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In this issue:

Asia & SE Asia

Index:

–China: 1) Every train in town of Suifenhe near Russian border brings in one commodity

–Russia: 2) Catching illegal loggers near town of Dalnerechensk, 3) World’s richest undeveloped forest resources.

–Kashmir: 4) Massive encroachment and increase in human activities, 5) All Jammu and Kashmir Non-Gazetted Forest Officers present list of employee demands, 6) Student cheered for blaming troopers and militants for vandalization of forests,

–India: 7) Only undisturbed rainforest left in Sri Lanka, 8) Diversion of forest land for industrial and infrastructural projects was illegal, 9) Free-run of timber mafia in Simlipal Biosphere Reserve, 10) Tree-starved Bapunagar and Odhav, 11) Message on the occasion of Wildlife Protection Week, 12) Media has an important role to play in the conservation of forests, 13) Night time chopping of city trees, 14) Tamarindus indica,

–Vietnam: 15) Destruction of Watershed forests of the Huong River, 16) Reserve forest in Lung Pang Hamlet is visited every day by hundreds of loggers,

–Burma: 17) Karen National Union ends logging restrictions in territory it controls

–Philippines: 18) Gov. Grace campaigns against illegal logging, 19) Gov. Grace cont. 20) Aiming to leave a legacy of increased forest cover on Bohol’s denuded lands,

–Malaysia: 21) Indigenous in Saraway reject plant to turn 80,000 hectares into oil palm, 22) Penan’s blockade in middle Baram, 23) First Palm oil plantation to be eco-certified? 24) More on reasons for Penan blockades, 25) Penan cont. 26) Penan cont. 27) Attempts to replace Penan reps. fail,

Articles:

China:

1) The town of Suifenhe, a former Russian imperial outpost on the Trans-Siberian Railway, has belonged to China since the nineteen-forties, and occupies a broad valley in northern Manchuria. From a distance, its homes and factories appear to cling to a rail yard, with tracks fanning out into a vast latticework of iron as they emerge from the Russian border. Suifenhe is a place of singular purpose. Nearly every train from Russia brings in just one commodity: wood—oak, ash, linden, and other high-value species. There is also poplar, aspen, and larch, and occasionally great trunks of Korean pine, a species that was logged by the Soviets until there was almost none left to cut down. In a year, more than five billion pounds of wood cross over from Primorski Krai, the neighboring province in the Russian Far East. Hundreds of railcars enter Suifenhe every day, many loaded beyond capacity with logs. The wood is shuttled between mills by hand, often six men to a log. Other workers, many of whom are migrants from elsewhere in China, operate cranes to empty the rail carriages, and at sundown they bring the machinery to rest, with beams pointing upward, like arms outstretched, waiting for the rush of timber that will arrive the following day. On a warm afternoon last May, an environmental activist named Alexander von Bismarck and a man whom I will call Wu De entered Suifenhe by taxi. They had brought with them surveillance equipment; they were working for a nonprofit group called the Environmental Investigation Agency, which tries to uncover how plants, wildlife, and industrial chemicals are smuggled. Von Bismarck is the organization’s executive director, and one of the world’s leading experts on timber smuggling. He is thirty-six years old, trim and tall, with fiery red hair, but he possesses a quiet bearing that allows him to recede in a crowd. (Most people know him as Sascha, but a few friends call him RoboCop, because once, while in the tropics, he insisted on jogging in hundred-degree heat.) Wu is from Southeast Asia, but he is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. Both men had prepared false identities, as employees of Axion Trading—one of several companies created by E.I.A. as fronts. Chances are good that if an item sold in the United States was recently made in China using oak or ash, the wood was imported from Russia through Suifenhe. Because as much as half of the hardwood from Primorski Krai is harvested in violation of Russian law—either by large companies working with corrupt provincial officials or by gangs of men in remote villages—it is likely that any given piece of wood in the city has been logged illegally. This wide-scale theft empowers mafias, robs the Russian government of revenue, and assists in the destruction of one of the most precious ecosystems in the Northern Hemisphere. Lawmakers in the province have called for “emergency measures” to stem the flow of illegal wood, and Russia’s Minister of Natural Resources has said that in the region “there has emerged an entire criminal branch connected with the preparation, storage, transportation, and selling of stolen timber.” http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/06/081006fa_fact_khatchadourian

Russia:

2) Not far from a logging town called Dalnerechensk— “For me, it is painful to see this wilderness disappear—and it is useless, actually, because nobody is profiting from the disappearance,” he said. “It could be justified if our country, our people, would get some real profit from this harvesting. I think the head of these gangs, they are only thinking about their pockets. They are not thinking about the future, and the people who are living here.” The search continued fruitlessly until midafternoon, when someone saw a flash of color behind a row of trees. In the distance, several men were standing near a pile of logs that was worth several thousand dollars. Vladimir and von Bismarck made their way through the woods to them. It is difficult to describe the sense of uncertainty that precedes a confrontation among strangers who are so far removed from civilization. As Vladimir drew near, he removed a handgun from a holster and transferred it to his jacket pocket. Vladimir approached the men, but, as they spoke, another logger about fifty feet away powered up a chain saw and cut into a tree. It must have been the final cut, because the tree came crashing into a blanket of snow. “So a tree fell down, and, for me, when you hear a tree falling it is like the Holy Grail,” von Bismarck said. “Because when we are trying to catch these guys, I mean, just the visual of an illegal logger in action, actually cutting down a tree—we have really only gotten it once, in Indonesia, and we have used that image a lot.” With one foot, he stabilized the felled tree, and with a bright-orange chain saw he began to sever it into logs. Vladimir approached him. “The logger looked up and his face went numb, and then you could see him making a kind of fight-or-flight decision,” von Bismarck recalled. For an instant, nothing happened, and then the logger began to run. Vladimir yelled, in Russian, “Where are you going?” The man kept running, and Vladimir raised his gun over his head and fired a shot, but the man did not slow down. Vladimir was now running, too, through the snow, which was knee deep in places, and von Bismarck, with his camera, was not far behind, attempting to photograph the arrest. The chase seemed to move in slow motion. In winter, when the vegetation is brittle and devoid of leaves, there are not many places to hide in a forest. Still, the logger, middle-aged and visibly out of shape, ran with startling alacrity. In one hand, he was carrying his chain saw. Twigs snapped against his body. ” “I was eager to stay right with Vladimir, right over his shoulder, to get the shot,” he said. The logger continued running, so Vladimir fired his gun into the air again, and an instant later he grabbed the logger by the arm, and the chase came to an abrupt end. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/06/081006fa_fact_khatchadourian

3) Russia has the world richest undeveloped forest resources. Thus, reliable basic factors are available. The remaining world, however, believes that the most noticeable event in the forest and paper industries is the Russian plan to impose strict duties on raw timber exports at the moment when the country is turning into the global leader in timber export. Before 1 July 2007, the duty was 6.5% (minimum of €4 per cu m). For softwood, the duties increased to 20% and 25 % since 1 July 2007 and 1 April 2008 respectively. The early 2009 will see a further increase up to 80% (minimum of €50 per cu m). As for birch, the introduction of the new duty is postponed until 2011, when it will jump up from zero to 80%. The already introduced and the forthcoming tariff escalation worry both Russia’s neighbors who placed stake on cheap deliveries and more remote markets. The impetus for such a plan is Russia’s desire to develop its own manufacture of forest products with added value to be delivered to the domestic and export markets. If such a program is implemented in full, timber harvesting will become economically unviable unless the timber is processed on site. The effectiveness of this tariff policy in terms of achieving the set targets is questionable. Some processing investment attempts have already been made; however, despite the abundant offer, large-scale pulp project still wait for their time to come. So, the level of harvest in Russia, at least, in the short-term perspective, may go down jeopardizing the international timber market in the future. Potential foreign investors are very cautious about investing heavily into Russia ignoring the fast growing domestic demand and high export capacity and focusing on the absence of developed infrastructure, illegal cuttings and risks related to the governmental policy in the forest sector. However, Russia possesses the biggest underdeveloped and underused natural resources stock and borders the vastest international market – China. Considering the sharp increase of Russian export duties, investments into timber processing in Russia seem quite justified economic-wise. http://lemn.fordaq.com/fordaq/news/RussianForestIndustry_17922.html

Kashmir:

4) The massive encroachment and increase in human activities, including presence of troops in the forests has drastically affected the wildlife leading to upsurge in incidents of man-animal conflict in the Valley, experts said on Saturday. “The presence of Army and security forces in the forests is one of the reasons for man-animal conflict in the state,” said the chief wildlife warden, A K Shrivastava during a function organised at SKICC here by the Wildlife Department to mark the Wildlife Week. During the past 18 years, the troops have permanently settled in the forests of the Valley and experts believe that disturbance caused by their movements forced the wild animals to roam into the lower areas for food. At least 30 persons have died and hundreds injured due to attacks of the wild animals during two years. Scores of wild animals, including 25 leopards also lost their lives in the incidents. Shrivastava said the increase in population and changes in land use patterns has led to degradation of eco-system, including forests and subsequently affected the habitat of wild animals. “The decrease in forest covers due to felling of trees and encroachments of forests have also led to increase in man-animal conflict,” he said. “We have devised action plans, including eco-tourism, for conservation of wildlife and are committed to reduce pressure on forests and wetlands by providing natural and safe habitat to the wild animals,” he added. Pertinently, the state is home to important wildlife species, including the endangered Snow Leopard, Brown Bear, Musk Deer and critically endangered Hangul, Chiru and Markhor. Although, there has been a blanket ban on hunting of wild animals during the past 20 years, the wild animals face threat mainly due to infringement into their habitat. http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=5_10_2008&ItemID=21&cat=1

5) Srinagar: A delegation of All Jammu and Kashmir Non-Gazetted Forest Officers’ Association called on the advisor forests and presented him the charter of employees’ demands. The delegation stressed the need for formulation of effective forest policy for the protection of forests and resolution of employees’ demands. The advisor issued on the spot instructions to the special secretary forests for the settling the issue of PSCRO Ist due to which confirmation and promotion cases were kept withheld. The provincial president Kashmir Bhat and state president Shah were present on the occasion. The members sought the removal of pay anomalies before implementation of 6th pay commission, risk allowance, increase in the number of ROA posts. Meanwhile, the Association has urged all the basic members and office-bearers to ensure their presence in the monthly meeting being held on October 10, to finalize the programme for a large open meeting to raise protests against the anti-employees elements and officers who had issue fraud seniority list to provide promotions to their favourites and delayed issuance of the final seniority list for two years without any justification. http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=27_9_2008&ItemID=20&cat=21

