293 – Earth’s Tree News

Today for you 31 new articles about earth’s trees! (293rd edition)
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–British Columbia: 1) Latest GBR claims deconstructed, 2) Suzuki bashing, 3) How much wood does china buy?
–Oregon: 4) Big timber’s coast salmon plan fails,
–California: 5) Pest research, 6) UCSC treesit,
–Texas: 7) Prescribed burns on the National Forests in East Texas
–Maine: 8) Boothbay Region Land Trust celebrates logging
–USA: 9) Big cuts in fed funding, 10) Staple’s cans APP, 11) Removing key protections,
–Canada: 12) Threat to Norfolk’s forest cover
–Spain: 13) Unrealistic climate change campaign
–Russia: 14) Forest code takes on illegal loggers
–Africa: 15) Rapid deforestation and slow new tree growth spells disaster
–Gambia: 16) Save the green monkeys of Bijilo Forest Park
–Kenya: 17) Not enough people valuing food value of fruit trees
–Sierra Leone: 18) Gov wants less mining and logging
–Liberia: 19) Delays in draft community forestry law, 20) More on Law,
–Cameroon: 21) Driving in a fire caused wasteland of lost trees
–Brazil: 22) All about Mato Grosso
–China: 23) 17.3 million hectares of forests lost to snow storms
–India: 24) We need an institute for mangrove research and biodiversity management
–Phillippines: 25) Saving Eagles’ habitat
–Australia: 26) Protest in Esperance Valley
–World-wide: 27) Ban GE trees, 28) Increase urbanization saves forests? 29) More valuable left standing, 30) Wood fiber costs rise, 31) Deforestation may erode human well-being and economies, 32) Save the soil,

British Columbia:

1) I would like to comment on the latest Great Bear Rainforest propaganda. There are two themes: procedural and content. If a process is open, observers are allowed into the room, time is allocated at some point during the meeting for their comments, ideas and/or assessments….including submissions of data and empirical knowledge. If a process is open, draft documents, reports and data are available to the public and to local interests and to all First nations whose Traditional Territory may be affected by the “plan”…that in this case is the EMB/Ecosystem Based Management framework. If a process is open, there is peer review of all data. If a process is open, there are periodic meetings in local communities to provide a forum for discussion, distribution of information and to acquire feedback from “communities” that will be directly affected by the ‘plan’…..or in this case, the conditions of EMB and will in turn affect the LRMP’s. All of these requirements were a part of the Morice IFPA….which many “environmentalists” considered a “bad” thing. So, have any of these conditions been met at Central Coast and North Coast? What I have seen has been only periodic propaganda media releases regarding Final Decisions. And further, the three bad-players of major ENGO-fame are causing a certain acceptability of having these forms of “planning process” where no information is released until all decisions are finalized. Then, for locals or for the broader public, it is just “live with it and shut up”. This is the path to destruction of all social and cultural fairness and accountability. I would identify these SECRET meetings, which are becoming the norm/SOP/standard operating procedure of the big-three-ENGO’s as many steps backward in our decades-long attempts of the environmental community and civil society to open up the Tables, encourage participation, require accountability and provide for some level of integrity in the outcomes of decision-making. That is technical, social/cultural and procedural integrity. How is it that media only report the prepared sound-bites of the bad-players? And, make no mistake, the bad-players are taking advantage of what we all know to be the current “truth”…the vast majority of the public/civil society trust environmentalists. This is due to all of the good works over four decades and more…..the bad ENGO’s will continue to ride the credibility of the rest of us for a long time. glendaferris@hotmail.com

2) No one knows how many forests have been felled to print all the stories that have been published about David Suzuki, Canada’s much-honoured but continuously controversial environmental crusader. The dead trees probably number in the many thousands, a (supposedly) global-warming-causing harvest so plenteous as to lead one to assume that preacher Suzuki might have begun moderating his apocalyptic sermonizing, lest he trigger yet another round of clear-cutting. So what exactly has Suzuki, who is on the university-lecture circuit these days, been saying? For starters, he told a University of Toronto audience last month that the next federal election ought to be about the environment. No problem there. However, as reported by a student newspaper, he then opined that government leaders who aren’t acting quickly enough to save the environment “should go to jail for what they’re not doing right now … What our government is not doing is a criminal act.” His allegation of law-breaking was apparently no mere slip of the tongue. Speaking a few weeks later at McGill University, Suzuki again equated governments’ alleged inaction on the environment with a criminal act; in fact, he is reported to have said students ought to find a legal way to throw politicians in jail for ignoring climate-change science. The geneticist-turned-broadcaster had particularly harsh words for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Ed Stelmach of Alberta because of their alleged favouring of economic growth over environmental protection. “It is an intergenerational crime” — there’s that concept again — “that, in the face of the work of scientists over the last 20 years, they keep dithering as they are,” Suzuki declared. Suzuki’s alarmism is nothing new, and more-prudent scientists have long ago answered his hyperbole and exposed his faulty logic. What we haven’t seen from him until now is such an incendiary call to arms. Taking to the streets to protest climate-change inaction is one thing. Calling for the jailing of politicians is quite another — especially considering the fact that, the last time I checked anyway, there is nothing in the Criminal Code of Canada to prevent the Prime Minister from attempting to enhance both the country’s economy and its environment. It’s called balance. http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/02/07/terry-o-neill-on-david
-suzuki-s-enviro-totalitarianism-by-any-means-necessary.aspx

3) The final numbers aren’t added up yet but preliminary shows about $95 million dollars of Canadian wood products were sold to China in 2007 that’s up a whopping $25 million over 2006 okay so not too bad right. But compare that to the good old US of A – we sold $3.6 billion of wood to the US in the same period. I think we need those boys down south. Mayor Kinsley has made 8 trips to China with intent of expanding trade. The results speak for themselves. What does $95 million dollars in lumber sales mean? Well it is about three quarters of the production of one average mill in Prince George. If we are making inroads they are very slim pickings indeed. Now to add to the dilemma in the forest industry you need to look at the housing starts in Canada, they will drop from 228,343 in 2007 to 211,700 in 2008 and to 204,700 in 2009. Those numbers may not be significant in the lumber industry, they represent only about 10% of production, but if you add in the Pine Beetle ,the US market and the dollar, suddenly they become very important for companies in difficult times finding the sledding just more difficult. http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/8341/1/chineese+philosophy+in+lumber,+why+buy+the+milk+when
+you+can+own+the+cow

