379 - Earth's Tree News

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--Today for you 39 new articles about earth's trees! (379th edition)

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In this edition:

 

EU-Africa-Mid-East Latin America

 

Index:

 

--EU: 1) Forest love video encourages you to push for forest law vote!

--UK: 2) Britain a leader in illegal lumber imports, 3) Plans for

800-acre forest, 4) Heat adapted trees to take over forest, 5) Public

part of revision of Woodlands for Wales,

--Ukraine: 6) Logging Carpathians results in large scale flood,

--Cyprus: 7) Billboards and tree poisoning, 8) Cont.

--Turkey: 9) Armed forces fighting back by burning down forests

--Ethiopia: 10) Photographer Andarge Asfaw returns to a barren homeland

--Zimbabwe: 11) 70% in poverty leads to forest and wildlife rapid vanishing

--Burkina Faso: 12) 110,000 hectares of forest disappear every year

--Kenya: 13) Mau Forest epitomizes everything wrong about Kenya, 14) Save Mau!

--Mozambique: 15) Fake UN vehicles used to smuggle logs

--Congo: 16) Million acres certified for destruction, 17) Commission

for the Conversion of Forestry Titles to review 156 titles, 18)

Mbendjele Pygmies provide data to help loggers protect / destroy

forest,

--Iran: 19) Art and Nature Club in Tehran explains forest defense in a new film,

--Pakistan: 20) Forestless within a single generation?

--Kyrgyzstan: 21) 60% of illegal logging is for firewood

--Haiti: 22) Women's empowerment is now being linked to climate change solutions

--Dominican Republic: 23) Forestry Sectorial Law would promote an

export industry

--Guatemala: 24) Howler Monkey research

--Peru: 25) Protected areas actually protected except for 1-2%

--Suriname: 26) Tribe approached about solutions to climate change

--Bolivia: 27) " Rainforest Coalition " agrees to reduce gas emissions,

avoid deforestation

--Brazil: 28) Gov creates an unaccountable forest protection fund, 29)

A landscape called: " The Closed " 30) 150,000 square kilometers lost in

only 8 years, 31) Suzano Papel e Celulose signs MOU with Gov, 32)

Articulate summary,

--Guyana: 33) Tax exemptions for loggers happens way too much, 34)

Lost Land of the Jaguar, 35) New forest concessions will be allowed to

export, 36) Logger Toolsie Persaud Limited has timber agreement

suspended, 37) Readiness Plan (R-Plan) for combating tropical

deforestation,

--Ecuador: 38) Third Millenium Alliance to: regenerate, reforest, and

restore the Chocó-Manabí Biological Corridor, 39) More on Chevron's

" Amazon Chernobyl " lawsuit,

 

Articles:

 

EU:

 

1) Remember the way we copied Unilever's great " Onslaught " ad on

YouTube, to spread the message about palm oil and deforestation? We're

going to do the same to the European Commission -- but this time we

want to make the video with you. The European Commission has delayed

the EU forests law vote, previously scheduled for this month, to early

September. We want to do something especially provocative to deliver

our message to the EU. If you're not offended by the suggestive

rubbing of branches, ahem, come watch our intro video and get

involved. Watch the video and send a letter:

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/forests/eu-ban-illegal-timber/\

forest-love?utm

_s

ource=gpi-cyberactivist-list & utm_medium=email & utm_campaign=eu-illegal-logging & x=\

y

The European Commission has delayed a vital vote on protecting forests

from illegal logging till September. We want to make sure the

commissioners don't forget about it during their summer holiday. We

need you to help us make an extra impression before the September

vote. We all love the forests, and we would like to showcase all that

love to the EU (and we know for a fact that the EU doesn't have

anything against some loving). The forests already have made an effort

themselves! Here is your mission: 1) Take pictures and/or videos of

yourself and your friends spreading the love in a forest. 2) Submit

your pictures in the flickr group or post your video as an answer to

ours. We'll use these photos to make a collaborative video that we'll

show the European Commission in September. If you haven't already,

please also send this email to the President of the European

Commission:

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/forests/eu-ban-illegal-timber/\

forest-love

 

UK:

 

2) Britain imports more illegal timber than almost any other country

in Europe, a new report claims. Almost one-fifth of wood imported into

the EU in 2006 came from illegal sources, according to WWF. And the UK

imported 3.5m cubic metres of illegal wood making it the second

biggest importer behind Finland. WWF has called for an EU law to

guarantee that only legal wood is sold in the European market. This

included the biggest quantities of furniture, finished wood products,

sawn wood and plywood of all EU states. WWF claims that in total the

EU imported between 26.5m and 31m cubic metres of illegal wood and

related products in 2006, equal to the total amount of wood harvested

in Poland in the same year. Most came from Russia, Indonesia and

China.

http://naturealert.blogspot.com/2008/07/britain-imports-more-illegal-timber_24.h\

tml

 

3) Conservationists are planning to buy an 800-acre site to grow the

largest continuous native forest in England. The Woodland Trust will

plant more than 600,000 trees on the site near St Albans in

Hertfordshire. The trust says a new native forest of this size and

type has never been created in England before, and could take shape

within 12 years. England has lost half its ancient woodland to

development, agriculture or conifer woods since the 1930s. More forest

has been created than lost in recent years but this has been mostly

non-native conifer trees planted for commercial purposes. The trust

says it is a different story when it comes to native broadleaved

woodland of species such as oak, ash and field maple.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7528041.stm

 

4) Britain's woods and forests face their greatest disruption since

the last Ice Age with native species such as oak, beech and ash under

threat from climate change, according to research. These and other

native trees are likely to retreat from parts of the warmer south and

west as well as East Anglia, leaving woodlands dominated by species

adapted to heat and drought, such as Corsican pine, Spanish oak and

shrubs including spindle and dogwood. Many of these species were

introduced to Britain as ornamental trees but are now expected to

flourish in the wild. American giant redwoods already grow well in

England and could thrive. Further threats are posed by disease. Half

the country's 2m horse chestnut trees are suffering from bleeding

canker, which disfigures the trunk and branches. Oak and beech trees

are being hit by sudden oak death, a fungus carried by rhododendron

bushes. Research about the scale of the change will be presented to

the British Ecological Society next month. " Climate change will have a

[big] impact over the next five decades, " said Dr Keith Kirby, a

woodland scientist with Natural England, who will present a study on

conserving woodlands as the climate changes. " Our woods will change.

Many species will cope with some warming but there is uncertainty

about what happens with extreme events such as droughts and storms,

which we expect to become more frequent. " Beech is particularly

vulnerable to summer drought because of its shallow spreading roots.

