428 - Latin American Tree News

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--Today for you 27 news articles about earth's trees! (428th edition)

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Index:

 

--Latin America: 1) Fossil tree tells of forests during last ice age,

53% of the emitted carbon dioxide, 2) 53% of the emitted carbon

dioxide,

--Trinidad & Tobago: 3) Save the Mangroves, stop the new steel plant!

--Costa Rica: 4) Court bans logging of Almond tree to protect rare parrot

--Peru: 5) Illegal loggers push uncontacted tribes into Brazil, 6)

Talsiman company must leave or we will throw them out,

--Ecuador: 7) I am a defender of the forest, 8) What encourages such

complex diversity in torpical forests? 9) New Photography book

documents victims of Chevron, 10) The story of the Achuar people, 11)

Shrimp dialogue regarding mangroves is breaking down,

--Paraguay: 12) Last contacted Indians devastated by huge surge in

logging in the past 30 days, 13) new soya season is about to begin,

--Chile: 14) Mushrooms that produce biodiesal,

 

--Brazil: 15) ADM looks bad thanks to RAN, 16) charges against 81

people accused of being the biggest destroyers of the Amazon

rainforest, 17) Plans of world's third-largest mining company, 18)

Politics of Brazil, 19) Juma Reserve in the heart of the Amazon, 20)

Another Minc lie: Amazon fund won't be affected by economic downturn,

21) Marina Silva, 22) Amazon may lose 50% of its tree species, 23)

Children of the Amazon 15 years later, 24) Remote tree saving that's

based in South Dakota, 25) forest defender conspired against, 26) 3

times as many species going extinct in recent years, 27) Will the

carbon market really save the Amazon?

 

 

Articles:

 

Latin America:

 

1) A " living fossil " tree species is helping a University of Michigan

researcher understand how tropical forests responded to past climate

change and how they may react to global warming in the future. The

research appears in the November issue of the journal Evolution.

Symphonia globulifera is a widespread tropical tree with a history

that goes back some 45 million years in Africa, said Christopher Dick,

an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who is lead

author on the paper. It is unusual among tropical trees in having a

well-studied fossil record, partly because the oil industry uses its

distinctive pollen fossils as a stratigraphic tool. About 15 to 18

million years ago, deposits of fossil pollen suggest, Symphonia

suddenly appeared in South America and then in Central America. Unlike

kapok, a tropical tree with a similar distribution that Dick also has

studied, Symphonia isn't well-suited for traveling across the

ocean---its seeds dry out easily and can't tolerate saltwater. So how

did Symphonia reach the neotropics? Most likely the seeds hitched

rides from Africa on rafts of vegetation, as monkeys did, Dick said.

" For Central America, we see a pattern in Symphonia that also has been

found in a number of other species, with highly genetically

differentiated populations across the landscape, " Dick said. " We think

the pattern is the result of the distinctive forest history of

Mesoamerica, which was relatively dry during the glacial period 10,000

years ago. In many places the forests were confined to hilltops or the

wettest lowland regions. What we're seeing in the patterns of genetic

diversity is a signature of that forest history. " In the core Amazon

Basin, which was moist throughout the glacial period, allowing for

more or less continuous forest, less genetic diversity is found among

populations, Dick said. " There's less differentiation across the whole

Amazon Basin than there is among sites in lower Central America. " The

study is the first to make such comparisons of genetic diversity

patterns in Central and South America. " We think similar patterns will

be found in other widespread species, " Dick said. Learning how

Symphonia responded to past climate conditions may be helpful for

predicting how forests will react to future environmental change, Dick

said. " Under scenarios of increased warmth and drying, we can see that

populations are likely to be constricted, particularly in Central

America, but also that they're likely to persist, because Symphonia

has persisted throughout Central America and the Amazon basin. That

tells us that some things can endure in spite of a lot of forest

change. However, past climate changes were not combined with

deforestation, as is the case today. That combination of factors could

be detrimental to many species---especially those with narrow

ranges---in the next century. "

http://www.physorg.com/news144604259.html

 

2) From Latin America came the topmost contributor of land scraping in

the whole world. Deforestation in Latin America accounts for almost

53% of the emitted carbon dioxide in the atmospheric air. Logging in

the region has become so immense that it claimed to have the highest

rate in the world, and the fight of it came to be one of hardest

struggles of the continent. In over a period of 5 years, the world

lost 100 hectares of the forested lands, and about half of that came

from the Latin American nation. Deforestation has been quite a great

toil to them and their people for years now, and it hasn't been an

easy battle because economy has been playing with the nation ever

since. What makes the fight even more exhausting is that the economy

of Latin America relies on its own soil for support. Not only are the

Latin Americans dependent on their ecological capacity, but the

neighboring nations as well.

If this present trend will run continuously for a period of 30 years,

the world will be totally depleted of all its natural resources. To

combat and counter the ways of deforestation, the Latin American

government imposed laws which could help stop all illegal activities.

However, it is still a question up to this time why the problem has

not ceased for years. Predictions For Latin AmericaRecently, Latin

America has experienced great climactic changes, and this could have

been brought only by the intense cutting of their forests and the

abuse that their lands receive. By the year 2050, these set of

predictions by environmentalists and experts are set to happen

globally: distribution of human diseases will be widely spread and

emergence of new types of illnesses will rise, crop disease and pest

will likewise rise in trend, economic activities will be severely

depleted, drought and famine will be in much abundance especially in

impoverished tropical countries. Water resource will be greatly

reduced, plant and animal species will decrease in variability, the

ecosystem will be significantly disrupted, and melting of most of the

earth's glaciers will take place.

http://www.9dom.com/deforestation-in-latin-america-afflicting-the-world-in-count\

less-ways

 

Trinidad & Tobago:

 