Oregon:

4) Oregon’s unique state-federal partnership for salmon recovery was left floating belly-up this week after a federal decision to return the state’s coastal coho to the endangered species list. Collapse of the joint program comes as a disappointment and puts a sizable blemish on an important experiment that began a decade ago under former Gov. John Kitzhaber. Now coastal coho will be protected by more rigid provisions of the federal Endangered Species Act. There’s nothing inherently lamentable about that, but we believed that Oregonians, particularly the thousands of landowners who toiled voluntarily for years on restoration projects on scores of Coast Range streams, deserved more time to show that the experiment could work. Oregon coho have been on and off the endangered list throughout many years of bitter court battles. The species was last delisted in 2006 after Kitzhaber’s successor, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, struck a deal with the Bush administration to give the state its unusual role in leading recovery efforts. Fishing and conservation groups filed suit to relist the species and prevailed big-time last July when a federal magistrate blasted the rosy analysis the state had used to secure its agreement with the White House. The coho recovery report cannot be taken seriously, she said, and three months later a higher court upheld that view, directing the federal government to redo its listing decision based on “best available science.” On Monday the clock ran out. NOAA Fisheries Service, the federal agency responsible for salmon recovery, announced the relisting of the Oregon species, saying the tight timetable imposed by the court left it too little time to research the state’s novel and optimistic theory that coho are resilient enough to rebound from very low numbers. Now Oregonians will be spectators to a different kind of salmon recovery experiment. It will show who was right — conservationists who claim they’ve been highly successful in getting private landowners to help improve habitat for fish, or state officials who worry that federal protection of the coastal coho will make Oregon landowners less willing to participate in voluntary programs. http://www.oregonlive.com/editorials/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1202516718246680.xml&
coll=7

California:

5) When UC Berkeley professor John Battles sought to learn more about the impact of exotic pests on local forests, he knew just where to go -Blodgett Forest in Georgetown, Calif., one of four off-campus research properties designed for tree research. Battles, co-director of the UC Center for Forestry and an associate professor of forest community ecology, is conducting five additional studies at Blodgett, ranging from tree mortality in the Sierra Nevada to giant sequoia growth. There are currently more than 30 active projects at Blodgett alone. In addition to Blodgett and the other research forests, UC Berkeley maintains five of the 35 UC systemwide natural reserves designed for research. The primary distinction between the research forests and the reserves is that the latter grow without any human intervention. According to Battles, the research forests are important because they help contribute to the university’s mission. For example, Baker forest is home to the UC Forestry Camp, an eight-week summer instruction program that allows undergraduates to conduct research on trees. “These field sites each have a different mission that matches the university’s mission of research, public outreach and undergraduate education,” he said. “Blodgett does a lot with basic research and public outreach and Baker forest focuses much more on undergraduate education.” While the research aims to provide better understanding of the role of trees in the environment, there is evidence that trees have sometimes been harmed in the process. Recently, UC Berkeley removed about 185 trees from its Albany property that were considered safety risks after being naturally infected with pitch canker. Christine Shaff, communications manager for facilities services, said the remaining trees are at greater risk of falling over because they were planted very close together for research purposes and had relied on some of the removed trees for support. “When we removed those that are the most infected and the most in danger, there are others that won’t have the support,” she said. “We’re concerned that the effects of wind and very wet soil will mean that the trees that are left and aren’t very strong and not in good health anyway because they were planted close together and are tall and skinny will be in danger of falling.” The Albany property is not classified as a research forest or a reserve, but has historically been part of plant biology research at UC Berkeley, according to Battles. http://www.dailycal.org/article/100304/uc_forests_provide_venue_for_research

6) The hardest part of tree-sitting at the University of California-Santa Cruz isn’t the cold, the rain, or the fierce winds that rattle your perch. What’s tough is what’s happening on the ground: Threatened suspensions. Arrests. And the challenge of communicating – from 70 feet up, while wearing a ski mask to hide your identity – to students who are largely unaware of your mission to squelch campus growth. It’s no sylvan sanctuary. Protesters awake to the roar of buses climbing Science Hill, carrying students to overcrowded classrooms and too few labs – the soundtrack of a campus bursting at the seams. “It’s noisy,” said a protester who would identify himself only as “Owl,” speaking from a small redwood in a parking lot that is the future site of a new Biomedical Sciences Building, part of the university’s overall expansion plan. “It feels much more like a forest at night,” he said. The protest represents the latest collision of eco-idealism with the ambitions of a major research university, which hopes to add 4,500 students and 3.8 million square feet of new construction by 2020. Like other UCs, the university is mandated to provide education for California’s skyrocketing number of eligible high school graduates. But elected officials in the quirky, left-leaning city say such growth will tax resources and forever change their tiny Utopia by the Sea. Like their treetop brethren at UC-Berkeley, who for a year have been sitting in the way of a $125 million sports training center, the UC-Santa Cruz protesters have put down roots. It has been 92 days since they hoisted up platforms in the dark and climbed out onto limbs, wrapped in layers of wool, fleece and what they assert is their right to free speech. The university says they are not students.Early on in the campaign, incidents of graffiti, vandalism and false fire alarms angered some would-be supporters. But a recent crackdown by school officials may sway popular opinion again. Seven protesters face criminal charges for disobeying police officers. As many as 30 face civil sanctions – including a popular professor who was sued by the university after delivering warm Miso soup. http://www.mercurynews.com/valley/ci_8198961?nclick_check=1

Texas:

7) U.S. Forest Service fire personnel have begun prescribed burns on the National Forests in East Texas and will continue the burns during the next few months. Fire is an important component of the land management plan to reduce forest fuels and restore historic plant and animal habitats, USFS officials said. “During the next few weeks, folks near the national forests may see a helicopter overhead, smoke columns rising, additional traffic along Forest Service roads, and occasionally, smoke settling in low lying areas at night,” according to Fire Management Officer Ron Haugen. “We want communities to know what we’re doing when we conduct prescribed burns on the national forests. Our prescribed burns are controlled fires conducted by experienced, qualified personnel who work as a team to ignite, monitor and ensure that the fire stays within the control lines,” he said. Some counties have declared burn bans, but these do not apply to the U.S. Forest Service. The Forest Service conducts prescribed burning only when weather conditions are most favorable and fire personnel take into account weather conditions and fire behavior before conducting a burn. http://www.lufkindailynews.com/hp/content/news/stories/02/03/0208_prescribed_burns.html