6) When a student blamed the troopers and militants for vandalization of forests in Kashmir, the audience could not resist cheering her with profuse clapping. The occasion was the World Tourism Day when she spoke on environment and tourism during a debate. And, her presentation won her the first prize. “The conflict in Kashmir has a devastating effect on our forests as both army and militants chopped down the trees and sold them in black market,” said Azmat Ali, a student of Presentation Convent, while participating in the debate organized by the Tourism department at the Institute of Hotel Management here. Pertinently, the United Nations World Tourism Organization has suggested ‘Tourism: Responding to the challenge of climatic change and global warming’ as this year’s theme. And, almost all the participants expressed concern over the degradation of forests and water bodies in the Valley and underscored the need for conservation. “The forest cover is gradually declining. There is tremendous pressure on our forest and water bodies. The construction of Gondola led to chopping of hundreds of trees in Gulmarg. The once famous Dal is on the verge of extinction. The continuous inflow of sewage from houseboats and settlements has intensified its decay. Similarly, Lidder river in Pahalgam has turned into a cesspool as in absence of proper garbage disposal system, the pilgrims threw all sorts of litter into it,” Azmat said. Another student of Presentation Convent, Zarqa Shabbir, stressed the need for conservation. “You cannot buy nature. I ask you to let the trees grow. I ask you maintain environmental harmony,” she said. Zarqa secured second position in the debate. In his address, the director Tourism, Farooq Ahmad Shah, referred to the negative impact of global warming and climatic change. “We have acquired all the luxuries of life but at a huge cost. But all is not lost. Time is ripe for joining hands and work for environmental preservation,” Shah said. The former director-general, Tourism, Muhammad Ashraf, said there was hardly any tourism destination which was not facing problems. “We should stress on sustainable development. Tourism department has taken many initiatives for environmental preservation and now they should concentrate on more environment-friendly measures,” Ashraf said. “Whether by default or by intent, we have to accept that damage to the environment has been caused. This is high time for introspection and resolve to preserve our forests and water bodies for posterity,” said former director-general, Tourism, Muhammad Saleem Baig The secretary Tourism, Nayeem Akhtar, who was chief guest, took exception to the notion that tourism was one of the major causes of environmental degradation particularly in Valley. “The bitter truth is we have destroyed environment without tourists. France has more tourists inflow than its population. http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=28_9_2008&ItemID=39&cat=1

India:

7) The Siaharaja forest is the only undisturbed rainforest Left in sri Lanka. It is about 9000hectares in extent. Many of the plants are very rare.over60% of the tree Species are found only in the lowland wet zone of Sri Lanka. If these species of these are allowed to get Destroyed, the world would lose them altogether. So it is important that much effort is made to conserve this rich, valuable and fragile habitat. The sinharaja rainforest is the largest rainforest reserve in sri Lanka.In1840sinharaja became a crown Property. In 1988 the sinharaja was made a National Wildernessarea.In1989 Unesco included the sinharaja Forest in the World heritage list as the first national Heritage of sri Lanka. The sinharaja forest is home to many rare animals, Birds, butterflies, insects, reptiles and trees. Ferns and Mosses grow well as the climate is humid because of Heavy rainfall. The vegetation Vegetation means trees, shrubs, herbs and woody Climbers. The average height of trees in the sinharaja Varies between 35 to 40 metres. Some trees are above Metres. Reptiles Studies have recorded 45 varietes of reptiles. These Include snakes, lizards and tortoises. The viper and the Cobra are among the venomous species. consrvation of Sinharaja is of vital necessity. It ensures the maintenance Of water resources. It also controls floods, which is a Constant threat due to heavy rainfall in the area. My email address Gayanathula@gmil.com http://gayan23.wordpress.com/2008/09/27/sinharaja-rainforest/

8) The Congress general secretary Kishore Chandra Deo has pointed out to PM Manmohan Singh that the diversion of forest land for industrial and infrastructural projects before the implementation of Forest Rights Act (FRA) was illegal. Deo, who has been pitching for the FRA in the face of inhouse resistance, has noted that UPA’s celebrated pro-tribal law stops the government from removing the forest dwellers till their claims for land rights were settled. The 2006 Act is meant to legally recognize the rights of dwellers who have been traditionally living in the forests but without any legal right to the land. The process for dwellers to file claims for land rights and a verification by the state is in early stages and could take upto six months to be clinched across the country. What has irked Deo, AICC leader and MP from a tribal constituency of Andhra Pradesh, is that land was being acquired by states for industrial projects pending the settlement of land rights under Forest Rights Act. Approached by TOI, Deo said, “The objective of the law was to relocate only after their claims were settled. The PM has acknowledged the letter and forwarded it to environment and forest ministry.” The diversion of forest land for development and private projects is carriedout under Forest Conservation Act, 1980, which does not require the government to consider the existing occupants’ rights while transferring lands. But Deo has argued that with the FRA coming into play, the circumstances have changed. In his letter, he has pointed out, “It is unfortunate that both the courts and the government are flagrantly flouting the provisions of (forest rights) law.” He has also noted that even the community forest lands cannot be taken over till claims of ‘gram sabhas’ are settled. The FRA also provides for gram sabhas to claim community rights over their traditional forests. If the central government accepts Deo’s argument, then the mining and power sectors requiring land would be left to negotiate with ‘gram sabhas’ instead of the Union environment and forest ministry. With hydropower and mining projects requiring large tracts of forest lands, a strict implementation of the Act, a la Deo, could put all forest clearances on hold till the land rights were settled. http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=107759

