-dwelling trees growing in marshes or tidal shores) and dry-tropical

forests within the Andamojo Watershed in Costa Rica. The 25,000-acre

Andamojo River watershed in Costa Rica was once a very important winter

resting area for many neotropical migratory bird species, but over

time, it had become seriously degraded from deforestation and

agricultural activities. Through the ongoing restoration process, AES

has acquired lands within the watershed, and in conjunction with the

Universidad Nacional, The University of Vermont and local communities,

will develop restoration plans for the area. With the guidance of AES,

the project will cooperate with participating landowners and investors

to educate other landowners about restoration techniques. The project

will also measure the response of neotropical migratory bird species to

the restored mangroves, dry-tropical forests and diversified-hardwood

plantations that have replaced native dry-tropical forests. Follow-up

monitoring will document changes in bird use of these habitats over

time. http://www.themonroetimes.com/c1230aes.htmChile:23)

The mountainous terrain of northern Chile is studded with precious

metals, a natural cache that for years has had investors angling for

land rights. So when the world's largest gold mining company targeted

about 20,000 acres owned by Rodolfo Villar, a mineral speculator, he

signed a contract. Only later, he said, did he realize how much the

company had agreed to pay him: About $19. Villar, who regularly grabs

local land rights if he thinks they might be worth something, said he

thought the deal was worth $1 million, not an amount that proved to be

less than the cost of a bus ticket from Santiago back to his house.

Additionally, the finer points of the contract stipulated that he would

be fined $95,000 if he tried to obtain rights to any other parcels in

the surrounding area. Villar sued the company, Canada's Barrick Gold

Corp., arguing that he had been deceived. This year, a Chilean judge

ruled in his favor, saying that the company had essentially swindled

Villar, and ordered the lands returned to him. Barrick officials say

the ruling, which they have appealed, is unlikely to derail the mining

project. But the case has angered some Chileans and others who complain

that foreign mining companies are exploiting local landholders. Much of

Latin America has experienced a mineral boom in recent years, with

metal prices climbing and governments eager to generate tax revenue and

other income from large-scale mining projects. The region is home to

more mineral exploration than anywhere else in the world, but a

corresponding increase in scrutiny from nongovernmental organizations

and public interest groups has heightened tensions. And although many

companies have developed " social responsibility " policies to smooth

relations with local landowners, such efforts rarely eliminate the

problems. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/25/AR2006122500457.htmlBrazil:23)

ROOSEVELT INDIGENOUS AREA — Some of the world's most abundant deposits

of diamonds are embedded in the reddish soil of the Amazon jungle here.

But for the Cinta-Larga Indians who live on this remote reservation,

that discovery has brought more misfortune than riches. Cinta-Larga

means Broad Belt in Portuguese, a reference to the tribe's former habit

of wearing bark sashes around the waist. For generations, the

Cinta-Largas chose to live in isolation here along the banks of the

Roosevelt River, named for Theodore Roosevelt, who led an expedition

through this region of the southwestern Amazon some 90 years ago. But

in the 1960s, a highway was built west of here, opening the jungle to

exploitation by loggers. The discovery of gold, tin and finally

diamonds increased the opportunities for the Cinta-Largas but also

their resentment of white encroachments on land that the Brazilian

government had set aside for them. Two years ago, the tensions finally

boiled over. In an episode that is still under investigation, and for

reasons that remain unclear, the Cinta-Largas killed 29 miners who were

working without their permission at the mine on the reservation. Since

then, the Cinta-Largas have become the most notorious of Brazil's

hundreds of Indian tribes, reviled in the press as bloodthirsty savages

who want the diamonds for themselves and insulted when they leave their

reservation for nearby towns. In hopes of countering those negative

portrayals, tribal leaders recently invited this reporter to visit. "We

want it known that, despite what our enemies say, we are not mining

diamonds," Ita Cinta-Larga, another tribal leader, said as he inspected

the mining pit and its collection of abandoned hoses and sluices. "We

still catch miners trying to sneak in now and then, but it's pretty

calm here now, and that's the way we want to keep it." http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/world/americas/29diamonds.html?_r=1 & ref=world & oref=slogin

India:24)

