Guest guest Posted December 13, 2008 Report Share Posted December 13, 2008 449 - Oceania Tree News --Today for you 30 news articles about earth's trees! (449th edition) http://forestpolicyresearch.org --To Subscribe / to email format send blank email to: earthtreenews- OR earthtreenews- Index: --Indonesia: 1) Unilever steps up to greenwash its use of Palm Oil, 2) Tree planting fantasy, 3) Palm Oil or Bust! 4) Gold mining approval may bring war from the forest defender, 5) Flood & Landslide disasters from deforestation, 6) Restorationists losing their land to preservationists, 7) 42,000 tribal protected hectares in Kalimantan, --Solomon Islands: 8) Shift from logging to restoration is claimed, --Papua New Guinea: 9) Biggest logger gets new coat of green paint, 10) REDD does not address irresponsible forest management, 11) Head of the Department of Environment and Conservation a no show at village, 12) NGO's forest protection efforts are being used as substitutes for government aid programs, 13) They sent the largest pacific delegation to climate conference, 14) logging continues on with no one stopping it, --West Papua: 15) Forest continue to vanish: --Australia: 16) Forest harvest data signifies there are in the last stages of native forest depletion, 17) 3 protesters arrested in east Gippsland, 18) Lifestyles of Tassie Forest defenders, 19) Senator Brown visits logging site, 20) Call in day to save the old growth, 21) Extinction of rare possums goes unaddressed, 22) Government official resigns over carbon sink tax credit dispute, 23) Many Foresta are in a big Photo contest in Sydney, 24) Ancient Jarrah and Karri trees still being logged, 25) What a pro logging Government mindset is like, 26) Save Brown Mountain, 27) Save Tucker's Nob State Forest, 28) Finger Lime is caviar of the rainforest, 29) RFID will save the forest, 30) Cops apologize for trainings themselves to deal with mass murder-suicide-bombing oriented environmental activists, Articles: Indonesia: 1) Unilever developed a draft resolution calling for a moratorium on logging, but it was not included on the agenda. A draft resolution calling for an immediate moratorium on logging in areas of high value protected forests did not even make it on to the agenda. Before their recent annual meeting in Bali there was hope that the new resolution would have forced members to cease logging in important areas of forest as determined by new digital maps. " The rapid loss of forests in Indonesia and the current climate crisis needs strong leadership from the global business community, " said Bustar Maitar, Greenpeace southeast Asia forest campaigner. " However the RSPO has failed dismally to take up the challenge. " 'Sustainable palm oil' continues to be a farce while RSPO stands exposed as a weak and ineffectual industry body. " The coalition of members that make up the RSPO include NGO's such as WWF and Oxfam along with both producers and major users of palm oil. Unilever is one of the world's largest purchasers of palm oil and has been under pressure from Greenpeace not to deal with companies who are destroying critical areas of rainforest. Unilever's sustainable agriculture director, Jan Kees Vis, is also president of the RSPO executive board. Unilever did recently pledge to purchase only sustainable palm oil by 2015 but the argument over how this is certified continues. Following pressure from Greenpeace, Unilever developed a draft resolution calling for a moratorium on logging in areas of high value forest that was due to be voted on in Bali last week. However, to the dismay of many conservationists, the resolution was removed from the schedule of the RSPO meeting. " If the RSPO had any integrity then it would have taken urgent action. For Greenpeace it is clear that the current RSPO standards are too weak, are not implemented and are clearly failing to address this rampant deforestation, " said Tim Birch, Greenpeace international forest campaigner. Recently a shipment labelled 'sustainable' palm oil arrived in Holland to coincide with the annual general meeting of the RSPO. http://naturealert.blogspot.com/2008/11/palm-oil-round-table-farce.html 2) Indonesia, which has been losing forests at a rapid pace in recent years, plans to plant 100 million trees across the country this year in an effort to limit deforestation, a forestry official said Wednesday. Indonesia has lost an estimated 70 percent of its original frontier forest, but it still has a total forest area of more than 225 million acres (91 million hectares), with a host of exotic plants and animals waiting to be discovered. The richest forests are found in Borneo -- the world's third-largest island shared among Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei -- which is home to about 2,000 types of trees, more than 350 species of birds and 210 mammal species. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said in a report that Indonesia was suffering the fastest forest loss in the world at almost 1.9 million hectares per year. In 2007, Indonesia succeeded in planting more than 100 million trees, surpassing its planting target of 79 million, said forestry ministry spokesman Masyhud. " The realization of planting in 2007 shows that the public is enthusiastic .... we hope it can become the culture of the community, " Masyhud said. Indonesia plans to start planting on Nov 28 and continue through December to coincide with the rainy season or planting season, Masyhud said. Southeast Asia's biggest economy is also among the world's top three greenhouse gas emitters because of deforestation, peatland degradation, forest fires, according to a report sponsored by the World Bank and Britain's development arm. http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKTRE4AI2S920081119 3) Palm oil companies are facing increasing pressure from green groups who fear the conversion of forests into plantations could cost the country its rich biodiversity. The Center for Orangutan Protection (COP) said Monday that in Kalimantan alone, at least 236 plant species and 51 animal species were facing extinction due to the massive conversion of forests into oil palm plantations. These comments came just a day before the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) holds its sixth annual meeting in Bali. Oil palm growers, processors, traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, investors and Environmental and developmental NGOs will meet to discuss the various issues affecting the palm oil industry during the Nov. 18-20 meeting. Some issues include the role of small-scale palm oil growers, the RSPO and the government, market standards and biofuels. " The ignorance and questionable morality of the oil palm industry and the government have put Kalimantan forests in danger. They already know the impacts of forest conversion, but do not consider the long-term effects they may have, " COP executive director Hardi Baktiantoro said. Indonesia allegedly has 1,170 native species facing extinction, the highest number of any country in the world. Environmental damage in Kalimantan largely stems from the activities of the palm oil industry. http://bio-fuel-watch.blogspot.com/2008/11/biofuelwatch-palm-oil-industry-faces.