Maine:

8) Boothbay Region Land Trust invites the community to attend a logging demonstration Saturday, Feb. 9, at Ovens Mouth (East) Preserve. The demonstration, including horse drawn log skidding, a portable sawmill and firewood splitting, will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. A bonus for those attending will be beans and ham served from a giant pot over a fire, and long sticks will be provided for those attending to cook hot dogs and marshmallows. Cookies and beverages will also be supplied at this event, open to the public, free of charge. Wolf Schumann, BRLT lands and stewardship coordinator, in charge of the event, said the purpose is to show the public how BRLT promotes forest management on its properties. Ovens Mouth, enrolled in the Maine State Tree Growth Program, has been the site of BRLT logging demonstrations in 2001 and 2004. This year’s demonstration serves to salvage trees blown down in storms last year. Previous logging on the site removed dead trees and those not expected to survive, as well as trees which, left standing, could pose a safety hazard to the hiking public. Logger Lance Chadwick will be on hand to direct the demonstration and answer questions. Tony Finocchiaro will provide the portable saw mill. Jim Dun is in charge of wood splitting, and food will be organized by BRLT volunteers Kathy Bugbee and Pamela Wilde. BRLT Executive Director Julie Lamy will welcome those attending and Schumann will talk about logging and other forest management issues. Lamy noted that the event is the second in BRLT’s series of 2008 Cabin Fever Reliever programs, providing diversion for year-round residents during the winter months. “This is a good opportunity,” she said, “for families to have fun enjoying an outdoor day, and to learn something about forest management.” http://boothbayregister.maine.com/2008-02-07/logging_demonstration.html

USA:

9) State foresters across the country reacted angrily this week to deep cutbacks in federal funding for state and private forestry programs within the U.S. Forest Service. The president’s FY09 budget proposal cuts nearly 60 percent from current levels, with funding for some priority programs slashed as much as 80 percent. The cuts are contained in the President George W. Bush’s Fiscal Year 2009 budget released Monday by the White House. Two-thirds of the forested land in the United States is in private or state ownership. “The drastic reduction of funding for State and Private Forestry programs threaten vital forestlands that improve air and water quality, provide essential wildlife habitat, reduce global warming and enhance the quality of life for all Americans,” said the National Association of State Foresters, NASF. This year, the State and Private Forestry program budget is $262.7 million but it was cut to $109.5 million for the upcoming fiscal year, a 58.3 percent reduction, said NASF communications director Sarah McCreery. Since 1911, state forestry agencies and the U.S. Forest Service have worked together to assist private landowners in “achieving some of the most successful forestland conservation in the nation’s history,” said the association. “This partnership has been the essence of what this administration has lately touted as ‘Cooperative Conservation,'” said Leah MacSwords, NASF vice president and Kentucky State Forester. “However, these outrageous budget cuts put our tradition of partnership in jeopardy, and could have disastrous effects on the forest resource.” http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2008/2008-02-07-02.asp

10) Office supply giant Staples Inc. dropped Asia Pulp & Paper Co. Ltd. (APP), one of the world’s largest paper companies, as a supplier due to concerns over its environmental performance, reports Tom Wright of the Wall Street Journal. Calling APP a “great peril to our brand” for its alleged logging of wildlife-rich rainforests in Indonesia, Staples said it will now look to other suppliers for its branded photocopy and office paper. APP had accounted for roughly 9 percent of Staples-branded stock. “We decided engagement was not possible anymore,” Mark Buckley, vice president for environmental issues at Staples, told the Wall Street Journal. “We haven’t seen any indication that APP has been making any positive strides” to protect the environment. Earlier Staples said it hoped that engagement with APP would prompt the firm to change its sourcing policies. The announcement comes at a difficult time for APP, which has faced widespread condemnation from green groups for its environmental record. In October, following an inquiry from the Wall Street Journal, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a forest certification body, rejected APP’s planned use of a logo indicating its products met FSC environmental standards. Earlier a partnership with environmental group WWF soured when it became evident that APP continued to log old growth forests for paper pulp. Still APP has “made up for lost orders from big Western buyers by selling more in the Middle East, India and Bangladesh, where environmental concerns are not such an issue,” writes Wright. http://redapes.org/news-updates/staples-dumps-asia-pulp-paper-over-its-destruction-of-virgin-ra
inforests/

11) Environmental attorney Trent Orr of the nonprofit public interest law firm Earthjustice warns that the Bush administration is again attempting to remove key protections for U.S. national forests. This attempt was evident, he says, today, when the U.S. Forest Service released its court-ordered Final Environmental Impact Statement for the 2008 Planning Rule. In it, the Service selects a preferred method for developing sweeping land management plans that the agency said will “provide the framework for all resource and recreation management on national forests and grasslands nationwide.” After receiving and considering over 79,000 comments on the draft environmental impact statement, the Forest Service developed Alternative M as their preferred alternative. “The alternative is based on public comment and builds on the 1982, 2002, and 2005 Planning Rules and years of professional forest planning experience,” the Service says. It provides “extensive public participation and offers an approach to quickly respond to changing natural resource conditions,” said the Service. Orr disagrees. Like the draft released this summer, he says, the Final EIS just states that none of the alternatives would affect the environment. “This doesn’t come close to complying with the National Environmental Policy Act.” The Service’s biological assessment of the new planning regulations “concludes that these will have no effect on any species listed as endangered or threatened, despite their abandonment of existing protections for wildlife in the national forests.” The Final EIS was ordered almost a year ago in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Judge Phyllis Hamilton found that Bush administration officials had failed to do a legally required EIS to determine how weakening protections for wildlife, clean water, old growth, and public involvement in the planning process would affect the nation’s forests. “The national forest planning rules are like the Constitution for our national forests, and the Bush administration tried to throw out the Bill of Rights,” said Orr, who argued the case before Judge Hamilton. The Final EIS reveals that the new regulations eliminate wildlife and diversity protections just as the 2005 Bush Rule did, Orr says, adding, “The new regulations substitute “Categorical Exclusions” for Environmental Impact Statements as the rule for forest plans.” http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2008/2008-02-07-093.asp