3) Recently, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago signed an agreement

with Essar Steel of India to build a steel mill in the center of a

number of communities in the North Claxton Bay area. It has also

contracted with Saipem, an Italian firm to build a port next to the

steel mill and fishing port in the area. These projects will be

ruinous to the economy, health, environment and livelihood of the

residents of Claxton Bay and environs, and citizens of the West Coast

and Trinidad and Tobago generally. A No Port, No Steel Mill Campaign

has been raging on the island over the past two years. Activists have

engaged in meetings with leading government officials, protests,

rallies, numerous media campaigns, fasting, legal action, national

sensitization, the burning of tyres and direct action against

surveying and soil testing activities. A number of activists have been

arrested. The following are the reasons why the citizens of the

Trinidad and Tobago are rejecting the plans by the Government to

destroy the mangrove at Claxton Bay. 1) Essar would be building on 500

acres of land which was allotted to farmers in the area, then taken

back for the steel mill. 2) The steel mill is located contiguous to

and upwind of Claxton Bay would thousand of tons of steel dust each

year for thirty to fifty years. Over 3,000 persons live contiguous to

the planned Essar site. 3) The Government would be giving steep gas

concessions to Essar Steel. 4) The mill would require a port which

would be built on 625 acres of fishing grounds in an area where

grounds are already severely delimited through industrial activity. 5)

The mill would emit 900,000 tons of carbon per year. 6) The port would

destroy two miles of a historic mangrove system a valuable source of

food and recreation; it is home to a number of species of crabs, fish,

mollusks, birds, clams and mammals. 7) The port would destroy a

specialized fishery for mullets which feeds in the brackish coastal

estuarine waters 8) The port would destroy the mullet saltfish factory

located on the nearby fishing port. 9) The port would destroy, through

dredge siltation, a vast acreage of sea grass beds; the estuarine

foreshore would be continually dredged to a depth of 13 meters to

accommodate 200 meter ships, berthing facilities and turnaround bays.

10) The livelihood of over 100 fishermen who now use the fishing

facilities would be severely impacted. -- The entire project is

uneconomic; the value of resource loss will be considerably higher

than gains; the fact is that Government has adopted a

neo-liberalization agenda, which intends to convert valuable local

resources, health, gas, fisheries, mangrove, sea grass beds, fishing

grounds, arable lands, valuable port lands, into profits for Saipem,

and Essar Steel and its customers in the United States.

http://www.mangroveactionproject.org/news/action-alerts/please-help-us-to-save-o\

ur-mangroves-from-essar-steel-of-india

 

Costa Rica:

 

4) Costa Rica's high court has prohibited the cutting of a certain

species of tree, in part because a highly endangered type of parrot

uses the tree almost exclusively for nesting. With one decision, the

Sala IV constitutional court protected the mountain almond tree and

the great green macaw, specifically in a sprawling area in northern

Costa Rica. However, the court also ordered the Ministerio de Ambiente

y Energía to spread the word to all its regional officials, thus

protecting the tree throughout the country. The Sala IV also ordered

the environmental courts to monitor compliance with the decision. The

tree is known in Spanish as the almendro amarillo, and it has the

Latin name of Dipteryx panamensis. It is a slow-growing, towering tree

that has wood so dense it only recently has become subject to

lumbering. The wood resists termites, too. The court decision annulled

an order issued in February 2007 by the director of the Ãrea de

Conservación Arenal Huetar Norte that would allow harvesting of the

tree. The great green macaw is far more endangered than the almond

trees. The Rainforest Biodiversity Group, which used to be called

Friends of the Great Green Macaw, reports that only about 50 nests of

the bird were found in a census and that some of the nests had not

been occupied. The group estimates on its Web site that only about 200

of the birds remain in Costa Rica, about 10 percent of the original

population remains. The bird is called lapa verde in Spanish and has

the Latin name of Ara ambigua. The birds have a real advantage with

the towering almond trees. The seeds or nuts provide food for the

birds and other forest creatures. Cavities in the tree collect water

that the birds drink as well as supply safe locations for nesting. The

objection to lumbering was brought to the Sala IV by a man identified

in the decision summary by the last names of Carmiol Ulloa. He was

doing so on behalf of the Asociación Red Costarricense de Reservas

Naturales. The Arenal Huetar Norte conservation area is some 4,220

square kilometers (1,629 square miles) that runs north from Zarcero to

the border with Nicaragua. The area extends to a point west of Upala

and shares a border with the Ãrea de Conservación Tortuguero on the

east. The reserve network organization that brought the case is an

association of some 110 private reserves. The almendro tree was not

commercially viable until the introduction of special carbon steel

blades about 25 years ago due to the density of the wood. Some trees

may be 50 meters, nearly 164 feet, tall.

http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1027-costa_rica.html

 

Peru:

 

5) Illegal logging in the Peruvian Amazon is driving uncontacted

tribes into Brazil where they are in conflict over food and resources

with other uncontacted groups, according to a Reuters interview with a

leading expert on indigenous tribes. Jose Meirelles of Brazil's Indian

affairs agency FUNAI told Reuters he was seeing evidence of

uncontacted tribes fleeing loggers in Peru. " Putting it simply, the

loggers are killing and expelling the isolated people. It's clear that

they (the Indians) are coming here, " Meirelles told Reuters from

Brazil. As the Indians flee they move into territories controlled by

other tribes, resulting in conflict. " On one side they are persecuted

and killed by loggers and when they flee they come into conflict with

rival isolated tribes. So they have to keep looking for space where

they can feed themselves, " added Beatriz Huertas, an representative

for CIPIACI — an indigenous rights group — who spent three weeks in

the border area in June. Last month Meirelles and a colleague were

attacked with arrows by a group of Indians. He said the arrows and the

cut of the hair did not match the three known groups on the Brazilian

side, indicating that Indians are indeed crossing the border. The

attack took place in the Brazilian state of Acre near where a band of

uncontacted Indians were photographed with dyed skin and wielding bows

and arrows. The photos stirred a media frenzy when released in May by

Brazilian authorities who hoped the attention would pressure Peru to

better protect indigenous groups from loggers in the region. Brazil

also has difficulty protecting Indians from illegal loggers, miners,

and bounty hunters hired by developers aiming to clear land for cattle

pasture and farms.