9) Cuttack – The state government’s scant regard for high court notices prompted by a PIL, seeking a curb on illegal tree felling and free-run of timber mafia in Simlipal Biosphere Reserve, has aggravated denudation in the area. The PIL had sought the court’s direction to the government to either hand over protection of Simlipal to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) or raise a Forest Reserve Protection Force in Orissa. With the government not buying any of the proposals offered in the PIL, the denudation of the vast stretches of forest and greenery in Simlipal has aggravated. The timber mafia, with the help of local tribals, rules the roost in Simlipal. The illegal activities flourish mostly in Josipur, Bangriposi, Shyamakhunta and Kaptipada and the stolen timbers allegedly find their way to neighbouring Bengal en route to Baripada and Balasore. The wilful non-compliance to a high court order related to it, it seems to have been detected when a PIL filed way back in 1998 came up in the list for hearing last week before the two-judge bench of Chief Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice B.N. Mohapatra. Pravat Ranjan Dash, a high court lawyer, had filed the petition in 1998 soon after then state environment and forest minister Prasanna Das admitted in the Assembly that an inter-state timber mafia was behind the rampant tree felling in the Simlipal reserve. The minister had further raised concern over the administration’s inability to check the menace. Das had filed the PIL quoting the minister’s statement in the Assembly. Acting on the PIL, the high court had issued notices to both the Centre and the state government asking their reply about the steps to be taken to protect the Simlipal Biosphere Reserve. But the state government is yet to submit an affidavit. Taking note of it Chief Justice Chauhan expressed displeasure and issued fresh notices to the government to file an affidavit within three weeks stating the steps taken and plans drawn up for protection and preservation of the reserve. “The case will be taken up for hearing on submission of the affidavit by the state government as the Centre has already submitted a reply,” the court said. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080929/jsp/nation/story_9897005.jsp

10) Ahmedabad: In tree-starved Bapunagar and Odhav, this is the last remaining patch of green. But now, the trees, standing tall for over 70 years, are ready to be felled due to a road expansion by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). Residents have now threatened to do a ‘chipko movement’ if AMC tries to cut these trees lined along the 500-metre stretch. Anticipating an AMC team, the residents here have even formed a squad that would be up late in the night, in case the civic body tries to bring down the trees. There are close to 200 trees along the Rakhial road and the stretch along Odhav road. Some trees like tamarind and neem trees are over 70 years old. Residents of the seven odd chawls here had even suggested that a portion of the road which also includes the tree stretch could be converted to a shady public footpath. AMC officials, along with a team of contractors assigned for the job, had even asked the residents to give the suggestion in writing. The tree line the Bharat Bobbin factory. “The company had even protected the tree stretch by providing a fence to protect the plants against animals. Besides, this is the last surviving green stretch in eastern side of the city. Uprooting these trees and then re-planting them would be a costly proposition,” says another resident Sheraz Khambhata. However, a senior AMC official said that the tree stretch lies on AMC part of the road line and the chopping has become necessary. “We have grown old seeing these trees which line the Bharat Bobbin factory on Rakhial road. The trees fall on the eight feet expansion of the road and would be a major loss to the area. We cannot lose these green lungs,” says Armanbhai Khan who lives in the neighbouring Ajit Mill Chali in Rakhial area. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/New_chipko_movement_to_axe_AMC_tree-felling_plan/articleshow/3561090.cms

11) In his message on the occasion of Wildlife Protection Week, the Chief Minister said that forest cover has depleted due to population explosion and requirement of increased forest produce. This has resulted into decrease in areas where wild animals can move freely. Chouhan said that apart from conserving forests and wildlife, the state government is making efforts to ensure development of the people living in villages surrounding protected areas. He noted that the schemes for protection and development of wildlife through public participation have yielded encouraging results. The Chief Minister said that every year in the first week of October, Wildlife Protection Week is observed with a view to spreading awareness about conservation of forests and wildlife and instilling love among people towards them. Meanwhile, Forest and Tribal Welfare Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah has said that conservation of forests and wildlife is imperative for protecting environment. Shah said that still there are dense forests in a large part of Madhya Pradesh. He informed that Madhya Pradesh has achieved new dimensions in wildlife protection and the state government has increased the amount of compensation for the loss of human as well as cattle life due to attack of wild animals. Besides, initiative has also been taken to give compensation to farmers whose crops are destroyed by wild animals. He has appealed to people to take active part in and give support on the occasion of Wildlife Protection Week. Minister of State for Forests Narayan Singh Kushwaha has said that forests and forest dwellers are inseparable parts of nature. The Minister said that several effective steps have been taken in Madhya Pradesh with a view to ensuring public participation in wildlife protection and these steps have yielded encouraging results as well. He noted that interest of human beings has also been taken into consideration while undertaking wildlife protection and conservation. He hoped that all the people will co-operate and support protection of forests and wildlife. http://www.centralchronicle.com/20081001/0110022.htm

12) Van Vihar National Park is organizing Wildlife Week-2008 from October 1 to 7, 2008. In the present scenario media has an important role to play in the conservation of forests as well wildlife. With this in view, a media workshop on conservation of forests and wildlife is being organised on October 5. Names of representatives for taking part in the workshop can be sent by September 30. Van Vihar has felt the need that the management should sensitise the media on conservation even more so that misconceptions in the media can be removed. For this purpose, a workshop for journalists of print and electronic media has been organised by Van Vihar management on conservation of wildlife as well as forests on October 5, 2008 from 10 am to 2 pm. The topics of the workshop include ‘Forests and main wild animals of Madhya Pradesh’, ‘Wildlife management’ and ‘Media’s role in conservation of forests and wildlife’. Experts will give insight to the participants on these wildlife-related issues. Conservator of Forests and Director, Van Vihar, Bhopal has appealed to Bhopal’s newspaper groups and electronic media channels to send the name of one each representative from their respective institutions for taking part in the workshop by September 30, 2008 positively. The names should be sent to the office of Director, Van Vihar National Park, Bhopal. Representative’s address and mobile number should be necessarily sent. http://www.centralchronicle.com/20080927/2709022.htm

