023OEC’s This Week in Trees (part 2)

England:

22) In updating scientific models and theories such as our conception of a non-living universe in entropic expansion and decline, as well as the Darwinian hypothesis of endless struggle in scarcity, evolution biologist and futurist Elisabet Sahtouris helps us discover a living self-organizing universe and an evolutionary process in which hostile competition gives way to mature collaboration in species after species throughout the living history of Earth. It then becomes clear that the Globalisation of humanity is a natural, biological, evolutionary process we cannot escape. In many ways this process already shows evidence of mature planetwide cooperation, yet we face an enormous crisis because the most central and important aspect of globalisation — global economics — is still organized in a manner that so gravely violates the fundamental principles by which healthy living systems operate that it threatens the demise of our whole civilization. Understanding biological evolution from macrocosm to microcosm, including the amazingly complex evolution of our own bodies, we find ample clues for moving forward in human social/political/economic evolution. This permits us to see clearly how to overcome current obstacles and insure that our global family and all other species may thrive. Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris is an evolution biologist, futurist, author and consultant on Living Systems Design. She teaches in a sustainable business MBA program and consults with corporations and government organizations in Australia, Brazil and the USA, showing the relevance of biological systems to organizational design in businesses, government and global trade. She is a citizen of the United States and of Greece, with a Canadian Ph.D. http://www.greatmystery.org/

Ireland:

23) Furious Belfast residents who awoke to find the mature wood on their doorsteps being bulldozed have won a stay of execution for the remaining trees. Around 20 mature oaks were felled earlier this month at a wooded area between Forest Park and Chestnut Park in the Twinbrook area of the west of the city. It is understood that the trees were removed by the landowner for safety reasons, but residents are fuming that they were not consulted. Many homes on the two streets back onto the stand of trees, affording them privacy, scenic value and abundant wildlife. Kate McGahey, a resident of Chestnut Park for 29 years, said yesterday that she was appalled by the devastation. “It was so out of the blue,” she claimed. “We woke up one morning to hear this terrible crunching noise coming from Forest Park. The area of wood is about the length of 16 semi-detached houses with about 40 odd mature trees, mostly oak. “Over half of those have gone now. Every single resident from both streets is up in arms over it. “We managed to get a tree protection order from the Planning Office last Friday but so much damage has already been done. “In a way it’s too late. If only we’d known about it first because it affects all of us. “There are wood pigeons and squirrels running about all over the place because they have nowhere to go. It’s a real tragedy,” she added. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=659057

Lebanon:

24) As a bus carrying 27 children from the Lebanese Association of SOS Children’s Villages, a charity organization for orphaned and underprivileged children, made its way up the mountainous dirt roads to the Bcharre Cedar Reserve on Friday morning, 15-year-old Anas Houssoyom sang a surprisingly good rendition of Rabih al-Asmar’s “Basarah,” much to the delight of all around. The children arrived at the cedar reserve and, after taking a quick tour of the Old Forest, made their way to the area known as the New Forest where they separated into five teams, each tasked with planting a tree. The event was part of telecommunication giant Alfa’s community-based effort to provide assistance to children in need while educating them about the importance of the environment. The Forest of Lebanon Cedar Friends is the first project in Lebanon to work to preserve the cedar forests. Any individual, group, organization or corporation can sponsor a tree to be planted in the New Forest area. Each tree costs $100 and the sponsor receives a certificate with the tree’s serial number on it and his name on the tree. Using the serial number you can track the tree’s growth either first hand in the forest or via the Internet. www.cedarfriends.org http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=18060

Ivory Coast:

25) “The clock is standing at one minute to midnight for the great apes, animals that share more than 96% of their DNA with humans. If we lose any great ape species we will be destroying a bridge to our own origins, and with it part of our own humanity.” Christophe Boesch is working to stop that loss. As president of the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, based at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, he has spent more than 20 years studying the chimps in the Ivory Coast’s Taï National Park, and has no illusions about the apes’ plight. “Things are bad for great apes because they have a long generation time and a slow reproductive rate,” he explains. “A female chimp has a baby only every five years, so it’s more difficult for numbers to recover after they drop.” Even estimating the numbers themselves is a tricky prospect, he says. Wild chimps live in dense forest and shy away from humans, so their populations have to be reckoned by counting nests or droppings. “We can’t say for sure how many there are, but we know for certain it’s dropping.” Logging exacerbates the problem of bushmeat hunting because road-building brings humans into close quarters with previously remote chimp groups, Boesch says. “People poach around where they live, so a large enough area can be protected by the mere effect of size,” he explains. “The problem is loggers: they make these roads and often they are poaching to feed their workers.” The attitude of local villagers at the Taï National Park is also greatly encouraging, Boesch says. He recalls that locals frequently describe the chimpanzees as ‘human beings’, and have a wide array of legends that illustrates the high esteem in which they hold the animals. http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050829/full/050829-7.html

Nigeria:

26) Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State spoke in Calabar to a Newswatch: “…I believe that every institution is the lengthened shadow of one man. And once your shadow is not vague, but clearly defined in tune with the times, then invariably people will understand and try to conform. I have noticed in Nigeria that because of the cynicism people have for governments, a government comes in, there is so much cynicism, so much reaction to the government. People just believe it is going to be another season of deceit. But today it is easier convincing people that this is where we are going because I believe in defining my intentions. I believe my intentions are noble and Godly but they (people) may, and that is noble, disagree on the approach probably before the successes. We have large arable land, we have wide climatic regions of the mangrove/rainforest of the south to the semi-Savannah in the northern part, then we have in some parts of the state, the semi-temperate region. They are quite varied and if we capitalise on that and with an ideal population of three million people sharing 23,000 square kilometers of land, we could do a lot there. We have the last vestiges of forest reserves. We have gorillas, chimpanzees and baboons and drills roaming our forests. It is only in the Cross River State forests that you can still find them in the whole world. Right now, we have a zero logging policy. Officially we have stopped logging with compensation. We have cancelled all concessions officially but we know there are still some illegal loggings going on. We are still working to achieve that (Zero logging) but we have encouraged conservation. The drills are very safe because the forests area is very large. But they cannot move freely because their natural habitat, the forests are very tight. The gorillas move freely but unfortunately where they are, it is very difficult to get there. I don’t think we have to go that far to see them. You know these guys move freely between here and into the Cameroons. They are not tied down by boundaries or immigration officers. http://www.newswatchngr.com/editorial/allaccess/special/10830133552.htm

27) According to the Executive Director of Rainforest Resource and Development Centre (RRDC), Dr Odey Oyama, “recent field studies show that in the last four years, over 90 per cent of loggers violated various prescriptions of law. This implies that more than 90 per cent of the logging currently going on is illegal.” At the moment, policies put in place by the state government to arrest the illegal activities of loggers seem to be yielding very insignificant result, as the Forestry Commission appears handicapped to effectively police the state’s vast rainforest belt. Cross River harbours the largest expanse of virgin tropical high forest in Nigeria. About 31 per cent of this is located in the Southern and Central zones of the state. In total, the forest belt stretches over 6,101 sq. km, with about 2,101 sq. km under the management of the state Forestry Commission. Decrees 36 and 46 of 1999 and 2001 respectively place about 75 per cent of the 6,101 sq. km under the control of the Cross River National Park. Besides the 2,101 sq km of rainforest, community forest in the state spans over 200 sq. km, although they are scattered across several communities. The vastness of the forest, the problems encountered by the Forestry Commission and the sophistication of the illegal loggers has made it almost impossible to arrest the plundering of resources and rapid deforestation. In a recent interview, the Commission’s Permanent Secretary, Dr Chris Agbor, explained that it is difficult to completely check the activities of illegal loggers because the total number of forest guards that man the vast expanse of forest within its jurisdiction is about 100. This implies that one guard is supposed to police about 30 sq. km without arms, a task that is near impossible, especially when confronted with illegal loggers, who are usually well armed. Despite the alarming rate of illegal exploitation of the resources of the high forest, a lot is however been done to protect it from destruction. But Agbor says the protection of the forest is now the responsibility of the individual, the community and government, all of who must work together to protect their common property and legacy for future generation. According to him, the need to protect the forest informed the closure of a wood processing firm, WEMPCO, last year, on the orders of the state governor, Mr Donald Duke. Agbor said the company was found guilty of indiscriminately logging of wood outside its concession area. http://www.independentng.com/nigerdelta/ndaug310506.htm

