–Haiti: 22) Women’s empowerment is now being linked to climate change solutions
–Dominican Republic: 23) Forestry Sectorial Law would promote an export industry
–Guatemala: 24) Howler Monkey research
–Peru: 25) Protected areas actually protected except for 1-2%
–Suriname: 26) Tribe approached about solutions to climate change
–Bolivia: 27) “Rainforest Coalition” agrees to reduce gas emissions, avoid deforestation
–Brazil: 28) Gov creates an unaccountable forest protection fund, 29) A landscape called: “The Closed” 30) 150,000 square kilometers lost in only 8 years, 31) Suzano Papel e Celulose signs MOU with Gov, 32) Articulate summary,
–Guyana: 33) Tax exemptions for loggers happens way too much, 34) Lost Land of the Jaguar, 35) New forest concessions will be allowed to export, 36) Logger Toolsie Persaud Limited has timber agreement suspended, 37) Readiness Plan (R-Plan) for combating tropical deforestation,
–Ecuador: 38) Third Millenium Alliance to: regenerate, reforest, and restore the Chocó-Manabí Biological Corridor, 39) More on Chevron’s “Amazon Chernobyl” lawsuit,

Articles:

Haiti:

22) Women’s empowerment is now being linked to climate change solutions in which women worldwide are curbing the effects of deforestation. Deforestation has had a severe affect on climate change and global warming, and the empowerment movement will play a major role in reforestation projects to plant millions of trees worldwide. Lambi Fund of Haiti is also contributing to the movement through its partnership with the Greenbelt Movement and its existing gender equity and women leadership programs to plant one million trees on the island of Haiti over the next two to three years. For a country where less than one percent of its forests remain as a result of deforestation, the partnership will assist Haiti in making great strides in addressing its ruined agricultural sector, which has also been a pervasive problem in the country’s food security. Besides, these activities will provide poor rural women with economic independence and income to provide for their households. Lambi Fund of Haiti provides financial resources, training, and technical assistance to peasant-led community organizations that promote the social and economic empowerment of the Haitian people. Their programs focus on sustainable development, community micro-credit, animal husbandry, restoring environmental integrity, and organizational and leadership training. For more information and to become a financial donor, please visit www.LambiFund.org or email info@LambiFund.org. http://www.prlog.org/10092650-lambi-fund-of-haiti-and-the-global-gender-and-climate-alliance-
collaborate-to-promote-role-of-wom.html

Dominican Republic:

23) SANTO DOMINGO.- Environment minister Omar Ramirez and more than 90 private and government agencies yesterday announced an historical agreement that takes their interests into account, in a draft to create the Forestry Law from of a bill they’ll submit to the Executive Branch. The Forestry Sectorial Law would promote an export industry economically feasable for the country, whilst preserving the forests for recreational use by humans and as a habitat for flora and fauna. It would be the second of six laws required by Environment Law 64-00. “We aim for that the Dominican Republic, at least in the next 10 years, becomes self-sufficient in wood production,” Ramirez said, after noting the negative balance in furniture exports and wood imports. “But another important element is the economic mechanisms and incentives to protect forests.” Forestry Chamber president Freddy González warned that although the country’s development can lead to environmental instability, the private sector, working with the Government and understanding its rules, will seek “zero instability.” http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/economy/2008/7/31/28874/Landmark-bill-would-create-Law-to-
protect-exploit-Dominican-forests

Guatemala:

24) Biologist Greg Budney sets out well before dawn in the Peten region of Guatemala to record a chorus of howler monkeys as they wake. “I love this sound,” he says. “It’s one of the great sounds of tropical forests: the voice of howler monkeys. The biggest of the New World monkeys, black howlers are found in tropical regions of Central and South America. They’re up to 3 feet tall, not counting the tail, and spend most of their time in trees. When several get together to roar, you can hear them from three miles away. “The males, in particular, have a large throat sac, which they expand when they vocalize, so they’re a pretty formidable looking primate,” says Budney. The morning bellows of howlers are as much a hallmark of tropical forests as the toucan’s calls. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92926828