Gill Stribley of Surrey Wildlife Trust has studied British beech trees

for 19 years and recently noted a marked decline in their health and

growth. " What is of concern is how the old trees will be replaced.

Younger ones are not doing well. Whether they reach maturity remains

to be seen. Trees less than 50 years old are showing changes that we

would not expect to see until they were about 140, " she said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4449530.ece

 

5) There are 382 million reasons for protecting and developing Welsh

woodlands. This was the message of the Minister for Rural Affairs,

Elin Jones, in launching plans for fulfilling the One Wales commitment

of creating a Welsh national forest of native trees. There are 382

million trees in Wales but the Assembly Government is working to

ensure that woodlands in Wales can meet the challenges of the 21st

century, particularly climate change. The minister was speaking at the

launch of a 12-week public consultation on the revision of Woodlands

for Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government Woodland Strategy, at the

Forestry Commission pavilion, Royal Welsh Show. It gives the

opportunity to re-assess the current strategy in light of the One

Wales commitment to create a Welsh National Forest to act as a carbon

sink, and to consider how trees and woodlands can help further the

Assembly Government ambitions in a range of other ways. Elin Jones

said that there will be bold decisions to be taken and important

choices need to be made now which will shape the forests of the

future. She said: " Since publication of the original strategy in 2001,

a number of issues have emerged which need to be included in to a

revised Woodlands for Wales. For example, in 2001 climate change has

risen up the agenda and is recognised as the greatest challenge for

mankind. " Although Wales is a small country with only 14 per cent of

its area as woodland, it can make an important contribution to

addressing this issue. To reflect its importance the new strategy is

to include a section specifically related to climate change. "

http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Environment & F=1 & id=14765

 

Ukraine:

 

6) Cutting down of forests in Carpathians result in large scale flood

in western regions of Ukraine. Such an opinion was expressed by

director of the Kyiv ecology-cultural center Volodymyr Boreiko.

According to him, having lost over the previous 40 years a large part

of forests, the Ukrainian Carpathian mountains came to be unable to

keep moisture.

Water swiftly runs down to valleys thus causing great ecological

disasters, the expert notes. He also says that Ukraine's neighbouring

countries Poland, Slovakia and Rumania have become aware of this

threat and banned the industrial cutting down of forests in the Tatry

and Carpathians. http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=148 & listid=71369

 

 

Cyprus:

 

7) NICOSIA - Authorities in Cyprus are investigating the destruction

by poisoning of hundreds of trees on the Mediterranean island. The

forestry department called in police after finding evidence that pine

trees lining two key motorways had been deliberately killed. " We found

that the lower parts of tree trunks had been pieced with a drill and

herbicide was placed inside, " George Pattichis, a forestry department

spokesman, told Reuters. " They are mainly pines and cannot be saved. "

Cyprus is suffering its worst drought in decades, but the huge number

of usually hardy pines wilting and dying made authorities suspect

something else was afoot, Pattichis said. A man was being questioned

by police on Wednesday. Newspapers reported the suspected motive was

to offer drivers a clearer view of advertising billboards currently

obstructed by the trees.

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL058168120080730

 

8) A Cypriot businessman and his brother appeared in court on

Wednesday on suspicion they destroyed scores of pine trees because

they were obstructing the view of advertising billboards. The

advertising company owner and his brother are accused of destroying

233 pine trees mainly on public highways on the island by injecting

pesticide or herbicide through holes drilled into the trunks. The men,

who deny any involvement, could face maximum jail terms of three years

if convicted. " According to the forestry department, the cost of

damage to the trees -- which average 27 years old -- is 21,127 euros, "

investigating officer Iosif Katsouides told the court. " But this is

not only about money. The damage is catastrophic to the environment, "

he said. The court heard that the businessman had previously

complained to the forestry department and asked for the removal of

trees that spoilt the view of his advertising billboards. The Cyprus

Greens condemned the " tree poisoning, " saying it was not the first

time that advertisers have harmed trees that obscure their billboards.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jBUDbfhGz6EjxyMRFJPE_aSO6bzA

 

Turkey:

 

9) During the recent military operations of the Turkish Armed Forces

(TSK) against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in southeastern

Anatolia, several fires were set on forested land to eliminate hiding

places of the PKK. Some of them were left to burn without interference

due to possible land mine explosions in these areas. On its Web site,

meanwhile, the PKK threatened to set fire to forests in the

Mediterranean and Aegean regions to retaliate against the military.

The villagers in the Southeast who had fires set near their villages

appealed to Parliament's Human Rights Commission and certain

ministries to stop fires from being set by the military, while the

newly established Green Party asked for an explanation from the

Environment and Forestry for the setting of the recent fires in the

region. Setting fires to forests purposefully is not a new phenomenon

in southeastern Anatolia, which is the poorest region of Turkey both

economically and in terms of forested area. Only 3 percent of the

region is forested, and some of this area has fallen victim to terror

and the combat of terror. Approximately 27 percent of Turkey was

forested, but according to statistics from the Ministry of Environment

and Forestry this number has dropped to 20 percent due to fires over

the last 15 years. In the western part of the Turkey, the causes of

forest fires are usually human carelessness and land clearance for

agricultural purposes. Some of the fires in western Turkey are also

deliberately set by the PKK, but in southeastern Anatolia most fires

are carried out as part of military operations. " Everybody knows who

is responsible and why the forests of the region are set on fire, "

said Mehmet Emin Tekin, representative of the Chamber of Forest

Engineers, adding that the main tree species in the forests of the

Southeast are oak and juniper.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay & link=149234 & bolum=101

 

 

Ethiopia:

 

10) Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, photographer Andarge Asfaw has

lived in the U.S. for almost 40 years. He came here as a young

teenager, attending high school in Ithaca, N.Y., then Cornell

University and the Hallmark Institute of Photography. After Asfaw

completed his studies, he planned to return home to Ethiopia, so his

birth country could benefit from his education abroad. " I arrived to

find an unfamiliar Ethiopia, " Asfaw wrote in Tadias, an online

magazine for the Ethiopian-American community. " The trees had

disappeared. Wildlife that had crossed the roads not far from the

region where I grew up was absent... Unemployment, relocation,

political differences and health concerns had reshaped the lives of

the population. Devastated, I didn't know where to begin documenting

my dreams. " As Asfaw traveled deeper into the country, a plan slowly

emerged. Inspired to document the effects deforestation had wrought on

the environment and the wildlife, and the rapidly decaying

infrastructure of Ethiopia's cities, Asfaw traveled to many different

parts of the country. Since then, he has returned to Ethiopia as many

times as possible, recording change and capturing the fleeting beauty

that still remains in his native land. The result is a trove of

photographs that Asfaw, with help from Jones, has published in the

book Ethiopia from the Heart.

