352 World-wide

–World-wide: 31) We must raise our expectations of mainstream enviro groups, 32) We’re like a one year old finally turning two, 33) $78 billion in damages every year, 34) Corruption depriving developing countries of their ability to develop,

World-wide:

31) When you read this excerpt from Glen Barry’s message about Ecological Internet, you will understand that as environmentalists we have got to start raising environmental expectations instead of congratulating foundation funded engo’s for lowering the bar for their globalized corporado friends. –MM This week the Democratic Republic of Congo announced new protections for 10% of their rainforest [ark] , moving towards Brazil’s goal of 15% preservation of the Amazon. WWF and other environmental groups hailed 85% industrial destruction and diminishment of the rest of the world’s remaining large forest ecosystems as good news. At the UN biodiversity talks in Bonn, WWF organized non-binding national pledges to end deforestation [ark], ignoring biological simplification caused by industrial forestry. WWF promotes first-time ancient primary forest logging [search] which is nearly as bad ecologically as total deforestation. These inadequate responses come as a new study shows ecosystem loss is already costing hundreds of billions [ark] of dollars a year. Ecological Internet is committed — as keystone responses to the climate, biodiversity, water and food crises — to ending all industrial development of the world’s remaining primary and natural ecosystems, and committing to strict protection for half of the world’s land and sea as global ecological reserves. The remainder will need to be ecologically managed to sustainably meet human needs in perpetuity. This will require massive ecological restoration and protection of forest remnants in over-developed countries, and major new protected areas (increased by 3-5 times) in countries holding the Earth’s remaining primary natural habitats. Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet’s President, explains “levels of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem destruction, waste discharges into the atmosphere, and current population and consumption levels — all exceed what can be sustained, much less expanded, and still main a livable Earth. Mainstream and even ‘radical’ groups such as Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network are pursuing goals inadequate to sustain the biosphere — further illustrating the failure of the environmental movement to enunciate a sufficient global ecological response. We intend to continue exposing forest liars, ensuring they cause no further harm.” http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2008/05/wwfs_rainforest_protection_goa.asp

32) For the first year of their life, they have been cuddled, indulged, loved, fed, washed, diapered, and generally been the centre of their parents’ attention. Quite reasonably, they expect life to continue this way. This is the world of YES. There is only one rule, which says you get everything you want. But then they enter the world of NO. Put that down! Stop hitting your brother! No, you can’t have those sweeties. I mean it! New rules are appearing everywhere. The child’s instinctive response is to push back. Now think about us humans in our home, Planet Earth. For most of our evolutionary existence, we have behaved like one-year-olds. We wanted the fish? We just went out and grabbed them – the bigger the boat, the better. Want the forest? Clearcut away! Topsoil for farming? Just roll out the tractors. Wetlands to drain for housing? Send in the engineers. We’ve behaved like a one-year-old with our wastes, too. The ocean, the rivers, a hole in the ground, the atmosphere – who cares? Let Mama clean up the mess. That’s not our responsibility. Things change, however – and now look at the mess we’re in. We’re still grabbing, pushing, and dumping our wastes, but there’s precious little left to grab. If everyone on Earth grabbed as much as we do, in the west wing, we’d need three additional planets. But we’re not one-year-olds anymore. We’ve become terrible two-year-olds, and we throw a tantrum each time we don’t get what we want, because the old days were much better, and we don’t want to submit to the household rules – the rules of ecology. The very word comes from the Greek, oikos (“the household, family”) and logos (study, rationality), meaning “rational household behaviour”. We have political, corporate, and religious leaders who don’t know what the carbon cycle is. We have graduating MBA students, taught by some of the best business brains in the world, who don’t know how an oldgrowth forest works. We have schoolteachers who don’t know how the pollution from pesticides and household cleaners enters their students’ bodies. It is urgently necessary that we pause and learn Earth’s household rules. Every would-be teacher, engineer, architect, company director, CEO, deputy minister, or candidate for public office should be obliged to take a mandatory ecoliteracy test, and not be allowed to progress until they pass. We do it for driving, because we accept that unsafe drivers are a public hazard. http://www.commonground.ca

33) Mankind is causing 50 billion euros ($78 billion) of damage to the planet’s land areas every year, making it imperative governments act to save plants and animals, a Deutsche Bank official told a U.N. conference. A study, presented to delegates from 191 countries in the U.N.’s Convention on Biological Diversity on Thursday, said recent pressure on commodity and food prices highlighted the effects of the loss of biodiversity to society. “Urgent remedial action is essential because species loss and ecosystem degradation are inextricably linked to human well-being,” said Pavan Sukhdev, a banker at Deutsche Bank and the main author of the report. On top of the current 50 billion euros annual loss from land-based ecosystems caused by factors including pollution and deforestation, the cumulative loss could amount to at least 7 percent of annual consumption by 2050, said the report. Deforestation, if continued at current levels, would cost some 6 percent of world gross domestic product by 2050, he said. The idea of the report is to spur action to safeguard wildlife in the way Britain’s Stern report sparked action to fight climate change after the economic costs were outlined, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said. European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the study proved biodiversity was not just about saving pandas and tigers but underscored the need to preserve natural wealth. “The report shows we are eating away at our natural capital and making ourselves vulnerable to climate change,” he said. Delegates and environment groups praised the report, entitled “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity”, saying the figures helped make the case for integrating biodiversity into policy. Sukhdev will present a second, fuller, report next year. http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48561/story.htm

34) The paper discusses how corruption influences the logging industry and deprives developing country governments of important revenues. According to the paper the forest industry has the potential to contribute to the economy and increase state revenues in many developing countries. The realisation of these opportunities depends on the governance of the forest industry and the ways in which forests are managed.The paper states that corruption is directly linked to illegal and unsustainable logging, a problem that causes significant environmental damage in terms of erosion and reduced water quality, loss of biodiversity and challenges for communities that are settled in natural forests. To combat these challenges in the forest sector, many countries are developing forest management plans and better monitoring systems, and have established forest concession systems. Donors can play an important role in this process by providing funding and other support to developing country governments. Therefore the paper offers the following policy recommendations: 1) the problem of forest corruption will be different in each single country, and a targeted strategy will require separate analysis of the circumstances. 2)governments should cooperate with foreign competence centres if their own capacity to design a forest management plan is weak. 3) donor agencies should consider offering aid on condition of the development of a forest management plan and reliable monitoring and enforcement systems. 4) better functioning systems in developed countries can serve as models that can be applied in developing countries as well. 5) competition authorities should be asked to advise on balances between competition issues and good cooperation between individual firms. http://www.eldis.org/go/display&type=Document&id=37351