13) KOLKATA: In yet another assault upon the city’s greenery, 10 full-grown trees were chopped on Thursday night on one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares — Prince Anwar Shah Road. The trees, which were decades old, were felled according to a well-devised plan. Sources in Kolkata Municipal Corporation said that these Arjun, Chhatim and Badam trees were hacked by an electric saw. Since the tree-felling exercise was carried out in the dead of night, local residents realized what happened only on Friday morning. It was a major shock to a section of local residents who woke up on Friday morning and found that these full-grown trees had vanished. “I was shocked to find that these trees, which gave us shade and absorbed vehicular pollution, were no longer there,” said Jayanti Sen, a teacher. Residents informed the KMC control room and the civic authorities swung into action. Faiyaz Ahmed Khan, the mayor-in-council member overseeing the KMC parks department, rushed to the spot and inquired about the hacking. Later, Khan said that it could have been a gameplan of local cable operators who found the trees were blocking their cable lines. “Though it is too early to say who were behind it, a section of cable operators could be the culprits,” the MMiC said. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Full-grown_trees_hacked_down_at_night/articleshow/3532924.cms – http://advocatekamalkumarpandey.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/daily-legal-news-29092008/

14) The Tamarind, Tamarindus indica, Indian date native to tropical Africa, belongs to Family: Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus, is monotypic with single species. The fruit was well known to the ancient Egyptians and to the Greeks in the 4th Century B.C.E. A traditional food plant in Africa, known to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable land care. The fruit pulp is edible, used as a spice in both Asian and Latin American cuisines, and India. The hard green pulp of a young fruit is very tart and acidic and is most often used as a component of savory dishes. The ripened fruit is sweeter, yet still distinctively sour, and can be used in desserts and sweetened drinks, or as a snack. A sweet variety with little to no tartness grown in Thailand specifically to be eaten as a fresh fruit. Tamarind is available in food stores worldwide in pod form or as a paste or concentrate. The pulp, leaves, and bark also have medical applications. Used in Ayurvedic Medicine for gastric and/or digestion problems and also in malaria fever. According to HorticulturistDr. Narayanaswamy the tamarind trees have a life cycle of not more than 400to 500 years. But interestingly a tree among thousands planted in the beginning of the 12 th cenury, during the time of King Rajendra Chola, a renowned King of Chola nadu (presently Tanjore, Trichy, Nagapattinanam Districts of Tamilnadu) who built Chennakeshava Temple adjacent to the groove at the village Nallur in Devanahalli taluk nearer to Bangalore. The tree is now 900 years old met the hazards of lightening some 75to 80 years ago and stands majestically with unusually well developed prop roots and root suckers( My Forest Journal ,June 2004).The groove has now become a bioheritage site. Dr.Kemppanna former Dy.Director of Indian council of Agricultural Research,Mr.Prajapathi,Chief Conservator of Forest, Karnataka and others are to present the case to preserve the Tamarind grove as germplasm bank of tamarind and to protect it. http://cottonsearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/900-years-old-tamarind-trees.html

Vietnam:

15) Watershed forests of the Huong River in central Viet Nam have suffered rampant destruction over the last few years, but authorities are passing the buck on the failure to take punitive measures. An estimated 231.6 out of 11,306ha of forests have been destroyed in Hue Province’s Huong Tra District during the last four years. In 1993, the Hue People’s Committee had designated a team of forestry experts to manage the protected watershed forests of Huong River in the district. However, many residents have logged trees in the protected area to augment their income and improve living standards. The destroyed area includes a buffer area of 94.9 ha maintained to prevent soil erosion along the embankment and coastal areas, and act as windbreaks in sandy areas. Local authorities say that although the residents had been fined several times, they continued to destroy the watershed forests. The destroyed area has increased from 82.7ha of forest in 2006 to 231.6ha in 2008. Admitting that he had cleared the protected area to plant acacia trees, Nguyen Tu Quan says he did it because of “poor management from the local authority as well as forest management team”. Quan had been fined many times but he has persisted with the illegal activity. As many as 100 households living in or near destroyed forest areas have participated in illegal activity. However, they all claim to be unaware it was illegal. “With no land to farm, we have to exploit the forest to earn money,” a villager said. In fact, most forest area in Thua Thien-Hue is under the management of State-owned farms or offices while local villagers face a shortage of farm land. Cao Vuong Thien of Hong Tien Commune illegally cleared 16ha of the forest in 2006 – 2007, but the provincial authorities have not taken due action against him. The problem of illegal logging has increased as the management team denied they were to blame.Over the last four years, no violators have been punished.“The punishment is the responsibility of relevant agencies, not our duty”, said Nguyen Van Vuong, deputy head of the management team. “Our responsibilities are only forest management and protection”. Meanwhile, Nguyen Xuan Ty, Vice Chairman of Huong Tra District’s People’s Committee said although the majority of illegal loggers were actually residents of the district, action against them must be the duty of the management team. The violators are now fined just VND100,000 (US$6.06) each, not enough to deter them from continuing to fell the trees. The 231.6ha of destroyed forest in Huong Tra District including protected and cultivated forest was under the management board of Huong River’s watershed forest. Also according to the chief of the management board, Nguyen Huu Cu, a main cause of rampant destruction was that the board have no power to punish violators while the local people’s committee only dishes out light punishments. http://news.tourthailand.org/asia-news/vietnam-news/trees-keep-falling-while-authorities-bicker.html