http://valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=8087

 

 

Zimbabwe:

 

11) High levels of poverty, particularly in the rural areas, where

approximately 70 percent of the population lives, make deforestation

and wildlife poaching a huge environmental challenge due to increased

demand for household fuel wood and food. The rampant cutting down of

trees for both fuel and agricultural purposes is perhaps the biggest

problem because it negatively impacts the weather, rivers, rain and

soil quality. To make matters worse, climate change, with its

disruption of rainfall patterns, has negatively affected subsistence

agriculture, which is the main source of livelihood and food for 80

percent of the population. According to analysts, among the most

serious of Zimbabwe's environmental problems is erosion of its

agricultural lands, wildlife poaching and deforestation. By 1992,

deforestation was progressing at the rate of 70,000-100,000 hectares

per year, chewing up 1.5 percent of the nation's forestland. It is

estimated that between 1990 and 2005, Zimbabwe lost 21 percent of its

forest cover. The country has no primary forests left, and

deforestation rates have increased by 16 percent since the end of the

1990s. In 2001, nine of the nation's mammal species and nine bird

species were endangered, as well as 73 types of plants. Zimbabwe has

about half of the world's population of black rhinoceroses, an

endangered species. Despite this degradation, Zimbabwe has some 1,747

species of trees among its 4,500 species of higher plants. The country

is also home to a number of safari animals like elephants, lions and

hippos. In total, 270 species of mammals are found in Zimbabwe along

with 180 reptiles and 661 birds.

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=383286 & rel_no=1

 

Burkina Faso:

 

12) All Africa reports, " In the West African nation of Burkina Faso,

millions of trees are planted every year to reverse desertification.

However the growing socio-economic needs of local populations pose a

constant threat to these efforts. " People have built homes,

marketplaces, places of worship, full cities within our national

reserves, " said Salifou Sawadogo, Burkina Faso's minister of the

environment in an interview with IPS. According to the ministry,

110,000 hectares of forest disappear every year, 75,000 of which go to

farming. " Its difficult to gather the ideal conditions for managing

these reserves with such intense human pressure. Its harder still to

put together a larger-scale development strategy to safeguard this

heritage, " added Sawadogo. According to a 2007 study by the

environment ministry, 60 percent of reserves have been lost to farming

and small villages. Moreover, a number of destructive activities such

as bushfires, illegal timber cutting, overgrazing and carbonization

are rampant. As a result, there has been a severe environmental

degradation, the main waterways are blocked by sedimentation, forested

areas are disappearing and the production of timber and non-timber

products has slowed. Oumar Tiemtoré, who oversees sustainable

management of forest resources in southwest and southern Burkina,

cites the chaotic nature of recent development as the main threat to

preserving what little gains have been made. "

http://www.africanpath.com/p_comments.cfm?articleID=160762

 

 

Kenya:

 

13) The Mau Forest saga epitomizes everything wrong about Kenya.

Political patronage, forest & land expropriation, illegal logging,

forced evictions of peasants, inter-tribal conflicts, losing

government battles with corporate hegemonies, international pressure

from Nile dependent states etc. For your information, the Prime

Minister has a close insider account to the Mau debacle from none

other than his current PS, Dr Mohamed Isahakia, who was former

president Moi's Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and

Natural Resources during the height of the Mau deforestation policies

around the sunset years of the Nyayo rule. Dr. Isahakhia himself had

run-in battles with Moi's loyal Minister in the same Environment &

Natural Resources docket, Noah Katana Ngala. The latter was blindly

implementing policies that were decimating Kenya's forests purely for

business interests and political patronage. The biggest bribe to

convince Kipsigis electorate into voting for Moi's project Uhuru

Kenyatta in 2002, was more than 147,000 acres of forest land excised

from the gazetted and state owned Mau Forest. This was forest land

that the Moi and Kenyatta logging and timber interests, RaiPly and

Timsales had previously shaved off hardwood trees in unfettered

fashion. Moi had previously directed Ngala and Isahakhia to excempt

his RaiPly (K) Ltd and Kenyatta family's Timsales (K) Ltd from the ban

on hardwood logging within gazetted state forests at Bararget, Nesiut

and Mauche areas of the Mau Forest. The shaved lands were then

allocated via political patronage, through pointmen like Isaac Ruto,

Franklin Bett and others. The ambivalence in Dr Isahakia was exposed

when, on October 24, 2001, he told the Daily Nation that if he would

have had his way, he would have thrown the entire lot of forest

officers responsible for the plunder of forests into Kamiti Maximum

Prison. http://blog.jaluo.com/?p=1247

 

14) The need to immediately end the destruction of the Mau Forest is

not debatable. It is a complete disgrace that what is essentially a

question of the survival of many Kenyans and the economic viability of

a large region has been reduced to mere bickering over ethnicity and a

few thousand votes. What can, and should, be debated is how to handle

the removal of those who have invaded different forests in the

400,000-hectare system. A group of MPs, and those farming in the

forest, have come out fighting against action to save the forest. This

is understandable, especially when one reflects on what has been

happening to the country's forests over the years and how such forests

were converted into private land as outlined in the Ndung'u

Commission's report. AT FIRST, SOME MPS HAD BEEN quoted in the media

asking their constituents not to leave the forest. The tune has now

changed, and they are willing to have the farmers leave so long as

they are compensated in advance. But, as this debate goes on, it

should not be lost on Kenyans that the ongoing destruction of the Mau

is a grave crime against this country's economy and survival. There is

evidence from a combined effort of local environmental groups, the

Department of Resource Survey and Remote Sensing and the United

Nations Environment Programme (Unep) that our collective

short-sightedness has, and continues to, negatively affect our future

ability not only to feed ourselves but also to raise tea, to attract

tourists as well as to continue to get clean water. In a chilling

revelation, Unep's Executive Director, Achim Steiner, told our sister

publication, The EastAfrican, that if the current destructive trends

continue, then the entire forest will be gone in 15 years.

http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=24 & newsid\

=128072

 

Mozambique:

 

15) Illegal logging operators in the northern Mozambican province of

Nampula province have been using vehicles painted with the symbols of

international organizations, particularly the United Nations World

Food Programme (WFP) to transport logs and processed wood, reports

Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily " Noticias " . The disguise is to

try and dodge the forestry and wild life inspectors, in the belief

that they will not inspect vehicles that appear to belong to United

Nations agencies and other humanitarian organisations. In Nacaroa

district, the police, in coordination with the forestry inspection

authorities, recently seized two vehicles belonging to an operator

based in Nacala port, named Luis Tipaneque, but carrying the WFP logo.

One of the vehicles was loaded with 21 logs of the precious hardwood,

jambire, and the other, a three-tonne pick up truck, was carrying

unspecified quantities of processed timber. Both were covered with

tarpaulins to hide the contents. The truck driver, identified as

Abacar Mussa, said that his employer is licensed to operate in this

business in Muecate district, which borders Nacaroa. He said that he

also picked up logs and processed wood in Memba and Erati districts,

where his employer supposedly has an agreement with other operators.

Mussa said he always transported the wood at night. It was this that

alerted police suspicions. An officer from the Nacaroa district police

command, Manuel Anibal, said the police had found it strange that

these two supposedly WFP vehicles regularly drove past checkpoints

after 23.00. http://allafrica.com/stories/200807300875.html

 

 

Congo:

 

16) WWF today announced that more than one million hectares of Congo

Basin forests have achieved certification under the world's leading

sustainable forestry scheme. The world's second largest block of

rainforests, the Congo Basin is a haven for indigenous peoples and

endangered species like elephants and gorillas. It is also important

in sequestering carbon and safeguarding water supply and quality.

" With rampant illegal logging, vague logging concession boundaries and

massive blocks of pristine forest destined for the chainsaw, this is a

laudable step towards avoiding an ecological disaster, " says James P.

Leape, Director General of WWF.

http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=142501

As if Carving up the Congo wasn't enough, logging companies are also

evading paying taxes and cheating the Democratic Republic of Congo

(DRC) out of millions of euros in revenue. A new report we have

released today called Conning the Congo shows how the logging company

Danzer has avoided paying approximately €8 million in tax from its

logging operations in the DRC and the Republic of Congo. Just to put

€8m in context in this part of the world, that is more than fifty

times the DRC Ministry of Environment's annual operating budget. The

Congo rainforests of Central Africa form the second largest rainforest

block on Earth after Amazon. They are of great importance for the

global climate, the planet's biodiversity and the forest-dwelling

communities who depend on them for resources and livelihoods.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/forests/conning-the-congo-20080730

 

17) The Democratic Republic of Congo will begin its review of forestry

titles on July 30, a member of the commission said. The

Interministerial Commission for the Conversion of Forestry Titles will

assess whether the 156 titles held in the central African country

comply with its forestry code, commission member Augustin Mpoyi said

today in a phone interview from the capital, Kinshasa. ``More than

half the titles will be canceled, that's certain,'' said Mpoyi,

executive director of the Council for the Defense of the Environment

through Legality and Traceability, which monitors the origins,

transformation and fate of products as they move through production.

The Congo has 125 million hectares (308.9 million acres) of tropical

rain forest, and about 35 million people, or 60 percent of the

country's population, are dependent on forests in some way, according

to the World Bank. The bank helped the Congolese government in

drafting a new forest code in 2002 to encourage sustainable forest

management and to avoid destructive and unsustainable logging.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116 & sid=anyRJows88i0 & refer=africa

 

18) The Mbendjele Pygmy communities of northern Republic of Congo are

working together with an international logging company to help protect

the forest. Using GPS and a new radio station, the indigenous people

keep the company and the community informed. The Congo Basin forest

covers an area twice the size of Nigeria (around 2 million square

kilometres) and stretches over the countries of Gabon, Central African

Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of

Congo and Cameroon. It is the second largest tropical forest in the

world after the Amazon. While the rate of destruction is less than

that of the South American jungle, conservationists have long been

concerned about the amount destruction taking place through natural

resource mining, population growth and logging in the area. Consumers

have also become steadily aware of the threat to this and other

important ecosystems, and are gradually demanding products from

renewable sources. Rather than lose potential sales, many of the

world's largest logging companies have decided to work together with

international pressure groups and local populations living in affected

areas. The Tropical Forest Trust (TFT), a non-profit charity based in

Switzerland, advises timber traders throughout the world on good

forest management practices and tropical forest conservation. In the

Congo Basin, TFT manages a project to protect the land of the

indigenous Mbendjele Pygmy communities in the northern region of the

Republic of Congo. The Indigenous People's Voices project helps the

Mbendjeles map the parts of the forest that are important to their

culture and livelihoods, and works with the main logging company to

ensure that these areas are protected.

http://ictupdate.cta.int/en/Feature-Articles/Logging-the-forest

 

Iran:

 

19) The largest and most serious group working on environmental issues

in Iran is the Art and Nature Club in Tehran, which is supported by

the United Nations Development Programme. At one recent meeting, the

club held a screening of a documentary about the destruction of the

ancient forests of northern Iran, which skirt the Caspian Sea. In the

final shots of the documentary, the camera zoomed in on a newspaper

headline saying " Goodbye Forest " . Afterwards, an official from the

state forestry agency was given an opportunity to respond. He said the

film made exaggerated claims, and he rejected the charge that forests

were being systematically chopped down. The audience listened to him

in stunned silence. Then the chairman of the meeting told the forestry

official that while his statistics were all very interesting, they

didn't reflect the real situation reported by observers. This response

met with hearty applause, which showed the level of discontent felt by

Iranian conservationists. The conservation department at the forestry

agency says there are about a thousand forest fires recorded across

Iran every year. About a hundred of them occur in the Caspian and

Hirkan forests in the north. The agency says these fires come at a

high price, but its calculations are based only on the price of timber

and ignores the environmental and historical value of these forests.

Ninety-five per cent of forest fires are started by human activity.

Some environmentalists are convinced the fires are the work of

land-grabbers who want to clear an area of trees. The Hirkan forest

stretches from Golestan province in Iran into the neighbouring country

of Azerbaijan. It's one of the most valuable wooded areas in the world

because it is a relic. There are species of tree that have been

growing here continuously for the last 40 million years. The older

forests in Europe date back just 11 thousand years. But now the Hirkan

forest is under threat. Developers have won planning permission from

the government to build a road through the forest. Meanwhile, green

campaigners are trying to get the Abr forest, part of the Hirkan area,

listed as a natural heritage site by UNESCO. Under Iran's last

president, Mohammad Khatami, the government made it a requirement that

no major new construction projects of this kind could be approved

unless they passed an environmental assessment. But all too often the

appraisal is not done properly. Sam claims that these environmental

assessments have merely generated an army of consultant engineers and

ecologists who make a fat living by producing positive reports. In

some cases, the assessment is knocked together in a matter of days,

and so-called experts take bribes in return for defending the project

when it goes before the committee that decides the matter.

http://www.payvand.com/news/08/jul/1313.html

 

Pakistan:

 

20) If the current rate of deforestation continues unabated, Pakistan

will be forestless within a generation. The people who will be most

immediately and severely hurt by the loss of forests are the local

communities. In the extractive sector, decisions of location are

predetermined, or at least constrained. The communities that reside

where the resource is located must therefore enter any discussion of

natural resources. Greater clarity can be brought to policy and

academic discourse by acknowledging that the human geographies of

natural resource commodification are different for different types of

resources. An intuitive starting point for analysing the differences

between natural resources is the relationship between local

communities and the resource. A concept that is helpful, and that has

been debated by political economists for centuries, is use-value.

Use-value is simply the utility of an object. There are two types of

relationships that local communities can have with natural resources:

those based on use-value, and those not.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C07%5C31%5Cstory_31-7-2008_p\

g3_5

 

Kyrgyzstan:

 

21) Bishkek - Sixty per cent of trees (or wood) illegally felled in

Kyrgyzstan are used for preparing firewood, the head of the department

for forest ecosystems under the Kyrgyz state agency for the protection

of the environment and forestry, Askat Kysanov, told a news conference

in Bishkek today. He said that the number of cases of illegal logging

had risen over the past few years following rises in prices for energy

resources and building materials, unemployment and low living

standards. " According to the data, 449 reports on filing lawsuits and

[imposing] fines to the tune of 1,006,700 soms [over 25,000 dollars]

were made over the first half of 2008, " he said. [Passage omitted:

some lawsuits mentioned; felling of certain types of trees decreased]

Originally published by AKIpress news agency website, Bishkek, in

Russian 0658 25 Jul 08.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1496294/low_living_standards_reportedly_cau\

se_of_illegal_l

ogging_in_kyrgyzstan/

 

 

Haiti:

 

22) Women's empowerment is now being linked to climate change

solutions in which women worldwide are curbing the effects of

deforestation. Deforestation has had a severe affect on climate change

and global warming, and the empowerment movement will play a major

role in reforestation projects to plant millions of trees worldwide.

Lambi Fund of Haiti is also contributing to the movement through its

partnership with the Greenbelt Movement and its existing gender equity

and women leadership programs to plant one million trees on the island

of Haiti over the next two to three years. For a country where less

than one percent of its forests remain as a result of deforestation,

the partnership will assist Haiti in making great strides in

addressing its ruined agricultural sector, which has also been a

pervasive problem in the country's food security. Besides, these

activities will provide poor rural women with economic independence

and income to provide for their households. Lambi Fund of Haiti

provides financial resources, training, and technical assistance to

peasant-led community organizations that promote the social and

economic empowerment of the Haitian people. Their programs focus on

sustainable development, community micro-credit, animal husbandry,

restoring environmental integrity, and organizational and leadership

training. For more information and to become a financial donor, please

visit www.LambiFund.org or email info.

http://www.prlog.org/10092650-lambi-fund-of-haiti-and-the-global-gender-and-clim\

ate-alliance-

collaborate-to-promote-role-of-wom.html

 

Dominican Republic:

 

23) SANTO DOMINGO.- Environment minister Omar Ramirez and more than 90

private and government agencies yesterday announced an historical

agreement that takes their interests into account, in a draft to

create the Forestry Law from of a bill they'll submit to the Executive

Branch. The Forestry Sectorial Law would promote an export industry

economically feasable for the country, whilst preserving the forests

for recreational use by humans and as a habitat for flora and fauna.

It would be the second of six laws required by Environment Law 64-00.

" We aim for that the Dominican Republic, at least in the next 10

years, becomes self-sufficient in wood production, " Ramirez said,

after noting the negative balance in furniture exports and wood

imports. " But another important element is the economic mechanisms and

incentives to protect forests. " Forestry Chamber president Freddy

González warned that although the country's development can lead to

environmental instability, the private sector, working with the

Government and understanding its rules, will seek " zero instability. "

http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/economy/2008/7/31/28874/Landmark-bill-would-cre\

ate-Law-to-

protect-exploit-Dominican-forests

 

 

Guatemala:

 

24) Biologist Greg Budney sets out well before dawn in the Peten

region of Guatemala to record a chorus of howler monkeys as they wake.

" I love this sound, " he says. " It's one of the great sounds of

tropical forests: the voice of howler monkeys. The biggest of the New

World monkeys, black howlers are found in tropical regions of Central

and South America. They're up to 3 feet tall, not counting the tail,

and spend most of their time in trees. When several get together to

roar, you can hear them from three miles away. " The males, in

particular, have a large throat sac, which they expand when they

vocalize, so they're a pretty formidable looking primate, " says

Budney. The morning bellows of howlers are as much a hallmark of

tropical forests as the toucan's calls.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92926828

 

Peru:

 

25) Scientists at the Carnegie institutions, the Department of Global

Ecology to study satellite date have found that only 1 to 2 percent of

forest disturbance in the Peruvian Amazon occurred in protected areas,

meaning that land use and conservation policies have been successful.

Protected areas are 18 times more effective in reducing deforestatio

areas unprotected. Author main Paulo Oliveira said: " We found that

only 1 to 2% of this disturbance occurred in Peru in protected natural

areas. However, there was substantial alteration of forests adjacent

to areas set aside for logging operations legal. This flight of human

activity outside of forest concessions is a concern. " Peru's tropical

forests are larger than France, extending 661000 square kilometers and

ranks second to Brazil's forest area. The Peruvian government has been

painstakingly setting aside large areas such as parks and reserves,

while the allocation of about 40000 square kilometres of forests in

the long term commercial timber production in 2005. With deforestation

rates of less than 1%, Peru has comparatively lower rates compared to

its neighbours. Scientists used the Carnegie Landsat Analysis System

(CLAS), a satellite-based forest damage detection system " that

penetrates into the jungle canopy to reveal the impact of logging. The

CLAS system can detect changes in the woods a resolution of less than

100 per 100 ft.GP Asner said, " Our approach has improved over the past

eight years, but basa were on a core set of methods that have worked.

We spent years developing in Brazil, Peru and moved to this study

completed in just one year. currently operating over Borneo. Our

approach is proving a good way to control the rain forest disturbance

and deforestation anywhere in the world. " The researchers found that

Peru's forest disturbance and deforestation rates between 1999 and

2005 were only 0.2% a year, with an average of 244 sq km and 249 miles

per year. Over 85% of forests were affected in Madre de Dios and near

Pucallpa. 75% of the damage was found within 20 kilometers of roads.