http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1022-peru_indigenous.html

 

6) " We do not want our forests, rivers and earth polluted, because

this is our natural market... We have proof that pollution already

exists, damage to nature and to indigenous people in the communities

where petroleum activities are developed. For 37 years in the Achuar

brother communities of the Corrientes River, petroleum has not brought

any development to them; on the contrary they are sick and poverty

stricken. " The Achuar say they will physically remove Talisman if the

company does not stop working on their lands by November 15. " If they

do not want to leave we will force them out. " Reuters reported that

the Calgary-based company " said it had no plans to pull out of Peru. "

Already this year Canadian resource companies in Peru have been

responsible for a number of socially damaging events; an oil and gas

company entered an area inhabited by a nomadic tribe that has refused

contact with the outside world; a mine destroyed pre-Columbian

carvings; the government declared a state of emergency over fears that

arsenic, lead and cadmium from a mine near Lima could pollute the

capital's main water supply. And in recent years Toronto-based Barrick

Gold's operations in the country have been engulfed in a number of

violent protests, one of which left a couple of protesters dead. " In

Peru, " notes McGill professor Daviken Stuenicki Gizbert, " 40% of

conflicts involving local communities are over mining. The majority of

the mining sector in Peru is Canadian. " Before 1990, no Canadian

mining company operated in Peru. Now, Canadian corporations dominate

the country's mining sector with a hundred mines. As an illustration

of the size of Canadian mining investment in Peru, in late 2006 Scotia

Bank announced plans to expand its banking in the country to do more

business with mining clients. Driven by resource companies, Canadian

direct investment in Peru is worth billions of dollars.

http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/yvesengler

 

Ecuador:

 

7) Known as 'Soy defensor de la selva' in Spanish, I Am Defender of

the Rainforest is an award-winning documentary that was filmed,

edited, and directed by members of the Sarayaku community in southern

Ecuador. The film shows how the community, living in the autonomous

region of Sarayaku, organized themselves and confronted the

Argentinian oil company CGC (Compañia General de Combustibles). In

2002 the company entered Sarayaku with a plan to carry out a

geological survey. However, they did not have permission from the

community to do so. CGC was told to leave the territory, but the

company refused. In response, the community took matters into their

own hands, by organizing to remove the invading company. At that point

the government of Ecuador sent in the military to back the company up,

which led to a series of confrontations with the community. Conflicts

also broke out with neighboring communities who had been tricked into

siding with CGC. Nevertheless, the Sarayaku remained committed to

defending their land.

http://intercontinentalcry.org/i-am-defender-of-the-rainforest/

 

8) The rich diversity of trees in tropical forests may be " the result

of subtle strategies that allow each species to occupy its own

ecological niche " rather than random dispersal, report researchers

writing in the journal Science.

http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1023-biodiversity.html Trees in a

hyper-diverse tropical rainforest interact with each other and their

environment to create and maintain diversity, researchers report in

the Oct. 24 issue of the journal Science. This study was conducted in

the Yasuni forest dynamics plot of the Pontificia Universidad Católica

del Ecuador, the most diverse tropical forest site associated with the

Center for Tropical Forest Science/Smithsonian Institution Global

Earth Observatory network (CTFS/SIGEO). a unified theory of diversity

patterns in ecological communities remains elusive. The most complex

biological systems—such as tropical rainforests—are the most important

testing grounds for theories that attempt to generalize across

ecological communities; as they pose the greatest challenge. At

Yasuni, in addition to the 600 species of birds and 170 of mammals,

there are approximately 1,100 species of trees in the 25 hectare

plot―more than in all of the U.S. and Canada, combined. Neutral theory

rests on the assumption that all species are equal in terms of their

ability to survive and reproduce. Chance events drive change. This

study supports an alternative, older explanation that characteristics

of individual species play an important role in determining the

structure of the community, contributing to the maintenance of

biodiversity through distinct strategies. " If the neutral theory is

correct, we would expect these traits to be distributed at random

throughout the forest, but that was not the case, " explained

RenatoValencia, professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica del

Ecuador and lead investigator at the Yasuni forest plot. Nathan Kraft,

PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, measured and

compiled traits of the leaves, seed and wood of trees at Yasuni and

then used detailed maps from the plot to look at how these traits are

distributed across the forest. " The traits we measured give us

important clues about the strategy of each species in the forest —how

they make a living, if you will. One exciting thing that we found is

that trees growing near each other in basically the same habitat, may

employ very different strategies, " Kraft explained. More research will

be needed to resolve these conflicting views, and participants in the

CTFS/SIGEO network of more than 30 forest dynamics plots in 17

countries hope that researchers will take advantage of standardized

life-table data from more than 6,500 tree species to understand the

patterns of biological diversity across the world.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-10/stri-dot102308.php

 

9) " We often hear of environmental catastophes but almost never meet

the people who suffer the consequences. " Those are some of the

introductory words of Lou Dematteis, one of the authors and

photographers of the new photo book Crude Reflections: Oil, Ruin, and

Resistance in the Amazon Rainforest. Using photographs to illustrate

their subject, Dematteis and fellow scribe/photographer Kayana

Szymczak present a damning case against Chevron, whose oil operations

and despicable waste disposal practices from the 1960s onward have

devastated the northeast region of Ecuador. The health problems and

catastrophic destruction caused by Chevron's pollution of the

rainforest is now referred to as the " Amazon Chernobyl. " Chevron

dumped waste oil in unsealed pits, burnt it into the air, and put it

on roads to keep down dust. The company's other option would have been

to pump the waste back into the ground, something that it was already

doing in the United States– in fact, Chevron was the first company to

adopt the practice. Without sentiment, Crude Reflections presents the

gruesome evidence of human suffering that is occurring in Ecuador.

This indictment is crucial now, right as Chevron tries to weasel their

way out of facing a major court decision that has been in the making

since a case was first opened in 1993 against them by Ecuadorians. The

verdict will justifiably announce the company's wrongdoing to a world

audience and possibly bankrupt it as well. Stories like those of Jairo

Yumbo (pictured at top) show how immediate and serious the pollution

and health problems have become. Jairo's father, a coffee and cocoa

farmer, explains that a stream near his house that his family uses for

drinking and bathing water is polluted with crude. His son was born

with a deformed hand that doctors told him was a direct result from

the pollution. When he took Jairo to a clinic run by Chevron " they

said that his hand had nothing to do with the oil, that it was a

result of a medicine we took to stop having children. We never took

any medicine, but I preferred not to say anything; I just left. The

oil company people always become angry if we said anything or

complained. "

http://ecoworldly.com/2008/10/24/new-photo-book-proves-that-chevron-caused-ecuad\

ors-amazon-chernobyl/

 

10) The story of the Achuar is incredible. By building partnerships

with people from the modern world, like you and me, they are saving

millions of acres of rainforest so all of us on the planet can all

breathe easier. This Amazonian tribe only came out into the modern

world fourteen years ago because they saw in their dreams that an

enemy, the modern world, would be coming into their pristine

rainforest and they wanted to prevent that, not in their old warrior

ways, but by creating partnerships and working with people from the

modern world so we could all breathe much easier on the planet. From

that call, the Pachamama Alliance was born. The positive result of

this partnership is a powerful example fulfilling the Eagle and Condor

prophecy which can be found on my website. Thanks to the Pachamama

Alliance over the past 14 years, The Achuar now have a beautiful eco

village that you can visit. They even have an airplane and are in need

of another, to get people in and out of the forest. You can't just

mosey into the rainforest, it is a ride on a small plane over millions

of acres of natural beauty and then a canoe ride. As soon as they own

the next plane they will be on their way to being fully sustainable,

which is an important goal they have. I am happy to be a supporter of

the Pachamama Alliance. Check out their site to see the great programs

they are offering around the world to raise awareness about global

warming and how you can help.

http://pointsofconnection.typepad.com/points_of_connection/2008/10/saving-the-ra\

inforest-1.html

 

11) Throughout the world, WWF promotes a series of meetings between

shrimp farmers, import companies, and NGOs, called " Shrimp Dialogues, "

attempting to establish global standards for the certification of the

shrimp aquaculture industry. One of the meetings already took place in

Belize, 1-2 April of this year, without the participation of the

Central American victims of the shrimp farming industry. The second

shrimp dialogue organized by WWF was held in the city of Guayaquil,

Ecuador, during the international Aqua 2008 fair, 8-9 November.

Redmanglar Internacional (RMI) was represented at the meeting by its

Executive Secretary, Juan José López Negrete, and an ample delegation

of those affected by shrimp farming, grouped together in C-CONDEM,

among them representatives of the RMI Directing Council – Líder

Góngora Farías and Tomás Cruz. Throughout the day the RMI delegation

staged a pacific boycott of the meeting before an auditorium of shrimp

farmers, NGOs, and importers, noting at all times the illegitimate

character of the so-called shrimp dialogues. At the end of the

afternoon they were able to get WWF, organizer of the event, to cede

30 minutes for RMI to expound on its reasons for boycotting the event.

The RMI Executive Secretary, Juan José López Negrete, and the

representative of the RMI Directing Council, Líder Góngora Farías,

expressed in a far-ranging and sustained manner the reasons why RMI

categorically opposes any process that permits the certification of

the shrimp farming industry in Latin America, as well as the rest of

the planet. Those attending the event, among them Cesar Monge,

President of the Aquaculture Chamber of Ecuador; delegates of WWF;

Naturland, David Suzuki Foundation, among others, listened to the

forceful arguments presented by the RMI representatives against the

intent of WWF to certify the shrimp farming industry. The RMI

representatives proposed that instead of a shrimp dialogue to certify

the shrimp farm industry that they should create an international

tribunal to investigate and punish all of the crimes against humanity

committed by such industry. In addition, they declared that RMI would

denounce WWF internationally if it continues with the intention of

favoring certification of a criminal and merciless industry, such is

shrimp farming.

http://www.mangroveactionproject.org/news/current_headlines/shrimp-aquaculture-d\

ialogue-fails-in-ecuador

 

Paraguay:

 

12) Satellite photos taken just a few days ago reveal how hundreds of

hectares of forest belonging to Paraguay's last uncontacted Indians

have been devastated in the last thirty days alone. The photos show

how a Brazilian company, Yaguarete Pora S.A., has destroyed a brand

new patch of forest belonging to the Indians, called the

Ayoreo-Totobiegosode, the last uncontacted people in South America

outside the Amazon. Photos taken last month did not detect such

activity. The devastation of the Totobiegosode's forest is rapidly

accelerating. The amount of land cleared is now more than double what

it was in May this year, when earlier satellite photos were taken. It

is being destroyed by Yaguarete Pora S.A. and another Brazilian

company, River Plate S.A., mainly to graze cattle for beef. The photos

have caused outrage in Paraguay and led to a mass Indian plea to

Paraguay's new president, the ex-bishop Fernando Lugo. In a statement

to Lugo, the destruction of the Totobiegosode's land was denounced as

a 'violation of (the Indians') cultural, environmental and territorial

rights.' The Totobiegosode live in sub-tropical forest known as 'the

Chaco'. The number of uncontacted Indians, who are exceedingly

vulnerable to any form of contact with outsiders, is not known.