Peru:

25) Scientists at the Carnegie institutions, the Department of Global Ecology to study satellite date have found that only 1 to 2 percent of forest disturbance in the Peruvian Amazon occurred in protected areas, meaning that land use and conservation policies have been successful. Protected areas are 18 times more effective in reducing deforestatio areas unprotected. Author main Paulo Oliveira said: “We found that only 1 to 2% of this disturbance occurred in Peru in protected natural areas. However, there was substantial alteration of forests adjacent to areas set aside for logging operations legal. This flight of human activity outside of forest concessions is a concern. “Peru’s tropical forests are larger than France, extending 661000 square kilometers and ranks second to Brazil’s forest area. The Peruvian government has been painstakingly setting aside large areas such as parks and reserves, while the allocation of about 40000 square kilometres of forests in the long term commercial timber production in 2005. With deforestation rates of less than 1%, Peru has comparatively lower rates compared to its neighbours. Scientists used the Carnegie Landsat Analysis System (CLAS), a satellite-based forest damage detection system “that penetrates into the jungle canopy to reveal the impact of logging. The CLAS system can detect changes in the woods a resolution of less than 100 per 100 ft.GP Asner said, “Our approach has improved over the past eight years, but basa were on a core set of methods that have worked. We spent years developing in Brazil, Peru and moved to this study completed in just one year. currently operating over Borneo. Our approach is proving a good way to control the rain forest disturbance and deforestation anywhere in the world. “The researchers found that Peru’s forest disturbance and deforestation rates between 1999 and 2005 were only 0.2% a year, with an average of 244 sq km and 249 miles per year. Over 85% of forests were affected in Madre de Dios and near Pucallpa. 75% of the damage was found within 20 kilometers of roads. Even within these limits, forests have been allocated by the government were more than 4 times better protected than areas not designated for conservation.The authors said, “Overall, only 2% of forest disturbances and 1% Deforestation detected throughout the study area was within the protected natural areas. Moreover, the territories occupied by indigenous communities contained 11% and 9% of total forest disturbance and deforestation, respectively. These results clearly show that these two forms of land use allocation can provide effective protection against forest damage. “” http://society-news-article.blogspot.com/2008/07/parks-protect-amazon-in-perul.html

Suriname:

26) KWAMALASAMUTU — The rain forest here is so dense and this village so isolated that when Russell Mittermeier arrived by bush plane, it seemed for a moment like a step back into an era before worries about global warming. In a thatched hut lit by kerosene lanterns, the local leader, wearing a headdress of iridescent macaw feathers, listened as Mittermeier, an American environmentalist, described climate change in apocalyptic but distant terms: melting icebergs, parched savannas, flooded cities. Then he explained the connection to Kwamala, and how the Amazonian jungle here, if preserved, would help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. “Lots of people in America, in Europe, in the big countries, we believe that if we don’t want you to cut down the forest, we should pay. We should pay you something to protect the forest,” Mittermeier told the tribal leader, or granman, Ashonko Alalaparoe. The granman, his bare chest draped in bright red, yellow and blue beads, quickly absorbed the message. “You come to me with this new idea, this carbon issue,” Granman Alalaparoe said. “This sounds good to me.” For Mittermeier, for the world and, indeed, for this tiny South American jungle outpost, the clock is ticking. Despite its remoteness, the same forces that have slashed and burned some 20 percent of the Amazonian rain forest are closing in on Kwamala. Mittermeier’s idea, offering cash so local villages will protect their forests, is key to the next new tool in the effort to fight climate change: carbon credits. Rain forest credits will be a key topic of debate when representatives from 180 nations meet Monday in Bali, Indonesia, to begin discussions aimed at replacing the landmark Kyoto Protocol on climate change. http://guyanaforests.blogspot.com/2008/07/httpwwwredorbitcomnewsscience1166400aru.html

Bolivia:

27) Representatives of 27 developing countries, members of the so called “Rainforest Coalition”, agreed on Tuesday to reduce gas emissions and avoid deforestation. According to reports from La Paz, Bolivia’s administrative capital, the countries reached the agreement at their two-day meeting in the city of Santa Cruz, which began Monday. The delegates agreed on the need for rich nations to recognize the efforts made by developing countries to reduce gas emissions, and to avoid the destruction and degradation of forests. According to the agreement, member countries will consolidate their stand in their negotiations with developed countries in 2009. “It’s a political position with technical support, but it seeks a mechanism of practical, agile and simple implementation,” said Miguel Rojas, Bolivia’s Environment vice-minister. Rojas also urged rich countries to recognize the mechanisms ofcompensation because each developing nation and region have different conditions to deal with. Deforestation reaches 350,000 hectares per year in Mexico, 198,000 hectares in Ecuador and 75,000 hectares in Nicaragua. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/30/content_8848392.htm

Brazil:

28) Correspondent Tom Philips says that the fund is the government’s response to international criticism of deforestation in the Amazon region. “Donations are voluntary and donors have no say over the use of the resources,” said BNDES Environment Director Eduardo de Mello, who also said that donors will get no benefits, such as carbon credits or tax exemptions, in return. Minc’s predecessor as Environment Minister Marina Silva resigned recently, declaring that she could not fight vested interests devoted to destroying the forest to cultivate cash crops. “The Brazilians say that, instead of meddling and saying Brazil isn’t doing enough to save the Amazon, outsiders need to do more to help. So with this fund, I think, they aim to send a message – ‘You want this situation to get better, put your money where your mouth is’,” he told RFI. Up to 20 per cent of the fund’s cash can go to preserving ecosystems outside the Amazon, which could be in other tropical countries. http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/104/article_1180.asp

29) Dr Ricardo Machado, author of a study said, “The Closed is virtually intact until the 60’s, when Most economic activity is animal husbandry. During the 70’s, when new technologies and new varieties of plants (corn, soybeans, rice, wheat, eucalyptus and pasture for livestock), which introduced Closed became an important region for Brazilian agribusiness. More and more natives were cleared areas to be planted to become pasture (with African grasses) or cropland. The removed natural vegetation converted to coal to be used by the steel industry. “The estimates that was closed 73% of its original area in 1985 and approximately 43% in 2004. The insists that the area occupied by pastures and farmland has increased since 2004, taking into account the rapid growth of Brazil in agricultural production and land prices. The pegging the annual loss to 2.2 million hectares annually, or approximately 1.1% of the remaining closed, compared to Brazil east of the Amazon forest loss of 10.7 million hectares between 2002 and 2006, 2.1 million hectares or about 0.5% to year.Scientists said deforestation has been driven by the conversion of closed large-scale soybean farms, sugar plantations and cattle pastures as small farmers Land speculators and deepen forest areas. For road and infrastructure development have also stimulated deforestation.Philip Fearnside, a researcher at the National Institute of Amazon Research said, “Soybean farms cause some forest clearing directly. But they have a greater impact on deforestation by consuming cleared land, savanna and forests in transition and pushing ranchers and slash and burn farmers ever deeper into the forest frontier. soybean crop also provides a key economic and political impetus for new roads and infrastructure projects, which accelerate deforestation by other actors. “William F. Laurance, president of the association of Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) agrees, commenting that “I am agriculture is having a huge impact on the Amazon at this time, for three reasons. First, industrial soy farmers are in turn clean up a lot of forest. Secondly, soybean farmers are buying large tracts of land cleared by slash-and-burn farmers and ranchers, and the displaced farmers and ranchers often just move farther into the forest, maintaining a strong pressure in border areas. Finally, soybean farmers are a powerful political lobby that is driving the expansion of major roads, highways, rivers channeling projects, and other means of transport crossing large tracts of the Amazon. http://society-news-article.blogspot.com/2008/08/brazil-cerrado-being-destroyed.html

30) Between June 2000 and June 2008, more than 150,000 square kilometers of rainforest were cleared in the Brazilian Amazon. While deforestation rates have slowed since 2004, forest loss is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Here mongabay.com takes a look at past, current and potential future drivers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Please note, breaking news on the Amazon can be found at Amazon news: http://www.mongabay.com/news-index/amazon1.html

