369 - Earth's Tree News

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--Today for you 32 new articles about earth's trees! (369th edition)

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In this issue:

 

BC-Canada Latin America Forest-Type Forest-Type / World-wide

 

Index:

 

--British Columbia: 1) " Eco-logging " massacres last old growth cedar

groves, 2) Help stop logging on the Jordan River, 3) $1.5-million

tree-top walkway, 4) Park views or Trees? 5) Vancouver Island forest

stats,

--Canada: 6) FSC interfering with recycled paper markets, 7) Tribal

members get sentenced for stealing trees,

--Latin America: 8) Agro-fuels are devastating

--Mexico: 9) Tree planting scam lets illegal loggers off the hook, 10)

Border protest done by planting trees, 11) Detailed maps of

deforestation in Chiapas,

--Panama: 12) Largest experiment ever on studying ecosystem services

--Belize: 13) Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw

--Guyana: 14) Offering China 500 acres to offset Olympics

--Brazil: 15) 48% of all the world's deforestation, 16) Extracta

couldn't compete with big Pharma, 17) 22% of deforestation done

illegally, 18) Lula on politics at Japan summit, 19) Focus on stopping

cattle industry, 20) Disaster of disasters in Sugar Cane, 21) Gov's

Sustainable Amazon Program to increase logging levels, 22) Destroying

lightly wooded plains known as 'cerrado,' 23) Bad land tenures and

scarce enforcement,

--Peru: 24) Sky News tours forest issues, 25) Cont. 26) Cont. 27)

Cont. 28) Cont.

--Tropical Forests: 29) Deforestation summary

--World-wide: 30) How leaf veins are arranged, 31) Extinction threat

far more severe than previously thought, 32) Biodiversity and Climate

conference sells out,

 

Articles:

 

British Columbia:

 

1) As usual we are reporting the ongoing high-grading of old growth

cedar from west coast slopes in Clayoquot Sound. See photos, this boom

is rapidly filling up again. Many new slides are visible in the area,

most as a result of logging and road expansion both past and present.

It just never seems to end. 90,000 cubic metres have gone out of here

this spring and more daily. We were up in Tranquil Inlet trying to

find the carcasses of black bears which trophy hunters had taken this

past week. It was reported by a Tlaoquiaht FN man who had seen 6 hides

in the guide outfitters boat. This guide outfitter has been killing

bears in this area and Nootka all spring. This in spite of the

protests that were held here previously and the bear watching

businesses that are out daily. So it goes in Clayoquot, all the best

to you, we hope for positive change. Steve and Susanne Lawson

councilfire -

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w166/peacefromtrees/TranquilandRankinCoveJuly\

5th2008002.jpg

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http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w166/peacefromtrees/TranquilandRankinCoveJuly\

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http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w166/peacefromtrees/TranquilandRankinCoveJuly\

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http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w166/peacefromtrees/TranquilandRankinCoveJuly\

5th2008015.jpg

 

2) Do you have any advice on how to stop a old growth harvest. There's

a small area left on top of Jordan ridge above Jordan river on Van

Isl. that WFP is in the process of high grading out the old growth

pockets of timber. many of these 500 year old trees are half rotten

and obviously far more valuable as habit.This small rare Valley is

alive with bird life (Headwaters of Rosemond creek ) The 60 year old

second growth woodlot next to it averages 6-7 inch timber and is a

prime example of logging where they have no business being. Would

appreciate any contacts of people you may know of who could put the

wheels in motion to get the harvest reviewed before its just another

irreversible mistake.

Thanks, Brad Harris.BVHarris

 

3) A thrilling $1.5-million tree-top walkway through the lush

rainforest canopy of majestic conifers at the University of B.C.

Botanical Garden in Vancouver opens for business next month. The

high-tech prefabricated aluminum walkway will zigzag 308 metres

between trees and offer sensational views. It has been designed to

give everyone, including those in wheelchairs, the chance to see what

life is like 20 metres above the ground in the forest's hidden canopy.

Situated in the David C. Lam Asian Garden section as part of Walk in

the Woods Trail, the prefabricated walkway will be connected to nine

giant conifers, all sturdy towering grand firs along with a couple of

Douglas firs. A ramp will lead people up to the first platform from

where they will be able to walk in close proximity to the huge trees

and get close-up views of bug and bird life high in the tree tops.

Construction began in April after four years of planning, and is

expected to be completed this month. The walkway will open for use in

mid-August, although the official opening won't be until Sept. 23. The

patented Treehugger technology used on the walkway was developed in

B.C. It operates on the same principle as a traditional Chinese finger

trap: the walkway and viewing platforms tighten to grip the trees

firmly when in use, but relax to allow trees the freedom to grow

without hindrance when not in use. The walkway will have " man-catcher "

netting on the sides to keep users safe. The narrow bridging walkways

will be rigid and won't rock or sway the way some suspension bridges

do.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=de46d8d8-5c4d-4ad6-8a16-d7\

e7e6881be8

 

4) Seventy lofty pine, spruce, red cedar and other tall trees in Queen

Elizabeth Park could soon have a date with a chainsaw if the proposed

tree management plan is approved at the July 7 parks board meeting.

The plan proposes cutting the six- to 18-metre-tall trees to restore

views from three spots on the north side of the park, plus pruning

lateral branches of eight or more trees. Opponents, including Norm

Dooley, who has lived across from the park for 32 years, argue the

trees themselves are the view. Dooley said he and his wife chose to

live across from the urban park because it affords them the peace of

nature without having to jump in their car. He believes out-of-towners

feel the same way. " Most people who come to Vancouver don't get out

into the bush, " he said. " They come to the park, they see these trees

and get a sense of what our nature is like and they go away very

happy. " Dooley, a member of the Riley Park/South Cambie CityPlan

Committee, finds it " unfathomable " the parks board would choose to

chop down trees for what he sees as commercial reasons. Citizens

opposed to the plan have gathered more than 700 signatures on a

petition. Artist Teresa Waclawik designed T-shirts to complement the

campaign and an Art in the Park day is planned for July 6 to celebrate

the trees. Artists are invited to add to the merriment and visitors

are encouraged to bring refreshments and wear green. Tree management

plan opponent and local resident Ned Jacobs will lead tours to the

trees proposed to come down. Community Vision steering committee

members are disappointed with the process. They argue when the parks

board rejected a proposal for an expensive, massive, privately

developed observation tower for the park in January, commissioners

directed staff to report back on various tree management options with

the goal of restoring views, but only received one plan. Allan Buium,

chair of the Riley Park/South CityPlan Committee, is upset the parks

board held only one open house and worries the related telephone

survey could have been misleading.

http://www.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/story.html?id=7ba8055e-bb1e-4a57-92d\

f-3a0cb9326560

 