\ html 4) An alliance of pro-environment organizations and residents of Banyuwangi and Jember have pledged to wage an all-out war to oust a gold mining company seeking approval to mine the abundant deposits of gold, copper and platinum in protected forests in the two regencies. Kappala Indonesia, Green Curve and Street Legislature for Democracy (Derajad) have already had the Banyuwangi regency legislature drop its recommendation of PT Indo Multi Niaga (PT IMN)'s planned exploitation. Now they are joining forces with residents in the two regencies to press Banyuwangi Regent Ratna Ani Lestari to follow suit and prepare a nationwide movement to persuade the government to review the work contract awarded to the company. " Our movement is still focusing on political pressure on the Banyuwangi regency until its recommendation is dropped and the company's exploration license, which expires in July 2009, will not be extended, " coordinator of Kappala Indonesia for the Banyuwangi region, Rosdi Bachtiar Martad, said recently. The Banyuwangi legislature dropped its recommendation for the exploration of the mining sites at the Gunung Tumpang Pitu protected forest in Pancer village, Pesanggaran, Banyuwangi and at the Meru Betiri National Park in Jember when more than 5,000 residents and activists occupied its building last week. Rosdi said the mining would bring more suffering than good to both the environment and the local people. " The mining activities will destroy two protected forests, home to several Java tigers and other rare species, and the water catchment areas for the two regencies, " he said. Furthermore, he added, the mercury and cyanide toxic waste that would be disposed of into the Banyuwangi Bay would not just pollute the waters but also threaten maritime resources and people living in coastal regions. Secretary of the Banyuwangi Green Curve Zaki A.R. said activists and residents of the two regencies were preparing their departure to Surabaya and Jakarta to use the election as an effective political moment to press President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to review the issuance of the mining permit. The President, Zaki said, should evaluate the permit as it had breached the 1999 forestry law -- which prohibits mining activities in protected forests -- and the standard procedure. " He should also censure Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban, who issued a special ministerial decree just for IMN, " he added. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/12/05/ngos-want-miners-quit-protected-fo\ rests.html 5) Floods and landslides following heavy rains have forced well over 15,000 persons to flee their homes in the province of Aceh, on the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra Island, media reports said Thursday. An official of the local disaster management service said more than 3,000 houses were under water since December 5 and more than 15,000 residents have taken shelter in emergency tents. However, there were no casualties reported. The Indonesian authorities are sending humanitarian and medical aid to the affected region. They blame man-made climate change and widespread deforestation for the protracted flooding in the area. Aceh loses around 20,000 hectares of forest each year. http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=800898 & SMap=1 6) Sarwadi Sukiman, an Indonesian farmer, tells the story of what happened to the forests and farmland of his village, Tanjung Lebar, in Sumatra, Indonesia. First the forests were logged to produce timber and paper. When the loggers had destroyed the forest they left and the villagers reclaimed their land. They recently lost their land to a conservation project, the Harapan Rainforest project, run by Yayasan Burung Indonesia, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and BirdLife International. John Lanchbery, head of Climate Change Policy with the RSPB, is in Poznan. At a side event last week he emphasised the importance of involving local people, " otherwise it just won't work " . REDD-Monitor looks forward to Lanchbery's response to Sarwadi's testimony. Sarwadi comes from Tanjung Lebar village in Muara Jambi regency. In his area, during the eighties, the development of industrial forest exploitations (for timber, paper…) stole the forest areas from indigenous people. Private companies logged forests to exhaustion. When their concession from the government had expired, the companies went away, leaving behind a devastated area. In 2002, when the concession had expired in Sarwadi village forest, the land remained barren. Peasants and indigenous people reclaimed it to produce food such as rice, beans and fruits. 1500 families organised in the Indonesian Peasant's Union (SPI) occupied an areas as wide as 101.365 hectares, where they tilled the land, they built their houses, and created their territories and communities. http://www.redd-monitor.org/2008/12/12/via-campesina-and-an-indonesian-farmer-de\ nounce-the-harapan-rainforest-project-in-indonesia/ 7) Covering 42,657 hectares, the Gunung Lumut Protected Forest (HLGL) spreads throughout East, Central and South Kalimantan. In East Kalimantan, it is situated in Paser regency in Long Kali, Muara Komam, Batu Sopang and Long Ikis districts. But it is not an easy forest to get to. From East Kalimantan's Balikpapan, visitors cross to North Penajam Paser by ferry or speedboat and travel by car for hundreds of kilometers on good and not-so-good roads — roads which are slippery when wet. During the rainy season, only four-wheel-drive vehicles can reach it. The biologically rich HLGL is home to a vast range of animal species endemic to Kalimantan such as the bekantan proboscis monkey, orangutan and honey bear. Designated protected status in 1982, it also contains a variety of timber species, including the ulin, bangkirai, red meranti and sandalwood, plus a wide range of herbal plants. The Paser indigenous group, believed to have originated from the Dayak tribe in Central Kalimantan, resides in the area, spread throughout the Paser and North Penajam Paser regencies. One of them is Muluy hamlet, Suan Slutung village in Muara Komam district, Paser regency. " They have been living in the preserved forest and protecting it for the past 13 generations, " program manager of the Paser Traditional Community Association (Pema Paser) Syahrul M. told The Jakarta Post. However, the HLGL and the isolated Paser tribe are threatened with extinction following reports that the Paser regency administration will turn it into a national park and relocate the surrounding communities, as was said at a press conference in Muluy hamlet, facilitated by the Kawal Borneo Community Foundation (KBCF), an environmental NGO operating in Kalimantan. " The KBCF is pushing for the implementation of effective forest resource management and sustainability, thereby enabling the protected forest to remain intact, " said KBCF project officer Abdul Ismail. http://redapes.org/take-action/isolated-paser-tribe-maintain-protected-forest-en\ clave/ Solomon Islands: 8) The Government says it will shift it focus from logging to reforestation and down-stream processing starting next year. A consultation workshop on this started in Honiara yesterday. Minister for Forestry Job Dudley Tausinga said the unsustainable harvesting of the timber resources is no comfort to the government. " Therefore the various major changes that are reflected in the priorities and policy statements are evidence of government programmes, " he said. Mr Tausinga said under the Forest Resources and Timber Utilisation Act (TAC), the focus is on 'forestry and harvesting'. The minister said this is inadequate for purposes of sustainability of the forest resources. " It is therefore important that we transit from the 'forestry and harvesting' concept into a new direction which focused on 'forestry in development'. " And it is on this concept that the government sets out its forestry development programmes, namely the national reforestation and downstream processing projects. " Mr Tausinga said these two activities start next year. He said the workshop will be used as a vehicle for consultations that would assist in effectively implementing the projects. http://solomonstarnews.