31) Vale signed yesterday a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Suzano Papel e Celulose (Suzano) that establishes conditions for a partnership in the Brazilian states of Pará and Maranhão, including the supply of reforested wood by Vale, sale of part of its forest assets and the transportation of the pulp produced by Suzano’s new unit, that will be implemented in Maranhão state. The reforested wood Vale will provide to Suzano is produced by Vale Florestar, a program which aims the protection and recovery of native forest in conjunction with the plantation of industrial species in a total area of 300,000 hectares and the plantation of 165 million trees, already in place in the Southeastern of Pará. The purpose of Vale Florestar is to promote the territorial reorganization, aiming the regional self-sustainable development. The MOU comprises the sale of Vale’s rural properties to Suzano, including preservation areas and part of eucalyptus plantation in Maranhão. These forestry assets will be used to build the forestry base of Suzano’s pulp line. Courtesy http://www.azom.com – http://fundublog.com/forests/789/vale-to-form-a-wood-partnership/

32) It has been tilted in its exuberance, raped by unscrupulous lumberjacks, who set its emerald coverage on fire, giving way to foreigners that humiliate the forest by planting pasture or soybean over its centenary chestnut-tree ashes. In spite of the extraordinary effort for conservation unit implementation as an alternative for the sustainable development, the deforestation continues. Even after Chico Mendes’ blood having sealed the men/nature pact, as well as the rubber latex extractor and Indian, even after the forest people alliance “for the right to maintain our forests untouched, as we need them for survival”, even after several sagas full of heroism, death and passion, the Amazon deforestation continues. As in the past, we consider the Rainforest as being an obstacle to progress, an area that has to be subdued and conquered. An enormous land stock that might be turned into low production pastures, soybean plantations and vegetable species to be used as alternative fuel or even inexhaustible wood, fish, gold, mineral and energy sources. We are people with no responsibility at all. The deforestation and burning are symbols of our incompetence to understand the susceptibility and instability of the Amazon ecosystem and how to deal with it. A country that possesses 165.000 square kilometers of abandoned or semi-abandoned deforested areas might double its grain production without having to fell one single tree. Without the forest the soil will be of no avail. It is urgent that we become responsible for managing our natural resources’ leftover. Thus, from our point of view, the only reasonable proceeding to diminish the almost irreversible deforestation effects, is given under § 4 of Article 225, of our Federal Constitution: “The Brazilian Amazon Rainforest (…) is a national inheritance, and its use will be performed within law requirements, which assure the environment preservation, even with regard to the use of its natural resources”. Having its enforcement to be implemented on municipal, state and federal levels, thus assuring THE IMMEDIATE INTERRUPTION OF THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON RAINFOREST DEFORESTATION. NOW! Time has come to visualize our trees as monuments of our culture and history. WE ARE FOREST PEOPLE! http://www.articlealley.com/article_584625_13.html http://www.amazoniaparasempre.com.br

Guyana:

33) The Cabinet in Guyana has been granting tax holidays to enterprises linked to forests and wood since the 1970s-80s, when East Germans were designing and building the sawmill at Mabura Hill, now owned by DTL and apparently operated by Bai Shan Lin. Although the Cabinet has kept information secret from the electorate, we know from publications elsewhere that the Barama foreign direct investment arrangement of 1991 was written by the Malaysians, commits Barama to nothing specific, and demands great concessions from Guyana. We know also that over the years since then Barama has not declared a tax assessable profit but has run down its plywood mill and greatly increased its export of unprocessed logs to Asia, while its special deal from the Cabinet covers the cost of the forest taxes through the incentive drawbacks on imported fuel and equipment. So Guyana handsomely subsidises Barama. Since the 1991 deal, the declared Guyana Forestry Commission policy on forest concessions (1993) requires them to be linked to wood processing facilities, so that logs which are produced should all be processed in-country, and so that the demands of wood-using factories do not exceed the allowable annual cut from the forests. We know also from the GFC’s Planning and Development Unit in February 2007 at the national seminar on log export policy that there is value-adding capacity installed in Guyana to process the entire annual log production. http://guyanaforests.blogspot.com/2008/07/minister-of-finance-should-not-be-given.html

