Guest guest Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Today for you 35 new articles about earth's trees! (316th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com To Donate: Click Paypal link in the upper left corner of: http://www.peacefromtrees.org --Brazil: 1) logging crackdown also affects the poorest, 2) Railroad less damaging than a road, 3) World's largest iron ore miner, 4) Monsanto's GM Guardian® corn --Peru: 5) How Achuar tribe has succeeded --Myanmar: 6) A Kachin peace group begins logging despitelocal pleas to stop --Bangladesh: 7) Demands for protection of bio-diversity of Lawachhara forests --China: 8) $986 million, 3-year initiative to protect biodiversity in Kunming --Taiwan: 9) Tree naming offends indigenous people --India: 10) Saving trees in the Aravalli hills of Rajasthan --Cambodia: 11) Mainland southeast asia's last remaining tracts of virgin jungle --Singapore: 12) With biodiversity gone macaques become pests --North Korea: 13) South Koreans to cross border and plant trees --South Korea: 14) More on treeplanting in North Korea --Vietnam: 15) About 65,000 ha of forest will be grown --Philippines: 16) Efforts to save Philippine eagles --New Zealand: 17) Feed Giraffes and get your trees pruned at the same time, 18) Breaking in and destroying GE trees, --Solomon Islands: 19) New replanting program --Malaysia: 20) Going high-tech in enforcement of encroachment and illegal logging --Indonesia: 21) New illegal logging road in Riau Province by APP to off-gas world's deepest peat soils, 22) ADM forest destroyers protested, 23) IP to invest $4 billion in deforestation, 24) Merrill Lynch to protect 750,000 hectares, --Australia: 25) People in platforms shut down logging in Bendoc, 26) Homeowners who cleared trees for a better view get blight instead 27) Giant Bats destroying ancient trees, 28) Enviros warned of building a road near Tarkine wilderness where fire started, 29) Two books with opposing views, 30) Logger caused fires, 31) Less forest burned in Tarkine than first thought, --Tropical Forests: 32) Tropical dry forests tend to get overlooked --World-wide: 33) Lack of trees and need for firewood, 34) The bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, 35) Sea levels would be 30cm higher if not for logging and damming, Brazil: 1) Natos, 18, stood motionless in the door of her slat-board house here last week, watching a line of trucks rumble to a stop on the isolated dirt road out front. Dozens of federal police spilled out, protected by national guardsmen bearing machine guns. Soon, environmental regulators armed with metal poles began destroying her livelihood: seven brick ovens used to bake wood into charcoal. " These ovens are illegal, so we have to do it, " Juner Caldeira Barbosa, a federal police commander, informed Natos. About 35 percent of all logging here in the state of Para feeds charcoal ovens. That charcoal is purchased by companies that resell it for use in steel production. The two biggest importers of that charcoal are China and the United States, according to environmental officials here. After Natos' ovens collapsed, police tried to comfort her. It didn't work. She said her husband was away for the day in the city, her eyes welling up as she thought of his return. The ovens, she explained, cost $300 each to make. The police also confiscated her husband's chain saw. " This is going to be a problem, " she said, wiping away a tear. " I have no idea what we are going to do. This is how we survive. " They live miles from their nearest neighbor, so they would likely have to move to find new work that is both legally sanctioned and economically viable. Or they could wait a few weeks until the police and regulators shift their focus elsewhere and rebuild the ovens. Just before the police and inspectors drove away, one of the environmental agents told Natos that she would be fined about $600 for each oven she tried to rebuild. About 25 sawmills operate near Tailandia, and inspectors in recent weeks have found that most — in one way or another — violate the law. Since Feb. 25, the inspectors have levied more than $2 million in fines here, confiscated more than 8,000 cubic meters of illegal timber and destroyed more than 800 unlicensed charcoal-producing ovens. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/5639505.html 2) The Institute for Conservation and Sustainable Development of Amazonas (IDESAM), together with the state of Amazonas, have teamed up to host a debate on the paving of BR-319, a highway that links the capital cities of Manaus and Porto-Velho, but is presently impassable. Environmentalists say that paving the road could increase deforestation pressures in Amazonas, a state where 98 percent of the forest is still intact. Instead, IDESAM and Amazon propose building a railway system between the cities. " Building a railway system would have considerably less impact, avoiding a great deal of the forest loss predicted for the future, while still achieving the economic benefits associated with improving the transportation infrastructure within the Brazilian Amazon, " said IDESAM in a statement. The railroad would facilitate the transport of goods from Manaus, a major manufacturing center, to the rest of Brazil. At the same time a railway could avoid the deforestation associated with the establishment and improvement of road networks. Settlers, land speculators and developers often use roads to penetrate previously inaccessible forest areas: data from Brazil's Ministry of the Environment show that from the 1970s to the end of the 1990s, approximately 75 percent of the deforestation in the Amazon occurred near paved roads. Still, there is intense pressure from development interests to pave the BR-319. Through the Avança Brasil program, Brazil has proposed $43 billion in infrastructure improvement and expansion projects in the region through the year 2020. Improved infrastructure can improve the economic viability of logging, cattle ranching, and agricultural products like soybeans and sugar cane. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0324-amazon.html 3) Vale, the world's largest iron ore miner moves over a million tons of earth every day in Carajas, Brazil. They are the biggest investor in the Amazon region and have a dismal track record with the area. Expanding their company within the area requires the destruction of the fragile Amazon ecosystem. They are now trying to help the ecosystem as much as possible by recycling water used for minerals, and replanting the seeds of natural rainforest trees to redevelop the land where they have mined. Vale can only protect the areas that they " own, " however some see these acts as a way to influence other companies to do the same or greater good to lessen the damage and protect this precious area. http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/mar2008/db20080311_5 4) On March 7 several hundred people occupied a research site of the U.S.