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=5133 & change\ =71 & changeown=84 & Itemid=26 Papua New Guinea: 9) For years, the Malaysian owned Rimbunan Hijau has been accused of sourcing its timber illegally in PNG, but the company hit back. It has hired the world's largest inspection company SGS to assess its PNG operations. " Both the logging and saw milling operations of Saban have been assessed by SGS and found to be in compliance of the SGS TLTV program, " Bruce Telfer from SGS Inspection and Verification said. The independent verification scheme tells importers the timber they are buying has been legally sourced. The project was set up with the help of the International Tropical Timber Organisation. Rimbanan Hijau managing director James Lau is confident the scheme will withstand external scrutiny. " I think what we are doing is very clear, what we are doing is proper and we have no problem in getting an independent party to come in an look at the forestry sector in detail, " he said. The company's enthusiasm to back the certification scheme comes ahead of an anticipated move by importers such as Australia to introduce requirements for timber companies to demonstrate legality and compliance. However environmentalists such as Greenpeace's Tiy Ching are sceptical about the verification scheme. " We've looked at exactly the same schemes in Russia and Africa and we have found those schemes to be lacking in credibility and substance, " he said. But Mr Lau dismisses the Greenpeace claims. " Their accusation is based on their own agenda which, if you look at the factual element, is distorted, " he said. The Malaysian logger aims to get certificates of compliance for all its operations in PNG. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/02/2435784.htm 10) PNG's forestry industry has a woeful track record. No logging concession is able to meet the International Tropical Timber Organization's (ITTO) criteria for sustainable forest management and the World Bank estimates that up to 70 of all logging in PNG is illegal. Greenpeace is concerned that SGS is far from being an independent, neutral and objective body in the implementation of its TLTV verification scheme, as it is too close to the PNG logging industry and is an advocate of industry views. Being objective and neutral is a key requirement for third party independent verification schemes. There was also minimal input from NGOs on the process. " SGS' involvement of NGOs has been minimal. NGOs were shut out of the verification process through not being able to have an observer participate in the audit, " said PNG Eco-Forestry Forum (EFF) spokesperson Effrey Dademo. " If they had nothing to hide they would have been open and transparent with the organisations that are trying to insure that PNG's forests are being managed in an environmentally responsible and legal manner. " SGS' reputation on legal verification schemes has much to be desired. " SGS verified as legal Swiss logging company Danzer in the Congo but we found Danzer was carrying out massive transfer pricing and tax avoidance, " said Greenpeace spokesperson, Tiy Chung. " The TLTV system did not pick these failures up. " Greenpeace International has also looked at two TLTV schemes in Russia and Africa and found that neither was able to fully meet the criteria needed for a credible legality verification system. " The primary concern with this scheme is that it does not address responsible forest management, " said Yati Bun of the Foundation for People and Community Development. " How can this scheme be taken seriously when it does nothing to stop destructive practices by the logging industry. " Malaysian logging giant, RH, has operated in PNG for 32 years and is the largest logging company in PNG. They have been accused of illegal logging, gross human rights violations and logging without prior and informed consent of landowners. " Increased international demand for legally harvested timber has forced RH to fast track this verification scheme, " Chung said. " Given RH's woeful track record in PNG we are sceptical that this will be little more than a greenwashing exercise. " http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2008/12/02/ngos-in-png-sceptical-of-new-timb\ er-legality-scheme 11) The sound of men beating kundu drums heightened the villagers' excitement as they waited for the bigpela mangi (''big man'' in the tok pisin language) to disembark. But they were to be disappointed. The long-awaited minister from the Department of Environment and Conservation never boarded our flight from Port Moresby, the capital, to come to Itokama village. Later that night, as we slept in Itokama's stilt houses, the kundus' beat seemed to echo more bitterly. I had traveled to Itokama, one of 75 isolated villages on the Managalas Plateau, to join my co-workers from Partners with Melanesians. Based in Port Moresby, the NGO is run almost entirely by Papua New Guineans and has worked for more than 20 years to promote conservation among the villagers of the plateau, an 890,000-acre area of diverse rainforest. We were in Itokama to plan a forum for the villagers, and to celebrate the completion of a proposal for the government to declare the plateau a conservation area. The minister was meant to have received the proposal during his visit, but then made a last-minute decision to go to Australia instead. Apart from the pilot, I was the only foreigner in the village, and certainly the only wait meri, or white woman. Children in the crowd stared and giggled. I flashed back to seven months earlier when I was worlds away, working an office job in Cambridge. I have discovered that this experience isn't just about me living my dream of working abroad, nor is it exclusively about the few untouched rainforests remaining in the world. It's mostly about the forgotten faces whose lives revolve around the ecological gems we are trying to protect. Often when we speak of conservation, we think of rich forests, exotic plants, and endangered animals. Rarely do we think about the rainforest communities -- the actual people, like the villagers of Itokama. Conservation lies in their hands. http://www.boston.com/news/world/blog/2008/11/forgotten_faces.html 12) I recently attended a lecture by American anthropologist Paige West in Port Moresby, and she observed that in the absence of government support, rainforest communities in Papua New Guinea look toward conservation initiatives as substitutes for government programs, and expect NGOs to provide them with what the government has not. Because of conflicting expectations, the local communities become disheartened, and occasionally angered by the organizations' programs and are less likely to cooperate. As much as the villagers on the Mangalas are aware of the benefits of protecting their forests, it is nearly impossible to have good schooling and healthcare or to transport their products to a market outside the plateau. The day after the forum it was raining heavily as I boarded the 15-seat plane. Despite the dreary weather, the runway was once again lined with hundreds of faces. The plane took off with my co-workers feeling disillusioned. We were leaving behind the plateau and its people, who continue to question whether anyone will answer their pleas for a better standard of living. To find out more about Partners with Melanesians, go to www.pwmpng.org.pg. For information on how you can contribute to the Passport blog, contact the Globe's assistant foreign editor, Kenneth Kaplan, at k_kaplan. http://www.boston.com/news/world/blog/2008/11/forgotten_faces.html 13) Papua New Guinea's 13-member delegation at the UN Climate Change talks in Poznan, Poland is the largest from the Pacific. Due the country's membership of many governmental groups at the conference, they intend to field people at all levels of talks to make their agenda known. The country intends to " take something home " from this conference that will help the nation address pressing climate change issues. The large delegation is a strong force behind their main priority being the reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) initiative. " We hope to increase the momentum so that REDD is recognised, " said Joe Pokana, Executive Manager of the newly-formed PNG Office of Climate Change. " We are a member of the Alliance of Small Island States and Group of 77 and China, so we need to compromise between these countries and make sure they understand what PNG wants to take home, so that's what we are doing and are talking to other countries that will help us in our push. I think we have a lot of friends at this climate change meeting. " Papua New Guinea is also a member of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, an inter-governmental organisation established by forested tropical countries to collectively reconcile forest stewardship with economic development. The five Pacific islands country members are Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The PNG country delegation currently in Poznan, Poland will be joined by their Minister of Forests, Belden Namah who will take part in the high level segment of the 14th Conference of the Parties. " We have five million plus people back home. We need to bring something home for them, so that's the main thing we are here for. If there is another opportunity like voluntary markets or the clean development mechanism, we will work with them, we are optimistic. We need to bring something back home for them. " http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2008/12/05/pngs-13-member-team-largest-from-\ the-pacific-at-climate-summit- 14) I am sad to see that day by day Papuan forest continues to shrink rapidly. While timber companies enjoy high profit from this wood business, the indigenous people only received very small fraction of the revenue their forest creates from logging. Actually, there is no revenue sharing in logging business in West Papua. What the indigenous people receive is tiny compensation compared to the price of wood in national and international market. Besides threat from logging, the increasing influx of migrants in West Papua creates increasing demands in wooden planks and blocks for housing material. More people mean more houses. The price of 1 cubic meter of merbau wooden blocks can reach up to 120 US dollars in local market. This amount of money is considered high. As a result more people decide to enter the logging business. To get higher profit, they prefer to bribe the security personnel and smuggle the logs to towns late at night. By doing this they don't have to pay contribution to the forestry agency. It is not surprising to see that the illegal loggers have never faced severe punishment. Another threat to Papuan forest is conversion to Palm oil plantation. National companies began opening Palm or Sawit oil plantation in around 1990s in Arso and Prafi Manokwari. Again very little compensation was paid to the land owners. In recent video interviews made by Kevin and Darcy from Canada, the tribal chief in Prafi expressed his regret of giving up his land for the sawit plantation. He said that the local people do not get significant benefit from that business. Many return to their vegetable and sweet potato patch. Although the sawit plantation run by PTP 2 - a state owned palm oil company in Prafi Manokwari, has shown its failure, another company named Medco has entered the region and began leasing thousands of hectares of land in Manokwari only for Rp. 450,000 or 36 US dollars per hectare for 35 years. The company will enjoy millions of rupiahs from logging the huge land areas that is rich of natural biodiversity before converting it into monoculture sawit plantation. This does not include the possibility of selling carbon offsets once the sawit seedlings start to grow. The pristine tropical rainforest in Sidey Manokwari will soon be jeopardized and converted into massive palm oil plantation with very little benefit to the local people. According to Cahaya Papua, a local newspaper in Manokwari, Medco has began paying 850 million rupiahs for the leasing of 1,896 hectares in Sidey of Manokwari West Papua. In 9-11 December 2008, it will pay 1.3 billion rupiahs for the leasing of 2,890 hectares in Masni of Manokwari. There will be another leasing of 280 hectares of land area in Pantura of Manokwari West Papua. Through this posting in my blog, I appeal to Green Peace, Down To Earth and any green groups around the world to take serious actions to prevent this pristine Papuan forest from being converted to Palm Oil Plantation. Charles Roring is an active blogger from Manokwari West Papua. His blog can be seen at http://charlesroring.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-threat-to-papuan-tropical-rain.htm\ l West Papua: 15) Papuan forest continues to shrink rapidly due to irresponsible logging. We definitely have to stop this. Here in Papua, logging is legal if loggers have got the license to do so. To obtain a license letter, loggers must pay certain amount of money to forestry agency as contribution to the state for every log they cut. Being a legal logger does not mean that somebody is a responsible one. In recent days the demand for wood in local market is getting higher caused by rapid increase of population in Papua. Such increase is not caused by the improvement in birth rate of native people but more on the massive influx of migrants from other parts of Indonesian islands. I said earlier that the higher the population, the higher the demand for wood as construction material. According supply and demand law, the price of wooden blocks and planks in local market is going up.Another factor for the increase of logging activities in Papua is the practice of logging companies that continue their operation using the reason of opening roads to remote villages in the isolated interior region. While the width of the roads is only four meters, in practice, the width made by the cutting of the trees can reach up to twenty or thirty meters.In my previous article I emphasized my rejection on the conversion of Papuan tropical rainforest into massive monoculture Sawit Plantation using a leasing scheme. The continuous rising of the price of fossil fuel has triggered the use of palm oil for making biodiesel. Supporters of biodiesel say that by increasing the percentage of bio-fuel such as bio-ethanol and bio-diesel in our vehicles, we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuel thus making significant reduction in CO2e emissions. I don't think such perception is true. I don't reject bio-ethanol and bio-diesel projects. What I reject is the deforestation