34) A team of researchers and wildlife film-makers spent six weeks searching the pristine forest as part of a BBC documentary. The group believes it has revealed two fish species, one frog species and a number of bat flies that have not been described previously. The finds are detailed in the BBC series Lost Land of the Jaguar. The three-part documentary includes footage of the elusive South American cat. “In a short time, we caught hundreds of species, 10% of which may be new to science. It was unreal, unbelievable,” exclaimed Dr George McGavin, a zoologist and one of the four presenters of the documentary. He added: “Catching is the easy bit, the hard bit is going back to the lab and examining the species, comparing them to collections and books – seeing if they are new to science. One hour in the field can equal hundreds of hours in the lab.” Dr McGavin told the BBC News Website: “The expedition captured on film the discovery of the strongest candidates for new species – two fishes.” These are a small banded fish (Hemiodus sp.) netted near the expedition’s base camp, and a parasitic catfish (Vandellia sp.) that fell out of the gills of a larger catfish. The expedition also filmed the world’s heaviest snake, the anaconda, “which looked like a pile of tractor tyres,” said Dr McGavin. It also shows the world’s largest eagle, the harpy eagle. Dr McGavin’s highlight, however, was holding the Goliath spider. “It was quite a thrill, luring this spider, the size of a soup plate, out of its hole and holding it. Although I can see that this wouldn’t be everyone’s idea of fun,” he laughed. The film aims to highlight the need to save this truly unique rainforest. “We have a choice, we really are at the cross-roads now. We can decide to keep these rich hotspots of nature or see them razed to the ground,” said Dr McGavin. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7531537.stm

35) Timber companies which do not have forestry concessions in Guyana, will not be allowed to export logs, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud said yesterday.
This decision is in keeping with an announcement by President Bharrat Jagdeo to deter the exportation of the forest product and to allow for more value added activities in the country. During a press conference yesterday, the Agriculture Minister said that the policy on the concession issue is ‘quite clear’ and if exporters do not have a concession they will not be granted permission to sell logs overseas. “We are giving everyone ample notice…the policy takes effect from January next year. So if companies have arrangements in place, this is giving them adequate time to get themselves in order,” Minister Persaud said.Some stakeholders, the Minister pointed out, think that ‘we are not serious’ and from past experiences act surprised when the implementation period arrives for changes in the sector. “We want people to be prepared…we want persons who would have some form of arrangement to recognise that we have a policy. It is a very simple and practical policy and it derived from tremendous amount of consultation,” he added.
At least three companies are currently exporting logs without forestry concessions in Guyana. http://guyanaforests.blogspot.com/2008/07/no-timber-exports-without-forestry.html

36) The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) yesterday confirmed that the Timber Sales Agree-ment (TSA) of Toolsie Persaud Limited (TPL) has been suspended by Minister of Agriculture with responsibility for forestry, Robert Persaud. Managing Director of TPL, David Persaud yesterday told Stabroek News when contacted that the company had been informed of the suspension via a letter signed by the Agriculture Minister last Wednesday. The GFC in a press release yesterday said that last Wednesday, in accordance with the forestry legislation, Minister Persaud formally issued a letter to TPL, suspending the forest concession issued to the company. “This suspension was with immediate effect and prevented the company from carrying out any forest related activities in the specified concession, until such time that His Excellency The President makes a final pronouncement upon the matter”, the release said. It stated that a detailed report of the breaches has been compiled and submitted to President Bharrat Jagdeo for consideration. TPL’s managing director said that the company was surprised to get a letter informing them to stop working and that the TSA was suspended since the matter had been in court. The managing director declared that the suspension was another way of stopping the company outside of court. He noted that since mid-April, 300 persons have been out of jobs due to the company’s forestry operations being curtailed. On April 23, 2008 the GFC closed the harvesting operations of TPL over the alleged breaches which had been detected during a routine post-harvest audit in November 2007 and a fine of $80M was assessed. According to the GFC, the company then moved to the court on April 28 for an order of Mandamus and the court granted an order nisi. http://www.stabroeknews.com/news/tpl-forest-operations-suspended-by-minister/