5) Vancouver Island is home to some of the Earth's most spectacular,

ancient temperate forests. Old-growth forests harbour trees that can

grow to be 1800 years old and are home to many species that can't live

in younger forests. They also sequester more atmospheric carbon to

counteract climate change than second-growth forests do. In addition,

old-growth forests are fundamental pillars of BC's multi-billion

dollar tourism industry and are of great cultural importance to

coastal First Nations people. The most recent photo analysis based on

2004 satellite images shows that at that time: 1) 73% of the original

productive old-growth forests of Vancouver Island have been logged. 2)

87% of the original productive old-growth forests on southern

Vancouver Island, south of Barkley Sound/Alberni Canal, have been

logged. 3) 90% of the low elevation (less than 300 meters above sea

level), flat (less than 17% slope) ancient forests, such as the valley

bottoms, where the largest trees grow and the greatest biodiversity

resides, have been logged. 4) Only 6% of Vancouver Island's productive

forest lands are protected in our parks system. 5) Less than 2% of the

original old-growth Coastal Douglas fir forests are protected. --The

Provincial Government has not committed to protect these forests in

the immediate future. read more >> Go to 20/20 Vision's Blogsite! Now

you can converse with other people about the urgently important

environmental and peace topics that concern us all. Engage in dialogue

with like-minded individuals interested in creating a better world.

Share stories, resources, and news of upcoming events. Make

suggestions. Let us know how we are doing. Our core volunteers will be

posting to the blog too and look forward to meeting you there! Here is

the blogsite link: http://2020visionbc.wordpress.com

 

Canada:

 

6) FSC-Watch receives many queries and messages of concern, including

from industry, as to why the FSC is helping to undermine efforts at

paper recycling by allowing the certification of paper with little or

no recycled content. We have now received the following article from

the May/June 2008 Eco-Journal of the Manitoba Eco-Network, Canada,

which we are happy to reproduce. The article provides interesting

insights into how SmartWood's FSC certification of the output from

Tembec's Pine Falls operations has helped destroyed production of

recycled paper. Manitoba is now left with a huge pile of collected

paper, which can either be burned or landfilled, or shipped to more

distant recycling facilities, all of which will increase greenhouse

gas emissions. The pulp and paper industry is one of the world'a major

greenhouse gas emitters. FSC-Watch would be interested to know if

anyone can calculate how much extra CO2 is now going to be produced,

compared with the amount of money that Rainforest Alliance SmartWood

has earned by issuing the FSC certificate to Tembec.

http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2008/07/05/FSC_undermines_paper

 

6) SAINT JOHN - A Woodstock-based logging company has been fined

$2,000 under the province's Clean Water Act after pleading guilty to

failing to comply with the conditions of a permit. C & W Kennedy Farms

had been issued a permit to install a bridge over a stream as part of

a forest harvest operation in the Burchill Mountain area, near St.

Martins, said Crown prosecutor Catherine McNally. But on March 7, a

forest ranger found eight violations of the permit, which allowed silt

to run into the water, the prosecutor said. For example, the forest

was clear cut within three metres on both sides of the brook, when the

limit is 30 metres, said McNally. The company was also skidding within

15 metres of a stream; logs and brush were piled in a feeder stream,

and a small amount of brush was also in the brook. The company has

since complied with a restoration order issued by the provincial

Department of Natural Resources, said McNally, who recommended a fine

of $2,000. Under the Clean Water Act, fines can range between $1,000

and $1 million, she said.

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/article/344803

 

7) Justice Thomas Riordon of Miramichi Court of Queen's Bench recently

issued the ruling and ordered the three men — Robert Francis, Romeo

Francis and Alvery Paul — back to provincial court for sentencing. The

three were acquitted by a provincial court judge after trial. The

Crown appealed the acquittals to the Court of Queen's Bench in May

2006. The crown was represented by William Richards. Ronald Gaffney

appeared on behalf of Alvery Paul, who is a resident of the Burnt

Church First Nation, and Daniel Theriault represented Romeo and Robert

Francis, who both live on the Eel Ground First Nation. The Department

of Natural Resources seized the wood in January 2004. The officers had

noticed in November 2003 hardwood trees were being cut on Crown land

in an area known as Connell Ridge in Trout Brook. Individuals from the

Eel Ground First Nation were observed by the officers cutting in this

area. " At first this was thought to be harvesting of wood for personal

use by native persons from the Eel Ground First Nation. Later,

forestry officers believed this to be for commercial use because of

the volumes and quality of the product being removed, " wrote Riordon

when outlining the facts of the case. In late December 2003, a

forestry officer stopped a truck transporting logs from Connell Ridge

and found the records indicated Robert and Romeo Francis had some

involvement with the wood. The officer later went to their homes and

observed what he estimated to be 35 cords of hardwood logs, 25 cords

in the yard of Robert Francis and 10 in that of Romeo Francis. On Jan.

10, 2004, two officers in an unmarked car followed Romeo Francis and a

transport truck owned by Robert Sherrard, loaded with logs, to the

home of Romeo Francis. Shortly after, a large B-train tractor trailer

with Quebec license plates arrived and parked in front of the home of

Romeo Francis. " Over the next three hours, logs were loaded from the

yards of Romeo and Robert Francis about a kilometre away onto the

large tractor trailer. The three-ton truck of Mr. Sherrard with the

boom loader was used to load the logs. "

http://miramichileader.canadaeast.com/article/344390

 

Latin America:

 

8) Dr. Miguel Lovera, Chairperson of the Global Forest Coalition

states: " Here in South America the direct and indirect impacts of

agrofuels are already devastating: the past two years we have seen a

massive increase in deforestation rates in the Amazon, the cerrado,

the Chaco, the Atlantic forest, and other precious ecosystems, and the

destruction of Indigenous lands and traditional farmer's communities.

