–China: 21) Farmers get forest contracts to lift production and promote conservation?
–India: 22) Kutch Biosphere reserve sets up 2 management committees, 23) Kolar congress burns forest minister in effigy,
–Philippines: 24) Warning chiefs not to tolerate logging, 25) Caraga tightening its monitoring of 188,000-hectare pulp concession,
–Papua new Guinea: 26) Government lying about illegal logging being non-existent
–Malaysia: 27) OP3-Danum project
–Indonesia: 28) Filing a slander complaint against Yale, 29) Sponsoring trees in Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park,
–Fiji: 30) 70,000 hectares lost in 15 years
–Australia: 31) Stopping destruction of Shire and Yarra ranges, 32) Benedict Arnold of treehugging rejects UN call for greater forest protection, 33) Compensation demanded for unpaid council rates, 34) “Tenants in common” property falls apart when one person wants to develop his share of it,

Articles:

China:

21) Farmers will be given the right to manage collectively owned forestry tracts through 70-year contracts, China’s State Council, or Cabinet, announced yesterday. The reforms, to take effect immediately, will boost farmers’ income, get farmers more involved in the planting and growing of trees, lift production and promote conservation culture, the council said. The reforms have been recognized as another milestone in the country’s transformation of rural production after it adopted the system for collective farmland more than two decades ago. The forestry reforms will not change the nature of collective ownership, the State Council said. It called for ensuring equal access to operating rights among farmers and guaranteeing their rights to know information about the tracts and to take part in the decision-making process about the uses of land. The government said yesterday that it planned to complete the reforms within five years and form a sound development mechanism for collective forests based on the reforms. The system has already been implemented in Fujian, Jiangxi, Liaoning and Zhejiang provinces since 2003, where 58.5 million hectares of collective forestry land have been contracted out to farmers for management. The trial has turned into a win-win situation – farmers were getting richer and the forests received better protection, said the State Council. The practice of the household contract system for collective farmland was initiated by a group of farmers in a small village in the central Anhui Province in 1978. The system was adopted nationwide later and helped boost the country’s agricultural production. The government said it expected the system to work again for the collective forestry land, promote the development of the forestry industry and improve living standards for farmers, according to the statement. http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=366864&type=National

India:

22) In a double bonanza to the fragile ecology of Kutch, the state government has declared Chharidhandh wetland a conservation reserve, and set up two committees for the management of Kutch Biosphere Reserve (KBR). The decisions have been taken in a bid to project Kutch as an international nature destination, according to officials. In two separate notifications last week, the Forest department upgraded its conservation efforts for Kutch with officials hoping this will substantially improve Kutch’s biodiversity protection, at the same time bringing greater visibility to the region. On Friday, the huge wetland of Chharidhandh – known for its Flamingo city and habitation of lakhs of migratory birds in winters – was upgraded as a ‘Conservation Reserve’. It will cover over 22,000 hectares of land in the three Kutch talukas of Bhuj, Nakhtrana, and Lakhpat. The notification said “given its ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological, natural, and zoological significance”, the aim of declaring Chharidhandh a conservation reserve is to protect, propagate, and develop wildlife and its environment. In its second related development, two committees – State Level Steering Committee (SLSC) and Field Level Steering Committee (FLSC) – have been set up by the department to manage the ecology of KBR in its entirety. The SLSC will be headed by the Chief Secretary and have Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) (Wildlife) as its Member Secretary. Principal Secretaries of Forests and Environment, Revenue, Agriculture, Industries, and Secretary (Rural Development), PCCF, Director (Fisheries) and Conservators of Forests (Kutch and Junagadh) will be its members. This committee will critically examine the management action plan and make appropriate recommendations to the Central government and other financing agencies through the state government. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Chharidhandh-wetland-on-its-way-to-become-an-internatio
nal-nature-destination/335326/

23) Kolar Congress on Saturday staged a demonstration and burnt the effigy of forest minister Kunwar Vijay Shah in protest against his alleged insulting statement on Brahmin Samaj. Few days back the forest minister stated that its better to plant a tree than to provide food to Brahmins which has not only insulted the complete Hindu religion and Indian culture but also an effort been made by BJP to perish the long lasting tradition. This has brought forward their Anti-Hindu policies and that it’s such a party whose leader went Pakistan to offer flowers at the grave of Jinnah. Keeping this in view in the direction of the state congress committee, the congressmen demonstrated against the BJP. On this occasion a letter has been submitted in the name of Chief Minister to the administration for dismissing Vijay Shah from the ministry. On this occasion, the Spokesman and Media Person, Rahul Singh Rathore, the Chairman of Municipal Corporation, Munni Mangal Singh Yadav, District Secretary, Kaushal Tyagi alongwith thousands of party members appealed for instant dismiss of the Forest Minister. http://www.centralchronicle.com/20080713/1307022.htm