Even within these limits, forests have been allocated by the

government were more than 4 times better protected than areas not

designated for conservation.The authors said, " Overall, only 2% of

forest disturbances and 1% Deforestation detected throughout the study

area was within the protected natural areas. Moreover, the territories

occupied by indigenous communities contained 11% and 9% of total

forest disturbance and deforestation, respectively. These results

clearly show that these two forms of land use allocation can provide

effective protection against forest damage. " "

http://society-news-article.blogspot.com/2008/07/parks-protect-amazon-in-perul.h\

tml

 

Suriname:

 

26) KWAMALASAMUTU -- The rain forest here is so dense and this village

so isolated that when Russell Mittermeier arrived by bush plane, it

seemed for a moment like a step back into an era before worries about

global warming. In a thatched hut lit by kerosene lanterns, the local

leader, wearing a headdress of iridescent macaw feathers, listened as

Mittermeier, an American environmentalist, described climate change in

apocalyptic but distant terms: melting icebergs, parched savannas,

flooded cities. Then he explained the connection to Kwamala, and how

the Amazonian jungle here, if preserved, would help reduce carbon

dioxide in the atmosphere. " Lots of people in America, in Europe, in

the big countries, we believe that if we don't want you to cut down

the forest, we should pay. We should pay you something to protect the

forest, " Mittermeier told the tribal leader, or granman, Ashonko

Alalaparoe. The granman, his bare chest draped in bright red, yellow

and blue beads, quickly absorbed the message. " You come to me with

this new idea, this carbon issue, " Granman Alalaparoe said. " This

sounds good to me. " For Mittermeier, for the world and, indeed, for

this tiny South American jungle outpost, the clock is ticking. Despite

its remoteness, the same forces that have slashed and burned some 20

percent of the Amazonian rain forest are closing in on Kwamala.

Mittermeier's idea, offering cash so local villages will protect their

forests, is key to the next new tool in the effort to fight climate

change: carbon credits. Rain forest credits will be a key topic of

debate when representatives from 180 nations meet Monday in Bali,

Indonesia, to begin discussions aimed at replacing the landmark Kyoto

Protocol on climate change.

http://guyanaforests.blogspot.com/2008/07/httpwwwredorbitcomnewsscience1166400ar\

u.html

 

Bolivia:

 

27) Representatives of 27 developing countries, members of the so

called " Rainforest Coalition " , agreed on Tuesday to reduce gas

emissions and avoid deforestation. According to reports from La Paz,

Bolivia's administrative capital, the countries reached the agreement

at their two-day meeting in the city of Santa Cruz, which began

Monday. The delegates agreed on the need for rich nations to recognize

the efforts made by developing countries to reduce gas emissions, and

to avoid the destruction and degradation of forests. According to the

agreement, member countries will consolidate their stand in their

negotiations with developed countries in 2009. " It's a political

position with technical support, but it seeks a mechanism of

practical, agile and simple implementation, " said Miguel Rojas,

Bolivia's Environment vice-minister. Rojas also urged rich countries

to recognize the mechanisms ofcompensation because each developing

nation and region have different conditions to deal with.

Deforestation reaches 350,000 hectares per year in Mexico, 198,000

hectares in Ecuador and 75,000 hectares in Nicaragua.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/30/content_8848392.htm

 

 

Brazil:

 

28) Correspondent Tom Philips says that the fund is the government's

response to international criticism of deforestation in the Amazon

region. " Donations are voluntary and donors have no say over the use

of the resources, " said BNDES Environment Director Eduardo de Mello,

who also said that donors will get no benefits, such as carbon credits

or tax exemptions, in return. Minc's predecessor as Environment

Minister Marina Silva resigned recently, declaring that she could not

fight vested interests devoted to destroying the forest to cultivate

cash crops. " The Brazilians say that, instead of meddling and saying

Brazil isn't doing enough to save the Amazon, outsiders need to do

more to help. So with this fund, I think, they aim to send a message –

'You want this situation to get better, put your money where your

mouth is', " he told RFI. Up to 20 per cent of the fund's cash can go

to preserving ecosystems outside the Amazon, which could be in other

tropical countries.

http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/104/article_1180.asp

 

 

29) Dr Ricardo Machado, author of a study said, " The Closed is

virtually intact until the 60's, when Most economic activity is animal

husbandry. During the 70's, when new technologies and new varieties of

plants (corn, soybeans, rice, wheat, eucalyptus and pasture for

livestock), which introduced Closed became an important region for

Brazilian agribusiness. More and more natives were cleared areas to be

planted to become pasture (with African grasses) or cropland. The

removed natural vegetation converted to coal to be used by the steel

industry. " The estimates that was closed 73% of its original area in

1985 and approximately 43% in 2004. The insists that the area occupied

by pastures and farmland has increased since 2004, taking into account

the rapid growth of Brazil in agricultural production and land prices.

The pegging the annual loss to 2.2 million hectares annually, or

approximately 1.1% of the remaining closed, compared to Brazil east of

the Amazon forest loss of 10.7 million hectares between 2002 and 2006,

2.1 million hectares or about 0.5% to year.Scientists said

deforestation has been driven by the conversion of closed large-scale

soybean farms, sugar plantations and cattle pastures as small farmers

Land speculators and deepen forest areas. For road and infrastructure

development have also stimulated deforestation.Philip Fearnside, a

researcher at the National Institute of Amazon Research said, " Soybean

farms cause some forest clearing directly. But they have a greater

impact on deforestation by consuming cleared land, savanna and forests

in transition and pushing ranchers and slash and burn farmers ever

deeper into the forest frontier. soybean crop also provides a key

economic and political impetus for new roads and infrastructure

projects, which accelerate deforestation by other actors. " William F.

Laurance, president of the association of Tropical Biology and

Conservation (ATBC) agrees, commenting that " I am agriculture is

having a huge impact on the Amazon at this time, for three reasons.

First, industrial soy farmers are in turn clean up a lot of forest.