Switching to wood fibre feedstock for second generation fuels is not

the answer. They will still compete with hungry people for land, but

they will also sound the death knell for forests, and will exacerbate

biodiversity loss and climate change. The world needs to come to grips

with underlying problems like over-consumption by the gluttonous

global north. " " One of the greatest threats from 'second generation'

agrofuels is the manufacture of trees and microbes genetically

engineered specifically to produce agrofuels " , [4] stated Anne

Petermann, Co-Director of Global Justice Ecology Project and North

American Focal Point for the Global Forest Coalition. " Not only will

agricultural lands and forests continue to be colonized for agrofuel

monocultures, deforestation rates will escalate and the world's

remaining native forests will be devastated by the release of

destructive GE tree pollen and seeds. Everyone loses except the

agrofuel industry " , she concluded. info

 

 

Mexico:

 

9) Packs of volunteers, including oil workers and schoolchildren,

trekked into fields and forests up and down Mexico on Saturday to

plant more than 8 million trees, according to the environment

ministry. " We are repairing just a little of the enormous damage that

we are doing " to the environment, President Felipe Calderon said at a

tree planting event just north of the capital. The movement started in

response to Mexico's reputation of being a country of rampant illegal

logging activity, which destroys 64,000 acres of Mexican forest each

year, putting Mexico near the top of a U.N. list of nations losing

primary forest fastest. " Everybody needs to help out a little to keep

the world green, " said volunteer Marcela Lopez as she patted down soil

around a sapling on the west side of Mexico City. Environmental group

Greenpeace acknowledged the activity as part of a publicity stunt,

adding that a cut back on logging practices would be the best way to

keep forests in tact. " This program is a fraud. Only 10 percent of

what is planted survives, which means they are throwing the federal

budget for reforestation straight into the garbage, " the group said in

a statement. The Mexico City mayor has launched a number of green

initiatives in hopes of effectively curbing city pollution.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1466208/8_million_trees_planted_in_mexico_t\

o_combat_illega

l_logging/

 

10) PIEDRAS NEGRAS — The first of 400,000 trees are being planted to

form a " green wall " in protest of the fence the U.S. is building along

the border with Mexico. The treeline will eventually stretch for 318

miles along the border between the Mexican state of Coahuila and

Texas. Coahuila Gov. Humberto Moreira Valdes says " our wall is of

life, and it competes with shame and hate. " The U.S. government says

its fence is critical to security. Critics say it fuels animosity

between the two countries and raises environmental and private

property concerns. The mayor of a Texas border town attended Friday's

tree planting in Piedras Negras. Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster opposes

the ongoing construction of 670 miles of border fence.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hfWgkAAgetgdwxNVXixsVGUcVRGwD91IR62O0

 

11) Our ongoing work with Conservation International has led to the

first regional forest cover change map that has been derived using a

single consistent methodology. The details of the study have not yet

been published. However as we work on validation and interpretation of

the results a pattern has become very clear. Previous deforestation

studies in Chiapas have usually concentrated attention on well defined

study areas. This could produce the impression that deforestation is a

homogeneous process over the whole state. In fact study areas selected

for deforestation analysis are usually those with the highest rates

when compared to the rest of the region. This is quite natural. Many

of the areas where deforestation is no longer occurring have already

lost a large proportion of their forest cover. However the overall

regional deforestation we have quantified is considerably lower than

previous studies imply. Where deforestation has followed the classic

pattern of forest conversion to permanent agriculture or pasture the

CI methodology, which is based on Landsat imagery, has provided a

remarkably good match with high resolution imagery. However where

chronic, low level forest disturbance takes place the overall impact

of human activities are much less easily quantified at the resolution

of Landsat imagery. The difficulty in accurately evaluating forest

cover change increases in areas of dry forest. Nevertheless regional

patterns are robust. The clearest deforestation hotspot in the state

of Chiapas remains the Marques de Comillas area in the Southern

Lacandon. Deforestation and carbon sequestration in this area has

previously been studied in some detail by De Jong et al 2000 The two

images below are animated gif files which change when clicked on to

enlarge them to full size. The show clearly how Landsat based

deforestation analysis coincides in this area with the conclusions

drawn from visual analysis of recent high resolution imagery. The

visual analysis is produced by overlaying our change analysis in

Google Earth using Geoserver, and through the use of QGis.

http://duncanjg.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/deforestation-marques-de-comillas/

 

Panama:

 

12) The Center for Tropical Forest Science of the Smithsonian Tropical

Research Institute officially inaugurated one of the largest

experiments ever attempted to understand ecosystem services—water,

carbon and biodiversity—provided by tropical forests. The findings of

this long-term study, launched June 21 in Panama, will have major

implications for tropical land use worldwide. The 3.3-square-mile

study site in the Agua Salud and its adjacent watersheds between

Panama's Soberania National Park and Transisthmian Highway form part

of the Panama Canal watershed. The area includes protected mature

forests and a wide variety of typical rural land uses. " The Agua Salud

project will teach us how to improve reforestation in the Panama Canal

watershed so that it can contribute to local and global economies and

to a healthy environment in one of the world's major biological hot

spots, " said Jefferson Hall, director of applied ecology at the Center

for Tropical Forest Science. The project will explore how

reforestation and other land-management practices can optimize

ecosystem services such as forest productivity, carbon storage and

biodiversity. Research will examine how groundwater storage—thought to

be critical for maintaining dry-season flow—can be maximized, thus

helping to ensure the full operation of the Panama Canal during

exceptionally severe draughts. The project also seeks to address the

social and economic value of different land uses such as reforestation

with teak versus reforestation with native tree species. Water from

the Panama Canal watershed guarantees the operation of the Panama

Canal, which is central to world commerce. This route of

transportation significantly reduces fuel use and carbon dioxide

emissions from ships taking shorter voyages through the canal. Runoff

from the watershed provides clean drinking water for Panama's two

largest cities, Panama and Colon, and generates hydroelectricity for

canal operations and the national power grid. The watershed's

rainforests harbor tremendous biodiversity, represent vast reservoirs

of carbon and attract tens of thousands of tourists per year.

http://7thspace.com/headlines/286146/smithsonian_inaugurates_landscape_study_of_\

tropical_forest

_ecosystem_services.html

 

Belize:

 

13) In his new non-fiction book Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw,

environmental journalist Bruce Barcott follows Sharon Matola -- a

former Air Force survival specialist and circus-tiger trainer turned

zookeeper -- as she fights the construction of a hydropower dam in her

adopted country of Belize, and attempts to save the nesting site of

the country's last scarlet macaws. During her years of battle, Matola

-- known throughout Belize and beyond as the Zoo Lady -- wrestled with

corrupt politicians, the habitual Belizean suspicion of outsiders, and

her own impulsive nature. Though her campaign to stop the Chalillo dam

ultimately failed, Matola remains a stubborn defender of Belizean

wildlife. She's now working with the Peregrine Fund to reintroduce the

harpy eagle, a gigantic bird Barcott describes as a " bear cub with

wings, " to the country's forests. Barcott first met Matola in 2002,

while on assignment for Outside magazine, and tracked her and her

crusade for the next several years. Along the way, he discovered that

reporting in the tropics requires discretion, persistence, and

snakeproof boots. My first impressions were immediate, vivid, and

strong. That's how she is -- she's this strong-willed, outgoing, and

very charming woman who started and runs her own zoo in the middle of

the jungle, in a very tough atmosphere. Belize today really reminds me

of Alaska in the old days: if you go down there, you have to make your

own way, essentially build your own house, and survive by your wits.