Canada:

12) Another serious threat has emerged to Norfolk’s forest cover. This one is called red pine pocket decline. As the name suggests, pocket decline kills red pine in well-defined areas. Pocket decline is a serious concern because more than 10,000 acres of Norfolk were planted in red pine in the 20th century. The province commissioned the plantations to stabilize the Norfolk Sand Plain in areas that were clear cut and over-farmed. The county itself owns nearly 2,500 acres of red pine plantation. “What we’ve seen is that it hits really hard where conditions have been really tough,” says Steve Scheers, Norfolk’s superintendent of forests and cemeteries. Foresters aren’t certain what causes pocket decline. Whatever it is, it acts quickly. Scheers has watched healthy stands of red pine die over the span of several weeks. Pocket decline is a serious financial problem for Norfolk County and Simcoe County, north of Toronto, because both municipalities are major suppliers of hydro poles. Research suggests pocket decline is caused by a fungus which reaches a high level of toxicity once the soil reaches a certain acidity. Soil in red pine plantations is highly acidic, so much so that red pine will not regenerate on its own in this part of the province. Acres of trees die simultaneously because red pine trees in this part of North America are closely related genetically. When planted in stands, their roots graft together. With stands connected in this manner, disease spreads quickly from tree to tree. Red pine pocket decline isn’t considered as serious as other threats to local forests, such as emerald ash borer and gypsy moth caterpillars, because red pine isn’t native to southern Ontario. Red pine was planted in Norfolk in the early 20th century in response to severe wind and water erosion on the county sand plain. Red pine from central Ontario was selected because seedlings do well in hot, dry soil. Pocket decline can be partially controlled by isolating diseased areas and severing roots in a circle around it. However, that is expensive and labour intensive. http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=891717

Spain:

13) The leader of the Partido Popular, Mariano Rajoy, is eager to turn the clock back on his faux-pas of naming his cousin, a Sevilla university professor, who had told him there is nothing to worry about in climate change. Now the P.P. leader has said he will issue a Law for the Fight Against Climate Change in Spain, and if he wins the election he will plant no less than 500 million trees in four years. The maths works out at 14,270 per hour, day and night, and would mean the creation of a park the size of the Retiro in Madrid every hour of those four years. It also works out at ten trees per inhabitant, and comes in response to a PSOE promise already given on January 19 to plant one tree per inhabitant in Spain. It shows a new extreme to the main parties pre-election war of number promises. The response from the Ministry of the Environment to the P.P. proposal, ‘difficult to carry out’ as, according to the Secretary General for Territory and Biodiversity, Antonio Serrano, there is simply not enough land available. Rajoy insists though that if elected he will move ‘from words to deeds’, and his measures will reduce the effect of greenhouse gases in Spain by 20% by the year 2020. He also promised to buy new vehicles for the civil service which could run on biofuels, and said he would ask the European Commission for reduced VAT on new greener vehicles. http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_15000.shtml

Russia:

14) Russia’s Natural Resources Ministry has elaborated amendments to the Forestry Code aimed at opposing illegal deforestation that accounts for 10 percent to 15 percent of the authorized forest procurement. The State Duma has the draft already but the dates of its passing are yet unclear. The legal export of timber will hardy yield great profits due to the increase in export duties. But the banning actions failed to curtail illegal deforestation, chiefs of Natural Resources Ministry acknowledged yesterday. In the Far East, the illegal deforestation reached 7 million cu meters past year and the indicator exceeded 21 million cubic meters if taken for all Russia, Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said, specifying that a criminal branch had emerged in the Far East dealing with illegal logging, storage, delivery and supply of the wood. Authorized forest procurement stood at roughly 180 million cu meters to 190 million cu meters. In an effort to oppose unlawful deforestation, Trutnev’s ministry worked out a package of amendments to Forestry, Criminal and Administrative Codes. The changes are to cover three directions, extending to controlling the volume of deforestation, toughening responsibility for illegal deforestation, including the three-rise increase in penalties, improving the status of all employees of the regional forestries and giving additional supervising authority to them.
http://www.kommersant.com/p850506/r_528/Deforestation_illegal/

Africa:

15) Africa is currently experiencing rapid deforestation of natural forests and slow growth in plantation forests, which may cause serious wood shortage problems. “These forest and timber issues can create serious industrial wood shortage problems in the future,” says African Forest Forum executive secretary, Professor Godwin Kowero. Africa’s forest resources consist of 650-million hectares of African land, which is about 17% of the world’s total forests. The forest resources scattered across Africa provide a wide variety of wood and nonwood products, and services that support human and animal life on the continent. The dry forests are the dominant vegetation in 63% of African countries, sources of major rivers, agriculture and wildlife, and support about 505-million people who live within or in their surrounding areas. “Forests are under immense pressure for human, agriculture and animal needs. Many forests are being converted for agricultural use in the sub-Saharan African region, which is happening at alarming speeds. Between 1981 and 1990, an estimated 25% of forest loss was accounted for by agriculture conversions. “Already some countries that were net exporters of timber products are now net importers of these products,” he adds. The agricultural sector is the major contributor to the economy of many African countries, ranging from 10% to 70% of the national income, and is the mainstay of most of the rural people. While agriculture is crucial to the livelihoods of African people and the economies of their countries, Kowero says that farming poses the greatest threat to African forests. http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=124926

Gambia:

16) In Bijilo Forest Park in Gambia, a depressing pattern of exploitation and development is threatening the local green monkey population, writes Dawn Starin. It’s not only among humans that obesity is a major health problem. In Bijilo Forest Park in the Gambia, it is the green monkeys who are piling into the fast food and risking early-onset diabetes. Years ago, these monkeys foraged for their food. They worked hard, expended energy and ate wild foods appropriate for a wild primate. They were healthy. Today, they feast on ready-prepared food and what amounts to poison for animals is being handed to them by the very people who pay to see them living in their natural environment – tourists. One of the most densely populated and poorest countries in Africa, the Gambia opened Bijilo to the public in 1991. Tree-felling was occurring on a massive scale as the demand increased for rhun palm – an extremely valuable timber, easily split yet very durable – to build telegraph poles, posts, beams, windows and door frames. The wildlife was losing its habitat at an alarming rate. In addition, the monkeys were being harassed out of existence by young boys wielding sticks and packs of dogs. If nothing were done, one of the last stands of rhun palms and its associated wildlife would disappear. The only way to properly protect the area, the authorities agreed, was to upgrade the fencing, hire local people to work within the forest and open the area to the public. By making the park a public area, both educational and financial gains could be made. Situated beside the Atlantic Ocean, seven miles or so from the capital Banjul, the 127-acre park was within easy walking distance of many of the country’s hotels and immediately accessible to the tourists who flock to the Gambia every winter. A wide path, almost three miles long, with benches at strategic points, winds its way through mixed woodland forest, sand dunes and tree and shrub savannah. The roar of the Atlantic is always present. Amid this mosaic habitat live more than 133 species of bird and four species of primate: the vulnerable red colobus, fleet-footed patas monkeys, nocturnal galagos – and the green monkeys. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2008/02/09/et-primate-109.xml

Kenya:

17) Takashi Fukushima, an intern at Bioversity International supported by the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Science (JIRCAS) said introducing alternative timber and fuel trees might be an indirect way of promoting the food value of fruit trees. According to Fukushima, the high value given to wood means that people will cut indigenous fruit trees even though they could supply food and income. And the low perceived marketability diminishes further any incentive to protect and cultivate the species. Regional differences exacerbate the differences. He says that in places with plentiful forests wood value, not surprisingly, is unimportant. “People in areas where food is easier to come by downgrade the food value of fruit trees and those closer to markets value the marketability, even though seasonality and low prices generally mean that indigenous fruits do not contribute much to income”, he notes.In practice, this study complicates matters on the ground. It suggests that a major effort should be made to link farmers with the main market in Mombasa, where demand is greater and prices higher.It notes that in some areas fruit trees will be better treated if the people are encouraged also to plant fuel and timber species. Fukushima’s work was part of an ongoing Bioversity project on Use and Conservation of Indigenous Fruit Tree Diversity for Improved Livelihoods in Eastern Africa. Bioversity International is implementing a five-year project funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation to develop capacity in forest genetic resources. Each year will see a young scientist awarded a two-year fellowship. The winner for 2007 is Sultangaziev Ormon Esenbekovich, a forestry engineer from the Kyrgyz Agrarian University in Kyrgyzstan. He is presently in the 2nd year of his PhD, and for his fellowship will study the genetic structure and reproductive biology of Juniperus seravschanica in Kyrgyzstan. http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=157&Itemid=1
Sierra Leone:

18) Resident minister east Honorable William Juana Smith Wednesday warned people of Nomo Faama chiefdom in the Kenema district to deviate from illegal mining and logging because the acts will destroy the habitat of wildlife conservation. The minister was addressing elders and traditional authorities on the importance of the Gola forest programme and its benefits to the host communities, when he disclosed that it illicit mining and logging was punishable by law. He said government was seriously concerned over the misuse of the reserve forest by certain individuals for selfish reasons. “President Koroma takes the gola forest programme seriously. He officially lunched the programme at the British council in Freetown. It was an occasion that involved all the paramount chiefs in this area.” The benefit of forest conversation is that it serves as tourist attraction which will bring a lot of benefit to the host community. It will improve on the road network and other basic amenities like schools and hospitals. “Most countries today do not have diamonds but tourism has improved them a lot” he said and maintained that diamonds destroyed the land. He further stated that government has raised concerns over the deforestation of farmland logging. “People have been prospecting without taken licenses from government. We have put a ban on logging and illegal mining. If any body goes against it I will ensure that the law takes it course,” he warned. http://allafrica.com/stories/200802081068.html

Liberia:

19) Protracted delay in submitting the draft community forestry law for enactment by the National Legislature is likely to stall the operations of logging companies and make it impossible for the exportation of logs to begin March this year. Pres. Johnson.Sirleaf in her State of the nation address set March for the first shipment of logs from Liberia, since a United Nations Resolution lifted the ban on timber in 2007. Delay by the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) is causing frustration among rural dwellers that see logging as the only hope for employment and the provision of basic social services including health care, education and the construction of farm to market roads. Logging companies are eager to start bringing in millions of dollars worth of earth-moving equipment to begin logging operations before the next rainy season sets in by mid-April, but the passage of the community forestry law is considered a major hiccup. FDA has delayed more than a year now to submit the draft law to the Legislature since the Act adopting the National Forestry Law was passed October 2006. Lack of employment opportunities and restoration of basic social services including clinics and schools that are part of the social responsibilities of logging companies have created uneasiness and deep frustration among rural inhabitants. FDA said the vetting process to solicit the views of the people in the Community Forestry Law is responsible to a large extent why the draft law has not been submitted to lawmakers who resumed sessions January 28. But Green Advocates, a local environmental organization, which helped to draft the Community Forestry Law, rejected the claim and said the draft law has transcended the vetting process. Alfred Weedo, a resident of Sinoe County and father of 12, is worried about the slow pace by the FDA authorities to accelerate the process in alleviating the problems of job and social services especially in rural Liberia. http://allafrica.com/stories/200802080968.html

20) “Lack of jobs is driving most of our people to Monrovia, and I can’t get over why our government will not move fast to start logging at least before the rainy season sets in this year,” Weedo said. Protracted delay in submitting the Draft Community Forestry Law for enactment by the national legislature is likely to stall the operations of logging companies and make it impossible for the exportation of logs which is to begin March this year. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said in her state of the nation address said the first shipment of logs from Liberia, since a United Nations Resolution lifted the ban on timber in 2007 is set for next month. Delay by the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) is causing increasing frustration among rural dwellers who see logging as the only hope for employment and the provision of basic social services, including health care, educational and the construction of farm to market roads. Logging companies are eager to start bringing in millions of dollars worth of earth-moving equipment to begin logging operations before the next rainy season sets in by mid-April but the passage of the Community Forestry Law is considered a major hiccup. FDA has delayed for more than a year now to submit the draft law to the national legislature since the act adopting the National Forestry Law was passed in October of 2006. Lack of employment opportunities and restoration of basic social services, including clinics and schools that are part of the social responsibilities of logging companies have created uneasiness and deep frustration among rural inhabitants. FDA said the vetting process to solicit the views of the people in Community Forestry Law is responsible to a large extent why the draft law has not been submitted to lawmakers who resumed session on January 28. But Green Advocates, a local environmental organization, which helped to draft the Community Forestry Law, rejected the claim and said the draft law has transcended the vetting process. http://allafrica.com/stories/200802070608.html