Survival's director, Stephen Corry, said today, 'Just look at the sat

photos! It's impossible not to see what is going on there – the

flagrant destruction of the Totobiegosode's home, right 'before our

eyes'. How can president Lugo ignore this?' View satellite photos

taken from May to October this year

http://www.survival-international.org/news/3833

 

13) Peasant organizations have begun to increase pressure on the

government for land reforms, food sovereignty, and the end to

pesticide use which gravely impacts their communities. In turn, the

farmers have been repeatedly met with violence: Numerous evictions

have taken place, at least two leaders have been murdered, and

hundreds of peasants have been tortured, beaten and arrested. This is

despite Paraguay's new government, which has stated a commitment to

protect small farmers against soya plantations, pesticide spraying and

deforestation. La Soja Mata (Soya Kills) is putting together a series

of video reports on the conflicts and various other events related to

the soya industry in Paraguay. Here's a handful of the reports they'd

made so far: Please note: these reports are in Spanish, Guarani and

Castilliano languages, however it is still quite easy to understand

what is said. Below the reports you will find a list of emails and a

sample letter (c/o www.mediaisland.org) you can send to express your

support for the campesinos and their struggle. 1) Two evictions in

Alto Parana: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYEBsk0jtG4 A Short documentary

about the evictions of two encampments in alto parana, in the

beginning of October, which resulted in different cases of torture,

and one execution. In memoriam Bienvenido Melgarejo. 2) Camp against

pesticide in Caaguazú: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4xnXaZGjS8 Report on

the land occupation by the community of Mariscal Lopéz, who wants an

end to pesticide spraying. 3) Peasant community in San Pedro against

pesticide: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfLEXvipkJw A video letter by

members the community of Naranjito, who also demand and end to

pesticide use, as well as the return of lands that were illegitimately

taken from them. 4) Remembering how to maintain an ecological garden:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTUpXTJs15w A report in Guaraní about the

practical ways of maintaining an agro-ecological garden on the country

side. La Soya Maja explains that, " although all campesinos hate the

extensive spraying, a lot of them have forgotten how to grow certain

crops without spraying it themselves, albeit on a much smaller scale

of course. " A Castillian version is available here. … More videos

available at www.lasojamata.org/en/node/230. If you'd like to learn

more about the struggles against soya, visit www.aseed.net (English),

www.baseis.org.py (Spanish), www.grr.org.ar (Spanish), www.wrm.org.uy

(English) Sample Letter (Please send the Spanish version below)

http://gregornot.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/a-new-season-of-soya-a-new-season-of-c\

onflict/

 

Chile:

 

14) American scientists have discovered a fungus deep in the

Patagonian rainforest that makes biodiesel as part of its natural

lifecycle. The fungus is the only organism that has ever been shown to

produce such an important combination of fuel sources. According to

team member Prof. Gary Strobel of Montana State University, " The

fungus can even make these diesel compounds from cellulose, which

would make it a better source of biofuel than anything we use at the

moment. " In its natural habitat the fungus, which the team have

labelled Gliocladium Roseum, produces several different molecules that

have been shown to contain long chain hydrocarbons of the type found

in diesel. However, when the team grew the fungi under laboratory

conditions it produced a biofuel that is even more similar to the

diesel used in cars. G. Roseum can even be used to make myco-diesel

directly from cellulose, meaning that, if the fungus were to be used

for large scale biodiesel production, a complete step in the

production process could be skipped. The experiments have completely

astounded the team. Speaking about the outcome, Prof. Strobel said,

" The results were totally unexpected and very exciting and almost

every hair on my arms stood on end. " This is a fertile period for

discoveries in the field of non-food based biofuel. Earlier this week,

a team of scientists in Thailand reported the discovery of a new algae

species that they are confident can be used to manufacture biodiesel.

http://gas2.org/2008/11/03/fungi-discovered-in-patagonia-rainforest-could-be-use\

d-to-make-biodiesel

 

Brazil:

 

15) Confronted with statements by Rainforest Action Network (RAN)

spokespeople questioning the company's social and environmental

record, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) CEO Patricia Woertz admitted that

rainforests are being destroyed in Brazil. Although the company has

recently launched a new sustainability initiative that Woertz pledged

to personally champion, Woertz resisted accepting responsibility for

the environmental damage, instead blaming it on weak governance and

regulation by the Brazilian government. The admission came after

significant attempts to block criticism from RAN and other

shareholders on the company's poor social responsibility record. For

the second year in a row, ADM attempted to prevent RAN spokespeople

from presenting information to shareholders describing the devastating

social and environmental impacts that the company is causing around

the world. RAN representatives and allies were searched and harassed

as they attempted to enter the meeting.A heavy police presence outside

the meeting prevented students and activists from engaging in a

planned non-violent protest. " ADM's actions show that they are

unwilling to hear any concerns that might force them to become more

socially and environmentally responsible, " said Andrea Samulon,

spokesperson for the Rainforest Action Network. " If they were truly

acting in a sustainable way, they wouldn't need to use police force to

block the concerns of shareholder groups. " Among the agenda items at

the meeting was a shareholder resolution presented by the New York

City Common Retirement Fund calling on ADM to adopt a corporate code

of conduct consistent with internationally recognized human rights

standards. When finally admitted, RAN spokespeople read statements in

support of these resolutions as well as a statement from an Indonesian

community, describing the impacts of ADM's current policies, including

illegal land confiscation and forced displacement. " The company's

activities have resulted in the destruction of our villages- Pinang

Tingi, Lamo Padang Salak, and Tanah Menang, " said three village heads

through the written statement. " Our homes were stolen from us without

our free, prior, and informed consent. "

http://www.grainnet.com/articles/ADM_CEO_Woertz_Says_Rainforest_Destruction_Does\

_Exist_in_Brazil-65843.html

 

16) Brazil will file charges against 81 people accused of being the

biggest destroyers of the Amazon rainforest, reports the Associated

Press. Environment Minister Carlos Minc said those convicted of crimes

— including land-clearing inside reserves and other protected areas —

will be fined and required to replant deforested areas. Overall the

accused face $99 million in fines. Minc said the majority of those

charged are large-scale soy farmers and cattle ranchers. Deforestation

in the Brazilian Amazon is increasingly driven by corporate interests

and large landowners, rather than poor subsistence farmers.