That's what Sharon is doing. The government made a tiny announcement

in the newspaper that it was going to let an energy company build this

dam. Sharon was the only one who knew what was going on -- she was the

only one who'd actually been back in the area that was going to be

flooded, because she had been doing some fieldwork on the macaws

nesting back there. She started looking into the dam quietly and

privately -- she met with energy company officials, a couple of

government officials, that sort of thing -- and they brushed her off,

saying, " You don't know what you're talking about. " She started

fighting the dam by herself, and little by little she gained allies.

She also gained some very powerful enemies. The government spokesman

said all sorts of outlandish things about her -- that she was an enemy

of the people, that she was ruining the economy of Belize. Threats

were made on her life and on the zoo -- at one point, the government,

in an effort to get her to shut up, decided it was going to move the

national dump from an area outside Belize City to a spot right next to

the zoo. http://www.grist.org/feature/2008/07/02/barcott/?source=daily

 

Guyana:

 

President Jagdeo has offered up five hundred acres of Guyana's

Iwokrama Rainforest to help China clean up the Beijing air for the

Summer Olympics. 'I have made the offer, it is up to them to see how

they can get the forests across to China in time,' Jagdeo said at a

press conference earlier today. 'With a few hundred acres of our

pristine forests across there, they won't have a problem with the

air,' he remarked. The President further highlighted that Chinese

engineers are expected in Guyana this evening to come up with an

immediate plan on how they would extract the 500 acres, and ship it to

China in time.

http://skinupguyana.blogspot.com/2008/07/rainforest-on-offer-again.html

 

 

Brazil:

 

15) Deforestation is not only unabated, it's accelerating around the

globe. The problem is growing bigger, and yet it is also becoming more

concentrated. Just how concentrated? Previously Brazil was thought to

account for about a quarter of worldwide deforestation. Now it is

understood to be a whopping 48%. This news comes from a new study in

the 7/8/08 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences (PNAS) by Matthew Hansen - as reported by Mongabay: " …Brazil

accounts for nearly half of global deforestation, nearly four times

that of the next highest country, Indonesia, which makes up about an

eighth of worldwide forest clearing. " A corollary of sorts is that

African deforestation may not be as critical as once thought: " Africa,

although a center of widespread, low-intensity selective logging,

contributes only 5.4 percent to the estimated loss of humid tropical

forest cover. This result reflects the absence of current

agro-industrial scale clearing in humid tropical Africa. "

Interestingly this greater concentration may make the problem more

manageable. Matthew Hansen says: " …the geographic concentration of

deforestation, coupled with the shift from subsistence-driven to

enterprise-deforestation forest clearing, may hold unexpected benefits

for conservation: it may be easier for environmental groups to target

their campaigns on major forest-destroying corporations and

industries. " A sliver of good news to be leveraged for sure.

http://climateprogress.org/2008/07/05/rainforest-destruction-greater-and-more-co\

ncentrated/

 

16) Although the two didn't have the money and machines of Big Pharma,

they had the Amazon's diversity to draw on--and after all, most of the

world's medicine originates from wild plants. So, Carvalho and

Raimundo started a business, Extracta, and went " bioprospecting. " In

178 expeditions to the Atlantic and Amazon rain forests, they amassed

the biggest " library " of medicinal flora in Latin America: 4,621

medicinal plants, among them, perhaps, drugs to fight staph, diabetes,

emphysema and other scourges. In no time, Extracta had attracted $3.5

million in venture capital. If the founders could fashion one active

plant molecule into a pill or potion, they stood to gain millions in

royalties. That never happened. After four years of battling the

Genetic Patrimony Management Council, which controls plant research,

and Brazil's intellectual-property law, which bans patents of anything

discovered in the wild, work at Extracta has largely halted. Only five

of the original 60 scientists and lab assistants remain. The investors

are gone. Thousands of flasks of plant extracts are in the deep

freeze. " It breaks my heart to see this, " says Carvalho. " We've been

stalemated. " The loss isn't just Extracta's. Bioprospecting was

supposed to help reap the riches of the rain forest without razing it.

The problem, from a public-relations point of view, is that

bioprospecting falls under the category of " development. " No one

opposes the idea of development, but in the Amazon it is still mostly

taboo. Brazil, pressed to the wall by environmentalists, has thrown

its weight behind halting the jungle's destruction--with money,

police, sophisticated satellite technology and a thicket of

conservation laws. None of this has worked. The Amazon is still a

free-for-all. Last year, 23,000 square kilometers--an area nearly the

size of Sicily--fell to the logger's ax or the clear-cutter's match.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/49557

 

17) One tree out every five cut down in the Brazilian Amazon is being

taken from government-protected areas where logging is illegal or

heavily restricted, a study published Sunday showed. About 22 percent

of the deforestation in the rain forest last year took place in Indian

reserves or preservation areas, according to government statistics

published by the O Globo newspaper. The study was conducted by

Brazil's environmental agency Ibama using satellite images, O Globo

said. The report has yet to be officially released by the government.

" It shows that our reserves are not well protected, " Environment

Minister Carlos Minc told O Globo. " It's not enough to create an area

on paper to guarantee the forest's preservation. " Officials at the

environmental agency could not be reached Sunday. The study shows that

the deforestation rate in preservation areas increased 6.4 percent in

2007 from the previous year, while the pace of overall deforestation

decreased by 20 percent — a slowdown the government has celebrated. In

June, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva created three nature

reserves in the Amazon: A national park that is off limits to logging

and development, and two " extractive reserves " that allow local

communities to harvest rubber, nuts and fruit while preserving the

forest. Limited logging is sometimes permitted in some of the new

extractive reserves. The environment minister said he plans to hire

120 specialists to analyze the current protection of preservation

areas and take several other measures in coming weeks in response to

the increase in logging in restricted zones. The Amazon covers 2.4

million square miles (6.2 million square kilometers), with 63 percent

of its territory in Brazil. About 20 percent of the original forest

has been destroyed by ranchers, loggers and developers. The government

hopes to place protections on 200,000 square miles (500,000 square

kilometers) of Amazon rain forest by 2012.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/06/america/LA-Brazil-Amazon-Deforestation\

..php

 

18) " All participants, including our country, should set a reduction

target in accordance with their own emissions of greenhouse gases, "