Secondly, soybean farmers are buying large tracts of land cleared by

slash-and-burn farmers and ranchers, and the displaced farmers and

ranchers often just move farther into the forest, maintaining a strong

pressure in border areas. Finally, soybean farmers are a powerful

political lobby that is driving the expansion of major roads,

highways, rivers channeling projects, and other means of transport

crossing large tracts of the Amazon.

http://society-news-article.blogspot.com/2008/08/brazil-cerrado-being-destroyed.\

html

 

30) Between June 2000 and June 2008, more than 150,000 square

kilometers of rainforest were cleared in the Brazilian Amazon. While

deforestation rates have slowed since 2004, forest loss is expected to

continue for the foreseeable future. Here mongabay.com takes a look at

past, current and potential future drivers of deforestation in the

Brazilian Amazon. Please note, breaking news on the Amazon can be

found at Amazon news: http://www.mongabay.com/news-index/amazon1.html

 

31) Vale signed yesterday a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with

Suzano Papel e Celulose (Suzano) that establishes conditions for a

partnership in the Brazilian states of Pará and Maranhão, including

the supply of reforested wood by Vale, sale of part of its forest

assets and the transportation of the pulp produced by Suzano's new

unit, that will be implemented in Maranhão state. The reforested wood

Vale will provide to Suzano is produced by Vale Florestar, a program

which aims the protection and recovery of native forest in conjunction

with the plantation of industrial species in a total area of 300,000

hectares and the plantation of 165 million trees, already in place in

the Southeastern of Pará. The purpose of Vale Florestar is to promote

the territorial reorganization, aiming the regional self-sustainable

development. The MOU comprises the sale of Vale's rural properties to

Suzano, including preservation areas and part of eucalyptus plantation

in Maranhão. These forestry assets will be used to build the forestry

base of Suzano's pulp line. Courtesy http://www.azom.com -

http://fundublog.com/forests/789/vale-to-form-a-wood-partnership/

 

32) It has been tilted in its exuberance, raped by unscrupulous

lumberjacks, who set its emerald coverage on fire, giving way to

foreigners that humiliate the forest by planting pasture or soybean

over its centenary chestnut-tree ashes. In spite of the extraordinary

effort for conservation unit implementation as an alternative for the

sustainable development, the deforestation continues. Even after Chico

Mendes' blood having sealed the men/nature pact, as well as the rubber

latex extractor and Indian, even after the forest people alliance " for

the right to maintain our forests untouched, as we need them for

survival " , even after several sagas full of heroism, death and

passion, the Amazon deforestation continues. As in the past, we

consider the Rainforest as being an obstacle to progress, an area that

has to be subdued and conquered. An enormous land stock that might be

turned into low production pastures, soybean plantations and vegetable

species to be used as alternative fuel or even inexhaustible wood,

fish, gold, mineral and energy sources. We are people with no

responsibility at all. The deforestation and burning are symbols of

our incompetence to understand the susceptibility and instability of

the Amazon ecosystem and how to deal with it. A country that possesses

165.000 square kilometers of abandoned or semi-abandoned deforested

areas might double its grain production without having to fell one

single tree. Without the forest the soil will be of no avail. It is

urgent that we become responsible for managing our natural resources'

leftover. Thus, from our point of view, the only reasonable proceeding

to diminish the almost irreversible deforestation effects, is given

under § 4 of Article 225, of our Federal Constitution: " The Brazilian

Amazon Rainforest (...) is a national inheritance, and its use will be

performed within law requirements, which assure the environment

preservation, even with regard to the use of its natural resources " .

Having its enforcement to be implemented on municipal, state and

federal levels, thus assuring THE IMMEDIATE INTERRUPTION OF THE

BRAZILIAN AMAZON RAINFOREST DEFORESTATION. NOW! Time has come to

visualize our trees as monuments of our culture and history. WE ARE

FOREST PEOPLE! http://www.articlealley.com/article_584625_13.html

http://www.amazoniaparasempre.com.br

 

Guyana:

 

33) The Cabinet in Guyana has been granting tax holidays to

enterprises linked to forests and wood since the 1970s-80s, when East

Germans were designing and building the sawmill at Mabura Hill, now

owned by DTL and apparently operated by Bai Shan Lin. Although the

Cabinet has kept information secret from the electorate, we know from

publications elsewhere that the Barama foreign direct investment

arrangement of 1991 was written by the Malaysians, commits Barama to

nothing specific, and demands great concessions from Guyana. We know

also that over the years since then Barama has not declared a tax

assessable profit but has run down its plywood mill and greatly

increased its export of unprocessed logs to Asia, while its special

deal from the Cabinet covers the cost of the forest taxes through the

incentive drawbacks on imported fuel and equipment. So Guyana

handsomely subsidises Barama. Since the 1991 deal, the declared Guyana

Forestry Commission policy on forest concessions (1993) requires them

to be linked to wood processing facilities, so that logs which are

produced should all be processed in-country, and so that the demands

of wood-using factories do not exceed the allowable annual cut from

the forests. We know also from the GFC's Planning and Development Unit

in February 2007 at the national seminar on log export policy that

there is value-adding capacity installed in Guyana to process the

entire annual log production.

http://guyanaforests.blogspot.com/2008/07/minister-of-finance-should-not-be-give\

n.html

 

34) A team of researchers and wildlife film-makers spent six weeks

searching the pristine forest as part of a BBC documentary. The group

believes it has revealed two fish species, one frog species and a

number of bat flies that have not been described previously. The finds

are detailed in the BBC series Lost Land of the Jaguar. The three-part

documentary includes footage of the elusive South American cat. " In a

short time, we caught hundreds of species, 10% of which may be new to

science. It was unreal, unbelievable, " exclaimed Dr George McGavin, a

zoologist and one of the four presenters of the documentary. He added:

" Catching is the easy bit, the hard bit is going back to the lab and

examining the species, comparing them to collections and books -

seeing if they are new to science. One hour in the field can equal

hundreds of hours in the lab. " Dr McGavin told the BBC News Website:

" The expedition captured on film the discovery of the strongest

candidates for new species - two fishes. " These are a small banded

fish (Hemiodus sp.) netted near the expedition's base camp, and a

parasitic catfish (Vandellia sp.) that fell out of the gills of a

larger catfish. The expedition also filmed the world's heaviest snake,

the anaconda, " which looked like a pile of tractor tyres, " said Dr

McGavin. It also shows the world's largest eagle, the harpy eagle. Dr

McGavin's highlight, however, was holding the Goliath spider. " It was

quite a thrill, luring this spider, the size of a soup plate, out of

its hole and holding it. Although I can see that this wouldn't be

everyone's idea of fun, " he laughed. The film aims to highlight the

need to save this truly unique rainforest. " We have a choice, we

really are at the cross-roads now. We can decide to keep these rich

hotspots of nature or see them razed to the ground, " said Dr McGavin.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7531537.stm

 

35) Timber companies which do not have forestry concessions in Guyana,

will not be allowed to export logs, Minister of Agriculture, Robert

Persaud said yesterday.