Deforestation for the 2007-2008 year increased for the first time

since 2004. Analysts have blamed record high commodity prices for the

increase. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1102-brazil.html

 

17) Brazilian group Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (Vale), the world's

third-largest mining company by market capitalisation, is active not

only in diversified mining, but also in transport, energy and the

environment. During 2006, the IAV developed 100 projects for different

Vale operational units, each designed to meet the needs of the

different ecosystems in which the units are based. One major project

developed that year was the Degraded Areas Recovery Programme, which

saw 173 indigenous botanical species re-established in an area of 400

ha. This takes to 1 960 ha the total areas, within the Atlantic

Forest, the Amazon, and Cerrado (savannah) ecosystems that have been

replanted by Vale. The specialists of the IAV also provide

environmental training to staff in other divisions of Vale. The

institute has another very important function: it administers botanic

parks and conservation areas, only two of which are owned by the

group. These are the Vale Natural Resources Reserve, the Vale

Botanical Park, the Sooterama Biological Reserve, the Carajás National

Forest, the Carajás Zoo-Botanical Park, the Tapirapé-Aquiri National

Forest and the Tapirapé Biological Reserve. The Vale Natural Resources

Reserve lies in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo. With an area of

22 000 ha, it is also the centre of the group's environmental research

programmes. In 2006, the reserve produced some 12 t of seeds and

four-million seedlings from 422 different Atlantic Forest tree

species, for ecosystem recovery and forest re-establish-ment projects.

The Vale Botanical Park lies in the Tubarão industrial complex, also

in Espírito Santo. The complex includes a major port, for the export

of iron-ore and pellets, and one of the largest pellet producing

facilities in the world. Reforestation started in the 1980s, and the

Botanical Park now covers 620 ha and contains six-million tropical

trees. Not only does the park represent a rehabilitation of an

ecosystem, its also acts as a windshield for the stockpiles of

iron-ore and pellets. The Sooterama Biological Reserve, again in

Espírito Santo, actually belongs to the Brazilian Institute for the

Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama – the Federal

government environmental agency) but is managed by the IAV. It lies

close to the Vale Natural Resources Reserve and together the two parks

cover 48 000 ha, respresenting 45% of Espírito Santo's forests.

http://www.miningweekly.com/article.php?a_id=143752

 

 

18) As Brazil's economy booms from rising agricultural commodity

prices worldwide, conflicts over land in the Amazon–where the

agricultural frontier is rapidly expanding–are also on the rise. At

times, the region appears to be ungovernable for the administration of

President Luis Inácio " Lula " da Silva and the governing Workers' Party

(PT), which face strong pressure to yield to the interests of

regional, national and international agribusiness. Since it came to

power in 2003, the Lula government has been embroiled in a conflict

between six large-scale rice growers and 19,000 indigenous people over

4.2 million acres of Amazon grassland, forest and river called Raposa

Serra do Sol, in the northernmost state of Roraíma, on the border with

Venezuela and Guiana. Today, the land dispute threatens to provoke a

civil war in the region. Raposa Serra do Sol was demarcated as a

single, continuous indigenous reserve by the administration of

Fernando Henrique Cardoso in 1998, and signed into law by President

Lula in 2005. Since then, the rice growers, who arrived in the region

in the early 1990s, have been required by law to leave their large,

landed estates, and offered financial compensation to do so. Yet they

have refused. Instead, due to pressure from the rice growers and other

agribusiness interests, the Brazilian Supreme Court is currently

deciding whether legislation for demarcation of Raposa Serra do Sol

may be changed to make it discontinuous, thereby allowing the rice

growers to remain on the reserve in " islands " . The landmark case,

supposedly to be decided by the end of this year, will set the stage

for the future of indigenous land rights in Brazil. It has drawn the

attention of high-level politicians, military officers, international

human rights organizations and even the Pope, pitting the interests of

economic expansion against those calling for protection of human

rights and the environment. Leading the struggle to change the

demarcation is Paulo Cesar Quartiero, the largest rice farmer in

Roraíma, former mayor of the town of Pacaraima (part of which lies in

Raposa Serra do Sol), and president of the Association of Rice

Producers of Roraíma (ARPR), a powerful group of rice growers

integrated into national agribusiness markets. Quartiero is a

" ruralista " : a member of an influential network of politicians at the

municipal, state and federal levels that represents the interests of

large landowners and national and international agribusiness.

http://www.thescarletpimpernel.info/2008/10/violence-mutiny-and-environmental.ht\

ml

 

 

19) Juma Reserve, in the heart of Brazil's vast Amazon forest, stands

as an example of the perils weighing on the world's largest tropical

woodland. Illegal loggers are tearing down the green canopy, and

residents in this, one of the most remote zones on Earth, live in

extreme poverty. But the situation is changing, thanks to a pioneer

carbon project organized by the government of Amazonas state with

collaboration from the US-based international hotel chain Marriott.The

reserve is the first place in Brazil to be certified by the Climate,

Community and Biodiversity Alliance, a partnership between

corporations, non-governmental organizations and researchers that aims

to establish initiatives promoting sustainable development while

protecting the environment. Maria Edines Goncalves, who walked six

hours through the jungle with her six children by her side to reach a

community where the project was launched on Friday, is representative

of the locals the project aims to help. In her pocket, she carried a

letter signed by the 12 families in her tiny village asking for three

necessities: a school; equipment to mill tapioca flour from the

manioc, or cassava, shrub; and an electricity generator. " This is the

first time someone from the government has come out here, " Goncalves

said. The Juma Reserve project's goal is to improves the lives of the

322 families living in the area, located 300 kilometers (200 miles)

south of the city of Manaus and accessible only by boat. The reserve

was declared in 2006 in an effort to slow deforestation which took off

after a small road was built to facilitate the movements of the

loggers and clandestine gold prospectors. " Four years ago, there were

six illegal wood mills operating here. The owners turned up with a lot

of money and threatened to evict the inhabitants, " said Father Ramiro,

a Spanish priest who has lived in the area for 25 years. He added that

he had received death threats for standing up for the locals. Ramiro

said that turning half a million hectares into a reserve had helped a

little to diminish destruction of the forest. Virgilio Viana, the

director of the Durable Amazonas Foundation that overseas public and

private finances used in state conservation efforts, emphasized the

usefulness of the carbon project.