of the pristine rainforest both in West Papua and Brazil and many other regions around the world where there are forests. Sawit is a native plant of Africa. http://charlesroring.blogspot.com/2008/12/irresponsible-logging-main-cause-of.ht\ ml Australia: 16) Loggers have been tearing through WA's native forests at their fastest rate for six years, new figures reveal, with more than half of the precious wood being used for woodchips, firewood and charcoal. The Forest Products Commission's latest annual report reveals more than 660,000 tonnes of logs were harvested in 2007-2008, making it the biggest haul since about 812,000 tonnes was harvested in 2001-2002. The report shows last financial year's harvest included more than 330,000 tonnes of sawlogs, up from 260,000 tonnes the year before. The other 332,000 tonnes harvested last financial year were used for firewood, charcoal and woodchips. Timber industry leaders say increased logging is sustainable and necessary if WA's struggling timber industry is to survive. But Conservation Council vicepresident Beth Shultz dismissed arguments that current logging levels were sustainable. " The native timber industry is in its last throes, they've been overcutting the forest for so long and the forest grows so slowly that it's nearing the end, " she said. " To have this agency come out and brag that it's managed to drag more logs out of our over-cut, over-burnt and over-cleared forest, just shows where they are coming from, " she said. The commission said the figures represented only a 5.6 per cent increase over five years and was well below the 1.3 million tonnes of native timber it was allowed to harvest each year. General manager Paul Biggs said the increase in logging represented no threat to the environment. " There's no compromise on the environment at all with this, " Mr Biggs said. http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77 & ContentID=108201 17) Police have arrested three forest protesters at a blockade at Brown Mountain in East Gippsland. The conservationists are trying to stop clear-fell logging in an old-growth forest coupe earmarked for a nature walk. Another protester is occupying a tree platform in the coup. Search and rescue police are expected to remove the tree-sitter today. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/02/2435680.htm 18) In 2006, a group of grassroots environmental activists representing forests and communities in Southern Tasmania joined together in recognition of the continuing threat to Tasmania's ancient forests. Since this time the Still Wild Still Threatened (SWST) campaign for Tasmania's Southern Forests has garnered significant attention and dramatically raised the public profile of forests such as the Styx, Weld, and Upper Florentine. The Southern forests are home to some of the worlds most pristine last remaining tracts of old growth forest. These precious habitats are being systematically eradicated by industrial style logging fueled by the greed of big business. Tree species such as eucalyptus and myrtle soar to heights of ninety meters providing shelter to the many endangered species such as the Tasmanian devil and wedge-tailed eagle making these carbon rich forest some of most unique and important on the planet. Camp Florentine is a direct action, protest camp set up to halt the logging of the Upper Florentine valley. A diverse range of tactics have been implemented to blockade access to some of the 20,000 hectares of threatened habitat. The blockade, now in its second year, is also used as a base to initiate actions to delay logging in other areas such as the Weld and Styx Valley home to the tallest hardwood trees on the planet. The camp attracts direct action volunteers from across the globe to participate in tasks ranging from the every day running of the camp to community outreach, media liaison as well as building and maintenance necessary to implement various blockading tactics. From scratchy directions I arrived at camp Florentine late one evening, to find a welcoming crew huddled around a fire with the silhouettes of giant trees surrounding them. With plans to only briefly visit the forest, i wasn't to know the next year or so of my life i would spend helping to protect these precious forests and the animals that dwell within them. The camp is home to activists, locals, tourists and people from all walks of life from all around the globe giving to the campaign how they can. Everyone living amongst what they are protecting, building connections with the land and the native forest and mostly realising just how important it is to fight for these last remaining lungs of the planet that may soon be cut, chipped and burnt. I soon found myself sleeping up the tree-sits, attending actions in other valleys and getting to know this truly beautiful little island. Waking up to those sorts of views, smells and sounds is inspiration that truly grabs your heart. The longer i stayed, the deeper the connection i formed with the life there, not a day passed without something amazing happening whether it was, the sounds of the wedge-tailed eagles circling above or comrades from across the world visiting camp and sharing their skills and amazing stories. Every night there are people in that forest in Tasmania sleeping under the stars working hard so this precious eco-system isn't turned into wood-chips. http://www.lasthours.org.uk/archive/interviews/the-story-of-the-upper-florentine\ -blockade/ 19) Before the meeting in Bermagui, Senator Bob Brown inspected the forest area that was being logged. In drenching rain and accompanied by one of the organisers of his visit, Dr Helen Caldicott, and Daniel Tuan, planning manager southern region of Forests NSW, Sen Brown saw first-hand the result of the recent and ongoing logging activities.Bega District News was prohibited from entering the site with the group but later spoke to Sen Brown about what he saw.Sen Brown said this was a spectacular part of Australia and that many people from throughout the world would " give their eye teeth to walk through, but both visitors and locals are excluded while the logging is happening " . " What's going on here? " Sen Brown asked. " There are 1.5 million hectares of plantation forest in Australia, which is more than enough to meet all our wood needs but we continue to log these native forests. " The forests are home to hundreds of species - and are especially important for koalas already under threat from climate change. We all know that fragmenting habitat leads to species extinction. " Native forests in south-eastern Australia are among the most carbon-dense in the world; they are our best carbon stores and should be left to contribute to cooling the planet. " Sen Brown said he understood that " some people's well-being will be affected so we need to retrain and help them into the plantation industry or other jobs " . " In the global financial crisis, some contractors are going to the wall and if and when the woodchip companies say `well we don't need you any more' they lose their jobs and it's seen as economic misfortune, " he said. " But when they lose their jobs and go to other skilled trades for the national good and the future of the planet then it's seen as a crime. We have to get past that. " http://bega.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/keep-our-forest-brown/13750\ 66.aspx 20) Those people aren't carrying signs, but they aren't standing idle. They're all making a telephone call to the same office at once - the office of someone named Premier Brumby. They are literally calling upon Premier Brumby to stop the logging of old growth forest on Brown Mountain in East Gippsland the border of Errinundra National Park, about 150 miles from the city of Melbourne, as the kookaburra flies. I'm telling you about this protest from just about all the way around the world from where these events took place yesterday. I'm in the northeastern United States, but it matters to me that the old growth forest in Australia is under attack. It matters to me because the problem of ecological degradation is a global one both in cause and in effect. In order to combat this problem, we need a stronger global grassroots media. That grassroots media needs to call attention to the incidents of ecological collapse, such as the old growth forest logging on Brown Mountain in remote Victoria, Australia. The grassroots media also needs to call attention to the work of people to solve the problems - work such as the cell phone protest on the steps of Parliament in Melbourne. CNN didn't report on the protest. Neither did any large media organization outside of Australia. They're all too busy covering the same few stories over and over again, because they're trying to make a profit, and they've fired most of their reporters in order to do that. An activist site called Melbourne Protests did report on the protest. I wouldn't have found the information if they hadn't written about the protest. To those people who say that blogging doesn't make a difference, I ask if it doesn't make a difference to spread the word about this protest. Does that kind of independent news not matter? Bull. Of course it matters. http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2008/12/03/aussies-call-in-against-\ old-growth-cutting/ 21) WA's Kimberley region is remote and untouched - one of our last unspoiled wilderness areas. Incredibly, the far north-west Kimberley sub-region is the only part of Western Australia - and one of very few in Australia - that appears to have retained its complete native animal species diversity without extinction since European settlement. But plans for massive industrialisation by mining giants such as Norsk Hydro and Rio Tinto threaten to fragment and degrade this stunning landscape, which includes mound springs, 'dry' rainforest patches, vine thickets, mighty rivers, and savannah woodlands. If the bauxite mining goes ahead, literally thousands of hectares of pristine wilderness will be cleared. Bauxite mining is so utterly devastating that mined areas can never be fully rehabilitated. Furthermore, the Kimberley's role as a valuable carbon store will be diminished, and the project will be a massive carbon polluter. There is still hope. With your support we can persuade the new WA government to adopt a sustainable plan for the Kimberley - one that protects the region's unique natural and cultural values and our climate and also fully addresses Indigenous rights and interests. Please help us ensure that the new WA government protects the Kimberley by making a donation today. Your generous donation will enable us to keep the pressure on the state and federal governments as well as corporations to change their 'development at all costs' approach. It's crucial that we take immediate action. Your donation will help to ensure the natural values of the Kimberley don't disappear overnight. members 22) Scientists say a white possum native to Queensland's Daintree forest has become the first mammal to become extinct due to man-made global warming. The white lemuroid possum, a rare creature found only above 1000m in the mountain forests of far north Queensland, has not been seen for three years. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24742053-952,00.html Experts fear climate change is to blame for the disappearance of the highly vulnerable species thanks to a temperature rise of up to 0.8C. A bureaucratic bungle has left one of Australia's rarest animals the lemuroid ringtail possum unprotected by federal environment laws. Scientists fear climate change has already caused a mass die-off among the species, which lives in only two pockets of high-altitude rainforest in the Wet Tropics World Heritage area near Cairns, in Far North Queensland. ''We haven't seen lemuroids at one of these two sites for the past three years,'' the director of James Cook University's Centre for Tropical Biodiversity, Steve Williams, said. ''We used to see one around every 45 minutes when we were doing spotlight surveys on Mt Lewis.'' In a paper published in 2003 in the internationally published journal Science, DrWilliams warned more than 70 of Australia's tropical rainforest species faced extinction if temperatures increased by one degree. ''Lemuroids don't pant, sweat or come down from the trees to drink. It's been estimated around four to five hours of temperatures above 30 degrees will kill an animal,'' he said. '' If you had a day where temperatures were above 30 degrees for eight hours, it would be enough to wipe out the entire species.'' The possum, which has two colour forms white and chocolate brown is listed as globally threatened in the 2008 Red List issued last month by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Although the brown lemuroids have been known to science since 1884, the much rarer white lemuroids which are not albinos were discovered by Queensland parks staff only in the 1980s, during protests to save Mt Lewis from logging. A federal action plan to protect the possum has lapsed, and it is not listed as a species at risk under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The action plan, which runs to just over a page of nine dot points, was not updated since it was published in 1996, despite more than a decade of scientific research specifying the risks of climate change. According to advice provided by the Department of Environment, the possum would need to be nominated for protection under federal law by next March. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/possum-species-left-hang\ ing-by-a-tale-of-neglect/1377822.aspx?storypage=2 23) Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate and Duty Senator for the North Coast, Fiona Nash, was forced to resign from her shadow portfolio after she voted against the Liberal Party on the issue of giving tax breaks to private forestry carbon sinks. Senator Nash, who was the shadow parliamentary secretary for water resources and conservation, and four other National Party Senators voted with The Greens to oppose the legislation because they believe it will cut food production on prime agricultural land and destroy rural communities. " I've got no problem with carbon sinks going in, but we don't believe there should be tax breaks for the big end of town, which would lead to an uneven playing field when it comes to competing for prime agricultural land, " she said. Senator Nash admitted she was disappointed to lose her shadow portfolio but believed taking a stand was " the right thing to do " . " It gives big business a tax break, while farmers get nothing and country jobs disappear – there is no way I could wear that, " she said. " We feel really strongly that this is bad legislation and will have significant effects on regional communities. " Greens Senator Christine Milne also raised concerns about the effectiveness of the scheme to deliver effective carbon sequestration. " You would expect a genuine carbon sink to be permanent. There is nothing in the bill that requires these trees to be permanent. It says it has to be your intention to have a carbon-sink forest and that you cannot get the deduction unless your intention is that you are not going to cut trees down. But there is no penalty if you do, " she said. At the moment most reputable carbon offsetting companies will supply their customers with a guarantee that any tree plantings will be maintained for a minimum period of 100 years. Lismore's Mark Jackson, who is the director of a carbon consultancy business called The Carbon Store, said the tax breaks would lead to less biodiversity in forestry planting. " If there isn't some way of ensuring long term sustainable reforestation, then you end up with a massive expansion of industrial monoculture plantation forests, " he warned. http://www.echonews.com/index.php?page=News%20Article & article=24483 & issue=376 24) Logging companies are being allowed to clear-fell ancient jarrah and karri forests in the South-West because of a manipulation of the definition of " old growth " that allows logging in areas where as little as one tree per hectare has ever been cut down. The Conservation Council has labelled the protection of all oldgrowth forests a " big fat lie " . It claims the definition of old growth has been " fudged " since the introduction of the National Forest Policy Statement in 1992. The statement commits governments to an agreed approach to conserving and managing native forests, including old-growth forest. It defines old-growth forest as unlogged forest or forest with " negligible unnatural disturbance " . However, in WA finding one stump in a hectare of karri or wandoo forest could consign the native trees to the chainsaw. Conservation Commission assessment criteria require karri and wandoo forests to be " uncut " to qualify as old growth. For jarrah forest, finding one or two stumps in a hectare may ensure it is identified as old growth. Jarrah forest with more than two stumps per hectare, but fewer than 10, is subject to more analysis by the Conservation Commission before it is categorised as old growth or open for logging. " For all intents and purposes this is old-growth forest, " Conservation Council vice-president Beth Schultz said last week. Last month, the Forest Products Commission released its timber harvest plan for next year, which listed areas of native forest open for logging. Dr Schultz said logging companies would now have their sights set on the best areas of forest, including forest she believed should be protected as old growth. She questioned a recent study by CRC Forestry Limited that found that of the 5570 people employed in the southern WA forest industry in 2005-06, more than half worked in the native forest sector. According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, in WA that year six times the amount of logs came from plantations than from native forest. " How can the native forest industry possibly employ more people than the plantation sector? " Dr Schultz said. The Conservation Council has called on the State Government to ban logging in all native forests after the Forest Products Commission's annual report revealed the timber industry has been tearing through native forests at the fastest rate in six years. Environment Minister Donna Faragher believes logging at current levels is sustainable. Earlier this year, Conservation Commission chairman John Bailey said logging of WA native forests would have to be reduced in response to worsening climate change but nothing was likely to happen for six years because of a lack of scientific data. Mr Bailey said sustainable logging rates would be a focus of the mid-term review of the 2004-2013 Forest Management Plan due by the end of the year. Forest Products Commission general manager Paul Biggs said it was " completely naive or dishonest " to suggest WA could magically switch from native hardwood to plantation hardwood. http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=146 & ContentID=111983 25) As an environmental threat, the government's Australia State of the Forests Report, regards logging as insignificant. Despite this, it has become politically incorrect to support native hardwood production as a sensible and responsible use of a naturally renewable resource. Those who do so are routinely vilified as I was last week when a letter I had published in The Age newspaper drew responses that scorned me as an " industry apologist trying to keep us in the dark ages " and a " spin doctor " who " relies on the public being fools " . In the past, I have also been described as a " mouthpiece for the logging industry " or the " pro-logging lobby " , which is apparently " blind to the bigger picture of global crisis " . I have been called a " forest raper " and a " pro-logging, anti-life person " . Others believe I am " motivated by short term greed " and " headed towards my own demise " . I am apparently one of those " people who can chop, hunt, maim, kill, exploit, dominate and destroy in the name of progress and jobs " and I have been likened to " the captain of the Titanic refusing to believe that your enterprise is fatally flawed " . When I have made the point that wood production is planned and controlled by foresters on a scientific basis, my professional discipline has been described as an " anti-science rooted in greed and domination " and a " science that fosters death " . http://jennifermarohasy.com/blog/2008/12/the-cult-of-celebrity-and-tasmanian-for\ estry/ 26) I am writing to express my strong disapproval of the logging of old growth forest in progress at Brown Mountain that VicForests has approved. This area of forest, designated as old growth forest by the Department of Sustainability and Environment, should be protected in accordance with Labor policy released in 2006. The policy in question stated that: " In addition to the Goolengook Block, a Labor Government will immediately protect remaining significant stands of old growth forest currently available for timber harvesting by including them in the National Parks and reserves system. " There are more than 50 trees over 300 years old in this area of forest, which is adjacent to Errinundra National Park. This forest also provide habitat for threatened species such as the Powerful Owl, the Spot Tailed Quoll, mainland Australia's largest marsupial carnivore, and the Long-footed Potoroo, Victoria's rarest marsupial. This forest provides water for the depleted Snowy River catchment. This forest also stores over 1000 tonnes of carbon per hectare, much of which is released as carbon emissions when the forest is clear felled and burnt. Locals had also recently constructed East Gippsland's first old growth forest walk in this forest, which the Department of Sustainability and Environment confirmed during site visits. Much of this has now already been destroyed, which is jeopardising tourism in the region. Your parliamentary website lists your interests as bushwalking, camping, cycling, swimming. All these activities would be enhanced if this Brown Mountain forest, and the rest of Victoria's remaining old growth forests were protected. VicForest's reports indicate that over 80% of what is logged when these forests are destroyed ends up as low value woodchips. There is much greater long term economic gain for Victoria if this forest is protected, thereby realising its ecotourism potential and its role in carbon storage and water production. Can you please instruct VicForests to immediately cease the logging of Brown Mountain and all other remaining old growth forest in