Cameroon:

21) While we (team of reporters) drove through the massive winding Sabga Hill in the Northwest Province of Cameroon, a huge expanse of shrubs and dwarf trees were being consumed by wild fire. Other vast areas in Babessi, Ndop and neighbouring villages in Ngoketunjia Division already had their turn, as hilly landscapes spread out with remnants of charred shrubs and trees. As we drove along, it was difficult to see any real trees, only spreading brownish savannah fields that are vulnerable to imminent bush fire, especially in January, which is the heart of the dry season. Hunters and farmers set the fire, especially during the dry season (at the beginning of the planting season), I learned. Hunters use the fire to trap animals, while farmers use it to provide manure for their farms. Some local inhabitants told me that careless smokers could hurl light cigarette stumps that would set a whole terrain ablaze. Here, it is traditional for farmers to burn bushes at the start of the planting season. When they have cleared off grass from their farms, they burry the debris in the soil, and then set fire on it. One or two days later, they plant crops on the burnt heaps. The local people call this method ankara. “The soil here is not fertile and we are forced to go the extra mile to tame it. When we burn the soil before planting, the yields are better,” a farmer said.Overtime, I learned, continuous bush burning has eroded the soil’s fertility and farmers are forced to use artificial fertilizers. It has also caused the disappearance of certain species of trees and animals that have fled to distant places. Also, nomadic Fulani herdsmen now find it difficult to graze their cattle, since they are forced to walk long distances to find green pasture. We found two Fulani boys, ranging 13-15 years, tending a flock of about 40 cows to graze on rice farms. http://allafrica.com/stories/200802050744.html
Brazil:

22) The few communities lucky enough to have forest land face the threat of losing it. That is the case of those who live in the Mato Grosso Pantanal, a vast wetland ecosystem whose preservation is among Brazil’s foremost environmental concerns, although the Amazon jungle tends to draw most of the attention. Forests in the settlement area of the Kadiweu are logged to feed the growing demand of the steel mill in Corumbá, in the heart of the Pantanal, said Alessandro Menezes, head of Ecology and Action, a local non-governmental organisation, in an interview with Tierramérica. The MMX company, which since 2007 has been producing steel or pig iron in Corumbá, has already faced a ban for using illegal plant-based charcoal, but continues to operate under a temporary judicial order. The environmental authorities have twice seized the charcoal coming from the native forests that is destined for the steel mill. Before building the plant, MMX had signed an agreement with the Attorney General’s Office and the state government to acquire coal only from reforested areas, not virgin forests. For violating the agreement several times, the company was fined one million reais (560,000 dollars). The needs of the Corumbá iron and steel complex, made up of four large companies, far outstrip the available plant-based charcoal that can be produced by nearby plantation forestry initiatives, says Sonia Hess, professor at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul. As a result, nearly 3,500 tons of native trees are turned into charcoal each day. Furthermore, the environmental authorities state that native Mato Grosso forests also supply the steel mills in neighbouring Minas Gerais state. This industrial sector is known for having devastated extensive tracts of forest in that southern state and repeating the damage in the eastern Amazon, related to the exploitation of immense reserves of iron ore in Sierra de Carajás, in the northern state of Pará. The charcoal producers are taking advantage of the fact that part of the Kadiweu territory “is in litigation, still occupied by large landowners,” despite recognition that it is indigenous land, said Menezes. Also under threat are areas of another native community of the Pantanal, the Terena people, he added. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41133

China:

23) A total of 17.3 million hectares of forests, about one-tenth of China’s forest resources, have been damaged by the unprecedented snow wreckage in at least five decades, with forests, bamboo and seedlings in some parts of the country seriously destroyed. In its latest report released on Friday, the State Forestry Administration (SFA) confirmed the total losses of forest in 18 provinces in southern China, saying that in the worst-hit region, nearly 90 percent of forests had been ruined. The administration didn’t give any figure for the value of the losses. Previous SFA report showed that by Jan. 31, disastrous winter weather had levied a toll of 16.2 billion yuan (about 2.5 billion U.S. dollars) in China’s forestry sector. An emergency SFA circular required its local branches to organize and monitor timely clean-up of fallen trees for fear thatindividuals or groups might take advantage of the mess to indiscriminately fell trees and worsen the losses. It also urged places unaffected by the disaster to expand seedling supply to secure spring forestation that usually starts in early April. Cao Qingyao, a SFA spokesman, warned earlier this month that trees killed by winter frost in the southern regions could lead tofire disasters when the weather gets warmer. Dead trees and broken branches would significantly increase the amount of inflammable materials in the forests. The northern region, however, would suffer from less rain in the first two months of the year, and dry plants are also vulnerable to flames. “It is the imminent tasks to secure water and power supply and telecommunications in forest regions and to restore facilities in forest parks and nature reserves,” said the SFA circular. “Abnormal death of migrant birds and wild life should also be carefully handled and immediately reported in order to avoid possible outbreak of animal epidemics,” it said. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/09/content_7583928.htm
India:

24) BANGALORE: The Director, Ministry of Environment and Forests, J. R. Bhatt, on Thursday said the Union Government had decided to set up a national institute for mangrove research and biodiversity management for providing a scientific approach to preserving the country’s mangroves as well as biodiversity. Addressing a national workshop on “Mangroves in India: Biodiversity, protection and environmental services” organised by the Institute of Wood Sciences and Technology (IWST) here, Dr. Bhatt said the institute would come up in the Sundarbans of West Bengal. He said the Coastal Regulation Zone notification, issued by the Union Government, had given priority to conservation and development of mangroves by categorising them as ecologically sensitive areas. A national committee on mangroves and coral reefs had identified 38 areas in the country, including four in Karnataka, as suitable for preserving and also developing mangroves. This included Kundapura, Honnavar, Karwar and Mangalore, Dr. Bhatt said. The Centre would encourage States to preserve important ecosystems like mangroves by providing financial assistance, he said. The Centre had recently sought proposals from the States on the steps to be taken for preserving mangroves. Director of the Institute of Wood Science and Technology Suresh Gairola noted that mangroves in India accounted for about 5 per cent of those in the world and were spread over 4,461 sq km along the coast of 12 States. West Bengal had the largest mangrove area in the country, followed by Gujarat and Andaman and Nicobar islands. West Bengal itself accounted for 46 per cent of the country’s mangroves. India, which had lost nearly 50 per cent of its mangroves in the last 50 years, had the dubious distinction of being one of the leading countries in destruction of mangroves. Over-harvesting, coastal aquaculture, agriculture, reclamation of land for development, pollution and oil spills were mainly responsible for large-scale destruction of mangroves, he said. http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/08/stories/2008020856350400.htm

Philippines:

25) It glides through its sole habitat, the rain forests of the Philippines, powerful wings spread to seven feet (2.1 meters), navigating the tangled canopy with unexpected precision. It is possible that no one has ever described this rare raptor, one of the world’s largest, without using the word “magnificent.” If there are those who did, then heaven heal their souls. In the kind of irony all too familiar to conservationists, however, the very evolutionary adaptations that made it magnificent have also made it one of the planet’s most endangered birds of prey. There is no competition for prey from tigers, leopards, bears, or wolves in the Philippine archipelago, the eagle’s only home, so it became, by default, the king of the rain forest. Expanding into an empty ecological niche, it grew to a length of three feet and a weight of up to 14 pounds. A nesting pair requires 25 to 50 square miles of forest to find enough prey—mammals such as flying lemurs and monkeys; snakes; and other birds—to feed themselves and the single young they produce every other year. “The birds had the islands all to themselves, and they grew big,” says Filipino biologist Hector Miranda, who has studied the eagles extensively. “But it was a trade-off, because the forest that created them is almost gone. And when the forest disappears—well, they’re at an evolutionary dead end.” Indeed, with deforestation rates in the Philippines among the highest in the world (more than 90 percent of primary forest may have been lost to logging and development), the eagle has been reduced to a population estimated at several hundred breeding pairs. Awareness about conservation issues, however, is rising in the Philippines. A series of devastating floods and mud slides in the past decade has convinced Filipinos that the loss of forest affects not just wildlife but people too. In recent years new protected land areas have been established in the Philippines; one, the 17,300-acre Cabuaya Forest, specifically protects the eagle. And in an effort to prevent the eagle population from dwindling further, the Philippine Eagle Foundation on Mindanao island is working to educate Filipinos about the bird, which was declared a national emblem in 1995. At least some of those who once would have shot an eagle for food or sport now let it soar unmolested. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2008-02/philippine-eagles/white-text-p2.html

Australia:

26) Forestry Tasmania says protesters in the southern forests are blocking work. The Huon Valley Environment Centre says two of its protesters remain in a coup in the Esperance Valley, with one of them up a tree. Forestry says the coup in question does contain some old-growth trees. The general manager of operations, Kim Creek says continuing protests are preventing people from going about their lawful work. “Mostly the money – the costs are to the manufacturing industries, the sawmills and the small contractors in the area who are our primary concern at this stage and with the fire fighting and all the other things we have on our plate at the moment,” he said. “We’ve got a little difficulty to go back and size up the cost of these, but I’d allege it’s certainly tens of thousands of dollars.” Jenny Webber from the Huon Valley Environment Centre says the protesters are acting peacefully, and they have a democratic right to protect high heritage value forests. “Well the search and rescue have been down into the Esperance Valley in the past couple of hours they’ve actually moved the obstruction that the tree sit was attached to,” she said. “So currently the woman in the tree sit is not halting any work, she’s just sitting in the tree sit and deciding what her future will be.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/01/2152450.htm

World-wide:

27) Please have your organization sign on to the following open letter demanding a ban on genetically engineered (GE) trees. The letter will be distributed to the Scientific Body of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Rome later this month. Sign ons are requested from organizations in countries carrying out research into GE trees. The US is leading the world in research into GE trees with over 300 test plots having been carried out. In addition, corporations are moving forward with plans to develop commercial plantations of GE eucalyptus and GE poplar in locations around the US to feed both pulp mills and ethanol plants. A strong decision against GE trees by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will provide us with critical leverage to stop these destructive corporate plans that threaten the forests and forest-dependent wildlife of North America. Extensive endorsement of the attached letter by US groups is very important. Please contact World Rainforest Movement to endorse the letter at anafili@wrm.org.uy

28) In a fairly optimistic paper published in Biotropica in 2006 Joseph Wright and Helene Muller-Landau suggested that declining rates of population growth in tropical countries, coupled with increased urbanisation “give reason to hope that deforestation will slow, natural forest regeneration through secondary succession will accelerate, and the widely anticipated mass extinction of tropical forest species will be avoided.” Their assertions have been controversial, and have attracted a fair bit of criticism. In a July 2007 paper Sean Sloan questioned the assumption that declining rural populations is likely to correlate with increased forest cover. Looking at data from both Panama and Bolivia, Sloan questions Wright and Muller-Landau’s fundamental assumption that declining populations will lead to increased forest cover. I find this issue really interesting. In Puerto Rico, declining rural populations was coupled with an increase in forest cover from about 7% to over 35% in the post-war period. However, this observation is in contrast with the “empty frontier model” of deforestation. The agricultural frontier advances as colonists move into a new area and clear forest land. As soil fertility declines, colonists clear additional land, but many move on as new lands are opened up along the agricultural frontier. Since increasing rural population was responsible for the initial deforestation, it would seem logical that a declining rural population would allow forests to recover. In reality (as Sloan documented) this process is often associated with increased rates of deforestation. Why is this? Primarily because declining populations (and declining soil fertility) often leads to a shift from labour-intensive smallholder operations to less labour-intensive agricultural operations including mechanised cropping or cattle pasture. The expansion of these operations drives both increased deforestation and increased emigration of colonists. Paradoxically, as Sloan noted, reforestation rates are often higher in more densely populated areas. http://www.scientificblogging.com/tropical_ecology_notes/patterns_of_tropical_deforestation