This decision is in keeping with an announcement by President Bharrat

Jagdeo to deter the exportation of the forest product and to allow for

more value added activities in the country. During a press conference

yesterday, the Agriculture Minister said that the policy on the

concession issue is 'quite clear' and if exporters do not have a

concession they will not be granted permission to sell logs overseas.

" We are giving everyone ample notice…the policy takes effect from

January next year. So if companies have arrangements in place, this is

giving them adequate time to get themselves in order, " Minister

Persaud said.Some stakeholders, the Minister pointed out, think that

'we are not serious' and from past experiences act surprised when the

implementation period arrives for changes in the sector. " We want

people to be prepared…we want persons who would have some form of

arrangement to recognise that we have a policy. It is a very simple

and practical policy and it derived from tremendous amount of

consultation, " he added.

At least three companies are currently exporting logs without forestry

concessions in Guyana.

http://guyanaforests.blogspot.com/2008/07/no-timber-exports-without-forestry.htm\

l

 

36) The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) yesterday confirmed that the

Timber Sales Agree-ment (TSA) of Toolsie Persaud Limited (TPL) has

been suspended by Minister of Agriculture with responsibility for

forestry, Robert Persaud. Managing Director of TPL, David Persaud

yesterday told Stabroek News when contacted that the company had been

informed of the suspension via a letter signed by the Agriculture

Minister last Wednesday. The GFC in a press release yesterday said

that last Wednesday, in accordance with the forestry legislation,

Minister Persaud formally issued a letter to TPL, suspending the

forest concession issued to the company. " This suspension was with

immediate effect and prevented the company from carrying out any

forest related activities in the specified concession, until such time

that His Excellency The President makes a final pronouncement upon the

matter " , the release said. It stated that a detailed report of the

breaches has been compiled and submitted to President Bharrat Jagdeo

for consideration. TPL's managing director said that the company was

surprised to get a letter informing them to stop working and that the

TSA was suspended since the matter had been in court. The managing

director declared that the suspension was another way of stopping the

company outside of court. He noted that since mid-April, 300 persons

have been out of jobs due to the company's forestry operations being

curtailed. On April 23, 2008 the GFC closed the harvesting operations

of TPL over the alleged breaches which had been detected during a

routine post-harvest audit in November 2007 and a fine of $80M was

assessed. According to the GFC, the company then moved to the court on

April 28 for an order of Mandamus and the court granted an order nisi.

http://www.stabroeknews.com/news/tpl-forest-operations-suspended-by-minister/

 

37) Guyana will receive US$200,000 ($40M) from the Forest Carbon

Partner-ship Facility (FCPF) to prepare its Readiness Plan (R-Plan)

for combating tropical deforestation. The Ministry of Agri-culture, in

a press release yesterday said that the sum will be immediately

available. The R-Plan will outline among other activities, the

methodologies to be used in carrying out assessments of historical and

current emissions from deforestation and forest degradation at a

national level. It will also look at mechanisms to project and model

future emissions from deforestation and degradation, and to update

biomass field estimates across all land uses, both of which will be

done at the national level. " This process will involve additional

extensive consultations with all stakeholders groups, especially local

community residents who are an important target group in the effort to

reduce deforestation and forest degradation through the use of

sustainable alternative economic activities and payments for reduced

emissions " , the statement said. On Monday, the World Bank named Guyana

as one of 14 developing countries selected as the first states to

receive money for combating tropical deforestation and climate change

from an initial US$82M partnership be-tween those countries and nine

industrialized states. The other countries to benefit are the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia,

Madagascar, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Nepal, the Lao

People's Democratic Republic and Vietnam. The countries will receive

initial funding from the FCPF, an innovative approach to financing

efforts to combat climate change. The FCPF aims to reduce

deforestation and forest degradation by compensating developing

countries for greenhouse gas emission reductions.

http://www.stabroeknews.com/news/guyana-to-get-us200000-from-forest-carbon-pact/

 

Ecuador:

 

38) Ecuador guide Dani Leigh encourages support of the Third Millenium

Alliance, whose mission is to regenerate, reforest, and restore the

Chocó-Manabí Biological Corridor which stretches from the Darien in C.

America through Columbia into Ecuador. The Third Millenium Alliance

deserves your support to purchase 1000 acres to preserve the last

remnant of rainforest in and surrounding the Jama-Coaque Reserve in

western Ecuador by the end of the year. This acreage is in danger of

being clear-cut if it is not purchased soon. Donations to this

international nonprofit are tax-deductible. Learn more at

http://www.3malliance.org/ and click " Be part of the solution " to

donate online.

http://latinamericantours.blogspot.com/2008/07/save-this-rainforest.html

 

 

39) Leaders from Ecuador's rainforest, suing Chevron over the " Amazon

Chernobyl " , are accusing the oil giant of misleading the Bush

Administration and Congress to escape a potential $16 billion

liability in an environmental lawsuit. The indigenous leaders - from

the Cofan, Secoya, and Siona tribes - are planning a trip to

Washington, DC in September to talk directly with Members of Congress

and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. " We are coming to

tell the truth about Chevron's desperate attempt to quash the legal

claims of thousands of vulnerable people in the Amazon rainforest who

are struggling to survive due to oil contamination, " said Pablo

Fajardo, the lead Ecuadorian lawyer for the plaintiffs. " These people

deserve their day in court without interference from Chevron, " he

added. " Chevron must respect the rule of law. " In March of this year,

a court-appointed special master in the lawsuit found that

environmental damage and other damages in the case amounted to between

$7.2 billion and $16.3 billion. As the sole defendant and the party

found by the special master to be responsible for the contamination,

Chevron would have to pay 100% of the damages if the judge accepts the

report. A final decision in the case, which could lead to the largest

ever damages award in an environmental lawsuit, is expected next year.

Chevron already had agreed to submit to jurisdiction in Ecuador and be

bound by the court's decision when years ago it requested the case be

transferred out of U.S. federal court. The damages report prompted

Chevron to disclose the liability to its shareholders for the first

time, and to hire a slew of Washington lobbyists who have dedicated

themselves to trying to block the extension of U.S. trade preferences

for Ecuador. Luis Gallegos, Ecuador's U.S. ambassador, has said a

failure to extend the trade preferences by the end of the year would

cost the country 350,000 jobs and force 1.2 million people into

poverty.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/amazon-indians-accuse-chevron-lobbyists/st\

ory.aspx?guid=

%7BEFAC2972-4E46-4327-9125-DDA4977A41E1%7D & dist=hppr