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

te_tract_of_Amazon_999.html

 

20) Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc said on Friday that the

Amazon Fund, an initiative to gather funds for the preservation of the

Amazon Rainforest area, will not be damaged by the world financial

crisis. At the first meeting of the Amazon Fund's Guiding Committee,

held in Brasilia, Minc said several companies, including Petrobras,

Wal-Mart and AES, have expressed their interest to donate to the Fund.

He assured that the names of the first donors will be announced soon.

So far, only the Norwegian government has formally announced its

intention to donate to the Fund. Norway will donate 1 billion U.S.

dollars by 2015. Its first part of the donation will be 140 million

U.S. dollars, which will be made in 2009. The Brazilian government

expects to start using the Fund's money next year. Minc also announced

that the deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest area fell in

September, lower than the average of the previous three months, which

was 650 square km. In August, the deforested area in the Amazon

Rainforest increased 133 percent, reaching 756.7 square km. Minc

attributed the increase to the upcoming elections, saying that the

politicians did not want to take unpopular measures against

wood-related and transport companies for fear of losing votes.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/25/content_10248842.htm

 

21) Maria Osmarina da Silva de Lima, known as Marina Silva, did not go

to Philosophy school. Perhaps this can explain her amazing nonchalance

as she goes back and forth between the ideal and the real worlds.

Furthermore, she creates a solid bridge between those two realms,

pointing out earthly solutions for environmental problems - whether

they are real, philosophical or invented ones. It could be that her

sensitivity and reality during a very difficult childhood and

adolescence made dream and pragmatism blend together. Marina Silva was

born 50 years ago, in Breu Velho, at a rubber tapping forest area

called Seringal Baçado, 70km distant from Rio Branco, the capital city

in Acre state. She spent her childhood and early teenage years

laboring in rubber latex extraction. Marina Silva was 16 years old

when she finally learned how to read and write – that happened after

she moved to Rio Branco to work as a house servant. Until then, she

had learned from nature, the forest and her own people – these masters

arose in her the love for the environment, as well as the senses to

interpret it. At 26 years old she got her university degree in

History, from Acre's Federal University, and in 1988 she started a

political career. Now a global citizen, Marina Silva is one of the

most acknowledged and celebrated women in the world; she was awarded

over 50 honor distinctions. After heading the Brazilian Ministry of

the Environment, where she fought the conservative forces composing

the rural scene in Brazil – especially in the Amazon, Marina Silva is

back in the Senate, where she continues to fight for social and

environmental sustainability. Brazil learned that her apparently

fragile physical structure is inhabited by two different personas: a

gentle and well balanced forest citizen and a powerful and bold

warrior. Senator Marina Silva, what are your views on the

environmental movement today, as far as the alleged antagonism between

development and conservation is concerned? First of all, I don't think

we should envisage environment and development in opposite sides. I

believe this century's greatest challenge is to achieve protection

with development, and development with the protection of the natural

resources. During the last ten years, the environmental movement has

made significant progress in that direction. Those who insist in that

opposition have a purely developmentist mentality. Environmentalists

have already understood that the greatest challenge is to act to

achieve change in the development models – from unsustainable to a

sustainable ones – in order to cover all sustainability dimensions,

i.e., the economic, social, cultural, political, ethical and even

aesthetic aspects, since the changes we impose upon the natural

landscape deconstructs our identity, as well as our relationship with

each other and with nature.

http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=148824

 

 

22) Global warming could kill off half of the tree species in Brazil's

vast Amazon jungle by 2050, a leading international climate change

expert said Wednesday. A worst-case rise of 4 degrees Celsius (7.2

degrees Fahrenheit) would wipe out half of the region's tree species

by making the Amazon much drier and causing increased humidity in

Brazil's non-Amazon southern region, said Martin Parry of the U.N's

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A lower rise of 2 degrees

Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2050 would eliminate a quarter of

the tree species in the Amazon, the world's largest remaining tropical

rain forest, he told reporters. In its pivotal 2007 reports on global

warming, the IPCC projected that average global temperatures, which

rose 0.7 degrees Celsius (1.3 degrees Fahrenheit) in the past century,

would rise between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees Celsius (2 to 11.5 degrees

Fahrenheit) in this century, depending on many variable factors

including population growth, fuel use and government actions to rein

in emissions. Perry said the situation would get much worse if the

world doesn't sharply reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other

industrial, transportation and agricultural gases blamed for global

warming. The margin for global action on climate change is extremely

tight; the temperature is going up and the sea levels are rising, he

said. We need strong international leadership to make the necessary

changes, and Brazil could contribute to this leadership. While Brazil

managed to reduce deforestation by 60 percent between 2005 and 2007,

rain forest burning is responsible for 55 percent of Brazilian

emissions that contribute to global warming, said Carlos Nobre of

Brazil's Economic Research Institute. The rest comes from agriculture,

energy generation and vehicles. Deforestation both the burning and

rotting of wood in the Amazon releases an estimated 400 million tons

of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, boosting Brazil to

sixth place or higher among emitter nations.

http://www.pr-inside.com/expert-amazon-may-lose-50-pct-r887617.htm

 

23) Returning to the rainforest where she photographed tribal

populations 15 years earlier, native Brazilian Denise Zmekhol

discovers drastic changes in " Children of the Amazon. " Well-crafted

docu charts the destruction, both ecological and cultural, wrought by

decades of still-ongoing deforestation, as well as the efforts to

create protected areas. Item could eke out some theatrical dates prior

to wider broadcast and educational exposure. Narrating in English,

Zmekhol recalls snapping children of the Surui and Negarote tribes as

part of a film crew. Showing these images to the now-grown subjects,

she finds their ancient, indigenous traditions have been almost

extinguished: They've gone from stone tools and self-sufficiency to

mechanical appliances and standard economic poverty in a generation's

span. First contact with outsiders in 1969 brought diseases that

decimated all but 200 members of one 700-strong tribe, and Christian

missionaries used hellfire scares to eradicate old spiritual beliefs.