Lula said in an interview with Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper

published Wednesday. While he did not specify Brazil's own goal, he

said the world should be able to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60-80

percent from current levels by 2050. Lula made the remarks ahead of

his visit to Japan to attend a session on climate change with leaders

of the Group of Eight wealthy nations on the sidelines of their annual

summit. International negotiations on a new climate treaty, which

would cover the period after the Kyoto Protocol's obligations end in

2012, have been bogged down by disagreements between developing

nations and rich states. The United States, the main rich nation to

shun Kyoto, argues that any future treaty must involve rapidly growing

emerging nations including China and India. Many nations in the

developing bloc say wealthy countries are historically responsible for

global warming and should take the lead in reducing emissions. In the

interview, Lula called for Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who

will chair the summit, to take the lead in ensuring that poor

countries are not treated unfairly in a climate deal. The Brazilian

president also said his country plans to host an international

conference in November on use of biofuel, inviting world leaders,

researchers and corporate executives. Brazil is the world's leading

producer of ethanol, which is hailed by advocates for reducing

emissions caused by fossil fuels. But critics say ethanol's popularity

has exacerbated a crisis of spiralling food prices by stepping up

demand for edible crops. " When I speak about biofuels, I am not only

considering the benefit to Brazil alone, " Lula told the newspaper. " I

am considering producing bio-ethanol in Central and South America as

well as in Africa and Asia in cooperation with developed countries

such as Japan and Britain. "

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Poor_countries_should_set_climate_targets_Braz\

il_leader_999.h

tml

 

19) Brazil's new environment minister, Carlos Minc is committed to

serious punative action when it comes to the estimated 60,000 cows

that are raised on illegally deforested land in the region of

Amazonia. In fact, cattle pasture now covers 7.8% of the Amazon

region, with an ever growing presence as worldwide demand for beef

skyrockets. Illegal cattle grazing helped Brazil become the world's

largest beef exporter in 2004, but after several years of declining

deforestation rates in the Amazon, degradation of the rain forest is

again on the rise. The pressure to produce more and more has led many

ranchers to ignore regulation. It is rare to find a politician who is

willing to stand up to an industry that is responsible for a

significant portion of the GDP, but Minister Minc made good on his

promises to crack down on illegal ranching last week when his office

confiscated 3,100 cows from one rancher who used a nature reserve in

the state of Para as pasture land, cutting away forest that got in the

way of his cattle. Not only is Minc committed to punishing those who

clearcut the Amazon, he sees a use for the contraband livestock. In

his announcement of the ranch seizure, Mr. Minc reported that the

cattle would be auctioned off to the highest bidder with proceeds

directed towards Fome Zero - the national anti-hunger organization

(literally, " zero hunger " ). The money will also go toward helping

indigenous health organizations and further livestock confiscation

efforts. The Brazilian government's environmental ministry, known as

Ibama, reported that much of the Amazon's deforestation can be blamed

on cattle farmers who ignore the boundaries of protected areas in

search of ideal ranching land. For example, the rancher involved in

the seizure last week had already faced fines of close to US$2 million

for illegal deforestation.

http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/06/30/brazil-raids-illegal-ranches-gives-cattle-t\

o-poor/

 

20) SAO PAULO - Brazil's new environment minister, Carlos Minc, called

all sugar cane mills in the northeastern state of Pernambuco an

environmental " disaster of disasters " and fined them 120 million reais

($75 million). In a crackdown called Old Green Mill conducted jointly

with the environmental protection agency Ibama, Minc said on Tuesday

on the official government news service Agencia Brasil that all 24

mills in the state had committed a series of crimes. Since he took

over as minister after conservationist icon Marina Silva stepped down

several weeks ago, Minc has targeted Brazil's powerful farmers,

ranchers and miners, who are riding a global commodity boom, and

blamed them for fueling deforestation. The ministry has already seized

thousands of cattle and hundreds of tonnes of soybeans and corn in the

Amazon region in a crackdown against illegal logging. It has also

fined several steel mills for using charcoal produced from illegal

deforestation. Minc said the 24 sugar and ethanol mills in Pernambuco

were responsible for the loss of 85,000 hectares (210,000 acres) of

Atlantic rain forest and were operating without environmental

licenses. " Not only in the Amazon " will environmental laws be

enforced, Minc said. " The time of being soft on the northeastern mills

is over. " Most of Brazil's sugar cane is grown in the center-south

region but a smaller group of mills still maintains production in the

northeastern states. The rate of deforestation is increasing in Brazil

this year for the first time since 2004 as growing demand for food is

pushing farmers and ranchers deeper into forested regions. " It doesn't

matter how high the costs are for the millers. They are going to have

to recover the area they have degraded, " said Minc, who added that

mills had the help of local politicians to operate outside the law.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN0128292720080701

 

21) The coordinator of the Sustainable Amazon Program (PAS) of the

Brazilian government has indicated the possibility of increasing the

maximum limit of forest conversion to other uses in rural properties

in the Amazon region to above 20%, ITTO reported. The adjustment does

not depend on changes to the Forest Code, which is being discussed in

the Congress. It refers to a provision that allows the reduction of

the legal reserve from 80% to 50% for the purpose of forest

restoration under two conditions: indication of ecological- economic

zoning, and the endorsement of the National Council for the

Environment, and the Ministries of Environment and Agriculture.There

are already state laws for zoning in the Amazonian states of Acre and

Rondonia. However, many municipalities fail to follow legal guidelines

that set aside 80% of a property for protection. According to the

Environment Ministry, only three municipalities (out of the 36

municipalities that deforested the Amazon the most) follow the 80%

forest protection rule. On average, the target areas of deforestation

control operations have lost 50% of their forests. In Brasil Novo, a

municipality in state of Para where most deforestation takes place,

there are only 17% of forests left.The Minister of the Environment

supported the creation of a 'belt' in the transition area between

savannah and the rainforest, where the population would develop

economically feasible and environmentally friendly production

activities. He also emphasized that the rainforest is not an

agricultural frontier, despite official information pointing out that

40% of the national production of soybeans and meat come from legal

areas of the Amazon. In contrast to deforestation measures adopted by

the government, the PAS coordinator emphasized that the governmental

actions would reach small producers and the settlement of agrarian

reform as well. So far, there is no deadline set to announce the

results of the PAS. http://wood.lesprom.com/news/34608/

 

22) Given the abundance here in the fields, it's hard to believe that

these plains were once dismissed as sterile wastelands best left to

the emus, armadillos, monkeys, anacondas, and the odd jaguar. The

acidic soil was thought to rule out significant farming. The

Brazilians still call these lightly wooded plains the cerrado—or

" closed " or " inaccessible " land. But nowadays the cerrado is very much

open for business, its fertility a springboard from which the world's

newest superpower in agriculture is emerging. " We have been able to

transform wasteland into a bountiful land that is helping to feed

Brazil and the world, " says Silvio Crestana, head of the Brazilian

government's agricultural research company, EMBRAPA. With millions of

people literally hungering for affordable food, Brazil's breakthroughs

in tropical agriculture may prove to be the key to feeding a growing

global population. If Saudi Arabia fills the world's gas stations,

China assembles its consumer goods, and India vies to staff its office

services, then it is Brazil that is stepping forward to stock its

pantries. The rise of Brazil as an agricultural powerhouse may be the

most important story of globalization that many Americans have never

heard of. With ample sun and fresh water and more available arable

land than any other country, Brazil seems to be on a historic

trajectory to becoming the next great global breadbasket. " Brazil can

be No. 1 in the future in agricultural production, " asserts André

Nassar, a leading agricultural economist based in São Paulo. " I think

we will exceed the U.S. " If that ambition pans out, Brazil may provide

the supply cushion the world urgently needs to meet growing demands

for food. China, India, Russia, and other countries are eating higher

on the food chain; they want more of the grains and meat Brazil can

provide. The same soaring commodity prices that have inflicted so much

global pain are creating wealth in Brazil's fast-growing hinterlands.