16) A forest in Lung Pang Hamlet of the northern province of Bac Kan, part of a nature reserve, is visited every day by hundreds of loggers. Hoang Duc Toan, head of the hamlet in Na Ri District’s Con Minh Commune, admits he has little power to stop them. Earlier this month he decided to resign the position he has held for the past decade. Toan said he has complained about the problem to the authorities for more than a year “but no one cares.” “I feel powerless and I won’t do any work for the hamlet or take part in any meeting with the commune from now on,” he said. Lung Pang Hamlet is home to 32 families of the Dao minority group. The families used to depend on seven hectares of corn field to earn up to VND1.2 million (US$72) a year each. But the lure of making bigger profits from logging means most of the 132 locals have switched occupations. Since Toan began openly opposed logging activities, locals in the hamlet have rarely talked to him and no longer invite him into their homes. His brother-in-law once managed a timber mill in the local nature reserve and his youngest son is a logger. “My family has quarreled many times,” said Toan. “Who am I to stop the logging when my own son is part of it?” “I’m isolated in this hamlet as 95 percent of families are involved in logging,” Toan said. In August, Bac Kan Province forest rangers found 11.7 cubic meters of logs in the commune. Con Minh Commune People’s Committee Chairman Trieu Thi Len said the administration has sent teams of police and forestry officials to investigate but they had not uncovered any evidence of illegal logging there since July. Many Con Minh Commune locals don’t believe the authorities have done much to stop the logging. They even harbor suspicions that some officials must be protecting the loggers. There’s only one way from each hamlet to the forest in the nature reserve, which passes by a rangers’ station, said commune local Ma. “But log wagons keep running out of the forest every day and no one stops them.” http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=42737

Burma:

17) The Karen National Union (KNU) is slashing logging restrictions in territory it controls near Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai-Burma border. The change in timber policy comes before the KNU is expected to retreat in the face of an expected offensive by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). Timber stands in the Makate and Kyunchaung forests, respectively nine and thirty kilometers from the Thai-Burma, have been opened for free-access logging, say loggers, sources in ethnic political parties and local villagers. Both forests are in Thupalaryar District, currently under the control of KNU Brigade 6. Logging in both areas marks significant changes in KNU forestry policy. In years past, logging operations in both forests were permitted only from January until May, with exceptions made for continuing operations or community timber harvesting for projects like schools, monasteries, churches and bridges. Previously, only large timber companies like the Thailand based Sia Hook could purchase logging contracts. In an interview in mid September, Nai Maut, a logger working in Makate, reported that the KNU typically charged 100,000 baht for permission to log fifty tons. This year, the price of logging access has been drastically reduced. According to a logger interview in Three Pagoda Pass three weeks ago, the KNU had reduced charges to just 50,000 to 80,000 baht for rights to stands in Makate and Kyunchaung. According to other sources, last week the KNU appears to have cut fees altogether. Captain Htat Nay, of Bridge 6, told IMNA that loggers are now harvesting timber from Kyunchaung Forest without having to purchase advance permission from the KNU. Makate is open as well, says the owner of a logging company based in Three Pagoda Pass. A former official in the KNU Forestry Department confirmed both sources. Loggers still have to pay at KNU checkpoints, but loggers report that the fees have been reduced. Importantly, not only are loggers free to operate without having to purchase permission, but they are being allowed to log virtually without limits. Restrictions on the minimum size of harvestable trees have been loosened. In the past, loggers were prohibited from cutting trees less than ten centimeters across. Trunks with a diameter of just over seven centimeters, barely larger than a can of soda, are now eligible for harvest. Tree species other than teak and ironwood, once off limits to loggers in an attempt to maintain at least a modicum of forestland, are also eligible for logging. http://rehmonnya.org/archives/414

Philippines:

18) For the past months, Gov. Grace Padaca has been actively campaigning against illegal logging in Isabela, and has in fact successfully confiscated logs worth millions of pesos. But for Kalikasan-PNE, a militant environment group, efforts to curb forest denudation must be focused on big-time loggers and the politicians behind them. “We challenge the governor to expose and persecute big-time loggers and corrupt politicians instead of going after poor communities doing small-scale logging in her province. She has the authority and responsibility to do this. In addition, statistics and studies have shown that the major denuders of forest are the big-time legal commercial loggers who are also the ones the main financiers and buyers of illegal logging in the country,” Kalikasan-PNE National Coordinator Clemente Bautista Jr. According to a study made by Center for Environmental Concerns, an environmental education and research NGO, legal or government-sanctioned logging accounts for 68% of the total forest cover loss from 1981 to 2002, while illegal logging accounts only for 2%. “Facts show that the big-time commercial loggers in Isabela are the ones who cleared vast tracts of forest and even up to now are the main culprits of forest destruction in the province. In 2006, one logging company in Isabela was allowed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to log 25,887 hectares of forest; this is already way more than the declared forest reserve in the province. Also, in 2006, there were 7 logging companies which have Industrial Tree Plantation Agreement (ITPLA) which allow them to exploit a total of 62,266 hectares of forest areas. This reflects how the policy of Arroyo government and the DENR favors commercial logging over forest conservation and rehabilitation,” explains Mr. Bautista. Based on the data from Forest Management Bureau (FMB), the total forest lands in Isabela is 411,804 hectares in 2003. In 2006, there is only one forest reserve in the province which is Tumauini Watershed Forest Reserve covering 17,670 hectares of forest lands in the Isabela. http://barangayrp.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/kalikasan-pne-challenges-isabela-gov-expose-and-persecute-big-time-loggers/

19) Despite making great progress in governance and electoral reform, Isabela Governor Grace Padaca said she faces much unfinished business in her fight against illegal gambling and illegal logging. Padaca, who became popular for ending Isabela’s 40-year political dynasty of the Dy family and for recently winning the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, said the illegal numbers game jueteng is still rampant in the province. Part of her difficulties is the public’s perception that “jueteng is a victimless crime” that provides livelihood for many people, she said during an exclusive roundtable interview with The Manila Times. And she conceded that her success depends on whether “higher officials want it stopped.” For example, Padaca told The Times that she asked the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office to establish a small-town lottery in Isabela, hoping that will become a substitute for the illegal game. But so far, no dice. She added that most “jueteng operators talk to previous leaders [of Isabela],” making it harder to stop illegal gambling, because her political rivals remain influential and are capable of offering protection. Like jueteng, the governor said the province needed to provide legitimate livelihood to draw people away from illegal logging. She estimates that between 10,000 to 12,000 people are involved in illegal logging, and “many of the people involved in illegal logging are poor people.” The province looked at providing those people with piglets, but many of them are so poor that they cannot wait for the three months for their animal to grow up. Instead, Padaca said she approached private companies and nongovernment organizations, like Haribon Foundation and the League of Corporate Foundations, for help in establishing a reforestation program that will create jobs—as well as replace the denuded parts of the northern Sierra Madre. The governor said the province has confiscated about a million board feet of illegally cut down trees—worth about P150 million in the black market. http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/oct/04/yehey/top_stories/20081004top5.html