Victoria? http://petercampbell.blogspot.com/2008/12/please-ask-john-lenders-to-stop-loggin\ g.html 27) Council is opposing the clear felling of a State Forest near Bellingen.Scheduled for March 2009 is the clearfelling of Compartment 79 – Tuckers Nob State Forest, by Forests NSW. The area comprised 123ha of native hardwood plantation, which was planted in 1967 and had been thinned twice. The plantation creates the backdrop for the cemetery, abuts a number of residential blocks and a privately owned block of 16ha that has been identified for re-zoning in Bellingen's Growth Management Study. In a letter to Council from Dale McLean, the Acting Regional Manager of Forests North East Region, said the purpose of this operation was to harvest high quality sawlogs to meet the government's commitment to the forest industry Hydes Creek resident, Pia Dollman presented her concerns to Council in a comprehensive report. " Tuckers Nob State Forest is increasingly used by local residents for recreational purposes as it provides walking tracks of varying length and difficulty within easy assess of the residential area, " said Ms Dollman. She feels that plantation harvesting is incompatible with residential living and the area will be of no value for recreational activities for a period of some years following the clearing.Three options were presented to council. The first was conversion to native forest management with selective logging only.The second was to create a buffer zone between the town boundary and Frenchmans Creek. " This option would not only create a visual buffer for the town and ajoining properties but also protect one side of Frenchmans Creek from damage, " said Ms Dollman. The third was a 20 metre buffer zone along the boundary of the compartment.Cr Gordon Braithwaite who was a logger for 50 years supported Ms Dollman in her view on selective logging and suggested a 50 metre buffer zone would be sustainable. In conclusion Ms Dollman proposed that Bellingen Council initiate and engage in negotiations with Forests NSW to change the management regime from plantation management to native forests management. http://bellingen.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/council-opposes-clear-\ felling-of-state-forest/1381523.aspx 28) Finger Lime: The subtropical rainforest fruit is endemic from about Ballina, in northern NSW, to Mount Tamborine, in southern Queensland. As the name implies, they are shaped like a finger and taste like a lime. What distinguishes them from Tahitian and desert limes is their interior, which is packed with small, juicy bubbles. " They're little caviar-like balls which explode in your mouth when you bite them, " says Georgie MacDougall of Wild Fingerlime, which markets the fruit for about 20 growers. " So you get this lime explosion in your mouth. " She's aware of about 65 varieties of finger lime, though most are unpalatable. The rest are not only edible but colourful - " and each colour has a different flavour " . A green variety has a pungent lime flavour while a yellow one has a more subtle taste. Both are a good accompaniment for salmon, MacDougall says. Other varieties are pink, which, as the most delicate of the limes, is suitable with oysters, and a red type that contains a raspberry-lime taste. Traditionally, finger limes have been enjoyed as bush tucker but Wild Fingerlime has exported the fruit in the past two years. Among her converts, MacDougall claims Spanish chef Ferran Adria and, locally, Christine Manfield at Universal, Sean Moran at Sean's Panaroma and Martin Boetz at Longrain. The limes are easy to use. Simply slice across them and squeeze out the bubbles. " You add them at the end of your cooking process because if you cook them, you get the flavour that infuses the food but you don't get that wild explosion when you bite into those caviar crystals, " says MacDougall, who puts them on top of laksa to cleanse the palate. " Different chefs have different preferences. They either use them more for the colour or they want them for the flavour as well to enhance different foods they use them with, " MacDougall says. Now, though, the proselytising will turn to consumers. " This year, we're trying to move into the retail market, " says MacDougall, who formed Wild Fingerlime four years ago with business partner Sheryl Rennie. The finger lime season runs from January until June and the limes will last two to three weeks once they reach Sydney shelves. Confirmed retailers include Antico's in Northbridge, Top Fruit outlets in Double Bay and Rose Bay and David Jones greengrocers in the city and Bondi Junction. The price, still being confirmed, is expected to be about $45-$50 a kilogram. http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/good-living/caviar-of-the-rainforest/20\ 08/12/09/1228584826058.html 29) A group of scientific organizations are deploying a network of up to 200 RFID-enabled sensor nodes that measure such things as temperature, humidity, soil moisture and wind speed, as well as identify animal species. The group has deployed 10 wireless solar-powered sensors in the Springbrook National Park, to measure such environmental factors as temperature, humidity, light, soil moisture and wind speed, and to relay that information to a central database located in Brisbane, Queensland. Springbrook is part of the Gondwana Rainforest, which is included on UNESCO's World Heritage List for areas with outstanding heritage value. Up to 200 wireless sensors will be deployed over the next three years, including models with video and sound recorders, to provide details regarding the health of the ecosystem, fauna and flora. Aila Keto, president of the Australian Rainforest Conservation Society (ARCS) and an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland's School of Agronomy and Horticulture, says the WSN could revolutionize environmental monitoring and provide a cost-effective method for protecting and restoring environmentally sensitive rainforests. " This is a wonderful, internationally significant project, " Keto says. " The WSN will allow us to measure environmental conditions from climate change to soil moisture and water flow, and see the impact on plants and species. There is an abundance of life in the area, and we will be able to look at factors such as where species live, how they grow and what we can do to preserve them. " http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/4506/1/1/ 30) Police have been forced to apologise for mounting an anti-terrorism exercise in which a forest campaigner hijacked an aircraft and threatened to crash it into a pulp mill in Tasmania. Heavily armed police responded to the " hijack " at Devonport Airport, and a threat to the nearby Wesley Vale mill in the exercise on Tuesday. It came at a time of deep community division over plans for the $2.2 billion Gunns pulp mill in the Tamar Valley, and followed a recent incident in which forest protesters' vehicles were beaten with a sledgehammer and firebombed. Wilderness Society campaigner Vica Bayley said forest campaigners had shown absolute adherence to the concepts of peaceful community protest. Tasmania Police acting Assistant Commissioner Steve Bonde apologised to those offended by the scenario. " We deliberately draw up a scenario unconnected with events in history, unconnected with current events, or what police expect in the future, " he said. http://www.theage.com.au/national/green-terrorist-apology-20081210-6vw6.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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