" The crisis is not bad for Brazil. It allows farmers to get a better

price, " says Derli Dossa, a strategic adviser in the Ministry of

Agriculture.

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/world/2008/06/25/brazil-becomes-the-new-food\

-superpower.html

 

23) Curitiba – A " fragile " land tenure system and " a scarce presence "

by the State were identified as key factors in rising Amazon

deforestation last week.The diagnosis was delivered to the 3rd

International Congress on Bioenergy last week by WWF-Brazil forest

engineer Ana Euler, who said there was a need to re-discuss the

Brazilian development model. " In many areas of the Amazon we come

across a situation in which there are various 'landowners' for the

same piece of land and proof of land ownership is extremely

difficult, " Euler said. " In such a scenario, the populations that are

more vulnerable end up being penalized. " " Indigenous peoples,

extractivists and small peasants generally lose the dispute to

agribusiness and other groups that deploy greater political and

economic strength. " The findings draw on studies of the states of Para

and Rondônia where a high incidence of land conflict and associated

violence were linked to forest degradation and destruction. Using

satellite images of the state of Rondônia - one of the Amazon region's

most deforested states, Ana Euler showed that protected areas are

proving effective instruments for containing deforestation and

conflicts resulting from land use. " It can be noted that indigenous

lands, extractive reserves, national and state forests, and other

protected areas work as barriers against forest degradation, " she

said. Also raised by Euler was the great influence of infrastructure

projects, as hydroelectric power plants, highways, pipelines and

waterways in increasing conflicts over land use and occupation in the

Amazon region. " The speculation generated by the announcement of great

infrastructure construction work, as well as the lack of transparence

in the project-licensing processes, has serious impacts to local

biodiversity and to surrounding communities even before construction

is started, " she said. WWF-Brazil is fostering the creation and

implementation of protected areas and the promotion of sustainable

development in the Amazon. Through providing technical and financial

support to the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA),

WWF-Brazil contributed to the creation of 23 million hectares of

additional protected areas between 2003 and 2008.

http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=139821

 

 

Peru:

 

24) To all appearances, the Amazon seems to stretch on forever, but

our journey through Peru has shown that huge parts are disappearing at

an astonishing rate. And as well as ugly brown scars on the lush green

landscape, we have discovered that deforestation has left behind

suffering and fear. We have listened to one of the forest's most

ancient tribes - the Ashaninka - telling us of the daily threats and

bribes they face from companies keen to reap the community's land of

its resources. On the outskirts of the forest in the logging town of

Satipo, local leaders told us that the industry is bound up with drug

traffickers, while the police turn a blind eye to the illegal

activities. The man tasked with confronting Peru's deforestation

problem is the new environment minister, Dr Antonio Brack. He has only

been in the job just over a month, but he has told Sky News he is

already busy raising fines for illegal logging and transforming the

way the industry is policed. " We are going to create, under the Home

Office the National Office of Environment Police. This will be

governed by a general and will be at national level, " he said. " And we

have decided that the force will have 3,000 police in three years'

time. Because at the moment, there are only 240 officers and it's

impossible to control the problem. " One of the main tasks for the new

minister is to try to placate the discontent among Peru's rural

communities, that the government is ignoring the deforestation

problem. He is determined to be harder on the illegal companies and

says the scale of the problem is huge. " We have to destroy mafias, and

big illegal groups and we need in general to change. That's what this

country needs, " Dr Brack said.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Peru-Environment-Minister-Calls-On-U\

K-To-Help-Save-T

he-Rainforest/Article/200807115026351?lpos=World%2BNews_0 & lid=ARTICLE_15026351_P\

eru%2BEnvironme

nt%2BMinister%2BCalls%2BOn%2BUK%2BTo%2BHelp%2BSave%2BThe%2BRainforest

 

25) For the last few days Sky News has been in Tinkereni - a village

of 200 Ashaninka in the heart of the Amazon. The live simply, hunting

and fishing with bows and spears and gathering fruit and nuts from the

trees... at one with nature. But although they have legal rights to

the land - this serene existence is in jeopardy. Cesar Bustamente is

one of the tribal leaders in the village. Earlier this year he

experienced an agressive approach from an illegal logging company

offering cash to chop down the tribe's trees. He told us: " What we

want is for our children to live as we have done here in the forest -

we don't want to leave our land. We want to conserve it like our

ancestors for future generations. " The tribe decided to contact

anthropologist Dilwyn Jenkins. He in turn called the British charity

Cool Earth. " We have set up a way for the community to receive an

income for not chopping down their trees, " he told us. " It's taken a

big burden off their minds - it's been a big relief. " Cool Earth is now

protecting 50,000 acres of Peruvian rainforest. The idea is that

people back home can pay to sponsor an acre of land so in turn the

Ashaninka can act as wardens of the forest. Ruth Buendia is the

Ashaninka president of the region. She has recently received news that

the Peruvian government is thinking of privatising parts of the

forest. She has called on the British public for help. " What we want

is that the people in your country don't buy illegal wood. This is our

forest - the lungs of the earth. " Leave us in peace to look after it. "

The Ashaninka say the alliance with the charity has brought temporary

relief, and with growing international efforts to halt deforestation

they are now protecting the forest not just for themselves but for the

rest of the world.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Perus-Ashaninka-Tribe-Trying-To-Save\

-Rainforest-Wi

th-Help-Of-Cool-Earth-Charity/Article/200806415016497?lpos=World%2BNews_5 & lid=AR\

TICLE_15016497

_Peru%2527s%2BAshaninka%2BTribe%2BTrying%2BTo%2BSave%2BRainforest%2BWith%2BHelp%\

2BOf%2BCool%2

BEarth%2BCharity

 

26) Satipo is a place where disputes are often settled by the gun, and

international concerns over conservation and climate change are of no

interest to those with the power here - the illegal logging barons.