Congo:

28) An action plan drafted by more than 70 primatologists and other experts who met in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, in May designates 12 areas for emergency programs intended to increase security against illegal hunting, protect great apes and tropical forests from logging, and slow the spread of the Ebola virus in the region. Called the Regional Action Plan for Conservation of Chimpanzees and Gorillas in Western Equatorial Africa, the document seeks a multilateral response to the threats to populations of the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and the central African chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) that share the same habitat in six countries. The plan represents an urgent appeal to the international community for immediate action, before the damage is irreversible. While the experts were unable to establish precise population figures for the gorillas and chimpanzees, they determined that recent Ebola outbreaks, bushmeat hunting and logging have almost wiped out some populations. The action plan noted that apes reproduce slowly, with limited capacity to recover from decimated populations. “This devastating mix of threats leaves us on the brink of losing some of our closest living relatives,” said Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation International and chairman of the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN-The World Conservation Union’s Species Survival Commission. “Protecting gorillas and chimps is not just important in its own right. These animals are also flagship species, important symbols for vast areas of forest that are among the richest on Earth. Protecting them protects many other species as well.” http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/514127/

Swaziland:

29) Can carved masks, toy drums and grass baskets pull Swazis out of the chronic poverty that grips two-thirds of Swaziland’s population? Ntombi Dlamini, King Mswati’s mother, is backing a new enterprise that will centralise the diversity of wood carvers and handicraft makers, and give them access to customers worldwide via the Internet. But environmentalists warn there is a price to pay: a loss of indigenous trees and their habitats. Craftspeople, who are usually impoverished rural residents, consider these materials as theirs free for the taking. They are unaware that conservation laws regulate the use of indigenous Swazi flora, much as game control laws restrict hunting of native species and provide stiff sentences for poachers. Environmentalists have expressed concern that artisans are cutting down the last of Swaziland’s hardwood trees for use as carvings. ”These trees take more than a person’s lifetime to grow to maturity. It is illegal to cut them, but this stops no one. Once they are gone, the handicraft makers are out of business,” said environmentalist Sipho Ndwandwe. ”This disappearance of Swaziland’s fuel wood is imminent in some areas, while other areas face the extinction of all indigenous trees in a matter of years, based on the rate of current consumption and the new commercial exploitation of fuel woods,” said veteran nature conservationist Ted Reilly. Endangered tree species include lead woods, knob thorns, bush willows (comretums), and umbrella trees (acacia nilotica). ”The ancient lead wood (combretum imberbe) in the Lubombo region has been carbon dated to be 1050 years old. Other mature trees of different species are well over 300 years old. For all intents and purposes, such ancient hardwoods can’t really be considered to be utilisable resources on a sustainable consumptive basis. They are just too slow growing to produce sustainable yields because they will not replace themselves as mature trees in the span of a man’s lifetime,” the report said. The study found that when the value of the wood input is considered, the curios made from this product by Swazi craftspeople are ”grossly under valued and under priced”. ”As large tracts of the Kingdom are being rapidly and systematically desertified, a fuel wood crisis is developing for rural communities, and greater pressures are building on protected lands,” Reilly said.
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=28214

Honduras:

30) A Catholic priest in Honduras, and his supporters in an environmental movement fighting illegal logging, face a potentially imminent threat of violence, with complicity on the part of the government of Honduras, and a leading NGO has called upon the Secretary of State to speak out against the threat of violence. In his letter to Secretary Rice, Ambassador White described the deployment of troops from the 115th military brigade of the Honduran army dispatched by the government to keep the peace. According to eye-witness reports, the military have instead given active support to the logging industry. “Loggers, accompanied by members of the military,” White wrote, “are now threatening a zone in Olancho which is the last forested area providing water for approximately 40,000 people in the municipalities of Salama, Silca, El Rosario and Manto.” White, who recently traveled to the region, fears the troops will be used in military action against the unarmed campesinos. He noted that the Bush administration two years ago issued a presidential initiative against illegal logging that addressed Central America and problems of corruption. “(This is) a dangerous situation in Honduras,” White said, “where lives are at stake … At the heart of this problem is illegal logging and a culture of corruption which protects the perpetrators while leaving the defenders of the forests in mortal danger.” http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=52263

Bolivia:

31) “Fig trees are key species for spider monkeys. This fig tree and many others in their home range are slated to be logged. What will happen to the monkeys? We don’t know yet.” Annika has studied orangutans in Borneo and titi monkeys in Madidi National Park in Bolivia. Now pursuing her doctorate from Australian National University, she is dedicating over a year of field research, funded by a grant from the Wildlife Conservation Society, to answer this question in the Guarayos forests of Bolivia’s Amazon Basin. Her study site is La Chonta, a private forestry concession that spans 250,000 acres of tropical wilderness about seven hours north by road from the nearest major city, Santa Cruz. Recently, Annika invited me to help her for a month as a volunteer. At times the experience was grueling—but always an adventure. The La Chonta study site has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international organization that recognizes companies that comply with certain standards to reduce the impacts of logging. The goal is to sustain healthy forests that benefit people while maintaining biodiversity and a sufficiently undisturbed habitat for wildlife. And that’s what Annika is trying to figure out: Are the FSC rules sufficient to preserve biodiversity, as they promise to do? “When I was designing this project, I knew that I had to do research that would directly help policymakers,” Annika tells me. “How can people make good decisions about saving biodiversity if they don’t have good information?” http://www.wildlifeconservation.org/wcm-home/wcm-article/18091575

Brazil:

32) Over the last 11 months there has been a 50 percent drop in deforestation in the Amazon region, according to satellite data released Friday by the Brazilian Environment Ministry. From August 2003 to July 2004, a total of 18,724 square kilometers were logged in the region. From August 2004 to June 2005, the area destroyed was 9,106 square kilometers, explained Environment Minister Marina Silva at a news conference in the capital. The new figures are based on images from the Brazilian space agency INPE, the first results of an observation project called STOP (Detection of Deforestation in Real Time), conducted with the support of the Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) and the Environment Ministry. The purpose of STOP is to supply to the government and the public with information about new areas of deforestation in Amazonia. “STOP underestimates the areas cleared, utilizing sensors of smaller spatial resolution with high frequency of observation to reduce the limitations of cloud cover,” explains Gilberto Câmara, general coordinator of INPE’s Land Observation division. Silva told reporters that two sensors aboard different satellites, each monitoring deforestation, both show a downward deforestation trend. The MODIS, aboard Landsat, has spatial resolution of 250 meters and covers Brazil every three to five days. The WFI, carried on the CBERS-2 satellite, presents a spatial resolution of 260 meters and covers Brazil every five days. Câmara said areas over 100 hectares that have been recently clearcut can be seen by this method of observation. Silva said the reason for the drop in deforestation is the government’s Action Plan for Amazon Deforestation Prevention and Control, which has been in operation since March 2004. Instead, WWF says, a drop in the price of soy beans has led to less land clearing for agricultural production. WWF believes the government should put more effort into implementing better forest management and land use planning to prevent the conversion of areas of high conservation value into soy plantations. http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2005/2005-08-29-03.asp

Argentina:

33) Greenpeace activists on motorbikes today stopped two bulldozers from clearing trees to expand genetically engineered soy bean fields into the remains of the Great American Chaco Forest. Four Greenpeace activists dressed as jaguars, on motorbikes painted with jaguar spots, blocked the big machines. Four more activists in two helicopters painted as jaguars filmed the forest destruction from the air. A campaign action team, the Greenpeace Jaguars are activists on motorbikes who aim to stop bulldozers from destroying forest lands in Salta, Argentina that shelter rare wild jaguars. “Companies are failing to act responsibly, and the Argentinean government stands by while rampant deforestation continues,” said Emiliano Ezcurra, Greenpeace Argentina forests campaigner. “We’re here to place ourselves between bulldozers and trees to stop the destruction of these last remaining ancient forests.” The Greenpeace helicopter was surveying the area when the bulldozers were seen in the province of Salta, 1,800 kilometers north of Buenos Aires. On the ground the Greenpeace Jaguars got to the area in time to confront the bulldozers and stop them. “It is outrageous that such devastation continues to take place at such a fast rate only because companies want to feed pigs in Europe or chickens in China,” said Rex Weyler, early Greenpeace activist, from Vancouver, Canada, who took part in the action. “In Argentina, 75 percent of our native forests have already disappeared, and every hour the equivalent of 20 football pitches (soccer fields, for you North Americans) of forest is destroyed to grow transgenic soya,” Ezcurra said. “The damage is irreversible, it is almost impossible to grow forest on the soil again – and today an area the size of Germany is at risk.” http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2005/2005-08-29-04.asp

India:

34) Madurai, August 31: Vigilance and anti-corruption police seized four lorry-loads of silver oak trees, worth several lakhs of rupees, at the Sirumalai hills in Dindigul district yesterday. The seizure was effected after a nine-hour operation during which vigilance officials found trees had been cut without permission in some areas and more than the permitted limit in others. DSP Rathnakumar told reporters that the officials had questioned four forest department officials, in charge of the area, about the illegal cutting of trees. He said permission had been given to cut 90 trees in a particular area, but 222 had been cut, reportedly with the connivance of forest officials. In another area, 114 trees had been cut instead of the permitted 66. Logs numbering 274 had also been cut without permit. Besides, about 200 loads of casuarina trees, worth several lakhs, were also cut “It is impossible to cut such a large number of trees without the connivance of forest department officials”, police said. Officials claimed that they had been monitoring these areas, including Thalakadai, Pazhaiyur, Agasthiapuram and had prepared an exhaustive list of forest department officials involved in illegal tree felling. They said the Centre had recently permitted cutting of trees on condition that there should be a minimum of 50 in one acre. If there are more than 50 trees, which caused hindrance to plantation crops, they could be cut with due permission/cutting order from the district collector. But some brokers and traders, with the connivance of forest officials, had misused this order and allowed anti-social elements to cut trees and smuggle them to Kerala, they added. (Agencies) http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7B38333E51-181F-48CD-B5EF-1BD54E16F113%7D&CATEGO
RYNAME=Crime

Madagascar:

35) In a land famed for its wealth of unique species, but also for the rapid degradation of its habitats, conservationists are intent on saving what they can. There is hope, they say, for the people and wildlife of Madagascar. Manampatrana is a hamlet in the eastern strip of Madagascar, the world’s fourth-largest island which lies off the south-eastern coast of Africa. The village was once surrounded by the lushest of forests, but now only mountain tops and scattered patches of woodland remain. The rest has been cleared for subsistence crops. Across much of Madagascar it’s the same story. Between 1.5 to 4.5 percent of its rainforest disappears each year, which means that half of its remaining woodland could be gone in the time it takes to raise a child. About one tenth of Madagascar’s virgin forest remains intact. These increasingly fragmented areas of densely woven vegetation are home to an astounding number of endemic species – plants and animals that are found nowhere else on Earth. