Guest guest Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 Today for you 39 new articles about earth's trees! (209th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com . --British Columbia: 1) Eco-defender dies, 2) no standards for road construction, 3) trashing out the locals water supply, --Washington: 4) Foresters meet about logging burn areas --Oregon: 5) Logging Mt. Ashland's Old-Growth Reserve, 6) FS Timber sale still stuck, --California: 7) To salvage or not to salvage --Idaho: 8) 9th circuit blocks 4,000 acre logging plan in Bonner's Ferry --Utah: 9) An ancient hybrid scrub oak --Indiana: 10) Strategic plan for sustaining private woodlands --Pennsylvania: 11) Stony Creek Valley Coalition, 12) Allegheny NF plan challenged, --Minnesota: 13) proposal to log 18 square miles near BWCW --Canada: 14) Boreal currently stores more than 186 billion tonnes of carbon --UK: 15) Deforestation refugees are on there way --Scotland: 16) 13,000 acres of new forest in Wester Ross --Carpathian Mtns. 17) Primeval Beech Forests achieve world heritage status --Greece: 18) Forest fires make room for condos, --South Africa: 19) Stealing poor peoples water for tree-farms, 20) fynbos or forests? --Suriname: 21) incredible degree of biodiversity in Suriname's pristine hinterland --Brazil: 22) Less diversity in second-growth forest, --Uruguay: 23) Botnia pulp mill impacts on peasents forgotten --China: 24) Hong Kong losing greenbelts to corrupt practices, --Cambodia: 25) 8,000 workers have cleared forests for huge dam --Vietnam: 26) reforestation of the coastline --Philippines: 27) An exotic paradise called Sibuyan --Malaysia: 28) Importance of enforcing the law against illegal loggers --Indonesia: 29) World's largest Palm oil producer is corrupt, 30) Debt for Nature, 31) Forest fire season begins, --Australia: 32) Wilderness Society won't change its tactics, 33) Loggers protest by illegally logging their trees, 34) Nippon lying to customers about old growth logging, --World-wide: 35) Peanut Butter and Jelly, 36) 17% of world's land area remains truly wild, 37) market-oriented conservation is selling the environment short, 38) Forest Peoples Program, 39) Convention on Biological Diversity, British Columbia: 1) Prominent environmental activist Colleen McCrory, who gained international recognition with her campaigns to save wilderness from logging, died Sunday at 57 from brain cancer. McCrory died in New Denver, the West Kootenay town where she was born and raised and where she founded and ran the Valhalla Wilderness Society for more than three decades. McCrory became ill two weeks ago and was diagnosed with brain cancer a week later. " It was a total surprise to all of us, " said Anne Sherrod, a colleague and friend of McCrory's. The Valhalla Wilderness Society was small but achieved great influence because of McCrory's passionate persona. The phrase " Brazil of the North " became a familiar one in B.C. because of the way she repeatedly used it to describe logging practices in the province. " She had a lot of supporters not just in this country, but also around the world, " said Pownall. " She was the goddess of networking. She knew how to connect with people and rally support for wilderness areas all over the world. " McCrory won a governor-general's award in 1983 and in 1992 she won the prestigious $60,000 U.S. Goldman Environmental Prize. McCrory founded the Valhalla Wilderness Society in 1975 to protect the forests along Slocan Lake near New Denver, a small mining and lumber town in the West Kootenays in south-central B.C. The environmental society sought to have part of the Valhalla mountain range of the Selkirk Mountains be declared a provincial park - and after an intensive eight-year lobbying effort by McCrory and other activists the 49,600-hectare Valhalla Provincial Park was established by the province along Slocan Lake. She was active in the campaign to have South Moresby Island established as a national park reserve. She was coordinator of the B.C. Environmental Network from 1989 to 1990, working on issues ranging from forestry to mining in provincial parks. In 1991, McCrory founded Canada's Future Forest Alliance, a network of activists determined to save the country's forests. McCrory was a natural leader, said her friend Sherrod. McCrory's activism angered many people in the forest-dependent communities of her Slocan Valley. She lost her clothing store in New Denver after it was boycotted. Someone threw a rock into her living room in 1986. " She was extremely courageous, " said Sherrod. " Colleen understood that as an environmentalist her role was not to be comfortable or to be liked. Her allegiance was to the environment and she would defend her principles no matter what the cost was to herself and she did pay a huge cost. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=c4f0f96d-e634-4812-a770-e2\ 16f289efbe & k=15 766 2) There are no standards for forest road construction, which came as a surprise to Forest Safety Ombudsman Roger Harris. He'd been following testimony at a coroner's inquest into the death of a 52-year-old logging truck driver, Joseph F. Leroux, who crashed and bled to death on a resource road 190 kilometres north of Prince George in March 2006. During the inquest a Ministry of Forest representative revealed there are virtually no provincial standards for road construction, inspection or posting of signs. Since Harris was appointed ombudsman by the Forest Safety Council in 2006, he's discovered a host of issues that put backwoods workers at risk. He's written a report on lack of training and coming labour shortages, but now he's turned his focus onto resource road safety issues. Harris, who has worked in the logging industry for much of his life and was BC Liberal MLA for the resource-dependent Skeena region in northern B.C. from 2001 to 2005, says he still knows too little about how the roads winding around the nooks and crannies of British Columbia are managed. http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/07/04/Backroads/ 3) Western Forest Products spokesman Gary Ley said Western intends to lift a self-imposed moratorium on logging within the Chapman Creek watershed after an independent consultant's study showed it would create little risk to water quality. Western's logging plans have prompted a group of local residents to blockade the road into the watershed. They were also the catalyst for the Sunshine Coast Regional District board to seek legal authority to protect its water supply. The board voted last week to use sections of the health act to investigate Western's plans, the first time a community has applied the act to protect a water supply. The board also voted to establish a drinking water protection plan under the act, which would ultimately provide local government with the authority to permanently protect Chapman Creek watershed. Board chairman Ed Steeves said Monday that logging is the focal point for community concern over the broader issues of drinking water quality. " Community feeling is very strong and the board is totally unanimous in going along with it, " he said. " Now is the time to move forward to protect the watershed for the future. " Western delayed logging for 10 days at the request of the Sunshine Coast Regional District while the independent study was prepared. That study found that the company's plans do not pose an imminent threat to the water supply and that the cumulative effects of the logging are considered negligible. Western intends to begin road-building into the watershed this week, said Ley. Western has a timber licence within the watershed that expires in April 2008 and summer provides the best window for logging with the least amount of damage, Ley said. The Chapman Creek watershed has a long history of controversy. Local governments have no control over activities within the 7,300-hectare watershed and industrial activity within it tends to spark opposition among the 23,000 residents who rely on it. Steeves said he is disappointed Western intends to proceed with its logging plans. But he acknowledged the company is up against a deadline. It either logs now or loses the timber. " We are trying to work with Western, " he said. " The issue is that the province expects us to be the purveyors of water and suppliers to the people on the Sunshine Coast but they have given us no ammunition to be the protectors of the watershed. Our hands are tied when it comes to protecting the water. " http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=ebad6137-5c15-460\ f-83c2-82638942 cfc1 & k=31732 Washington; 4) DAYTON - Private landowners in the path of the 2006 Columbia Complex Fire lost trees, and also lost value in the trees they were able to harvest. Members of the Palouse/Snake River Chapter of the Society of American Foresters toured property of three landowners on Robinette Mountain Road on Saturday, discussing damage and options for recovery as they went. A lightning strike Aug. 21 ignited a fire that swept across Broughton Lumber Co. lands, fanned by 30 mph winds and triple-digit temperatures. Like other property owners, McKinley said he was frustrated by the bureaucracy and delay when the fire was turned over to state and federal fire management teams. After local firefighters made the initial attack, it was two to three days before the incident teams were able to mobilize, McKinley said. Bureaucracy continued to plague Broughton when they prepared for salvage operations, McKinley said. Steep slopes were harvested using helicopters, and a new road was necessary to bring out timber along Spring Creek. There are still 600 loads of logs to be removed from the canyon bottom. Another land manager, Larry Minthorn, who is caretaker of the 8,000-acre Rainwater Ranch owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, said the Tribes are looking into creating their own fire crew rather than depending on the state Department of Natural Resources for initial attack. About half the Rainwater property was burned, Minthorn said. The tribal-owned land is managed for wildlife and fish habitat, so the emphasis is not on timber harvest. http://www.union-bulletin.com/articles/2007/07/02/local_news/local04.txt Oregon: 5) The Klamath National Forest is developing a plan to log the south side of the Mt. Ashland Old-Growth Reserve near the Long John and Grouse Creek portions of the Beaver Creek Watershed. Much of the forest targeted for logging was previously logged at the turn of the century by the Fruit Growers Supply Company of Hilt, Ca. Where there were once old-growth pine forests, now there are dense second growth true-fir stands. The Forest Service is now proposing to thin 3,800 acres of these dense second-growth fir stands. This proposed second growth thinning has the support of KS Wild and is a good first step towards restoring old-growth conditions to these logged over lands. Unfortunately, the Forest Service is also proposing to build seven (7) miles of new logging roads through the reserve. The Beaver Creek watershed, a tributary to the ailing Klamath River, already has far too many logging roads that fragment wildlife habitat while bleeding sediment into the creeks and streams. The watershed is comprised of highly unstable granitic and schist soils that are extremely erosive, especially when new roads are constructed. The Forest Service also intends to yard logged trees through stream-side riparian reserves. Such yarding corridors inevitably harm the terrestrial and hydrological values that the riparian reserves are supposed to protect. Please take a moment to write or email the Forest Service to request that they focus on thinning the dense second-growth forest stands while completely avoiding new road construction and yarding through riparian reserves in the Mt Ashland Old-Growth Reserve. http://www.kswild.org/KSNews/ActionAlerts/southsidemtasample 6) Standing like an investment on a mountainside waiting to be cashed, the " Class of 98 " is a litigious timber sale that's been sitting for nearly a decade on the Bureau of Land Management's auction block. The 2,400-acre sale has become a case study in the difficulties the BLM often faces in administering timber sales warranted by the O & C Act, while staying within bounds of the Endangered Species Act and the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan's rules and regulations. A series of lawsuits and court decisions against the Class of 98 have prevented units within it, which were sold nine years ago, to be awarded to buyers. Pending is a new biological opinion on northern spotted owls within the timber sale and a new assessment of red tree voles. After the Northwest Forest Plan was enacted, about 300 plants and animal species — including the red tree vole, prey for the northern spotted owl — fell under " survey and manage " rules because little was known about them at the time. In effect, red tree voles require a " look-before-you-log " approach. If found, a 10-acre buffer zone has to be created around them. But the Roseburg district of the BLM says it can easily find the small rodent, and that's the problem. In 2004, the Bush administration eased the survey and manage rule to increase logging and the BLM took red tree voles off its list of species to look for. A later court challenge, however, said the BLM's administrative decision should have come with a supplemental environmental impact statement, forcing the BLM to add red tree voles back to the list. " We lost that argument, " Niles said. The red tree vole, however, wasn't the first hang-up for the Class of 98. A lawsuit came immediately after the units were sold. In April 1998, a federal court said the National Marine Fisheries Service did not provide enough protection for fish in a biological assessment that dozens of timber sales fell under, including the Class of 98. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit included Umpqua Watersheds, a Roseburg-based conservation group. Francis Eatherington, conservation director for Umpqua Watersheds, said the court decided that fish need more protection in their habitat from erosion and runoff from adjacent timber harvests. The BLM re-analyzed fish habitat protection within the Class of 98, but a year later came the survey and manage rule, Niles said, bringing timber sales to a grinding halt. If buffers were created for red tree voles, Niles said, not much would be left to log. http://www.oregonnews.com/article/20070703/NEWS/70703019 California: 7) After a large fire, land managers face controversial choices: let the forest regenerate on its own or harvest scorched trees and replant. The practice of salvage logging and replanting removes deadwood that might fuel the next fire. But new research shows salvage logging is not an automatic choice. As firefighters stamp out the dwindling Angora fire near South Lake Tahoe, experts say it's too soon to determine long-term management strategies for the region. But the fire has brought home to area forest groups the difficulty in selecting the right post-fire strategy for a forest. Large-scale salvage logging after Angora is unlikely due to environmental protections and the small logging industry presence in the Lake Tahoe basin, according to regional planning officials. A study conducted in southwest Oregon showed fires were most severe in areas that were salvage-logged and replanted. Also, areas that burned severely in the first fire were more likely to burn 15 years later, researchers at Oregon State University and the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service found. The heavy machinery required for salvage logging disturbs habitat required for some wildlife, explained Marderosian, executive director of Sequoia Forestkeeper, an environmental group based in Kernville. Salvage logging disrupts soil, damages natural seedlings and removes shade needed for young seedlings to grow, he added. http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/251995.html Idaho: 8) A U.S. Forest Service plan to selectively log thousands of acres in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests has been blocked by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Forest Service hoped to log nearly 4,000 acres in the Bonners Ferry region to bring the dense, Douglas fir-packed forest closer to the historical composition of open ponderosa pine and Douglas fir stands and to reduce the risk of insect infestation and fires. The project was divided into three sections, two of which were already sold to logging companies. The third sale has been postponed during the court case. Officials in Bonners Ferry, Moyie Springs and Boundary County, meanwhile, said that canceling the project would have serious economic consequences for the region. Everhart Logging and Regehr Logging - the companies that purchased the timber sales - would have to lay off some or all of their workers if the logging project was stopped, company attorneys warned. But in the ruling handed down Monday, the appeals court panel sided with the environmental groups The Lands Council and the Wild West Institute. The environmental groups said the Forest Service's logging plan went beyond what was needed to restore the historic composition of the forest, and claimed that the logging could deeply harm the region's ecosystem. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/03/ap3881688.html Utah: 9) A hybrid scrub oak that looks like a tall, overgrown shrub in a Salt Lake City historical park is a rare and ancient tree from a time when Utah and the Great Basin were warmer and wetter. The branches of the 15-foot-high tree cover nearly an acre a few feet east of the Mary Fielding Smith house at This is the Place Heritage Park. ''This tree is significant because it provides evidence of climate change,'' said Chuck Wullstein, a retired University of Utah biology professor. ''There had to be a warm climate for it to be here.'' Only about a dozen of the trees exist between Salt Lake City and St. George. They are between 5,000 and 7,000 years old. The oak is an indicator that the Earth's climate and ecosystems have changed drastically several times. ''We live with a world view that the things that are around us are the way they have always been and always will be,'' says Ron Neilson, an Oregon State University-based bioclimatologist for the U.S. Forest Service. The hybrid oak has its origins in the warmth-loving canyon live oak, or Quercus turbinella, and the cold-resistant Gambel oak, or Quercus gambelii. ''They met here on the Wasatch and hybridized,'' said Wullstein. But when the climate cooled again and frost became a regular part of the ecosystem, the canyon live oak's range retreated south to what is now Utah's Dixie. That climate change should have killed the hybrid. But a few managed to survive in warmer, wetter pockets of the Wasatch and Oquirrh mountains, where they were discovered in 1954 by botanist Rudy Drobnick. A team of biologists led by the University of Utah's W.P. Cottam confirmed the hybrid by artificially pollinating the oaks and raising the offspring in a greenhouse. ''Biologists came from all over the world to see them,'' said Wullstein. They can still be seen at the Cottam Hybrid Oak Grove on campus. The hybrid Wullstein found in the park grows near a small, watercress-ringed spring. The tree gets added warmth because it is at the elevation of the valley's warm inversion layer. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Ancient-Oak.html Indiana: 10) With 85 percent of Indiana's 4.3 million acres of forestland privately owned, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources officials say sustaining those areas is vitally important and will have meetings to discuss that issue. The DNR's Division of Forestry will seek public comments during open meetings July 10-12 to help assemble a strategic plan for sustaining the private woodlands. State forester John Seifert will report on the accomplishments based on the current plan. http://www.reporter-times.com/?module=displaystory & story_id=87413 & format=html Pennsylvania: 11) " This is Stony Creek Valley, " said Larry Herr, pointing north to 44,000 acres of state-protected wilderness that is home to a nearly unaltered green carpet of hemlock, maple and oak trees going down the hillside to the valley 1,000 feet below. Then, walking to the other side of Hawk Watch and looking south onto a 17,000-acre base operated by the Pennsylvania National Guard, Mr. Herr said with contempt: " And this is the Gap. Notice the difference. " Amid large swaths of a similar tree canopy are pockets where the valley and hillside have been carved up for guard training areas, the trees removed and roads, buildings and ranges put in their place. " That's why we don't want them over here, " said Mr. Herr, 67, a hunter who is part of the Stony Creek Valley Coalition fighting the guard's request to use about 900 acres as a buffer for a new target range for Abrams M-1 tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. " We don't trust them. " In a series of public meetings, charges have flown back and forth about a lack of concern for the public and past environmental abuses by the Guard — charges the Guard denies — and accusations that sportsmen regularly trespass on Guard land. " It's tough, " said Col. Robert L. Hodgson, garrison commander at Fort Indiantown Gap. " You get into a debate and then there's mudslinging, and that's not what we're about. We're about training soldiers, and, unfortunately, I can't do that in the space I've got and I can't move the range anywhere else. " Colonel Hodgson said that because there were many more residents on the southern boundary of the rectangular- shaped base, the new range had to be on the northern edge near Stony Creek Valley. The Guard had another range that closed in 1997 when it discovered that some of the inert shells its tanks were firing were ricocheting over the ridge and landing in Stony Creek Valley. No one was injured, but the discovery raised concerns. Adding a range will mean that many of the 145,000 troops — active, reserve and guard — who train there annually will not have to drive to Fort Drum, N.Y., or Fort Pickett, Ky., to practice firing their tanks and fighting vehicles. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/us/02guard.html 12) A coalition of groups and individuals has appealed the Forest Service's revised management plan for the Allegheny National Forest. The coalition says the revised plan does not reflect the public's values or desires for more recreation and protection of public resources. The appeal was filed on behalf of the Allegheny Defense Project, Heartwood, Tionesta Valley Snowmobile Club, and five individuals through the University of Pittsburgh School of Law Environmental Law Clinic. According to the appeal, " The ANF final plan revision documents were part of a deeply flawed planning and public participation process that emphasized sticking to a pre-determined planning schedule even if that schedule would prevent the Forest Service from adequately addressing many issues that currently threaten the ANF's diversity and sustainability, including in particular the explosion of oil and gas development in and around the forest. The Forest Service was more concerned with simply completing the process than it was in actually revising its management policies, " said Ryan Talbott, Forest Watch Coordinator for the Allegheny Defense Project. " The Forest Service's preference for a rushed revision timeline sacrificed public participation and quality environmental analysis. This biased the revision toward keeping the Allegheny managed much as it has been since the last plan was adopted 20 years ago – for commercial extraction of black cherry and oil and gas, " Talbott said. http://www.alleghenydefense.org/hchronicles/?cat=9 Minnesota: 13) The Northstar Chapter of the Sierra Club and four other environmental and conservation groups have sued the U.S. Forest Service on a proposal to log 18 square miles near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The lawsuit, filed in federal court on Monday, claims that the agency is risking clean water, wildlife and the special qualities of wilderness and that the logging may affect recovery of the threatened lynx in Superior National Forest. " We're really concerned primarily about the wilderness character, and the logging that'll be happening within close proximity to the wilderness is going to affect it in a negative way, " said Lois Norrgard, forest campaign co-chairwoman for the Sierra Club. The proposal, known as the Echo Trail project, would include clearcuts, partial cuts and thinning of trees on about 12,000 acres, much of it within a corridor between two large sections of wilderness. Some of the timber would be harvested to the wilderness boundary, according to the lawsuit, which argues that the noise of machinery would disrupt the solitude of campers and the habitat for wildlife. http://www.startribune.com/outdoors/story/1283960.html Canada: 14) As the scientific debate suggests, calculating the amount of carbon absorbed annually by Canada's forests is complex. Forest ecosystems are complex. What is uncontroversial, however, is that regardless of how much carbon is added to this carbon bank account in any given year, Canada's Boreal currently stores more than 186 billion tonnes of carbon -- that's equal to 913 years' worth of greenhouse-gas emissions in Canada. While forests alone will not save the planet from increased carbon emissions, the implications of not protecting these carbon banks account are dire. Deforestation is one of the main sources of carbon released into the atmosphere, accounting for between 20 and 25 per cent of global emissions. Deforestation also impairs the ability of forest ecosystems to store more carbon in the future, resulting in long-term damage. Boreal conservation must be considered an essential part of a climate strategy that includes both emissions reductions and ecosystem protection. http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/letters/story.html?id=b7b9320e-492e-4f2\ e-9796-1d57dfa7 fe0b UK: 15) A United Nations report has identified a new group of migrants who will soon be attempting to gain entry into Britain through ports such as Dover. They are leaving homes in North Africa which have been affected by drought and deforestation and are turning to desert. The report said: " Desertification as it is now known is one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time. " http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/Report--Desert-migrants-heading-to-the-UK-ne\ wsinkent4210.asp x Scotland: 16) The largest native woodland scheme in Scotland has been completed with the planting of three million trees which created 13,000 acres of new forest in Wester Ross. The regeneration project on the Gairloch Estate has taken 10 years to complete, but should provide an environmental benefit significant enough to offset the pollution from more than 2000 cars. Trees such as those planted in the scheme, including Scots pine, alder, birch, hazel, holly and mountain ash, used to dominate the Caledonian landscape before being destroyed by generations of fuel gatherers for use in smelting. Seeds used to recreate the woodland were taken from the islands on Loch Maree, where one of the few surviving parts of this ancient forest can still be found. The goal of landowner John Mackenzie, whose ancestors have lived on the land around the Gairloch for more than 500 years, was to restore the land to how it used to be centuries ago. He hopes that the new Baile Mor and Bad na Sgalag forests will attract rare species such as capercaillie, wild cats and black grouse. He said yesterday: " It will be wonderful to see the return of native species that have not been seen in these parts for many years. " http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1513895.0.0.php Carpathian Mtns: 17) The World Heritage Committee put the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathian, in Slovakia and the Ukraine, onto UNESCO's world heritage list on June 28 along with other six sites. The Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathian, in Slovakia and the Ukraine, are ten sites representing an outstanding example of undisturbed, complex temperate forests and exhibit the most complete and comprehensive ecological patterns and processes of pure stands of European beech across a variety of environmental conditions, UNESCO wrote on its website. They contain an invaluable genetic reservoir of beech and many species associated with, and dependent on, these forest habitats. http://www.slovakspectator.sk/clanok.asp?cl=28305 Greece: 18) In a dramatic turn of events, the Minister of Public Order Byron Polydoros announced over the weekend that the fault of the forest fire was a direct result of the forest being there and that it was growing wild, too closely together and it was too green. Well i for one am glad that its been solved - pesky forests - growing as they please! Though perhaps, if we give him the benefit of the doubt, what he might have wanted to say is that there was no Forest Management system in place. Well at least i hope so. The President of Greece said that it was a day of mourning, he asked the nation to consider what legacy will be left to our children if we continue to disregard nature. The Prime Minister in turn promised that Parnitha and all the areas struck by fires will be re-forested and he emphasised " I say it and i mean it " which makes me wonder about the other things he said... A pro-government newspaper Eleutheri Ora had as its headline today 'Parnitha re-forested with apartment blocks and maissonetes. ' The reason for this cynicism is because its an Election year. What's this got to do with anything i hear you ask. Well unfortunately elections in Greece are a time when general amnesty's are given. http://survivingathens.blogspot.com/2007/07/dont-worry-its-forests-fault.html South Africa: 19) A strategic environmental assessment found that the Umzimkulu, Mthatha, Ugies, Maclear and Kokstad districts have sufficient water resources to sustain intensive forestry for saw wood and pulp industries, he says. Most of that land is owned by traditional black communities, which would make them partners in the proposed expansion by larger forestry companies. " That's a good starting point because it will bring cash flow to landowners up front, " says Hans Merensky forestry company CEO Chris Pienaar. Dwaf says black people own less than 5% of commercial plantations. And, though blacks own 240 of the country's 320 saw mills, they produce just 25% of SA's sawn timber output. Until now, government has held back forestry expansion and actually reduced plantation areas since the 1990s. The regression, coinciding with a giant leap in wood demand from the building industry, ha s forced SA to import sawn timber for the first time in 50 years. For all of its environmental complications, forestry remains an important income-generator for economically depressed rural areas. It employs about 130 000 people directly and, at R10bn/year, makes up about 9% of manufacturing exports. Several big forestry companies are engaged in sawmilling and wood-processing expansion- Hans Merensky is building a sawmill at Kokstad; furniture-forestry combine Steinhoff is putting up a wood-chipping plant in the Ugies-Maclear region; and Sappi Saiccor, which plans expansion of its KwaZulu Natal wood-pulp and cellulose processing facilities, is said also to be eyeing the Eastern Cape. Edwards says state assistance will be imperative to helping small-scale growers. But, even with government support, the industry faces substantial challenges to new investment - factors which discourage small-scale empowerment, says Forestry SA consultant David Crickmay. http://free.financialmail.co.za/07/0629/features/dfeat.htm 20) Saving our trees does not involve a choice between fynbos or forests - we all love fynbos, so the naysayers are preaching to the converted. Rather, as fynbos constitutes 98% of the Table Mountain National Park, my appeal is to allow some of us to retain our humble 2% of forest. This surely doesn't pose a threat? The purity of SANParks' motives is in question. The bottom line here is a highly lucrative deal. SANParks, associated with wild life parks, feels embarrassed at the presence of the dreaded " alien " foliage in its midst. In order to improve its image with the World Bank, and receive $45 million, it feels these trees must go. SANParks (and Table Mountain National Park) demonstrated its dedication to the afro-montane forests in Orange Kloof by allowing a team of road builders on site for four days, before responding with mock alarm. It is amazing how selective its vigilance is, especially when a single hiker, minus necessary entry permit, is intercepted immediately. Very much in question are SANParks executive salaries, from taxpayers' coffers, which allegedly exceed Thabo Mbeki's. http://allafrica.com/stories/200707021355.html Suriname: 21) Many would be hard pressed to find Suriname on a world map. Surely, the estimated 12,000 working in illegal, wildcat gold mining in the isolated Amazonian rainforest of the northern South American nation would probably prefer to keep it that way. However, anonymity became more difficult last month. Researchers from Conservation International put the country in the spotlight by presenting findings from a 2005 wildlife expedition and 2006 follow-up survey that underscored an incredible degree of biodiversity in Suriname's pristine hinterland. Highlights from the expedition include the discovery of a gorgeous, lavender-patterned frog that has never before been seen by scientists, as well as the rediscovery of the dwarf suckermouth catfish (Harttiella crassicauda). The catfish was previously thought to have been driven to extinction a half century ago by mercury contamination from local gold mining. All in all, the expedition documented 467 species, over twenty of which have been tagged as new species. It is believed that many other new species are still waiting to be found. According to Conservation International, Suriname and its neighboring countries in the Guyana Shield region of South America are home to the largest expanse of undisturbed tropical rainforest on Earth. The Guyana Shield also hosts rich mineral deposits. With the continued bull market in gold that has pushed prices beyond US$650 an ounce, there has been a proliferation of illegal mining in Suriname. Operating beyond the reach of government influence and regulation, the practices of these small-scale mining operations, " which include the liberal use of mercury for extraction and a legacy of voluminous tailings, " threaten to harm the delicate balance of this vulnerable ecosystem. http://www.ethicaltraveler.org/news_story.php?id=172 Brazil: 22) Two new studies in the Amazon rainforest show that plantation forests and second-growth forests have lower species counts for butterflies, reptiles, and amphibians than adjacent primary forest areas. The research has important implications for conservation of tropical biodiversity in a world where old-growth forest is increasingly replaced by secondary forests, industrial plantations, and agricultural landscapes. Both studies were conducted in the Jari River border region between the states of Pará and Amapá, an area of the Brazilian Amazon where large tracts of forest were cleared and converted for cellulose pulp production plantations in the 1960s. Today some of these plantations have been abandoned and secondary forest has subsequently regrown, while other plantations are still active. Surrounding these lands are undisturbed rainforests. The matrix of forest types serves as a prime area for studying differences in biodiversity between undisturbed, regenerating, and plantation forests. Overall, the findings from the two studies suggest that plantations and natural forest regeneration in abandoned lands may not " provide refuge for the many species that are currently threatened by deforestation, " wrote Gardner and colleagues. The results are important given that more than 15 million hectares of forest were destroyed each year during the 1990s, while secondary forests have replaced one-sixth of all tropical primary forests that were felled during that time. Meanwhile, tropical forest plantations expanded by almost 5-fold since 1980. http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0702-gardner.html Uruguay: 23) Uruguay can see its future taking shape in a huge grassy clearing along the river it shares with Argentina. With $1.2 billion in Finnish investment, a sprawling new mill will soon churn out a million tons of wood pulp a year, shipping it off as cellulose to be made into paper products around the world. Environmental objections to the plant have dominated international headlines with stunts like last year's crashing of a presidential summit in Europe by a bikini-clad Argentine beauty queen flashing a " No to paper plants " sign. Argentina's suit to stop construction is pending before the World Court at The Hague, and bridge protests over the Uruguay River have cost $400 million in lost trade, straining relations between the leftist governments in Montevideo and Buenos Aires. But Uruguayans shrug off the protests, hungry for economic ripple effects they hope will transform their mostly agricultural nation into a more industrial economy. " When I see those trucks go by, that's beautiful! " said mechanic Nestor Andrada, whose cinderblock repair shop on the outskirts of this once-bucolic town already has more business than he can handle. The Botnia pulp mill - built by the Finnish consortium Oy Metsa-Botnia AB and Kymmene Corp. - is the largest foreign investment ever in this small South American country. Once fully operational in later this year, it will turn thick, heavy logs of fast-growing eucalyptus trees from the Uruguayan river delta into so much wood pulp that overall Uruguayan exports should grow by 10 percent annually. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/03/ap3881709.html China: 24) An environmental group has accused the government of selling greenbelts in its land auction, while pointing to seven loopholes in land-selling policies as the main culprits behind Hong Kong's poor air quality. Members of Green Sense said Monday it has found three sites on the government's land sale application list, including two plots from Repulse Bay and one in Cheung Sha on Lantau Island, which are 80 to 95 percent covered with trees. Stanley Ng Wing-fai, a town planner from the Democratic Party, fears any triggering of the sites will mean the end of the trees. He described this as " complete negligence of the environment. " Ng added: " There's currently insufficient protection of our trees. The government will effectively be selling our precious forests instead of land. " Asked to elaborate, Ng said under the government scheme on Sites of Special Scientific Interest, or zones of conservation value, only 2 percent of trees are covered overall. He suggested the government introduce a tree preservation order, a law used in the United Kingdom to make it a criminal offense to cut down or wilfully damage trees without permission. A Lands Department spokeswoman said a study has already been conducted at the three sites and not found trees worthy of preservation. " Currently, there is a preservation clause that demands developers submit proposals to the head of the Lands Department before felling any trees, " she said. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11 & art_id=48170 & sid=1431767\ 8 & con_type=1 Cambodia: 25) For more than two years now bulldozers and trucks have criss-crossed the plateau near the Vietnamese border, and 8,000 workers have cleared forests, moved earth and blasted rock to build the country's largest infrastructure project. Now the " NT2 " is taking shape, and by late next year, engineers say, its reservoir will have flooded 450 square kilometres (175 square miles) of land that has been home to 6,200 people living in 17 villages. To its proponents, the 1,075-megawatt dam will kickstart badly needed economic development in the landlocked Southeast Asian country of six million people, most of whom are farmers living on less than two dollars a day. When it starts operating in December 2009, some 95 percent of the power will be sold to Thailand, earning Laos revenues estimated at almost two billion dollars over 25 years, which the communist country has pledged to spend on poverty reduction. After that, the dam, a project co-managed by Electricite de France and several Thai companies, will be handed to Laos and will keep generating electricity. To its critics, NT2 threatens to become yet another dam disaster, destroying forests and agricultural lands and affecting two tributaries of the Mekong along with the lives of tens of thousands of people who live in their catchment areas. A panel of experts warned in February that, while construction was on schedule, the resettlement, agricultural and compensation programmes had fallen behind, with only one dry season left before the dam area is to be flooded. " The main current constraint is the delayed ability of the intended livelihood system to provide sufficient food and income prior to 2009 and possibly beyond that date, " they said. The Nam Theun 2 Power Company (NTPC) is building larger houses, schools and clinics for displaced villagers, but it concedes that hundreds of families still lack new homes in the current rainy season, blaming timber shortages. http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=79024 Vietnam: 26) According to the FAO and UNESCO, Viet Nam has around 462,000ha of sandy coastal land (about 1.4 per cent of total natural land area), of which some 88,000ha was covered by shifting sand dunes and emerging sand hills. Measures were being taken to rehabilitate degraded land and prevent salination and acidification; stave off shifting of sands along the central coast; strengthen sustainable water resources management; and set up early warning systems to mitigate drought impacts, Phat said. Deterioration of forest resources was also of great concern, he added. " Deforestation is a major cause of desertification, environment degradation and higher intensity floods and droughts, " said Phat. In response, Phat said, the Government has directed efforts to preventing deforestation and encouraging sustainable forestry and forest management practices. Phat said these efforts needed to be incorporated into a comprehensive national action programme that includes rural proverty reduction. http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=05ECO020707 Philippines: 27) It is immeasurably small compared to the Amazon behemoth of Brazil. It is even diminutive compared to the mountain ranges of Sierra Madre. But this one is no ordinary rainforest. It is an impressive, triangular, and multi-dimensional chain of mountains sitting in an exotic paradise called Sibuyan, one of the islands that comprise the province of Romblon. Mt. Guiting-Guiting is unique for its precipitous, and serrated terrains which render it almost impervious to hikers and loggers alike. Home to the inestimable diversity of fauna and flora, trees, birds, insects, and animals, it is acknowledged as the densest rainforest in the world. No less than 1,551 hardwood trees are contained in one hectare. This rainforest has been declared Natural Park in 1996 by President Ramos. It is even considered one of the eight wonders of this benighted archipelago. Mountain climbers who scale the heights of Mt. Guiting-Guiting are awed by the wild beauty of orchids, the variety of multihued birds, and the intimidating presence of enormous trees—like the Hopea fosworthyi (Dalingdingan) trees—whose girth cannot be circumscribed by the combined length of the puny arms of Romblon's congressman, governor, and vice-governor. The smallest bats in the world—Sibuyan Pygmy Fruitbats—are found in the caves of the rainforest. Some years back, one Swiss entomologist was astonished to discover six previously unknown tropical insects. Such is the grandeur of Mt. Guiting-Guiting that when one contemplates its awesome existence, one cannot but feel a sense of the sublime and the sacred. Viewed from afar in the afterglow, it is like a serene, slumbering Colossus clothed with blue mist and crowned with clouds. In the tranquil moments of the evening, the majestic form of Mt. Guiting–Guiting is silhouetted by the glow of the full moon against the silverly surface of the sea. http://www.mb.com.ph/TOUR2007070296924.html Malaysia: 28) Noting that Malaysia has often been unfairly associated with illegal logging in the timber industry, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said: " We will not tolerate anyone involved in illegal logging. We will not forgive these people. " He said he would remind the state governments the importance of enforcing the law against illegal loggers. " The state governments must understand the policy (on forestry and logging) formulated by the federal government. At the next meeting of Mentris Besar, I'll stress the need for stricter enforcement of these laws, " he said after opening the Malaysian International Commodity Conference and Showcase here. On measures to protect the forest and natural resources, he said that in areas where logging was allowed, it should not be excessive but there should be sustainable extraction of timber. Malaysia, he said, had undertaken steps to protect the natural resources for the future generation including with the implementation of the Malaysia Timber Certification scheme to certified that timber produced in Malaysia was the result of sustainable development. " There were claims that orang utans were being killed during land clearing. We are very concerned about these campaigns. I want to put on record that we love our forests and wildlife. " This country is very rich in bio-diversity and we are not going to destroy them because there is a realisation that the forest can provide us with a lot of good things, " he said. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/4/nation/18209605 & sec=nation Indonesia: 29) Palm oil producer Wilmar International has been accused by an environmental group of illegally logging Indonesian forests, setting them on fire and violating the rights of local communities in the country. Singapore-listed Wilmar expected to be the world's largest palm biodiesel manufacturer after approval of a $4.3 billion acquisition, denied the allegations by Friends of the Earth Netherlands. Wilmar said in a statement on Tuesday it strictly adhered to a " zero burning policy " and did not engage in any logging activities. " We will only develop plantations on land, which is approved by the government for the cultivation of oil palms, " it said. The Friends of the Earth report accused the company of violating an Indonesian law requiring approval of an Environmental Impact Assessment before palm oil development starts, and said it was clearing forest beyond its allocated borders. " Forests are being cut and burnt down illegally, Indonesian laws are being broken and local people are suffering, " Paul de Clerck, corporates campaigner at Friends of the Earth International, said in a statement. The report highlighted the danger of the European Union's recent commitment to replace 10 percent of its transport fuel market with biofuels by 2020. " If the European Union continues to promote palm oil imports in order to meet its recently-adopted 10 percent biofuels target, this will simply aggravate the severe environmental and social impacts in countries like Indonesia. " Indonesia, the world's second largest palm oil producer, already has around 5 million hectares of land planted with oil palm and the government aims to develop between 2-3 million hectares more of oil plantations nationwide by 2010. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SIN344348.htm 30) The United States has agreed to include Indonesia in a debt-for-nature swap that will involve US$19.6 million of the country's debt to the U.S. being used to finance tropical forest conservation programs. The U.S. Embassy here said in a statement that under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA), a portion of Indonesia's debt could be reduced and re-directed to finance conservation of the country's tropical forest, considered as one of the world's largest and most diverse. " The U.S. Treasury Department will provide a provisional allocation of $19.6 million for the treatment of eligible debt. Initial discussions toward an agreement are expected to begin in the coming weeks, " the embassy said. It added that once concluded, the swap package for Indonesia would be one of the largest under the TFCA. Indonesian Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban welcomed the U.S. announcement as a beginning of a bold measure to conserve the country's forest. http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20070704.B09 & irec=8 31) Nearly 150 hot spots have appeared on Indonesia's Sumatra island over the past three days, signalling the start of the annual dry-season forest fires, a Forestry Ministry official said on Monday. The figure is way below the thousands of hot spots recorded at this point in 2006, which contributed to the spread of haze across most of Southeast Asia, Israr Albar, the forest fires surveillance unit head, told Reuters. In the past, Indonesia's neighbours have grown increasingly frustrated by the annual fires, most of which are deliberately lit by farmers or by timber and palm oil plantation companies to clear land for cultivation. Smoke from the fires affected much of Southeast Asia for months in 2006, an unpleasant reminder of the choking smog that hit the region in 1997-98. " We detected an increasing number of hot spots at the end of June and the first day of July, " Albar said. " Northern Sumatra is particularly a concern because the number shot from 9 to 39 spots in only 24 hours. " Acording to a surveillance unit report based on recent satellite images, Sumatra's Riau province, just south of the Malaysian peninsula, had the highest number with nearly 100 hot spots in the last week of June. An Indonesian weather agency official said fewer forest fires were expected this year because the dry season was unlikely to be extreme and most parts of Indonesia would experience occasional heavy rainfall. http://in.today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews & storyID=2007-07\ -02T125554Z_01_ NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_India-282767-1.xml Australia: 32) The Wilderness Society won't be changing its tactics in the battle over Tasmania's forests, despite union concerns over what it calls threats to the industry. The CFMEU says it's fed up with constant attacks, and is planning to fight back. The union will consult members across the state to gain support for a stop work meeting. The State Secretary Scott McLean says the mass meeting will shut down the forests and wood products industry to consider a proposed course of action. " Timber workers have been known to come out fighting so we'll see what comes of that " . But the Wilderness Society's Vica Bailey says the problem is not environmentalists, but continued logging of old growth and world heritage value forests. " While the Tasmanian industry continues with these archaic practices they will be subject to criticism. " Mr Bailey has urged the union to take up its concerns with the Government. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/03/1968906.htm?section=business 33) Hundreds of Australian farmers have begun cutting down protected trees on their properties to protest against strict land-clearing laws designed to help the country curb its rising greenhouse gas emissions. Fed up with government restrictions on the use of their land, farmers from across the country this week began a civil disobedience campaign by felling a tree on each property and vowing to cut down more if restrictions were not relaxed. " How would you feel if the government regulated to turn the third and fourth bedrooms ... into accommodation for homeless people, they didn't pay you any compensation for doing so, for having the use of those two bedrooms, " Cobar farmer Alistair McRoberts told Australian radio on Tuesday. McRoberts said a similar scenario was occurring for farmers, who were unable to use their land in an economically viable way because of strict landclearing laws aimed at preserving forests to soak up climate-changing carbon dioxide. " You still pay the mortgage, you still pay the rent, but that's just bad luck, " he said. We are just being hoodwinked to the highest order by the government and we need to talk about it. " Australia has the world's highest per-capita greenhouse gas emissions and has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, criticizing climate-change pact as too Europe-centric. Prime Minister John Howard has called for a " New Kyoto " that will not harm the country's oil, coal and gas exports and bring in developing nations, such as India and China. http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=79171 34) Top Japanese paper company Nippon is not only driving the destruction of Tasmania's ancient forests by buying old growth wood from logging giant Gunns Limited -- they're also misinforming the public about it. By telling customers that all Tasmanian old growth forests are already protected (which is NOT true), Nippon -- by far Gunns' biggest buyer -- is avoiding the public outcry that might force them to stop buying old growth trees from Gunns. This week is Nippon's annual meeting: let's send a strong message to them that it is time to stop supporting the destruction of Tasmania's ancient forests! Earlier this month, I joined other RAN staff in Tokyo, Japan, to raise awareness about the plight of Tasmania's forests and to put pressure on the Japanese paper companies that are supporting the destruction through their massive purchases from Gunns. While some companies are making progress, Nippon Paper has done nothing. My trip to Japan was just the most recent effort RAN has made to try to meet with Nippon. For more than a year, the company has avoided meetings with RAN and stalled any real reforms. Moreover, Nippon has inaccurately told its customers that all old growth forests are already protected in Tasmania and that Gunns' logging meets FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) standards. This week, we're trying to set the story straight, but we need your help. RAN is releasing a new report that exposes the connection between the Japanese paper industry and Tasmanian forest destruction.But information is not enough if it is not accompanied by action. We need your help to put public pressure on Nippon to stop buying old growth wood from Gunns. Nippon is Gunns' top customer -- so if our campaign motivates them to stop buying old growth, it will be a huge step toward protecting these forests. Please take action by clicking here: http://www.treesnotgunns.org World-wide: 35) The next time you Eat PB & J you're helping the environment and making a difference in animal welfare. You don't have to change your whole diet to change the world. Just start with lunch. A PB & J will slow global warming Next time you have one you'll reduce your carbon footprint by saving the equivalent of 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over an average animal-based lunch like a hamburger, a tuna sandwich, grilled cheese, or chicken nuggets. A PB & J will also save water. That's about 280 gallons of water over the hamburger. To put this in perspective, three PB & Js a month instead of hamburgers will save about as much water as switching to a low-flow showerhead. A PB & J will save land Have a PB & J and save 12 to 50 square feet of land from deforestation, over-grazing, and pesticide and fertilizer pollution. there's the added benefit of not killing them. It takes about 16 PB & J sandwiches to save a chicken's life! http://www.pbjcampaign.org/ 36) " There is no such thing as nature untainted by people, " writes Peter Kareiva, chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy, a US-based non-profit group. " Facing this reality should change the scientific focus of environmental science. " As of 1995, only 17 percent of the world's land area remained truly wild -- with no human populations, crops, road access or night-time light detectable by satellite, the authors reported. Half of the world's surface area is used for crops or grazing; more than half of all forests have been lost to land conversion; the largest land mammals on several continents have been eliminated; shipping lanes crisscross the oceans, according to the paper. In Europe, 22,000 kilometers of coastline are paved. Due to extensive damming, nearly six times as much water is held in artificial storage worldwide as is free-flowing, according to the article. Beyond the obvious signs of human influence, other, more subtle changes are evident everywhere, Kareiva said. Natural selection has been supplanted by human selection. " In the modern world, wilderness is more commonly a management and regulatory designation than truly a system without a human imprint, " Kareiva wrote. This trend will only accelerate with human population growth, he said. In light of this, conservationists need to look more closely at trade-offs among ecosystem services, such as increased food production leading to overuse of antibiotics in animals, " so that nature and people simultaneously thrive, " the authors concluded. http://uk.news./afp/20070628/tsc-us-conservation-society-e123fef.html 37) When the world's leading science magazine, Nature, carried an article arguing that the new zeal for market-oriented conservation was selling the environment short, it caused a flap as loud as a flock of hornbills in a Borneo rainforest. Author Douglas McCauley of Stanford University was responding to the growing trend among groups such as the World Conservation Union and Conservation International of putting a price on the services that nature provides and seeking market-based solutions to preserve them. " The underlying assumption is that if scientists can identify ecosystem services, quantify their economic value, and ultimately bring conservation more in synchrony with market ideologies, " said McCauley, " then the decision-makers will recognise the folly of environmental destruction and work to safeguard nature. " That, he argued, sent a dangerous message that nature is only worth conserving where it can be shown to be profitable – and that the rest is without value. The ink spilt in the next issue's letters column ran to many times the original article – a measure of the sensitivity of the nerve he had hit. At the heart of the debate is a growing awareness of the vital role played by forests in the fight against climate change. Curbing deforestation, said the Stern report, is a " highly cost-effective way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions " . Recent estimates from economists suggest the value of greenhouse gas storage in some forests could be as high as $2,200 per hectare and the aesthetic value of intact coral reefs may be worth $2 billion to the coral-based tourism industry. So is McCauley right? Are the pitfalls of auctioning off the world's natural resources too great? Or must we commodify nature in order to save her? The concept of putting a price on nature's head has been around for a while, but burst into popularity ten years ago. That was when a group of ecologists and economists came up with the electrifying estimate that nature's 'services' to the planet – the life support system provided by wetlands, forests, grasslands and oceans – amounted to $33 trillion a year. That's almost twice the GDP of all the countries in the world combined. http://www.greenfutures.org.uk/features/howmuchdwantforest_page2926.aspx 38) A new report by UK-based NGO Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) cautions that the World Bank's proposed 'avoided deforestation' model has been developed without meaningful engagement with southern NGOs, indigenous peoples or southern governments. Despite references to " community forest management " , it may result in the perpetuation of discredited Bank models of forest " development " , such as large-scale plantation forestry (see Update 46). It would also have important implications for forest management, particularly for the livelihoods and cultures of millions of indigenous people and other forest-dependent communities. In exploring World Bank proposals, which include the Global Forest Alliance and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, FPP fears that rapid expansion of AD schemes risks: 1) support for forest conservation models which lead to evictions and expropriation; 2) unjust targeting of indigenous and marginal peoples as the drivers of deforestation; 3) violations of customary land and territorial rights; and 4) increasing inequality and potential conflict between recipients and non-recipients of AD funds. http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/art.shtml?x=554258 39) Over 50 Indigenous Peoples Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations involved in meetings surrounding the Convention on Biological Diversity, presented an open letter today recommending a ban on Genetically Modified trees on the basis of their potential impacts on forest biological diversity. They expressed their concern that the current biofuels boom and the rush for so-called second generation biofuels will lead to dangerous experiments with these trees. The document was presented to delegates attending the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA). SBSTTA is a subsidiary body of the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and advises the CBD on scientific and technical issues. The letter, which was circulated by World Rainforest Movement, Global Justice Ecology Project and Global Forest Coalition, insisted on compliance by all countries with the precautionary approach in regard to GM trees, as agreed upon at the CBD's 8th Conference of the Parties last year in Curitiba, Brazil. Trees are being engineered with unnatural traits such as the ability to kill insects, or have reduced lignin. Lignin is the substance in a tree that makes it strong and protects it from disease, fungus, wind and other environmental stresses. The escape of these traits into forests via seed or pollen threatens to contaminate forests with these traits, which could disrupt forest ecosystems, damage biodiversity and wildlife, as well as potentially harming the health of nearby communities. Trees can spread seeds and pollen for hundreds of kilometers. Ironically, though GE trees threaten to worsen global warming by damaging the ability of natural forests to store carbon, companies propose to develop GE tree plantations as a source for biofuels. World Rainforest Movement's Ana Filippini said, " Countries are dangerously ignoring the precautionary approach as research in GM trees is currently being carried out in at least the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States. 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