There is only one road that leads towards the town, out of the central

jungle. The supposed timber and police checkpoints along the route are

always unmanned. A constant stream of lorries loaded with tree trunks

and freshly cut planks snake along the winding roads. The whirr of

sawmills fills the air. Armed guards stand poised outside, pistols at

the ready. We were told the wood is usually cut up along the way, and

it usually passes completely unchecked. So by the time it reaches

Satipo, it's impossible to tell what's legal and what's not. It then

goes off to Lima and is shipped out to the rest of the world. And that

means that despite the best intentions of those who try to guarantee

sustainable timber to protect this rainforest, it's believed 60% of

the hard wood that arrives in the UK has been cut down illegally. As

tribal mayor of Peru's Central Amazon region, Tarsicio Mendoza is on

the frontline of the international fight against illegal loggers. In

two days' time, he is having a meeting with the local logging chiefs

to confront them with his community's concerns. But it is a risky

business. He told me others before him have been threatened with their

lives. " We have decided to be harder on them, but I know we're going

to have problems, because they're powerful people and they have a lot

of money, " he said. " To tell you the truth, we're really scared of

them. In another region near here, many things have happened. When the

local leaders have gone to defend their forest, the illegal loggers

have gone and contracted people to attack them. " Many here believe the

lack of local policing stems from the authorities turning a blind eye

to illegal logging, in return for handouts from rich companies. Billy

Hammer used to be head of the Central Amazon Loggers' Association. He

decided to run for mayor to try to clamp down on illegal logging, but

he told me it has been harder than he thought, because of the extent

of criminal activity involved in the illegal logging business. " There

is a big mafia here who use logging to traffic cocaine. All of this is

interconnected. They hide the cocaine in the wood, and they launder

the money through the logging industry. " Billy's brother Eric runs a

local sawmill in nearby San Ramon. He told me the existing paperwork

system fails to stop the illegal wood leaving the country and being

exported by major companies.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Criminal-Logging-In-Central-Amazon-P\

eru-Authorities

-Ignoring-Problem/Article/200807115024308?lpos=World%2BNews_0 & lid=ARTICLE_150243\

08_Criminal%2BL

ogging%2BIn%2BCentral%2BAmazon%253A%2BPeru%2BAuthorities%2B%2527Ignoring%2BProbl\

em%2527

 

27) My name is Jaime and I'm 36 years old. I've lived in Tinkereni all

my life. Life here in the middle of the forest is idyllic. The selva

provides for all our needs. But despite the calm, we face many threats

to our existence. A few years ago, it was from the Shining Path

terrorists and thousands of my people died fighting them. Now, there's

a new threat: the illegal loggers and oil companies who all want to

cut down our trees. Recently I found out about one man in our

community in the Cutivereni Valley who wanted to sell part of our

forest to a logging company. So I contacted Dilwyn Jenkins, an

anthropologist who I have known since I was a child, and asked him to

help us. It was a close-run thing. I felt very sad at the thought of

my children not having the same forest to grow up in as I have done.

What if they said in the future: " Some big companies came and chopped

down our trees and my father stood by and did nothing. " That's when I

knew I had to act. Now we're working with Cool Earth to make sure

nobody in our community tries to sell up to the loggers. But it takes

time to educate the people here. Many people in my village don't

realise the impact on the environment and on our health. Especially

when companies pour chemicals into our River Ene and the water gets

toxic and fish die from contamination. At a worldwide level, I

understand there's more to stopping deforestation than the survival of

the Ashaninka, but it's hard for people here in the village to

understand the concept that we live on a planet and the rainforest is

so important to other people too. We're happy Cool Earth is helping

us. They've given us money to build a school and buy canoes. All we

want is to live like our ancestors here in peace in our forest. We're

happy to protect it if we're allowed to, as we have done for thousands

of years. Otherwise, when the petrol is finished, how will we survive?

How will we feed our children when the forest is gone?

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Peru-Ashaninka-Tribe-Leader-In-Peruv\

ian-Amazon-Tell

s-Sky-News-Of-Threats-To-Survival/Article/200807115017853?lpos=World%2BNews_0 & li\

d=ARTICLE_15017

853_Peru%253A%2BAshaninka%2BTribe%2BLeader%2BIn%2BPeruvian%2BAmazon%2BTells%2BSk\

y%2BNews%2BOf%

2BThreats%2BTo%2BSurvival

 

28) A quarter of all our medicine is sourced from it and it hosts a

mass of colourful biodiversity. But both the Peruvian Amazon's species

and the world's medicine are facing their gravest threat yet. From

toucans to tapirs, anteaters to spectacled bears, the Peruvian Amazon

is a living, breathing mass of colourful biodiversity. When you

consider that two thirds of the country is covered in rainforest, you

start to realise why this is the most biodiverse region on Earth. But

the rapid onslaught of deforestation here in Peru is putting this

unique array of plant and animal species at risk. Just as the

rainforest is rich in flora, it also boasts an abundance of other,

more lucrative riches. The race to plunder the forest of fossil fuels,

gold and timber for example, means that every day truckloads of trees

are slashed and burned with little reforestation. The authorities turn

a blind eye to the illegal activities of big business. The

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says 30% of all the world's

species will face extinction by 2050 if global warming continues at

the current rate. In Peru, that figure is nearer 50% because of the

sheer scale of its biodiversity. There are few other countries with

such a variety of micro-environments. From the mountainous terrain of

the Andes to the dry desert heat, and to the lush rainforest region -

Peru has it all. As well as containing two thirds of all animal and

plant species, the forest is known as the 'pharmacy of the world' - a

quarter of all our medicines are sourced there. The worry is that due

to deforestation a plethora of cures for all manner of diseases have

been lost to the world before anyone had the chance to discover them.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Peru-Cures-For-Disease-Being-Destroy\

ed-By-Deforesta

tion-In-The-Amazon/Article/200807115022003?lpos=World%2BNews_0 & lid=ARTICLE_15022\

003_Peru%253A%

2BCures%2BFor%2BDisease%2BBeing%2BDestroyed%2BBy%2BDeforestation%2BIn%2BThe%2BAm\

azon

 

Tropical Forests:

 

29) From about the mid-1800s, around 1852, the planet has experienced

an unprecedented rate of change of destruction of forests worldwide.

Forests in Europe are adversely affected by acid rain and very large

areas of Siberia have been harvested since the collapse of the Soviet

Union. In the last two decades, Afghanistan has lost over 70% of its

forests throughout the country. However, it is in the world's great

tropical rainforests where the destruction is most pronounced at the

current time and where clearcutting is having an adverse effect on

biodiversity and contributing to the ongoing Holocene mass extinction.