The government encouraged farmers from other poor regions to move to

the area, many via fake land deals; vast stretches of rainforest were

burned to create cattle grazing lands, which some tribespeople were

forced to labor on without pay. The newcomers also clashed with

communities of rubber tappers, who had mined the now-vanishing

forest's resources without actually destroying them.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117938869.html?categoryid=31 & cs=1

 

24) NASA is paying researchers on the cool prairies of South Dakota to

help track biodiversity in the steamy rain forests of the Brazilian

Amazon. Professor Mark Cochrane in South Dakota State University's

Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence said much of the

work relies on interpreting satellite imagery, one of the strengths of

the SDSU center. Cochrane and his colleagues at SDSU and other

institutions are mapping three specific kinds of forest disturbances

in the Amazon: fragmentation of the forest into smaller parcels,

logging, and fires. In addition, Cochrane has two SDSU doctoral

students on the ground in Brazil doing survey work to determine how

certain indicator taxa, or groups of organisms, are affected in those

disturbed forest areas compared to undisturbed areas. The National

Aeronautics and Space Administration is funding the three-year project

with a grant of about $1.1 million, of which $83,104 is a subcontract

to Hobart and Smith Colleges. The SDSU component of the study is just

over $1 million. " Basically what we're looking at is the biodiversity

effects of human land use in the Brazilian Amazon, " Cochrane said.

" Typically when we've looked at the Amazon for, say, the last three

decades, we've all heard about slash/burn deforestation. And yes,

there has been a lot of deforestation in the Amazon. About 17 percent

of it has been cleared. But what people don't appreciate is that an

equal amount of forest, or potentially even more, has been impacted in

other ways. " Brazil is taking important steps to protect its rain

forests, Cochrane said, but the task of simply mapping forest

disturbance is enormous. The international study involves not only

SDSU, but also researchers in Brazil and at other universities in the

United States and the United Kingdom. Working together, scientists

will analyze more than 2,000 satellite images from two different

satellite systems — Landsat and MODIS — to map different types of

forest disturbance. To do that, the researchers will rely in part on

methods they've developed themselves. For example, fires in the Amazon

rain forest — many of which are set by man to clear forest or maintain

clearings — are anything but spectacular. Since a single pixel of a

Landsat satellite image carries information about a land area that is

30 meters to a side, it requires careful analysis of those images to

detect such damage, Cochrane said. " A four-inch fire going through a

rain forest, what are you going to see? You're not going to detect the

fire, but we can detect the damage from it. The canopy gets thinned

tremendously. What we can see, if we look from space, is more of the

forest floor. The forest floor is brown. The canopy is green. I can

look at the percentage change in how much brown there is in that

signal. In the end what I can do is actually map the areas in which

deforestation or damage has occurred. "

http://www3.sdstate.edu/SDSU/NewsDetail45702.cfm?ID=46,6733

 

25) An environmental activist has claimed at the High Court his London

flat was sold without his knowledge while he was campaigning in the

Amazon rainforest. Captain Clive Kelly, 68, accused three men of

conspiring to sell his property in West Kensington. Two of the men

deny charges relating to the alleged conspiracy and another has fled

jurisdiction.

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hGsRyWckJUOSipLqaJggEhlYY7tw

 

26) The number of animals on the verge of extinction in Brazil has

nearly tripled in the last two decades, Environment Minister Carlos

Minc said Tuesday. The Environment Ministry launched a book examining

the number of animals in danger of extinction, with 627 such animals

included. According to Minc, the first such government study of

animals on the verge of extinction was performed in 1989, when 218

species were included. " Industry is expanding, agriculture is

expanding, people are occupying protected areas and our conservation

units do not have the protection needed, " Minc said. According to the

minister, 79 species were taken off the endangered list that was

published in 1989, while 489 new species were added. " We'll fight to

remove the largest number of species possible from that list, " the

minister told reporters, saying the government is taking steps to slow

deforestation and increase the amount of federally protected land.

Minc blamed the growing number of endangered species on deforestation

in the Amazon, which he said is sparked by soy farmers and ranchers

illegally clearing land to plant crops and graze cattle.He also blamed

the illegal trafficking of exotic animals. According to Renctas, a

Brazilian organization that fights animal smuggling, illegal

trafficking of rare species generates about $2 billion a year in the

country. Many of the animals are sold to collectors in the United

States, Europe and Asia.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D94896Q81.htm

 

27) Growing concern over climate change, and the potential of the

carbon credit market, could give the Amazon forest a financial value

rivaling the lucrative activities that are eating it away, Brazilian

officials believe.The Amazon -- the biggest zone of tropical woodland

on the planet -- is already home to the Juma reserve, an area of half

a million hectares that has become the first project in Brazil to

achieve international certification for reducing greenhouse gas

emissions by averting deforestation.The government in Amazonas state

want to replicate that model over 34 other reserves it manages, and it

wants to use financing from the carbon market to help preserve the

forest and improve the lives of people living within it. " We will be a

big player in the carbon market, " said Virgilio Viana, director of the

Sustainable Amazonas Foundation running the reserves.Brazilian

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in August launched an

international Amazon Fund, which has already attracted a

one-billion-dollar donation pledge from Norway's government up to

2015.The carbon credits scheme resulted from the Kyoto accord, which

came into force three years ago. It opened the way to monetize the

shortfall in greenhouse emissions targets and have them traded on a

world market.But it does not acknowledge the reduction of emissions

from deforestation of tropical forests in developing countries.

Brazil, the fourth-biggest producer of greenhouse gases in the world,

mostly from deforestation, wants its fight to preserve its five

million square kilometers of Amazon forest to be recognized as a

service against global warming It argues that its efforts should be

rewarded with financial input from other countries which would go to

helping poor Amazon populations that might otherwise turn to cutting

down trees. http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/081107072350.w82muw9w.html