-based agricultural biotechnology giant Monsanto in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, and destroyed the greenhouse and experimental plots of genetically-modified (GM) corn. Participants in the act, members of the international farmers' organization La Vìa Campesina, stated in a note that the act was to protest the Brazilian government's decision in February to legalize Monsanto's GM Guardian® corn, which was recently banned in France, Austria, and Hungary due to risks to the environment and human health. Isabella Kenfield is an analyst with the CIP Americas Program www.americaspolicy.org. She is currently an associate at the Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA, www.globalalternatives.org in Berkeley, California and consultant with Food First / Institute for Food & Development Policy www.foodfirst.org In Oakland http://www.americaspolicy.org/ - http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5070 Peru: 5) The story of the Achuar tribe living in the Amazon rainforest of north-eastern Peru is one of them. The lawsuit alleges Occidental Petroleum ignored industry standards and employed out-of-date practices, dumping around 9bn barrels of toxic waste water into streams and rivers over 30 years. After Occidental left, its operations were taken over by Pluspetrol. Pluspetrol agreed to change practices in late 2006 when the Achuar, after repeated attempts to negotiate, took direct action. Many of the older Achuar men once fought in tribal wars with their neighbours, now they finally had the chance to hit their elusive new enemies where it hurt - in their pockets. Peacefully, yet armed with shotguns and spears, they occupied and held the Amazon oil wells in October 2006. The government and the company, losing millions of dollars a day, were forced to come to the negotiating table. The Achuar came away with a commitment from Pluspetrol to reduce contamination and to pay millions of dollars to clean up and establish a 10-year health plan. It was thanks to help from outside but also a new generation of indigenous leaders who are learning how to protect their rights in the modern world. Last year, they filed a class action lawsuit against oil giant Occidental Petroleum, in Los Angeles. Now they are awaiting a judge's decision on whether the case can proceed in the US or will be sent back to Peru, where it stands little chance of coming to court. The Achuar people, who have lived for thousands of years in the rainforest, allege that the company contaminated their territory during more than 30 years of oil drilling, making their people sick, even causing some to die, and damaging their land and livelihoods beyond repair. Occidental Petroleum, which pulled out of Peru eight years ago, denies liability in the case. Almost three-quarters of the Peruvian Amazon is leased for oil exploration and extraction. High global demand and the price of oil is also making companies look at the Peruvian Amazon as an attractive prospect, but is it sustainable? " All of this petroleum exploration in the Amazon is a grand experiment, " says Bill Powers of E-Tech, a not-for-profit engineering firm. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7306639.stm Myanmar: 6) Massive deforestation in Kachin State is something people are being forced to live with. For instance a Kachin peace group, the Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group (LAWPG) in the State in Northern Burma has begun logging operations in a forest near a village despite pleas by locals to stop felling of trees, said locals. Hard and soft wood logging has been going on for over a month at the Ugang Bum (Ugang Mountain) near a Kachin village called Nawnghkying along the riverbank of the Mali Hka (Irrawaddy River) in Waingmaw Township, opposite Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, a villager told KNG. " I see several Chinese who have got logging permits from LAWPG cutting trees with chainsaws. They have also been constructing logging roads in Ugang Bum, " a villager said. The village is being persuaded to take a commission of Chinese Yuan 50 per Lifang (1 ton = 1.3 Lifang) of wood and they are verbally told to be silent about it by leaders of LAWPG, added villagers. But most villagers have rejected the offer because they are farmers and rely on water flowing down from several small streams in the Ugang Bum for growing rice in the hundreds of acres of paddy-fields near the village, a villager said. Some of the mountain streams have already dried up because of the direct impact of rampant logging in the forests around the village by the LAWPG, villagers said. At the moment, villagers are extremely worried about logging in the Ugang Bum because once the streams dry up the farmers cannot grow rice in their paddy-field without water. Nawnghkying village has over 400 families and over 3,000 people. The village has come under development and management of LAWPG as of 2004 after being authorized by Burma's ruling junta through the offices of Commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint of Kachin State. Currently in Kachin State, they are about to end both hardwood and softwood logging fields, and the spectre of deforestation hangs over entire Kachin State, said local loggers. http://myamarnews.blogspot.com/2008/03/kachin-peace-group-resumes-logging.html Bangladesh: 7) Students and teachers of Dhaka University's Mass Communication and Journalism (MCJ) Department demanded steps for protection of bio-diversity of Lawachhara forests in Srimongal. To press for their demand, the students and teachers of the department formed a human chain as they had been in Srimongal for a picnic Friday. Several hundred present and former students, and teachers, along with local elite and general people joined the human chain. Addressing a gathering after the human chain, Prof Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique, a teacher of the department, said local people are very much concerned about a seismic survey to be conducted through the forests. " Local people have told us that they would lose their forests, homes and wildlife if the seismic survey is conducted. The bio-diversity of the forests will also be at stake if any such survey is conducted, " he said. Dr Arefin said the MCJ department calls upon the government, UN organizations and other development agencies to keep in mind the issue of bio-diversity and the interests of the local people before taking any such project. Chairman of the MCJ department Prof Sheikh Abdus Salam also addressed the gathering. He said sustainable development is not possible by destroying forests and wildlife. " Unplanned industrialisation and random use of resources cannot ensure development of the country. " " I, on behalf of my department, request the government and authorities concerned not to do anything that might cause harm to the forest, " he said. The Lawachhara forest in the Srimangal district, 220 km (130 miles) off capital Dhaka, has some 50 species of flora and fauna, including hillock gibbons, Boars, deer and snakes and wild poultry. http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/03/23/news0852.htm China: 8) Conservation got a boost at a conference in Kunming last month and on the sidelines of a major political gathering in Beijing last week, when Yunnan Governor Qin Guangrong unveiled a $986 million, 3-year initiative to protect biodiversity in the province's northwest. But also last month, according to news accounts, work quietly commenced on a controversial series of hydroelectric dams on the Nu River. The ecological situation may be even more precarious in southern Yunnan's Xishuangbanna region. There, two-thirds of a unique rainforest has been lost over the past 30 years, largely to rubber plantations, two new studies report. Yet last week, Xishuangbanna's top official vowed to expand his region's rubber industry. To ecologists, the northwest initiative may be the bright spot in an otherwise grim picture: It would protect biodiversity in an 80,000-square-kilometer area fed by three rivers—Nu (Salween), Lancang (Mekong), and Jinsha—that wend through deep gorges, creating a patchwork of ecosystems. The Three Parallel Rivers area amounts to 1% of China's territory but has a third of the country's native species, including three kinds of gibbons found nowhere else in the world. Although the region boasts three national nature reserves, logging on unprotected land is rampant. Although details are sketchy, the biodiversity initiative plans to expand nature reserves in northwestern Yunnan, reforest degraded land, and fund research on energy and environmental protection. It will also provide unspecified compensation to villagers and businesses affected by natural-resource extraction. Some observers speculate that the Yunnan initiative is designed to appease critics of the Nu River hydropower project. In 2003, a consortium led by China Huadian Corp., a holding company that manages several regional utilities, proposed erecting 13 dams on the Nu with a combined capacity of 20,000 megawatts; the current plan is not publicly available. Tens of thousands of people would be relocated. Four years ago, in a decree that delighted conservationists, Premier Wen Jiabao suspended the dam project pending an environmental review. The review was carried out by a research arm of China Guodian Corp., another power holding company. But the report is classified as a state secret. In southern Yunnan, meanwhile, a unique tropical seasonal rainforest is under siege. The Xishuangbanna region—three counties that border Myanmar and Laos—is a few degrees cooler and has less rainfall, on average, than Southeast Asia. A dense fog during the dry season keeps vulnerable dipterocarps and other trees on life support. SCIENCE 21 MARCH 2008 VOL 319 Taiwan: 9) The names of Chinese historical figures Qin Shi Huang, Wu Zetian and Confucius should not be used as names for giant trees in the traditional domain of the Atayals, Aborigines said. Many of the near 100 giant trees, most of which are more than 400 years old, in Makau Ecological Park in Ilan County were named after the figures corresponding to the age of each tree. The trees -- most of which are hinoki and Japanese cypress -- received their names in the 1980s so that people could more easily identify them, a Veterans Affairs Commission official surnamed Hu told the Taipei Times. " We picked the names because most people have learned about these figures at school and are familiar with the names, " he said. The commission is in charge of the ecological park. However some people have questioned the naming scheme. " We should respect the naming rights of Aborigines, which include the rights to individual, tribal, or place names, " said Shih Cheng-feng, dean of the College of Indigenous Studies at National Dong Hwa University. " Based on the same principle, we should ask them how they would like to name the trees, not just name the trees according to our own preference, " Shih said. Omi Wilang, an Aboriginal rights activist, called the names " nonsense. " " We Atayals have a very strict naming scheme -- and we simply don't give names to trees or stones, " he said. " It's nonsense that these trees have been named, especially after Chinese historical figures after standing here for thousands of years, " Omi said. He said the names disrespected the Atayals' views on nature. Hu said the commission was considering changing the names of the giant trees, " but so far, we have made no decision. " http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/03/25/2003407000 India: 10) Bhoanta-Kolyala, a small pastoral community set in the Aravalli hills of Rajasthan, has been working together to conserve its surrounding forest cover and water resources for the past twenty years. With the help of the NGO Tarun Bharat Sangh, Bhoanta-Kolyala formed a village governing body, termed a gram sabha, to create rules on how to preserve the village's natural resources as well as to serve as a forum for village discussions. Through these gram sabha meetings, Bhoanta-Kolyala was one of the first villages in the region to institute a set of laws to preserve its natural resources. For one, the village has prohibited the cutting of any trees that fall within its jurisdiction; fines ranging from 101 INR to 1500 INR, depending on the frequency and level of lopping, are charged to anyone who is caught chopping down trees. Second, villagers from Bhoanta-Kolyala are only allowed to use and remove dry branches and leaves that have fallen to the ground; they are not permitted to cut any leaves or timber for their daily livelihood needs. Thanks to these restrictions, most people in the village agree that the forests have significantly improved in quality over time. Instead of an almost barren landscape with a sprinkling of trees, Bhoanta-Kolyala has transformed its land into a healthy forest that provides enough dry wood and leaves for all of its citizens' livelihood requirements. In addition, with help from Tarun Bharat Sangh, Bhoanta-Kolyala has built multiple dams and wells, which provide an abundant supply of water for both household needs and crop irrigation. http://whatswiththeclimate.org/about/ Cambodia: 11) Chay Areng River - Along the Chay Areng valley in Cambodia's remote Cardamom mountains, children still scamper barefoot through one of mainland southeast Asia's last remaining tracts of virgin jungle. If they take the same paths in a few years, they will probably have to be swimming. Faced with a rapidly growing but power-starved economy, Prime Minister Hun Sen has decided the rivers flowing from one of the few elevated spots in a relentlessly flat country should become its battery pack. With this in mind, in the last two years he has agreed to at least four Chinese-funded hydropower projects as part of a $3 billion scheme to boost output from a measly 300 MW today to 1,000 MW in a decade, enough to power a small city. The indigenous communities who have lived off the forests in the Cardamoms since the dawn of time appear to be the ones who will be paying the biggest price. " We have been living here without a dam for many generations. We don't want to see our ancestral lands stolen, " said 78-year-old Sok Nuon, lighting a fire inside her wooden hut nestled in among the trees near the Chay Areng river. " I do not want to move as it takes years for fruit trees to produce crops. By then, I'll be dead, " she said. " Poorly conceived and developed hydro-power projects could needlessly and irreparably damage Cambodia's river system with serious consequences, " said Carl Middleton of the U.S.-based International Rivers Network. in Phnom Penh denied Beijing was taking any short-cuts in dam construction in Cambodia -- part of a massive aid package designed to ensure a compliant friend in the region. Environmentalists who have conducted their own studies say the dam's lake will cover 110 sq km (42 sq miles) and displace thousands of indigenous people in nine villages. More than 200 animal species, including elephants, sun bears, leopards and the endangered Siamese crocodile, would be affected upstream, said Sam Chanthy, head of the NGO Forum, a foreign-funded non-governmental organization in Phnom Penh. Downstream, the delicate ecosystem of the flooded forest, home to some of the world's rarest turtle species as well as hundreds of types of migratory fish, would also be hit by disruptions to water flow, he said. " It won't take long for these invaluable assets to disappear when the dam is built, " said Eng Polo, of wildlife group Conservation International. http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKBKK1675520080326?pageNumber=2 & \ virtualBrandChan nel=0 Singapore: 12) I came to learn about a small population of long-tailed macaques that live in the few forest patches that remain on this once lushly forested island. The Victorian naturalist and co-discoverer of the theory of evolution Alfred Russel Wallace once said that Singapore was one of the most species-rich locations in Southeast Asia. Today, Singapore's rainforests are nearly gone and there's a new forest canopy of concrete, glass and steel. This human jungle has sprawled all over the small island, bio-diversity has been replaced with market diversity, and the space for one of our simian cousins, the long-tailed macaque, is dwindling. That scarcity of space has sparked conflict between humans and macaques. And the humans are 'hitting back' in response to macaque food raids. Recently, a few residents near Bukit Timah decided to catch macaques on their own and, according to The New Paper, the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority provided them with a trap. The trappers succeeded: They captured a baby macaque! Naturally, the other macaques got mad and the humans became hysterical. This agitated the macaques even more and a simian rumble ensued. Media reports of the event contained several alleged facts that struck me - a primatologist who has studied the long-tailed macaque for 10 years - as odd. First, the macaques were said to have bared their teeth in a sign of aggression. But this display is known as the 'fear grin'. Macaques don't display such a grin when they are about to attack; they display it when they are surrendering. The grin is similar to the fake smiles that humans show sometimes, assuring their superiors they know their place. Also odd was the report of a fear-grinning macaque chasing humans into their bedroom. Macaques just don't run full speed into unfamiliar places unless forced. Finally, the reports claimed the macaques were howling. Macaques don't howl. They grunt, scream and bark but they don't howl. The media reports would seem to have been exaggerated. They probably reflected how 'terrorised' people perceived things rather than reality. Moreover, it is altogether likely that humans helped provoke the simian riot by acting inappropriately in a dangerous situation. First rule when faced with a dangerous macaque situation: Remain calm. The more emotional and distraught one becomes, the more agitated macaques get. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/Review/Others/STIStory_220178.html North Korea: 13) More than 1,000 South Koreans will visit North Korea to plant trees to help stop deforestation. The visits will start this weekend and continue through next month. The Onnuri Community Church in Yongsan, Seoul said yesterday that it has reached an agreement with North Korea to allow 500 South Koreans, including church members, celebrities, students and business-people, to visit Kaesong on April 5 to plant 16,000 fruit trees. The participants will leave Seoul at 6 a.m., plant trees at a park in Kaesong and return to Seoul in the evening. Around 270 members of Peace Forest, a South Korean civic group, will visit Mount Kumgang on Saturday and Sunday to plant trees. About 160 members of the Salvation Army Korea Territory will visit Mount Kumgang from April 2 to 4, followed by 200 members of the Korean Sharing Movement, a civic group, who will go to Kaesong on April 10. If North Korea is deforested, it will impact South Korea because the two countries' ecosystems are connected, said Ra Joon-seok, a minister at the church. North Korea has 9.16 million hectares of forests, 1.5 times more than South Korea. But due to North Korea's nationwide territory reform project of the 1970s, many forests were cleared and transformed into agricultural land. The country's economic recession worsened deforestation as residents also used trees as fuel for cooking and heat. Decreasing forests have resulted in massive floods. In 1995, 5.2 million people lost their homes to flooding and the total damage was estimated at $15 billion. Forests serve as a dam to control floods and drought, but North Korean forests lost their function as they were significantly ruined, said Lee Seong-ho, a researcher at the Korea Forest Research Institute. http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2887822 South Korea: 14) South Korea's new president wants to help rejuvenate North Korea's depleted forests, saying Friday the move would lessen the South's future burden to cut greenhouse gases. ``Shouldn't we now start gradual cooperation with North Korea on forestation?'' Lee Myung-bak told a policy briefing at the Environment Ministry, instructing his Cabinet to study the idea. ``It would be helpful in getting us better prepared for national unification and preserving our land, and it's not unilateral assistance, we get something in return,'' he said. Lee was apparently referring to the South getting carbon credits for such a forestation project in North Korea, which would offset the South's own greenhouse gas emissions. South Korea is one of the world's biggest greenhouse gas producers. The country was exempted from mandatory requirements to reduce such heat-trapping gases under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol climate pact because it was classified as a developing country. South Korea released 591 million tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in 2005. That level is believed to be the world's 10th-largest in emissions, and it is almost double the country's 1990 output of 310 million tons. The Kyoto pact calls for reductions averaging 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200803211724.htm Vietnam: 15) Kon Tum Province's People's Committee has licensed the US$67 million InnovGreen Viet Nam project to grow trees for processing. The project will supply timber for factories to produce plywood, household products and pulp. It will help develop the province's economy, improve its infrastructure and create jobs for its minority people, About 65,000 ha of forest will be grown in 52 communes of the Dak Glei, Dak Ha, DakTo, Kon Ray, Ngoc Hoi, Sa Thay, Tu Mo Rong districts as well as Kon Tum town. InnovGreen is a multi-national corporation that specialises in developing plantation forests and creating profit through social welfare activities. It was established in July 2007, and has been licensed for afforestation projects in Quang Ninh, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa and Lang Son provinces. The corporation says it is now researching other provinces, such as Quang Nam, as a prelude to helping with hunger eradication and poverty reduction in remote areas. The 50-year Kon Tum project started this month. It will co-operate with local communities to turn barren land into forest. http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02SOC260308 Philippines: 16) Two major threats to the Philippine eagle's survival are hunting and deforestation. Hotchkiss says that forest cover is crucial to Philippine eagles. Without it, they are unable to find food and build nests to breed, hence the decline in population. Habitat and key prey populations are rapidly disappearing, likewise due to deforestation. Already more than 85 to 90 percent of the original tropical forest in the country disappeared because of legal and especially illegal logging, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). " The eagles no longer have a place to stay because they're being pushed back by people, " said Domingo Tadena, who has devoted a good part of his life to caring for the endangered species. " The irony is that, man is the squatter in the eagle's ancestral domain. Why can't man share the forests with the eagles? " The hunting and shooting of the Philippine eagle continues to persist, and eagles that have been turned over the PEF in recent years either had gunshot wounds or were trapped illegally in the wild. " Even birds that seemed healthy at the time of acquisition were found to have air gun pellets inside their bodies, " reports Hotchkiss. " Human persecution continues to a threat to the viability of the wild eagle population, " deplores Salvador. But he hopes that the Wildlife Act 9147 will help protect the endangered species. The Philippine eagle is one of the world's largest and most powerful eagles. An English naturalist, Dr. John Whitehead, first reported this splendid raptor in 1896 on the island of Samar. It stands a meter high, weighs anything from four to seven kilograms, and has a grip three times the strength of the strongest man on earth. With a wingspan of nearly seven feet and a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour, it can gracefully swoop down on an unsuspecting monkey and carry it off without breaking flight. Formerly known as monkey-eating eagle, a Presidential Decree No. changed the name to Philippine eagle after it was learned that monkeys comprise an insignificant portion of its diet, which consists mainly of flying lemurs, squirrels, snakes, civets, hornbills, rodents, and bats. The Philippine Eagle is found only in the Philippines. Geographically, it is restricted to the islands of Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao. Today, most of the eagles can be found only in the surrounding areas of Mount Apo. http://htacio.wordpress.com/2008/03/23/saving-philippine-eagle-from-total-oblivi\ on/ New Zealand: 17) The giraffes preferred fodder includes Lemon wood, Coprosma, Feijoa, Red Robyn, Tree Lucerne and Ake ake. Hamilton Zoo director Stephen Standley said that this was a great opportunity for local residents to contribute to the animal's diet while at the same time getting their pruning done for free. " Tree branches or 'browse' are a favourite treat of our giraffes and they offer numerous nutritional benefits. Because suitable browse is often sourced from common household trees, we are always interested to hear from members of the public . " The long necked Africans might not be the only creature your household plants end up feeding, as the zoo's big cats will also benefit. " Recycled browse is used to offer a new and intriguing scent for the cats, " he said. http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4452628a11.html 18) The latest attack in January saw protesters dig a hole under an electric fence, allowing someone to burrow underneath. Nineteen pine trees were chopped down, leaving 50 genetically modified trees and seven unmodified " control " trees. Police investigated but no arrests were made. The Soil and Health Association of New Zealand says 50 genetically modified pine trees in a field trial at the Crown Research Institute are at risk of spreading pollen due to consent breaches. Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), which inspects the site, the claims are unwarranted and there is no breach. The latest criticism of the GM trial at Scion follows an attack on the trees in January in which 19 were chopped down in an apparent protest. Soil and Health spokesman Steffan Browning, said Scion had breached its consent by not pruning the trees' lower branches to within 2m. He claims the " bushy " and " unhedged " trees make it harder for inspectors to detect pollen-producing buds and remove them before they release pollen. That's not so, says MAF. Kathryn Hurr, a senior adviser for containment facilities for MAF, said inspectors were satisfied Scion hadn't breached its consent. " The main issue in the consent is whether reproductive material is removed and we are satisfied that is the case. " The trees' main trunks were allowed to grow up to 5m tall. All reproductive buds have to be removed and destroyed as soon as they became visible, she said. Pruning the lateral branches would increase the overall size of the trees and the number of reproductive buds. MAF's biosecurity division is required to inspect the trees in April and November each year. Scion researchers check them every week and look for reproductive buds. Elspeth MacRae, Scion's group manager for biomaterials research, said reproductive buds become visible from March. They are destroyed or taken to Scion's genetically modified organisms greenhouse long before they mature or released pollen, which occurs in July at the earliest. Ms MacRae said there was little chance for the " highly visible " buds to be missed. Scion sparked controversy in 2003 when researchers transferred 67 genetically modified pine trees from its greenhouse to the field site. Opponents of genetic modification protested outside Scion. http://www.dailypost.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3766971 & thesection\ =localnews & thes ubsection= & thesecondsubsection= Solomon Islands: 19) The Solomon Islands Ministry of Forestry says a new replanting program may prolong the survival of the country's forests. The recently commenced program is an attempt by Forestry officials to address the unsustainable rate of deforestation. Parliamentarians were warned by the Governor General during his opening of parliament speech this week that the country can't continue to rely on the forestry industry as its economic base. The Ministry's Permanent Secretary Edward Kingmele says at the current rate of extraction, logging of the natural forest will be complete in five years. He says the reforestation programme is intended as a comprehensive, countrywide effort: " Replant all of the lands that have been logged. And that programme kicked off some three weeks ago, we have started completing the workshop in which our field officers were sent in most of the villages to start working with the people. " Edward Kingmele from the Ministry of Forestry. http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read & id=38720 Malaysia: 20) Sarawak's Forest Department is going high-tech in its enforcement against encroachment and illegal logging activities in protected areas. Its monitoring, enforcement and prevention (MEP) system, which was unveiled during the state-level commemoration of World Forestry Day on Monday, incorporates remote sensing, image processing, mobile mapping and web-based applications to detect illegal activities. The data is then sent to field officers via a web-based platform from which it will be downloaded to a mobile component such as a PDA. State director of forests Datuk Len Talif Salleh said the MEP system had been developed by the department using the latest available technology. " This system cannot operate on its own but it has to be backed up with ground enforcement. To respond to the data, we have helicopters which we can use to drop our officers in a matter of hours, " he told reporters after the commemoration ceremony at Sumber Alam Sanctuary here. With the system in place, he added, the department aimed to minimise encroachment into national parks and other protected areas in the state. Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management Datuk Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said the system was in line with the department's efforts to strengthen its enforcement capabilities. However, he added that enforcement alone was not enough and cooperation from the public was needed as well. " People must give information with regard to illegal activities so that we can act fast. We don't want to see our protected areas encroached into as this will affect efforts to sustainably manage our forests, " he said. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/3/24/nation/20080324160750 & sec=n\ ation Indonesia: 21) In an investigative report published today by Eyes on the Forest, evidence shows that a new logging road in Riau Province -- strongly indicated as illegally built by companies connected to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) -- is cutting into the heart of Sumatra's largest contiguous peatland forest, a rare hydrological ecosystem that acts as one of the planet's biggest carbon stores. The road would allow APP and affiliated companies to restart clearance of natural forest and destruction of deep peat soil at any time in a globally recognized conservation area, according to Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of local NGO network Jikalahari, Walhi Riau, and WWF-Indonesia. The Kampar peninsula is one of the world's largest contiguous tropical peat swamp forests, with more carbon per hectare than any other ecosystem on Earth. " It is morally reprehensible for one of the world's largest paper companies to so brazenly ignore Indonesian laws and destroy the natural resources that belong to the people of Riau, " said Teguh Surya of Walhi Riau. " We strongly urge APP to join the ranks of responsible businesses and conduct its operations within the law. Until that time, the world's paper buyers and investors should stop doing business with APP. " The Kampar peninsula area is also considered one of the last havens for critically endangered Sumatran tigers, whose wild population is estimated to be down to just 400-500. The landscape was designated a " regional priority " tiger conservation landscape by the world's leading tiger scientists in 2006. A preliminary estimate by WWF-Indonesia shows that a well-managed Kampar peninsula could be home to as many as 60 tigers. Kampar peninsula can be considered a single hydro-ecological system, consisting entirely of a single dome of peat at depths mostly over 10 meters - extremely deep for a peatland, with an enormous store of carbon. Drainage and plantation development activities on the top of the Kampar peat dome could even cause the peat dome to collapse and emit large amounts of carbon, according to Eyes on the Forest. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104 & STORY=/www/story/03-25-200\ 8/0004780092 & E DATE= 22) " ADM is deeply involved in the production and marketing of both palm oil and soy. It is also one of the greatest recipients of corporate welfare, which means taxpayers are subsidizing ADM's role in rainforest destruction. ADM is also the strongest promoter of agrofuels in the United States and Cargill is the most powerful agribusiness and commodity trading group in the world. It is involved in producing and marketing palm oil and soy grown on freshly cleared rainforest lands. In 2003, Cargill built an illegal soy port on the Amazon River which doubled deforestation rates in the area. " An ADM subsidiary, the Wilmar Group, is the world's largest producer of palm-based biodiesel and is clearing tropical rainforests in Indonesia that are among the last remaining habitats of the critically endangered orangutan. U.S. agribusiness giants ADM, Bunge, and Cargill account for 60 percent of the funding for Brazil's booming soy crop. Soy has become a leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon as Brazil has overtaken the United States as the world's largest exporter of soy, largely due to American farmers planting more corn for ethanol. Their demands: 1) Stop land clearing and deforestation for agrisprawl. 2) Respect land rights. Indigenous and local communities must be able to give free, prior and informed consent before any industrial activity takes place on their land. 3) Oppose slave labor. Fair and safe working conditions for all workers. 4) Stop using dangerous herbicides and pesticides. 5) Do not spread or promote the use of genetically modified crops. 6) Respect food sovereignty and people's right to define their own food, energy and agricultural systems. 7) Do not produce or promote the use of industrial agrofuels, especially those sourced from tropical ecosystems. 8) Don't break the law. Comply with all local, national and international environmental, labor and agricultural laws. http://www.treehugger.com2008/03/ran-on-palm-oil.php 23) U.S.-based paper and pulp company International Paper plans to invest more than 4 billion U.S. dollars in a pulp factory and industrial forest in Indonesia, local press said Monday. The pulp factory will have the capacity to produce 1.5 million tons of pulp per year, supported by a 500,000-hectare plantation forest, reported major newspaper The Jakarta Post. Central Kalimantan and Papua provinces had been chosen as the investment locations despite a lack of supporting infrastructure because no similar businesses operated there, the newspaper said, quoting a senior official with the Forestry Ministry. International Paper is currently rated among the three largest pulp and paper producers in the world. They operate two factories in Brazil and Canada. The company chose Indonesia for its business expansion after conducting a six-month feasibility survey in a number of Asian countries, said Hadi S. Pasaribu, director general for forest product management. Hadi said he had requested International Paper follow Indonesian investment regulations by establishing a local company here. Indonesia has 84 integrated pulp and paper mills, with a total production capacity of 6.5 million tons. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/24/content_7848071.htm 24) With all the gloomy news coming these days from Wall Street, it's great to see that when it comes to the environment, Wall-Street is still bullish. I'm talking about the news on Merrill Lynch new investment of $9 million to finance a project to protect 750,000 hectares of forest in Indonesia. Dana Mattioli reported last week on the Environmental Capital blog of Wall Street Journal about the new green deal. Firstly, let's make one thing clear - this is not a donation or anything like that. It is an investment that according to the article is supposed to generate Merrill annual proceeds of $432 million over the next 30 years. The expected income will come from in carbon financing, which means that someone will pay Merrill to offset polluting activities elsewhere with the amount of carbon dioxide that won't be emitted (3.4 million tons of carbon dioxide every year) because of the fact that the trees will be kept alive and won't be cut down. Carbon financing based on forest protection wasn't permitted under the Kyoto Protocol, but as we reported in the past, it was discussed in the U.N.'s Bali meeting in December last year, and though it is not approved yet, there's a good chance it will be part of the post-Kyoto program that will replace in 2012. Although carbon financing is far from being proven as an efficient and beneficial solution, I am very supportive of adding the forest protection into the program. Unfortunately, economic forces are the ones leading most of the deforestation and therefore it might be that economic forces may be the best realistic remedy. http://ecolibris.blogspot.com/2008/03/merrill-lynch-is-investing-in-forest.html Australia: 25) Conservationists stopped work in a logging coup in an old-growth forest south of Bendoc this morning. Two people have set themselves up on platforms in eucalyptus trees 30 metres above the ground. The platforms are attached by cables to logging machinery preventing them being used for tree felling. The conservationists say the area contains habitat for the endangered spot-tailed quoll and long footed potoroo. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/25/2198525.htm?site=gippsland 26) A council has taken the extraordinary step of stacking two empty shipping containers on a clifftop to spoil water views for householders suspected of illegally cutting down trees. From a distance, it looks as though the Pasha Bulker has bumped into the Mid North Coast again, leaving a couple of calling cards at Boat Harbour. But the truth is that Port Stephens Council put them there - with a crane, at a cost of more than $10,000 - to punish those responsible for cutting down 20 trees. Irate locals are calling the green monolith " a monument to stupidity " and complain they are being treated like children. And the council agrees, according to group manager, facilities and services, Mike Trigar. " Obviously those people who weren't involved (in chopping down the trees) and now have their views obstructed are not happy, and we appreciate that position, " he said. " But it's like if you can't find the perpetrator in school, so everybody is held back for detention. " Mr Trigar said the containers had been put on the cliff partly to protect saplings that had been planted to replace the brutalised banksias, but when The Sunday Telegraph visited, there were no new plantings in evidence. " They've spent over $10,000 on this, when they could have just replanted the trees for a few hundred dollars, " railed local resident Carol Kearins. " They have no proof that a resident cut those trees. It could have been drunken idiots from somewhere else. " And now they say these containers will stay here for up to three years. If they're treating us like children, surely we're too immature to keep paying our rates. " http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23417534-2,00.html 27) Animal lovers adore them. Tree lovers abhor them. They are flying foxes – giant bats with 3ft wingspans – and they are killing some of Australia's oldest and rarest trees. For years, grey-headed flying foxes have been roosting in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens, a picturesque spot overlooking the harbour. From a few hundred, their numbers have swelled to 22,000, according to a recently completed census – twice as many as previously believed. While the animals are popular with tourists and local people, park authorities said they were destroying the place. " They crash around in the trees and knock off the leaves and shoots, " said Tim Entwhistle, executive director of the Botanic Gardens Trust. " In the past decade the bats have killed about a dozen of our mature trees from the 1850s. Sixty others are on the critical list, and expected to die in the next few years. " The problem facing park authorities is that the flying foxes, which are losing their habitat in New South Wales and Queensland because of large-scale land clearing, are listed as a threatened species.Then there is the public relations factor. A cull of bats in 2002 at the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, which was faced with a similar problem, provoked a public outcry. Sydney officials are drawing up plans, in collaboration with animal welfare and bat experts, which they hope will prove more palatable. They intend to evict the bats by waging a noise campaign. Loudspeakers mounted on buggies will travel through the gardens, emitting a sound similar to rubbish bin lids being banged together, or electrical equipment being started up. The method proved successful 15 years ago, driving away a large colony of flying foxes that had taken up residence in the park. At that time, various strategies were attempted, including shining strobe lights in the bats' faces, discharging unpleasant odours in their vicinity, attaching plastic bags to trees, and playing taped distress calls. Only noise worked. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/parkkeepers-hope-loud-protes\ ts-will-outfox -flying-pests-799883.html 28) Greens Opposition Leader Peg Putt MP said that the Greens and conservation groups had warned that the controversial Western Explorer road would prove a source of destructive activity and an ignition source for wildfire, a prediction that has regrettably proven correct. The Greens are now warning that no further roading into remote Tarkine wilderness should be allowed, although the government is actively pushing such an agenda via Forestry Tasmania. " The Greens are extremely concerned by the enormous out of control fire in the Tarkine, especially in respect of the incineration of rainforest areas which are likely to be destroyed forever, " Ms Putt said. " Remember that the Tarkine is Australia's largest temperate rainforest, a jewel we have a duty to safeguard. " " We warned when the controversial Western Explorer road, known then as the Road to Nowhere, was pushed through that it would lead to increased threat to the outstanding conservation values, and that it would become the access point for wildfire as has now proven to be the case. " " Within a few short days around 15,000 hectares has been consumed, and it is imperative that substantial resources are deployed to try and save threatened rainforest areas and thus protect the outstanding natural values which experts agree are of World Heritage significance. " " In the 1980s a wildfire destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of myrtle rainforest at Savage River leaving devastation we would never want to see repeated. " " Many concerned constituents are anxious about the bushfire, and we all hope that the fire-fighters will be given sufficient resources to also prioritise protection of the rainforest under threat, as well as the protection of property. " " The environment of the Tarkine consists of a mosaic of different vegetation types, including buttongrass and tall eucalypt forest as well as the rainforest, and some of these are better adapted to fire than the pure rainforest. " " We are thankful that we have such a professional cadre of fire-fighters, and do hope that they will soon be able to bring the fire under control, although we alarmed by reports that there is no current attempt to halt the blaze. " " This event highlights how important it is that we do not open the Tarkine to further threat by pushing any more roads into pristine wilderness. " http://tas.greens.org.au/News/view_MR.php?ActionID=2888 29) The Forest Wars, by Judith Ajani, and Saving Australia's Forests and Its Implications, by Mark Poynter, exemplify the polarisation of the debate on Australian forests, which is more bitter than that in any other developed country I am familiar with. The heart of the past Australian debate is whether native forests should be logged at all. For other countries the issue is not all or nothing: logging of native forests is widespread and often predominates over logging fast-grown plantations. Ajani believes the public has been conned into ignoring the potential of our timber plantation resource to supply all our wood and paper needs by a conspiracy among industry sectors. She argues that plantation products should replace both native forest and imports almost immediately. She blames almost every group except the environmentalists, but takes particular aim at foresters. She might have had a point about their policy influence up to the 1970s but, as Poynter laments, that is no longer the case. Ajani's argument rests on two planks. First, that there is ample plantation wood available now and that state forestry agencies have deliberately been withholding softwood supply to protect the native forest industry. Why would they want to withhold supply in the long term? State and private softwood growers are commercial entities seeking profits and responding to the demands of largely independent processors to upscale when possible. Location and age classes make softwood supply lumpy and those lumps have to be managed so as to attract the best return. Expansion is therefore episodic rather than continual. But the argument that growers withhold supply in the long run is a furphy. Ajani's second plank is a total aversion to woodchipping of native forests. This is mainly a spoiling tactic to make native forest logging less economic. Yet, what is the sense of not using whatever commercial byproducts one can, if done under codes of practice that protect the other values? A small open economy such as Australia's must be efficient in its use of resources and take whatever profitable opportunities it can, if it is to survive and provide employment, especially in rural areas. Poynter believes the public has been conned into an excessive reduction of native forest logging through resource withdrawals to increase the reserve system. Environmentalists and the media are his principal villains. http://business.theage.com.au/discount-invective-in-polar-positions-on-logging/2\ 0080320-20qq.htm l 30) Forestry Tasmania expects an investigation to confirm a logging operation is responsible for a bushfire which started in the state's south-west this week. The fire near Lake Gordon has burnt 20 hectares of bush within one kilometre of the World Heritage Area. The Derwent District Forest Manager, Steve Whiteley, says it appears the blaze began after explosives were used to clearfell a tree. " We take weather readings you know we assess the risk of fire in this particular case it appears that some of the rot within the tree was drier than the surrounding vegetation that had been dampened down by rain, " he said. " So it's one of those things where the investigation will give us the full details but that's what the indications are at this stage. " http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/20/2195075.htm 31) The incident controller, Alex Simpson, says it appears considerably less rainforest has been burnt out than previously thought. Mr Simpson says crews will be working hard again today. " Going to continue working on northern and southern flanks of the fire, we're also going to continue working on the Western Explorer with a view to clearing the timber and getting the bridges certified and getting the road open, " Mr Simpson said. Efforts are continuing to control a large bushfire in Tasmania's north-west at Savage River and re-open a road through the area known as the Tarkine. The Parks and Wildlife Service says the fire which has burnt more than 18,000 hectares has not grown in size in the last few days and it has started to assess the damage. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/23/2196972.htm?site=idx-tas Tropical Forests: 32) When people think about the destruction and degradation of tropical forests, they tend to focus on rainforests. Tropical dry forests tend to get overlooked. They aren't as striking - no cathedral-like understorey, no mind-boggling biodiversity. But more importantly, they often just aren't there. Over much of their potential range they have simply been erased from the landscape. They may have covered as much as 42% of the land area in the tropics1, but have been reduced to less than 27% of their former range in Mexico2, and as little as 2% in Central America3 and New Caledonia4. Despite the fact this, tropical dry forests are often seen as being quite well-adapted to human disturbance. Being less species-rich than wetter forests, they tend to support fewer rare species, and may be less extinction-prone. In addition, dry forests are dominated by trees that sprout after being cut. This means that if you cut down a patch of dry forest, most of the stumps will re-sprout. This type of recovery is much quicker than you would get if the trees had to germinate from seeds - not only does it take much longer for seedlings to grow large (stump sprouts can draw on resources stored in the roots of the tree), but there's likely to be a time lag as seeds disperse into the area from surviving trees (tropical forests tend to lack long-lived seedbanks). Much of our understanding of succession in tropical dry forests comes from Jack Ewel's dissertation work. Ewel looked at the effect of cutting and herbicide application on succession in a series of plots across the Neotropics. One of his important findings was the dry forests were quicker to recover their stature that wetter forests. Since most of the recovery comes from stump sprouts, the recovering forest is also close to the original forest in terms of species composition. While lightly used dry forest sites recover rapidly, recovery is slower in more intensively used sites. Seedling survival rates are very low in dry forests - while seedlings establish in the wet season, most (often all) of them die in the subsequence dry season. So while intensively used sites in Guánica Forest recovered well in terms of structure, biomass and leaf fall in 50 years after abandonment, the recovery of species composition was very slow6. http://ianramjohn.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/disturbance-and-recovery-in-tropical-\ dry-forests/ World-wide: 33) The striking thing about visiting an arid part of the globe is the lack of trees and the struggle of those people to find wood for cooking or heating. I have observed this first-hand in the Dominican Republic, Madagascar, and East Africa. Those of us who live in locations where there are abundant forests are incredibly fortunate, even though we seldom rely on wood for household uses. (My wife and I actually heat our home with wood, so I appreciate the value of this resource. However, if I don't gather enough wood for the winter, we have the luxury of turning on the electric heat). The problem is really a " mass balance " problem. Wood is produced (i.e., trees grow) at a rate dependent on the species of tree, and the temperature and moisture of its environment. Opposing that growth rate is the rate at which wood is collected and used. The rate at which wood is used is greater than the rate at which new wood can grow in many places, especially in arid lands with a dense human population. Hardly a branch hits the ground that is not picked up by women who endure this arduous task. Benet women in eastern Uganda spend up to 10 hours per day, three days per week, gathering wood. That amounts to a full-time job, which is in addition to all the other tasks these women need to accomplish during the week. Can you just picture the soccer moms of the U.S. spending time in this manner? (Actually, the Benet left some mature trees, almost all Prunus africanus, from the original forest when they cleared the land for agriculture. Prunus africanus, the African plum tree, has been used for thousands of years to cure various ailments, including prostate cancer). Gathering wood in some places is downright dangerous. One Benet elder told us that he lost two wives during his youth while they were gathering wood for the home—one was killed by a neighboring tribe when she wandered into their territory. And, of course, there are large mammals and the scorching sun that can do harm as well. So the answer is simple, but execution is nearly impossible. Grow more trees. http://www.moli.com/p/blog/v2SClk9ci7BRvd61P90aD5MQ../read/v2bi03yInTDdTcOTauRkh\ skDYu3Zd1NQDn Z9SrzcX1ypsGy2scC7TtFg../NTgwMg== 34) As countries shape a new global agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2010, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Sierra said the World Bank was seeking " practical solutions " to tackle climate change and environmental issues. In that vein, the bank is developing a new carbon fund that would pay developing countries for protecting and replanting tropical forests. The bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility would provide financial incentives to developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation. Deforestation contributes 20 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, more than all of the world's cars, trucks, trains and airplanes combined. Environmental groups say protecting tropical forests is the most direct and fastest way to mitigate some of the impact of climate change. Sierra said investment was needed to put in place a sustainable forestry program in countries to avoid deforestation and benefit from the carbon facility. The facility will require countries to determine the present state of their forests and measure future deforestation, while also establishing carbon content in forests where not all trees are equal carbon storehouses. As the World Bank seeks funds for the carbon facility, Sierra said initial discussions with donors have focused on " who is doing what " and the funding gap. " This is work that is in progress and hopefully with technical assistance and some way of financing the investment, through ourselves or marshaling bilateral support, we will have a much stronger program at the country level, " she added. http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7398131 35) The new research suggests that, over the past 50 years, new dams and reservoirs have held back some 10,800 cubic kilometres of water, which would have been enough to raise global sea levels by about 30mm. At the same time that dams and reservoirs were being built, thousands of boreholes around the world were being drilled to bring up ground water that had been buried underground – in some cases for thousands of years. It is estimated that 1.5 billion people rely on ground water for domestic and industrial uses, and many major urban centres – such as Bangkok and Beijing – are heavily dependent on ground water being pumped from underground reservoirs. This, too, has to be taken into account when the amount of water flowing into the sea is being estimated: the bore holes will have increased the amount of water feeding back into the seas. Deforestation is also believed to influence sea levels, although the relationship is complex. Forests effectively store water, and widespread deforestation can increase the amount of water running off the land into the sea. But deforestation can also cause a decrease in rainfall. However, scientists think that deforestation raises sea levels rather than lowers them. But without a doubt the biggest influence on global sea levels is rising temperatures. A warmer world caused by an increase in man-made greenhouse gases not only melts ice, but also results in thermal expansion of the seas – warm water takes up more volume than cold. Dr Anny Cazenave of France's Laboratoire d'Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiale (Legos) in Toulouse says that about 50 per cent of the sea-level rise observed over the past 15 years is attributable to thermal expansion. The rest is largely due to the melting of mountain glaciers and polar ice sheets. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/dams-deep-trouble-797711.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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