Philippines:

24) Isabela Governor Grace Padaca on Friday warned village chiefs against tolerating illegal logging in their jurisdictions, even in the province’s impoverished “forest region.” “Hindi sapat na rason ang kahirapan ng buhay para kunsintihin ang illegal logging (Poverty is not a valid reason to tolerate illegal logging),” she told reporters during a visit in nearby Echague town. After defeating a dynasty that thrived on the logging industry since the height of martial law, Padaca is facing another battle, this time, against another giant called poverty. Sporting her trademark crutches that symbolize her triumph over polio disease at an early age, Padaca warned village chiefs who kept their eyes close and their mouths shut as truckloads of lumber go out of their villages. “Alam ni Kapitan yan, hindi pwedeng hindi (Village chiefs know it [illegal logging], it could not be that they don’t),” she said. Task Force Illegal Logging, a composite team from the provincial government and the DENR intercepted more that 2,000 board feet of softwood and another truckload of Narra lumber last week. The rising cost of petroleum products and basic commodities, including rice, has drove people into seeking economic relief through easy but illegal means like timber poaching. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/106480/Poverty-not-an-excuse-to-allow-timber-poaching–Isabela-gov

25) The DENR in Caraga Region has tightened its monitoring of all forest products that are coming out in all exit roads of the 188,000-hectare concession area of the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines Resources Inc. (PICOP) in the wake of a widespread timber poaching and illegal cutting of trees within the area over the last two weeks. DENR OIC, Regional Executive Director for Caraga Region Edilberto S. Buiser and RED Ricardo Calderon of Region 11 made an urgent meeting on Thursday at the DENR Regional Conference Hall in Butuan City to look for immediate measure that would stop a stream of poachers that began to invade the concession area of PICOP since its management has opted to stop its milling and logging operation on June 13, 2008 in the face of the country’s economic uncertainties. Buiser and his Regional Technical Director for Forestry Management Services Adeluisa Siapno have been in touch with DENR Secretary Lito Atienza, Jr. since last week to inform the central office about the situation of the forest resources in the PICOP area. Several groups of environmentalists including the parish priest of Bislig City Fr. Floria Falcon have reported to the DENR about widespread cutting of trees in the area but this information have to be verified yet on the ground by the DENR personnel including their exact locations. The personnel of Bislig under CENRO Philip Calunsag and PENRO Diego Escano of Surigao del Sur made a quick ocular inspection in some service roads inside the PICOP area over the weekend and found several scattered cut logs on some roads. PENRO Escano said, the DENR personnel took several hours to haul the cut logs at least on one of the 80 access roads inside the concession area but the two logging trucks the they have used in the retrieval operations were insufficient. He said the sight of cut logs along the roads are just too many. The DENR has imposed “Oplan Pako” in which at lease six pieces of six inches headless nails are driven onto different parts of the logs to discourage timber poachers but the vehicles of the personnel and military escorts have been constantly bothered by punctured tires owing to lots of spikes placed by the antagonists along the way. http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&r=&y=&mo=&fi=p080711.htm&no=41

Papua New Guinea:

26) Papua New Guinea’s Eco Forestry Forum has disputed claims by the Forestry Ministry that illegal logging is practically non-existent in the country. The Ministry’s first secretary, Alistair Endose, says the PNG Forest Authority has full control over logging operations and monitors them for compliance. He says while there may be violations of certain conditions of the logging agreement, he doesn’t feel it constitutes illegal logging. The forum’s executive director Thomas Paka says the Ministry seems to be downplaying non-compliance with industry regulations as minor issues. However he says non-compliance is rife. “We know that there is gross illegal logging taking place. We have more than five government-sanctioned reports that point to the fact that there is elements of illegal logging and in terms of definition, we are still saying that as long as somebody is not following what the law says, any operation is deemed illegal.” http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=40854

Malaysia:

27) Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said the launching of OP3-Danum project demonstrates Malaysia and United Kingdom’s readiness to embark on new activities to address environmental issues of global concern, including climate change and biodiversity loss, based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. He said though the tropical rainforest was one of the most dynamic forest types on this planet, its environment has been the least studied and understood by scientists worldwide. Unggah said that almost 70 per cent of the oxygen in the atmosphere comes from the tropical rainforest through the process of plant photosynthesis. He said the delicate balance between emissions and absorption of carbon dioxide and oxygen and emission of other reactive trace gases determine the local, regional and global scale atmospheric composition. “We are aware that forest biodiversity is at risk from land use change and climate change. Forests throughout the world are home to many species of rare plant and animal speciesÉthey also play a role in the carbon and energy balance of the earth, which in turn influences global climate,” he said. He hoped at the end of this project, Malaysian scientists and policymakers will be better appreciative of the importance of the inter linkages between forests and the climate of the planet. Nevertheless, he said in so far as climate change is concerned, the major cause is use of fossil fuels and “we cannot address climate change merely by understanding the interaction between the forests and climate.” “We would be more effective if we could also deploy on a wider basis the use of alternative fuels and transfer technology and finance from developed to the developing countries to directly address climate change,” he said at the soft launching of OP3-Danum project, yesterday. British High Commissioner to Malaysia, Boyd McCleary, meanwhile, said the RM16 million funding from the British Government through NERC to the OP3-Danum project was the largest single foreign donor contribution to a fundamental research project in Malaysia to date. He was also happy that the University of Lancester will be leading the UK consortium of research institutions in the said project, while the Malaysian Meteorological Department will be the main local counterpart working with them. He said the British Government commissions a wide range of work to support the development of the policy in response to man-made climate change, an area of crucial concern at national, regional and global levels. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=58685

Indonesia:

28) Indonesia will lodge a formal protest against Yale University for its environmental performance index (EPI) report, which ranked Indonesia one of the world’s least environmentally friendly countries, a local news report said Monday. The Jakarta Post reported that Amanda Katili, the State Ministry for the Environment’s special expert on climate change, was scheduled to fly to the United States Monday to present the newest forestry data in an attempt to refute the EPI report. State Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar was quoted as saying the report was unfair. ‘It is absurd because all the data is invalid,’ he said. The EPI report, published in the US magazine Newsweek’s July 7-14 edition, ranked Indonesia 102nd out of 149 countries in environmental matters. ‘Where the two biggest carbon emitters, China and the United States, have coal plants and cars to blame, the number 3 culprit – Indonesia – produces 85 per cent of its carbon emissions from forest,’ the report in Newsweek said. The report said that forests were almost wiped out on heavily populated Java island, while Sumatra lost 35 per cent of its forest and Kalimantan lost 19 per cent in the 1990s. Deforestation is also threatening the Sumatran rhinoceros and the orang-utan with extinction. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1416780.php/Indonesia_to_protes
t_Yale_University_environment_report

29) The tree adoption program organized by the Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park (TNGP) and Jakarta’s Green Radio is proving very popular, with listeners and corporations already sponsoring 2,000 trees. Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri is among the many individuals, communities and corporations to have adopted trees through the program. State-owned electricity firm PT PLN has also pledged to adopt a 50-hectare stand of trees in TNGP. Santoso, Green Radio’s director, said the program had been many months in the planning. “It started out with an idea we proposed to Green Radio listeners. We ask whether they want to contribute and adopt trees in TNGP,” he said. Green Radio has pledged to plant 4,000 trees in a 10-hectare plot in the park. “However, for the first step, 2,000 trees were planted,” he said. “The tree adoption is not restricted to radio listeners alone, but includes all the staff of Green Radio. I personally adopted 10 trees.” Bambang Sukamanato, head of TNGP, said those interested in participating in the program would have to pay Rp 3,000 every month for three years, or a flat fee of Rp 108,000. He said some of the money raised would be used to help subsistence farmers in the park. He added the program also served to educate the public on environment conditions in the Bogor and Cianjur highlands. http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailcity.asp?fileid=20080712.C03&irec=2

Fiji:

30) The forestry situation in Fiji has worsened over the past decade, according to academics Annette Lees and Suliana Siwatibau. Their findings are in a report on the review and analysis of Fiji’s conservation sector wrapped up at the start of the year. It is conservatively estimated that 70,000 hectares of forest in Fiji has been lost in the past 15 years and forest loss continues.”This is very serious for a small nation such as Fiji which depends on healthy forest cover to protect its water catchments as well as other economic benefits that forests return,” said Ms Lees. The Austral Foundation-based academics report highlighted that forest degradation in Fiji was through agricultural clearance, plantation establishment and destructive and unsustainable logging in large areas of the remaining tropical rainforests of Fiji. “The forests contain the remaining stocks of native terrestrial biodiversity in a country that was once totally covered in tropical forests. “Destructive logging has implications for the sustainable development of Fiji. It is depriving Fijian resource owners of long-term forestry assets and income with the degradation of productive forests and soil,” said Ms Lees. Forest clearing for agriculture was said to have resulted in major loss of forests in smaller islands and the drier and lowland rainforests of the higher islands. A report on sustainable forest management in Fiji by International Tropical Organisation four years ago concluded that much of the damage was done by the timber harvesting in indigenous forests in the mahogany plantations and to a lesser degree in the pine plantations. Ms Lees said Fiji’s forestry situation was of concern for species and habitat conservation causing ecosystem degradation, erosion, sedimentation and predator and weed invasion. http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=95027

Australia:

31) Logging in the Central Highlands region may not resume in 2008, that is, if the Shire of Yarra Ranges has anything to do with it. At last week’s council meeting, councillor Samantha Dunn called on fellow councillors to support her in seeking a federal review. She raised a motion that the council write to the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke to seek an urgent review of the Central Highlands Regional Forest Agreement 1998 and that logging within the Central Highlands should not resume until such a review has taken place. Cr Dunn said the current agreement committed those within the industry to the objective of ecologically sustainable forest management and a five yearly review process that allows members of the public to comment on the performance of the agreement. “The Regional Forest Agreement has been compromised as no review has taken place, it was due five years ago,” Cr Dunn said. “The review would normally allow for the community to provide important input to address any areas of concern in relation to the agreement and is an opportunity for them to voice their aspirations in relation to management of Victoria’s forests.” She said current logging practices in water catchments needed to be subject to a detailed review. “To date 12 Victorian local government authorities, with a constituency representing more than 1.4 million people in the city of Melbourne, have resolved to advocate that logging should cease immediately in Melbourne’s water catchments in the Central Highlands,” Cr Dunn said. “The lack of a comprehensive review has lead to a failure to measure the impacts of logging on nationally listed threatened species, which is a clear indication that the legislation and management measures meant to protect these species is currently failing.” Cr Dunn’s motion was supported by the majority of councillors, with the exception of councillors Ken Smith and Graeme Warren. http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/61410

32) A July 6 meeting of the 21-country United Nations World Heritage Committee unanimously called for the extension of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA). The WHC’s recommendations would protect some of the native forests currently threatened by logging, but federal environment minister Peter Garrett has ruled out extending the heritage area boundary. Huon Valley Environment Centre spokesperson Will Mooney said in a media statement, “Tasmanian and federal governments must now heed the requests of the international community and IUCN experts, by moving to impose an immediate moratorium on logging in these areas and take steps towards extending the boundary of the TWWHA to protect their values”. The WHC recommendations follow a series of wins for Tasmania’s anti-logging and anti-pulp mill campaigns, including the ANZ bank’s withdrawal of funding for logging corporation Gunns’ pulp mill and the resignation of pro-Gunns premier Paul Lennon after his popularity rating dropped to 17%. On July 10, Gunns closed its Tonganah sawmill at Scottsdale, leaving 130 workers without a job. The mill closure happened with less than a fortnight’s notice and followed the company’s previous acceptance of $4 million from the state government to guarantee no retrenchments. http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/758/39179

33) Bega Valley Shire Greens’ councillor Keith Hughes has given Forests New South Wales a bill for $18 million, for what he says is compensation for unpaid council rates. Cr Hughes presented the invoice covering the past 18 years to a forestry representative at a council meeting this week. The council will increase this year’s rates by 9 per cent, 6 per cent more than what is allowed under rate pegging legislation because it says it is having trouble meeting rising costs. Cr Hughes says State Forests should be carrying its share of running the shire. “Every other trading enterprise, every other business has to pay rates on their land,” he said. “State Forests own over a quarter of the land in the shire and they paid no rates and in effect they are getting a free ride on the back of all the other ratepayers. “I think it is time they paid up.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/11/2301109.htm

34) A feud has erupted between neighbors in a jointly owned enclave at Myola as bulldozers rolled in to clear an area claimed to be a cassowary sanctuary. The “tenants in common” property, where more than a dozen people own sections of a 36ha plot, are fighting over one owner’s decision to develop her 3ha section. Angry co-owner John Willerton, who lives next door to the disputed section, said its owner, Mehery Vudrag, had called in bulldozers to knock down a stand of rare licuala fan palm forest. “They are at least 10m tall and home to two cassowaries,” he said. “She (Ms Vudrag) just wants to rip through there to make it more attractive to buy.” Ms Vudrag said the other owners’ concerns were “a nonsense” and they were complaining because she had declined to sell her land to them. “I have done everything by the book and have council and Department of Natural Resources approval,” she said. “We have surveyed the area and not one licuala tree will be lost.” Ms Vudrag questioned the motives of her neighbours saying that if they believed it was cassowary habitat why did her neighbours allow their “savage dogs” to roam free? Mr Willerton conceded Ms Vudrag had the correct development approvals but could not understand how she had obtained them. “The council has been duck-shoving it and DNR say it is not their responsibility,” he said. Mr Willerton said all of the 14 other tenants had signed a letter saying they wished to buy the land. But Ms Vudrag said her neighbours did not have the money and that their offer for her to finance the sale was unacceptable. “The offer they made was ridiculous,” she said. “If they are not happy I will buy the properties of the three main protagonists if they get them properly valued.” http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2008/07/11/5378_local-news.html