20) The private sector in Bohol would now attempt to venture into reforestation program, through the PSALM Project, that could be sustained even beyond the 25 year period of the lease agreement. It aims to leave a legacy of increased forest cover on Bohol’s denuded forestlands. The proposed project shall be a pilot project on private investor led timber plantation. The scheme shall not cost financial investment from the government as funding and management shall be coming from the private sector. The scheme will demonstrate the private sector capability to undertake upland development within the context of reforestation. PSALM shall adhere to the basic principles of sustainable forest management and the development protocol shall work around a watershed-based integrated ecosystem management approach. http://www.boholchamber.org/2008/10/07/restoring-bohols-forests-through-the-psalm-project.html

Malaysia:

21) Indigenous forest dwellers in Sarawak, in the Malaysian part of Borneo, have rejected a proposal to turn 80,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of the land into an oil palm plantation, reports the Malaysian Star. In a two-hour meeting Saturday in the city of Miri, representatives from the Berawan-Tering ethnic group officially rejected an overture to turn their land over to a private firm for oil palm development. About 90 percent of community members opposed the deal which would have given the oil palm a 60-year concession to their land, according to former Baram District Councillor Philip Ube, who represented the native. “We are also worried that if we give up our land, we will lose our food resources and, once the land is turned into an oil-palm plantation, the social structure will be changed,” Ube said at a press conference, adding that while the company had offered community members jobs as plantation workers, “we don’t want to end up as laborers on our own ancestral land.” http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1005-palm_oil.html

22) Blockades have sprung up again in middle Baram in the midst of the padi planting season in interior Sarawak. Several Penan communities have abandoned the padi fields to put up symbolic barricades – flimsy wooden gates across logging roads – to stop encroachment into the last stretch of remaining ancestral forest in a region that has seen extensive logging over the last 25 years. The once-nomadic tribe, noted for their unwavering rejection of logging on their territory and synonymous with blockades since the late 1980s, is fighting a losing battle against the Government-backed timber industry. Yet another sinister threat has crept into the remote communities €“ Penan women, especially the young ones, are preyed on by workers from logging companies. About three weeks ago, a media release by non-governmental organisation Bruno Manser Foundation (BMF) brought to light a long-held concern €“ the sexual abuse of Penan women. The Swiss group charged that workers from two timber companies were preying on Penan women in the various settlements within the companies’ operation areas, and targeting female students who relied on the companies’ transportation service to get to school. Students from middle Baram are boarders in secondary schools in the interior towns of Long Lama and Long San, which could take up to a week to travel on foot from their villages. The Baram district in Miri division is almost as big as the state of Perak. The allegations were flatly denied by Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu who dismissed the NGO’s claims as baseless. Jabu, who is also Rural Development Minister, challenged BMF to name the villages otherwise “it would be a waste of time to investigate”. Largely ignorant of their rights and not well-versed in criminal law, the Penans have long suffered the transgression against their womenfolk in silence. http://redapes.org/palm-oil/deforestation-even-more-human-fallout/

23) United Plantations, a Malaysia-based palm oil producer, has become the first oil palm plantation firm to be certified for adopting the strictest standards of sustainability for palm oil production, according to Bernama. After inspections across its its nine estates, six mills and conservation areas and interviews with managers and employees by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oils (RSPO), an industry-driven sustainability initiative, the firm was awarded the “Certificate of Conformance to RSPO Principles and Criteria”. United Plantations has implemented “zero-burn policies” as well as measures to reduce pollution and the use of fertilizers and pesticides. The firm has also set aside areas of high conservation value, according to RSPO. The news comes as the palm oil industry moves to improve its environmental performance in response to harsh criticism from scientists and activists who say that oil palm expansion is driving deforestation and putting endangered species at risk. A recent study showed that more than half of oil palm expansion in Malaysia and Indonesia between 1990 and 2005 occurred at the expense of forests, while other research has found that oil palm plantations contain up to 80 percent less biodiversity than logged forests and are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions when established on peatlands and in tropical rainforests. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0928-palm_oil.html

24) Very few Penan live nomadically any more, and their way of life is changing due to pressures that encourage them to live in permanent settlements ( excessive logging ) and adopt year-around farming. We visited 3 permanent settlements and semi-nomadic settlements( using the word “permanent” very loosely here, a trek to one of the villages was 10km) , Long Adang, Long Gita and Long Peresek. Today the Penan number around 1000; around 350-500 are nomadic (figures from Survival International.[2]) They have settled into small settlements, usually based around a village ‘longhouse’, typical of other tribes of Sarawak’s interior. Some, typically the younger generations, now cultivate rice and garden vegetables but many still rely on their nomadic diets of sago (starch from the sago palm), jungle fruits and their prey which usually include wild boar, barking deer, mouse deer but also snakes (especially the Reticulated Python or kermanen), monkeys, birds, frogs, monitor lizards, snails and even insects such as locusts. Since they practice ‘molong’, they pose little strain on the forest: they rely on it and it supplies them with all they need. They are outstanding hunters and catch their prey using a ‘lepud’ or blowpipe, made from the Bilian Tree (superb timber) and carved out with unbelievable accuracy using a bone drill – the wood is not split, as it is elsewhere, so the bore has to be precise almost to the millimetre, even over a distance of 3 metres. The darts are made from the sago palm and tipped with poisonous latex of a tree found in the forest which can kill a human in a matter of minutes. Everything that is caught is shared as the Penan have a highly tolerant, generous and egalitarian society, so much so that it is said that the nomadic Penan have no word for ‘thank you’ because help is assumed and therefore doesn’t require a ‘thank you’. However, ‘jian kinin’ is typically used in the settled communities. http://www.flickr.com/photos/malayrish/2915002424/