Faculty member of marine department, CU, Abhijit Mitra said after

extensive research for months at Sunderban and other forests of Bengal,

they discovered that Kendu trees absorb chromium and nickel particles

that leads to cancer in human beings. "If Kendu trees are planted

strategically in the mining and industrial belt of Jharkhand, pollution

can be controlled to a great extent naturally. This is the only tree

that successfully absorbs contents of pollutants leading to air

pollution," Mitra said. "At the moment, the company gives a chemical

treatment to these pollutants released by the manufacturing units. But

if they plant Kendu trees, the pollutants will be naturally absorbed by

the tree," Mitra said. Around 800-900 parts (unit for measurement) per

million of chromium and nickel are absorbed by a kilogram of Kendu

leaves. He said, a meeting was scheduled with the environmental

department of Tata Steel in the first week of January to show the

findings. "We'll recommend that the company plant a new species of

trees to check air pollution. The Kendu tree will naturally clean the

local environment," Mitra said. Kendu trees are found in hilly forests.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061226/asp/jamshedpur/story_7183048.aspChina:25)

According to the China Times daily and ETToday.com internet newspaper,

an 80-year-old widow, named Cheng, planted two osmanthus trees on a

hill in Hsichih, near Taipei, with her husband many years ago. After

her husband's death, Cheng transplanted the two-metre-tall trees to her

husband's tomb to " guard the tomb. " It is a Chinese tradition to plant

trees around a tomb so that the tree can shield it from rain and shine

and protect the dead person's family. The osmanthus tree, which gives

out a fragrant and sweet smell when its flowers are in bloom, is

considered an auspicious tree. Last Friday, in Cheng's dream, her

husband complained that he was cold because the two osmanthus trees had

been stolen. Cheng was shocked and went to check the tomb the next day,

and found that both trees had been uprooted and removed, the news

reports said. Cheng reported to police who arrested two men the same

evening as they were selling the two osmanthus trees to a

flower-and-tree vendor. Chinese believe the dead can send messages to

the living through dreams. Taiwan press often reports cases of police

solving murders after the victims had told their family members through

dreams how they died. http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_6324-Dream-Helps-Taiwan-Widow-Recover-Stolen-Precious-Trees.html

26)

Moving from agro-ecosystems to natural ones, Su et al. (2004) used an

ecosystem process model to explore the sensitivity of the net primary

productivity (NPP) of an oak forest near Beijing (China) to the global

climate changes projected to result from a doubling of the atmosphere's

CO2 concentration from 355 to 710 ppm. The results of this work

suggested that the aerial fertilization effect of the specified

increase in the air's CO2 content would raise the forest's NPP by

14.0%, that a concomitant temperature increase of 2°C would boost the

NPP increase to 15.7%, and that adding a 20% increase in precipitation

would push the NPP increase all the way to 25.7%. Last of all, they

calculated that a 20% increase in precipitation and a 4°C increase in

temperature would also boost the forest's NPP by 25.7%. In contrast to

typical climate-alarmist contentions, therefore, it is clear that many

projections of Asian ecosystem responses to potential increases in

atmospheric CO2 and temperature are not catastrophically negative, even

when the projected increases in air temperature are as large as the 4°C

rise investigated by Su et al. In fact, as in the case of their

analysis, many of the responses are positive, and strongly so. One of

the reasons for this discrepancy between real-world fact and

climate-alarmist fiction is that climate-alarmists typically disregard

the many beneficial effects of concomitant atmospheric CO2 enrichment,

including the ability of elevated levels of atmospheric CO2 to

significantly increase plant growth and water use efficiency, as well

as their tendency to alter the physiology of plants to where they

actually prefer warmer temperatures, which phenomenon is expressed as a

CO2-induced increase in the temperature at which plants photosynthesize

most effectively. http://www.co2science.org/scripts/CO2ScienceB2C/subject/g/summaries/asiagreen.jsp27)

Sino-Forest is the leading foreign-owned commercial forest plantation

operator in China with 365,000 hectares of trees in four provinces in

the southern and southeastern part of the country. Brian Topp, an

analyst with Maison Placements Canada Inc., says its shares " could grow

at rates faster than the eucalyptus trees it harvests in China. " The

shares of Sino-Forest closed yesterday at $7.58 on the S & P/TSX

composite index, up 25 cents. Mr. Topp has a two-year price target on

Sino-Forest of $15. However, investors will have to accept the risks

associated with owning a timber company operating in China, he said. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061228.RBELL28-2/TPStory/Business

Thailand:28)

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said yesterday he would resign if it

was found he had illegally acquired the 20-rai for his home in a

national forest reserve in Nakhon Ratchasima. He said his wife had paid

the municipal tax correctly since 2002. People had been allowed to use

the land - regarded as degraded forest - since 1998. Surayud said he

would return the land on Khao Yai Tiang mountain if it was illegal. " If

it's wrong politically, I'm ready [to resign]. I don't stick with

anything. If I should be ousted, I'm ready, " he said. Surayud said

officers from the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) had

taken pictures of what was on the land and in the area. Any agencies

that wanted to check the land should inform him, not just break into

the property, as he had security officers patrolling it. Meanwhile,

acting Thai Rak Thai Party executive Veera Musigapong said the members

of the Council for National Security (CNS) should declare their assets

to show their sincerity. Surayud said he acknowledged the ambiguous

status of the land. He had no documentation for it, but had followed

correct processes in acquiring it, including paying money to local

people to use it. He had also developed the land by growing trees until

they were large and capable of yielding fruit. He said the issue was a

personal problem and had nothing to do with the government. He would

not tell Land Department officials what they should do about it, for

fear that it could be construed as interference in their work. However,

they should know to clarify the controversial issue soon. http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/12/28/politics/politics_30022677.phpPhilippines:

29)

The reasons advanced by Nazario for the cancellation boggles the mind

as they blithely ignore relevant facts. It points to an alleged failure

of PICOP to submit a five-year forest protection plan and a seven-year

reforestation plan. The fact is PICOP had submitted a 10-year

protection and reforestation plan that was approved by the Department

of Environment and Natural Resources. It was the DENR, through then

Secretary Fulgencio Factoran Jr., that specified the need for a 10-year

plan. This is understandable since it does not seem logical to submit a

five- and seven-year plan for a TLA that would expire less than a year

after the 10-year plan had been implemented. Also, the SC decision

blames PICOP for allegedly failing to pay forestry charges. This

despite PICOP's submitting evidence to the contrary by way of a

certification from the DENR that no forestry charges are due from the

paper firm. The fact is that PICOP is one of a near-extinct type of

forestry operator in this country crawling with illegal loggers. It

pays 80 percent of all forestry charges in the entire Caraga Region,

the nation's timber corridor. That 80 percent translates to 60 percent

of total forestry charges collected by the DENR in the entire country!

The firm has been cited here and abroad for its efficient operations

and for being a good corporate citizen. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=60425Borneo:30)

A new species of insect, animal or plant is discovered every month in

Kalimantan, conservation group WWF said Tuesday as it warned that

logging and plantations threatened the fragile " Heart of Kalimantan "

ecosystem. " Between 1994 and 2004, at least 361 new species have been

discovered in Kalimantan, " WWF Indonesia director Mubariq Ahmad told

AFP. " In the past 10 years, there is discovery of new species every

month. We had found 260 new insects, 50 plants, seven frogs, snakes,

six lizards, 30 fresh water fish, five crabs, two snakes and a toad, "

he added. Recent exotic discoveries include poisonous " sticky frogs, "

" forest walking catfish " able to travel short distances out of water

and the transparent " glass catfish " . Large animals have also yielded

surprises, with the Kalimantan orang-utan found to be a distinct

species to its Sumatran cousin and the island's pygmy elephants

recently reclassified as a separate sub-species. " The discoveries of

the new species in the area proves that Kalimantan, one of the world's

last remaining rain forests, is among the most important biodiversity

areas in the world, " he said. WWF International launched its " Heart of

Kalimantan " program two years ago, covering a 22 million hectare rain

forest shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and the oil-rich kingdom of

Brunei. Ahmad said Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei have agreed to

protect the area and would ink a formal agreement early next year to

ensure sustainable development of the forest. " There is political will

by them to protect the 'Heart of Kalimantan' forest area, " he said.

" Losing the 'Heart of Kalimantan' would be an unacceptable tragedy not

only for Kalimantan, but for all Asia, and the planet, " the WWF said. http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=2496231)

The indigenous Penan tribe continues to blockade logging roads into a

critically important rainforest, their ancestral forest. The EU has

provided a grant to support better forest management, but more is

needed. The EU's envoy to Malaysia was set to give a speech in Sarawak

calling for increased emphasis on preserving rainforests and the rights

of forest people, and less emphasis on logging. The Penan are the

guardians of a huge reserve of carbon. Every year, 13 million hectares

of rainforests are cut down, an area the size of Greece. Deforestation

is responsible for 20 percent of global carbon emissions, equivalent to

that of the transportation sector. Why not give the Penan and people

like them credit for keeping so much carbon out of our common

atmosphere? At climate meetings last year, a group of tropical

countries proposed that carbon credits be allowed for " avoided

deforestation, " i.e., leaving the forests alone. Some progress on this

idea was made at the recent Kyoto implementation talks in Nairobi,

Kenya. More countries endorsed the idea, and mechanisms were discussed

that could lead to a new protocol for the next round of climate accords

in 2012. The Stern economic report on climate change confirms that

paying tropical countries to keep their forests intact is a financially

sound strategy. http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/45696/Malaysia:32)

The Kedah Forestry Department is close to finding the mastermind behind

the illegal logging at the Bukit Payung forest reserve in Kubang Pasu.

Department director Kasim Osman said police had questioned a

52-year-old tractor driver who was detained on Dec 19. The man was

released yesterday on a RM15,000 police bail after being remanded for

10 days. Kasim said the results of the investigation had been sent to

the deputy public prosecutor's office for further action, which could

include a possible charge.Last week, the department sealed a

consignment of newly-felled timber worth RM50,000, believed to have

been from Bukit Payung. The consignment belonged to a local logger who

had obtained a licence to remove the logs from a private lot bordering

the Bukit Payung forest reserve. Kasim said investigations were carried

out under Section 15 of the National Forestry Enactry 1985 for theft.

If convicted, an offender can be fined up to RM500,000 and/or one-year

jail term. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Friday/National/20061229075647/Article/local1_html33)

Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) want the authorities to

gazette all sea mangrove areas in the country as forest reserves to

stop their alarming decline. They also called for the speedy

formulation of laws relating to shorelines management and river

valleys. Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), Penang Consumers Association

(CAP), Peninsular Inshore Fishermen Network (Jaring) and Penang Inshore

Fishermen's Welfare Association (PIFWA) spokesman M. Nizam Mahshar said

the existence of the mangrove areas is vital to maintain the shorelines

and to restore the balance of ecosystem " Something have to be done fast

as there are only 567,000ha of sea mangrove areas in the country and

130,142ha are yet to be gazetted and facing uncertain future, " he told

a press conference today. " These areas which are owned by various state

governments in the country could be facing near death as many of such

areas had previously been used for development purposes. " The state

governments' record in gazetting mangrove areas is very discouraging.

The vulnerable mangroves could be chopped down to make way for

development any time. " All the four NGOs are also having similar

functions to replant mangrove trees in Kuala Haji Ibrahim, Sungai Acheh

here, Kuala Kurau in Perak, Taman Nilam and Kerpan in Kedah to

commemorate the Dec 26, 2004, tsunami incident which devastated the

country's northen coastal area. http://www.oceanconserve.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=6549034)

At lunch, I initially thought they served mushroom stems only to be

told I was eating rattan shoots! They tasted slightly bitter and

smooth. Superb. Flowers? Stir-fried purple ginger flowers (called ubud

sala) are fair enough since we eat bunga kantan in tomyam, too. But how

about thinly sliced stir-fried orchid stems? These, called ubud aram in

Kelabit, are slightly bitter and supposedly good for blood pressure.

And for the ultimate delicacy, try kelatang – the larvae of a cicada –

extracted from the barigulad tree and barbecued on a stick. It tastes

like ginger flowers! In short, there is a complete organic food larder

from the forest. If logging comes to Bario, much of this will be lost

and locals will have to fork out hard cash to buy meat and vegetables,

which would probably be laden with growth hormones and pesticides. http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2006/12/24/lifefocus/16400383 & sec=lifefocus

Indonesia:35)

JAKARTA -- At least 29 people have been dead and 5 other missing in

flood and landslide in Indonesia's provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra

since Friday, Health Ministry official Rustam Pakaya said on Sunday.

Heavy territorial rain sent streams overflowing their banks, with the

effects of the downpours made worse by deforestation, said Pakaya. The

rain has also caused landslide in Bener Meriang regency of Aceh

province, he said. Four other regencies were hit by the flood, said

Pakaya. Over 43 people have left their home in Langkat regency of

NorthSumatra province and more than 500 in Aceh province, said Pakaya.

The aids are underway from the local governments and Jakarta, he

said.About two years ago, on Dec. 26, 2004, Aceh was struck by the

Indian Ocean tsunami, which left some 170,000 dead or missing in the

province. More than a half million people were internally displaced.

The official said that deforestation was blamed for the cause of the

disaster. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-12/24/content_5526601.htm36)

According to Total E and P Indonesie president director Philippe

Armand, the local population lived off small-scale aquaculture of fish

farming and traditional fishing. The 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis

that saw the Indonesian rupiah plunge to a quarter of its value

overturned all that. The production of shrimp, sold in dollars,

suddenly became very profitable. Investors without scruples flowed in,

along with thousands of workers from Java and Sulawesi. " Since the

economic crisis of the years 1997-1998 people have been cutting all the

mangrove, opening new shrimp ponds, without any restrictions or law

enforcement, " said Muhammad Najib, in charge of environmental problems

for Total E and P Indonesie. However the mangrove swamps provide

valuable nutrients for the aquaculture. To replace them, the shrimp

pond owners have turned to artificial fertilisers, which themselves

deteriorate the ecosystem. It is a vicious circle. In a study financed

by Total, Cirad, the French institute of agronomic research, concluded

that conversion of more than 800 square kilometres (300 square miles)

of mangroves into shrimp ponds, " involved, in the short term, the

degradation of the ecology of the delta, ... the appearance of

diseases, water pollution and an alarming salinisation of the

ecosystem " . " The productivity of shrimp farming has fallen because of

the damage caused to the natural environment, " Bahteramsyah,

environmental official for Kutai Kartanegara district, told AFP. He

estimates only 20 percent of the original mangrove swamp remains. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Borneo_Shrimp_Problem_Worries_Oil_Giant_Total_999.html

Australia:37)

PREMIER Paul Lennon claimed yesterday that the court injunction halting

logging in the Wielangta State Forest would have serious consequences

for Tasmania and, without redress, would play havoc with the forestry

industry, the proposed pulp mill, the economy and the agriculture

sector. But more moderate voices said large-scale effects were unlikely

and the year ahead would be shaped by legal wrangling in the wake of

the decision. Mr Lennon yesterday called Prime Minister John Howard

seeking an urgent change to the Regional Forestry Agreement that he

said was required to protect 10,000 Tasmanian timber jobs from the

shockwaves of the decision. Mr Lennon also said that because endangered

species, such as the wedge-tailed eagle, lived all over the State, the

implications of the decision could extend " beyond forest harvesting to

all activity in Tasmania's environment " . " If you extend the findings of

Justice Marshall, then I'm advised you can well conclude that activity

outside the State forest could find itself in the same position as

activity inside the Wielangta forest, " he said. http://www.examiner.com.au/story.asp?id=37661338)

BRAD LAW has climbed the honey tree. The crown of a tall, flowering

forest gum is one of the last scientific frontiers, a dizzy ecosystem

normally inhabited by insects, possums, birds, bats and the occasional

protesting, tree-sitting environmentalist. It is also dripping with

staggering quantities of sugar. For the first time, a team of

scientists led by Mr Law, a Department of Primary Industries ecologist,

has measured how much nectar can be produced by forests of spotted gums

and ironbarks when they burst into bloom. Big flowering eucalypts are

critical to the honey industry and apiarists have long worried that

logging decreases the nectar resource in state forests. Large numbers

of native creatures also depend on nectar, yet the triggers for

flowering were not well understood, Mr Law said. The crown of a tree is

full of life, Mr Law said. His team had unwittingly flushed out a sooty

owl from one hollow and had seen insects that may have been unknown to

science. " It's another world up there, " said Mr Law. " You get a totally

different perspective on the forest. It looks like there is a woven

blanket rolling over the crown of the trees. The canopy is one of those

last realms that we do not know much about. " http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/scientists-hit-dizzy-heights-in-hunt-for-hidden-nectar-of-the

-forest/2006/12/27/1166895361428.htmlWorld-wide:39)

When tree plantations are established on land that indigenous people

have rights to, the damage is compounded. Larry Lohman writes: " Like

the enclosure movement of early modern Europe, through which common

lands were taken away from the rural poor and broken up, privatized and

traded into the hands of the better-off, the movement for carbon

'offset' plantations is in essence a movement to extend and normalize

inequality. " The rural poor pay twice, once by suffering the effects of

climate change caused by affluent countries, and again by having their

land taken to offset the guilt of affluent people. Louis Verchon of the

World Agroforestry Centre said that if the EU would implement a new

scheme to credit farmers who capture carbon on their land, " millions of

dollars in carbon credits could begin flowing to the world's rural

poor. " The World Agroforestry Centre, in conjunction with researchers

from Michigan State University, has developed a method using satellite

imagery and infrared sensing that measures carbon storage in African

farmland. The Centre has completed a pilot program in western Kenya and

is ready to encourage poor farmers to plant trees as soon as it can

qualify for carbon credits under the Kyoto protocol. But Europe's

Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is not willing to recognize the new

method of verifying carbon storage in farmland, questioning whether the

program will result in additional carbon storage and whether the

storage will be permanent. The ETS is the largest multi-country,

multi-sector greenhouse gas emission trading scheme in the world. http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/45696/40) I was aghast to see our study reported under the headline " Planting trees to save planet is pointless, say ecologists " http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1972648,00.htmlIndeed,

our study found that preserving and restoring tropical forests is

doubly important, as they cool the earth both by removing the

greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and by helping

produce cooling clouds. We did find that preserving and restoring

forests outside the tropics does little or nothing to help slow climate

change, but nevertheless these forests are a critical component of

Earth's biosphere and great urgency should be placed on preserving

them. Preventing the overheating of our planet will require a major

revolution in our system of energy production, with the introduction of

renewable and perhaps nuclear-energy sources and the elimination of

carbon dioxide emissions. Such a step is necessary to preserve our

natural environment. However, we must concurrently take action to

protect our forests so that we have an environment worth preserving.

Ken Caldeira Carnegie Institution, Stanford, California http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,1973331,00.html41)

The Forest Stewardship Council, the international standard setting

organization for responsible forest management, has teamed up with the

European Space Agency (ESA), Aon, Eyre Consulting, Sarmap and Ambiental

Technical Solutions on the project which will develop remote sensing

and Geographic Information System (GIS) services. Three FSC-certified

forestry companies, Global Forest Products (South Africa), CIB

(Republic of Congo) and Orsa Group (Brazil) will participate in the

trials, which will run through 2007. Charles Crosthwaite Eyre, project

manager for Aon, says that improvements in remote sensing technology,

including higher resolution imagery, have expanded the capabilities of

remote forest monitoring. " New developments in remote sensing

technology mean that a new breed of satellite, able to see through

clouds and provide detailed imagery of forestry activities on the

ground, can provide information the forestry sector needs to meet the

sustainability challenges of the 21st Century - including the

monitoring of illegal logging activities and deforestation, " he said.

Mr. Eyre says that the project will also evaluate the remote sensing

technology in relation to the FSC principles and criteria on

sustainable forest management, to see if these can help to evaluate if

the criteria are being met by foresters on the ground. For example,

forest companies and the FSC will evaluate whether the remote sensing

technologies can help pinpoint illegal logging activities and road

construction, identify selected tree species in a diverse forest

landscape, assess timber volume, and support monitoring of plantations

for pest attack. http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1221-fsc.html