About half of the mature tropical forests, between 750 to 800 million

hectares of the original 1.5 to 1.6 billion hectares that once covered

the planet have fallen. The forest loss is already acute in Southeast

Asia, the second of the world's great biodiversity hot spots. Much of

what remains is in the Amazon basin, where the Amazon Rainforest

covered more than 600 million hectares. The forests are being

destroyed at a pace tracking the rapid pace of human population

growth. Unless significant measures are taken on a world-wide basis to

preserve them, by 2030 there will only be ten percent remaining with

another ten percent in a degraded condition. 80 percent will have been

lost and with them the irreversible loss of hundreds of thousands of

species. Many tropical countries, including Indonesia, Thailand,

Malaysia, Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka, Laos, Nigeria, Liberia,

Guinea, Ghana and the Cote d'lvoire have lost large areas of their

rainforest. 90% of the forests of the Philippine archipelago have been

cut. In 1960 Central America still had 4/5 of its original forest; now

it is left with only 2/5. Madagascar has lost 95% of its rainforests.

Brazil has lost 90-95% of its Mata Atlântica forest. Half of the

Brazilian state of Rondonia's 24.3 million hectares have been

destroyed or severely degraded in recent years. As of 2007, less than

1% of Haiti's forests remain, causing many to call Haiti a Caribbean

desert. Between 1990 and 2005, Nigeria lost a staggering 79% of its

old-growth forests. Several countries, notably the Philippines,

Thailand and India have declared their deforestation a national

emergency. http://farahatiqah.blogspot.com/2008/07/de-forestation.html

 

World Wide:

 

30) Using an artificial model of a leaf, scientists have unveiled a

mathematical principle underlying how leaf veins are arranged to

enable water to perspire as fast as possible. Because water

perspiration is closely linked to how plants absorb CO2, the findings

could help researchers learn about past climates by studying the

patterns of veins found on fossilized leaves. Water evaporation helps

leaves stay cool and provides the pull that lets plants lift nutrients

from the soil. But during photosynthesis, when plants open up the

pores on the underside of leaves to absorb CO2, water escapes from

those pores at an accelerated pace. " The same membranes that let CO2

inside also let water outside, " says Maciej Zwieniecki of Harvard

University's Arnold Arboretum. Leaves then need abundant water flow to

avoid dehydration. And the more CO2 a plant absorbs, the more energy

it can take in from the sun through photosynthesis, and the more it

can grow. Evolution should thus favor a distribution of veins that can

carry water through the leaves at a fast pace. Zwieniecki and his

collaborators write in the July 8 Proceedings of the National Academy

of Sciences that, on average, the distance separating the veins that

pump water through leaves is about the same as the distance separating

the veins from the leaves' surface. This finely tuned geometry keeps

water flowing quickly through the leaves, the team has found. Within

species, leaf veins follow very uniform patterns, Zwieniecki says,

suggesting that the geometry is a feature optimized through many

generations of evolution. The team's results are " fascinating, "

comments Lawren Sack, a biologist at the University of California, Los

Angeles. " The finding implies that leaves are optimized during

evolution by adjusting not only the length of vein per area [vein

density], but also the thickness of tissues. " The research could help

scientists study past climate clues found in fossil leaves, Sack adds.

" Venation patterns are often preserved, " he says, and could help

reconstruct patterns of rainfall and availability of sunshine. The

rate of evaporation from leaves is affected by humidity, and the

amount of sunshine determines the energy available for photosynthesis.

The patterns could also inspire engineers to design better irrigation

systems, he says. Science News

June 30th, 2008

 

 

31) Some endangered species may face an extinction risk that is up to

a hundred times greater than previously thought, according to a study

released Wednesday. By overlooking random differences between

individuals in a given population, researchers may have badly

underestimated the perils confronting threatened wildlife, it said.

" Many larger populations previously considered relatively safe would

actually be at risk, " Brett Melbourne, a professor at the University

of Colorado and the study's lead author, told AFP. There are more than

16,000 species worldwide threatened with extinction, according to the

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). One in four

mammals, one in eight birds and one in three amphibians are on the

IUCN's endangered species " Red List " . In a study released on Wednesday

by the journal Nature, Melbourne said the current models used draw up

such lists typically look only at two risk factors. One is the

individual deaths within a small population, such as Indian tigers or

rare whales. When a species dwindles beyond a certain point, even the

loss of a handful of individuals can have devastating long-term

consequences, Melbourne explained. There are less than 400 specimens

of several species of whale, for example, and probably no more than

4,000 tigers roaming in the wild. The second commonly-used factor is

environmental conditions that can influence birth and death rates,

such as habitat destruction, or fluctuations in temperature or

rainfall, both of which can be linked to climate change. Melbourne and

co-author Alan Hastings from the University of California at Davis

argue that these factors must be widened in order to give a fuller

picture of extinction risk. They say that two other determinants must

be taken into account: male-to-female ratios in a species, and a wider

definition of randomness in individual births and deaths These complex

variables can determine whether a fragile population can overcome a

sudden decline in numbers, such as through habitat loss, or whether it

will be wiped out. " This seems subtle and technical, but it turns out

to be important, " Melbourne said in an email.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Extinction_risks_vastly_underestimated_study_9\

99.html

 

 

32) In a world that is seeing the effects of climate chaos, one could

hope that a conference dubbed as the First Biodiversity and Climate

Summit, would attempt to solve this disaster. Instead the Conference

turned to the same culprits that got us into this mess into the first

place: business, industry, and market-based approaches. At their 2006

Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP-8), the CBD made their first

pro-business decision, launching the " business and biodiversity

initiative. " This year's 2008 Ninth Conference of the Parties of the

CBD (COP-9) was the grand unveiling of this new business-oriented

conservation strategy. The new focus on attracting business to the

Convention on Biological Diversity has led some to rename it the

" Convention on Buying Diversity. " If we want to implement the goals of

the CBD and safeguard the natural basis of life for future generation,

it is indispensable to involve all spheres of society, and in

particular, businesses, " said Gabriel Sigmar, the German minister of

environment, president of COP-9. The CBD's Business and Biodiversity

Initiative states, the " Conference aims to visibly integrate the

business sector... " The CBD made available many publications that were

extremely pro-business, such as " Business.2010, " " COP-9: Business and

Biodiversity in Bonn, " and " Banking for Biodiversity. " COP-9 also

included numerous side events put on by business to showcase their

market-driven conservation solutions. These events were quite blatant

in their aims, with titles such as " Mainstreaming Biodiversity into

Commodity Supply Chains " or " Biotrade Opportunities in Developing

Countries. " One especially memorable side event entitled " A Dialogue

on Building Biodiveristy Business: Experiences and Opportunities, " was

co-hosted by Shell and the International Union for Conservation of

Nature (IUCN). Sandy Gauntlett, chair of the Pacific Indigenous

Peoples Coalition (PIPEC), said, " The parties to the CBD are fast

becoming the world's largest organization dedicated to opposing

equitable social change, with industry playing an increasingly larger

role in commodifying the planet's environmental resources. " She

[authors'ß note He] concluded, " Many of the parties are lining up for

their slice of the cake. "

http://zcommunications.org/zmag/viewArticle/18090