29) In many ways, worldwide forests now provide as much valuable shelter to us collectively when left standing as when cut to build our individual homes. After all, forests breathe. Big old-growth trees, whether in temperate or tropical forests, provide our hedge against global warming by absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, and pumping oxygen into Earth’s atmosphere. As the planet’s biodiversity diminishes at an alarming rate, policy makers, and even loggers, have begun to join the ranks of conservationists who believe that selective cutting is preferable to clear-cutting. In the last 45 years alone, about one fifth of all forests worldwide have disappeared, reports the Worldwatch Institute As of last year, more than 100/6 of the world’s known tree species faced extinction, according to the World Conservation Union’s “World List of Threatened Trees.” In the United States, 95% of our original, old-growth forests have been logged. And, though we account for only 5% of the world’s population, U.S. citizens consume 17% of global timber products. While it is obvious that clear-cutting must be stopped, things have reached the point where the woodcutter can no longer be left to conserve that tree; the woodworker must begin to take responsibility, as well. Just as our hunger for wood has helped deplete this precious resource, consumer demand can now help support Sound forest conservation practices. We can do this by choosing wood that’s labeled with a “green” certification mark. How does this work? To be certified, companies must show that their wood was not clear-cut, but instead harvested using sound forestry-management practices-including selective logging that permits regeneration of the forest, protection of wildlife habitat and biodiversity, and support of indigenous communities. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/1999-02-01/Forests-Disappear.aspx

30) Wood fiber costs for pulp manufacturers worldwide reached the highest level in 13 years as wood supply tightened in many markets in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia, according to the market report Wood Resource Quarterly. As the wood cost account for 40-50% of the total pulp production costs, it is often the predominant factor determining a company’s or region’s competitiveness. With few exceptions, softwood chips and pulpwood prices were up in all countries covered by the WRQ. The biggest increases came in Russia, Chile, Brazil and the Nordic countries. This resulted in the average global softwood price having the second biggest quarterly jump since 1995, up $4.35/odmt (oven-dry metric ton) to $107.50/odmt in the 4Q. Softwood prices have steadily increased the past five years and are now almost 60% higher than in 2002. The Global Average Wood Fiber Price is a weighted average of delivered wood fiber prices for the pulp industry in all 17 regions tracked by the publication Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ). These regions together account for 85-90% of the world’s wood-based pulp production capacity. The price is based on current quarter average prices, and country/regional wood fiber consumption data. The global average for softwood and hardwood is calculated in nominal US$ per odmt of wood fiber. The average hardwood fiber costs were also up in the 4Q, reaching a record-high of US$104.17/odmt, which was 13% higher than a year ago and 24% higher than 4Q/05. The biggest prices increases occurred in Russia, Indonesia, Chile, Finland and Sweden. Global pulpwood and sawlog prices as well as market developments are included in the publication Wood Resource Quarterly, which tracks the evolving global sawlog and pulpwood cost situation, including regular updates of the biomass market, timberland investment trends and forest industry profiles in important world regions. http://www.newsdesk.se/view/pressrelease/worldwide-increase-of-wood-costs-for-the-pulp-industry
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31) With the wide acceptance of forest-protection policies in the developing world comes a requirement for clear demonstrations of how deforestation may erode human well-being and economies. For centuries, it has been believed that forests provide protection against flooding. However, such claims have given rise to a heated polemic, and broad-scale quantitative evidence of the possible role of forests in flood protection has not been forthcoming. Using data collected from 1990 to 2000 from 56 developing countries, we show using generalized linear and mixed-effects models contrasted with information theoretic measures of parsimony that flood frequency is negatively correlated with the amount of remaining natural forest and positively correlated with natural forest area loss (after controlling for rainfall, slope and degraded landscape area). The most parsimonious models accounted for over 65% of the variation in flood frequency, of which nearly 14% was due to forest cover variables alone. During the decade investigated, nearly 100 000 people were killed and 320 million people were displaced by floods, with total reported economic damages exceeding US$1151 billion. Extracted measures of flood severity (flood duration, people killed and displaced, and total damage) showed some weaker, albeit detectable correlations to natural forest cover and loss. Based on an arbitrary decrease in natural forest area of 10%, the model-averaged prediction of flood frequency increased between 4% and 28% among the countries modeled. Using the same hypothetical decline in natural forest area resulted in a 4–8% increase in total flood duration. These correlations suggest that global-scale patterns in mean forest trends across countries are meaningful with respect to flood dynamics. Unabated loss of forests may increase or exacerbate the number of flood-related disasters, negatively impact millions of poor people, and inflict trillions of dollars in damage in disadvantaged economies over the coming decades. This first global-scale empirical demonstration that forests are correlated with flood risk and severity in developing countries reinforces the imperative for large-scale forest protection to protect human welfare, and suggests that reforestation may help to reduce the frequency and severity of flood-related catastrophes. Global Change Biology (2007) 1–17, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01446.x

32) Today about 50 percent of the world’s soils are subject to direct management by humans. But global soil change is also occurring in more remote areas due to the spread of contaminants and alterations in climate, Richter’s report says. Worldwide, soils are being transformed by human activities in ways that we poorly understand, with possibly dire implications. “Properties and processes in the soil are more dynamic and susceptible to change than we previously thought,” Richter said. “Only recently are we documenting how [many aspects of soil chemistry and composition] are all highly responsive to human activities.” Rattan Lal, of Ohio State University in Columbus, is a past president of the Soil Science Society of America. He said that severe soil degradation is increasing globally at a rate of 12.4 million to 24.7 million acres (5 million to 10 million hectares) annually. In parts of Africa and Asia where the problem is most severe, soils are simply put to too many uses, Lal said. “Crop residue is taken away for competing uses, animal dung is used as cooking fuel rather than as soil amendment, topsoil is used for brick making, and nutrients are harvested and not replaced,” he said. Such local impacts are causing global problems. Soil degradation plays much a larger role in climate change, for example, than was previously suspected. That’s because organic matter in soils store vast amounts of carbon—more than is present in the atmosphere and in all land vegetation combined. But heavily cultivated and degraded soils lose their carbon-storing ability as exposed organic matter breaks down, noted geologist Bruce Wilkinson of Syracuse University in New York. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080205-anthropocene_2.html