25) Among the groups that inhabit the Sarawak forest, the Penan are the last nomadic hunter-gatherers of Borneo. Their population is close to 10,000 with more than 5,000 of them concentrated in Baram (Miri Division), followed by some 1,500 in Belaga (Kapit Division), around 1,000 and 700 in Mulu and Bintulu respectively and 200 in Limbang. About 21% of them today are permanently settled while another 75% are considered to be semi-settled, leaving their permanent homes for the forest from time to time. The rest, around 5%, are still nomadic. According to Bruno Manser Fonds, more than 70% of Sarawak’s rainforest has been cut during the past 20 years. Today Malaysian companies run timber operations and plywood mills as far afield as Guyana, Suriname, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands according to a report by Nigel Sizer of World Resources Institute and Dominiek Plouvier, an independent forestry consultant. Manser has arguably been the most potent catalyst for media coverage of the fight by the Penan, and other Sarawak natives, to protect their forests against what they say are insensitive governments and greedy timber barons. Defensive Sarawak government officials note that 95% of the state’s substantial oil revenue goes to federal coffers (the Umno cronies in Kuala Lumpur), leaving Sarawak little choice but to earn money from natural products, of which timber is by far the most profitable. They have suffered untold hardship when game, fish, fruit trees and wild sago palms, which is their staple food, started to disappear. Many years after promises were made to them by the government, their lives have not changed for the better. They are hungrier, sicker and poorer than ever. Even for the settled communities, food supply isn’t safely steady since agriculture is a new invention that they have been trying to master without adequate technical and resource assistance. Farming productivity is low, seed access is limited and attempts to grow crops like vegetables often simply fail. Failure is rooted in the top-down scheme of projects. The importance of community participation in the decision-making process is neglected, so their main demand, which is to halt all logging operations on their land, is not taken into account. http://hrforall.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/please-save-the-penans/

26) The Penan’s protracted resistance to deforestation and the international attention the tribe continues to receive must have irked the Sarawak government. The state government continuesAsi to dismiss their concerns over the loss of forest resources brought on by industrial logging that degrades the forest and pollutes the rivers. At the height of the international anti-tropical timber campaign in the late 1980s, the state set up a Penan Affairs Committee to help the nomadic tribe to lead a settled life with promises of socio-economic development. The state announced allocations worth millions of ringgit. Two decades later, the benefits remain elusive for many Penans. The rapid expansion of acacia and oil palm plantations eats into their ancestral land. To top it off, the natives are becoming illegals with many not having official documents. The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has raised the issue of poor MyKad registration which complicates the issuance of birth certificates. Suhakam has thus far failed in persuading the state government to resolve the land rights issue inflicting every native group in Sarawak. In recent years, the Penans are turning to the court of law to stop further encroachment. But the nomadic Penans face a tough battle in claiming native customary rights (NCR) as the Sarawak Land Code 1958 states that one cannot stake a claim for NCR if one had not cultivated that piece of land before Jan 1, 1958. In May 2007, further restrictions were imposed when the clause “any other lawful method of establishing land claim” in Section 5(2) was dropped. Lawyers had previously used that provision to argue for a broader interpretation of land use. “When environmental groups suggest setting aside forests for wildlife, the state will agree but when we demand for our forests to be protected, we are ignored. It seems that the wildlife living in the forests are more valued than us humans,” notes a young Penan. Although disillusioned, the Penans remain hopeful. As Balan Jon of Long Item puts it: “It’s not only our livelihood but our culture and survi¬val as a tribe has been affected for so long. We’ll die if we continue to be neglected.” http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/10/6/lifefocus/2148310&sec=lifefocus

27) Authorities attempt to engineer the replacement of elected leaders by logging company stakeholders – Penan communities stand firmly behind their elected leaders. The Sarawak government is currently trying to engineer major changes in the leadership of the Penan communities in the Upper Baram region of the East Malaysian State on Borneo. In an attempt to break the resistance to logging in Sarawak’s last primeval rainforests, the authorities have ceased to recognise community leaders’ posts in a number of communities. According to community reports, a government official recently announced to an assembly of Penan representatives from the Upper Baram that their leaders were no longer officially recognized. As a consequence, the government stopped paying the Penan leaders their monthly headman’s allowance of 450 Malaysian Ringgit (130 US$). At Long Benali, a community that has successfully prevented timber group Samling from entering their Native Customary Rights land through blockades and a media campaign, headman Saun Bujang has been deposed. Currently, the government is trying to install a Samling stakeholder in his place. At Long Sait, a Penan community on the River Selungo, headman Bilong Oyoi, who has always been outspoken against logging in the area, received a letter from the government which stated that he had been deposed. Bilong is one of the leading plaintiffs in a Penan land rights claim that has been pending since 1998. Another plaintiff in this same case, the late Kelesau Naan, former headman of Long Kerong, disappeared near his paddy fields in October 2007. Two months later, he was found dead; the Penan suspect that he was murdered. The Long Kerong community has since elected a new headman, the former deputy headman Tirong Lawing. As the government has refused to recognize Tirong up until now, the community has no official headman. http://malaysianindian1.blogspot.com/2008/10/urge-sarawak-government-to-reinstate.html