37) Guyana will receive US$200,000 ($40M) from the Forest Carbon Partner-ship Facility (FCPF) to prepare its Readiness Plan (R-Plan) for combating tropical deforestation. The Ministry of Agri-culture, in a press release yesterday said that the sum will be immediately available. The R-Plan will outline among other activities, the methodologies to be used in carrying out assessments of historical and current emissions from deforestation and forest degradation at a national level. It will also look at mechanisms to project and model future emissions from deforestation and degradation, and to update biomass field estimates across all land uses, both of which will be done at the national level. “This process will involve additional extensive consultations with all stakeholders groups, especially local community residents who are an important target group in the effort to reduce deforestation and forest degradation through the use of sustainable alternative economic activities and payments for reduced emissions”, the statement said. On Monday, the World Bank named Guyana as one of 14 developing countries selected as the first states to receive money for combating tropical deforestation and climate change from an initial US$82M partnership be-tween those countries and nine industrialized states. The other countries to benefit are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Nepal, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Vietnam. The countries will receive initial funding from the FCPF, an innovative approach to financing efforts to combat climate change. The FCPF aims to reduce deforestation and forest degradation by compensating developing countries for greenhouse gas emission reductions. http://www.stabroeknews.com/news/guyana-to-get-us200000-from-forest-carbon-pact/

Ecuador:

38) Ecuador guide Dani Leigh encourages support of the Third Millenium Alliance, whose mission is to regenerate, reforest, and restore the Chocó-Manabí Biological Corridor which stretches from the Darien in C. America through Columbia into Ecuador. The Third Millenium Alliance deserves your support to purchase 1000 acres to preserve the last remnant of rainforest in and surrounding the Jama-Coaque Reserve in western Ecuador by the end of the year. This acreage is in danger of being clear-cut if it is not purchased soon. Donations to this international nonprofit are tax-deductible. Learn more at http://www.3malliance.org/ and click “Be part of the solution” to donate online. http://latinamericantours.blogspot.com/2008/07/save-this-rainforest.html

39) Leaders from Ecuador’s rainforest, suing Chevron over the “Amazon Chernobyl”, are accusing the oil giant of misleading the Bush Administration and Congress to escape a potential $16 billion liability in an environmental lawsuit. The indigenous leaders – from the Cofan, Secoya, and Siona tribes – are planning a trip to Washington, DC in September to talk directly with Members of Congress and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. “We are coming to tell the truth about Chevron’s desperate attempt to quash the legal claims of thousands of vulnerable people in the Amazon rainforest who are struggling to survive due to oil contamination,” said Pablo Fajardo, the lead Ecuadorian lawyer for the plaintiffs. “These people deserve their day in court without interference from Chevron,” he added. “Chevron must respect the rule of law.” In March of this year, a court-appointed special master in the lawsuit found that environmental damage and other damages in the case amounted to between $7.2 billion and $16.3 billion. As the sole defendant and the party found by the special master to be responsible for the contamination, Chevron would have to pay 100% of the damages if the judge accepts the report. A final decision in the case, which could lead to the largest ever damages award in an environmental lawsuit, is expected next year. Chevron already had agreed to submit to jurisdiction in Ecuador and be bound by the court’s decision when years ago it requested the case be transferred out of U.S. federal court. The damages report prompted Chevron to disclose the liability to its shareholders for the first time, and to hire a slew of Washington lobbyists who have dedicated themselves to trying to block the extension of U.S. trade preferences for Ecuador. Luis Gallegos, Ecuador’s U.S. ambassador, has said a failure to extend the trade preferences by the end of the year would cost the country 350,000 jobs and force 1.2 million people into poverty. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/amazon-indians-accuse-chevron-lobbyists/story.aspx?guid=
%7BEFAC2972-4E46-4327-9125-DDA4977A41E1%7D&dist=hppr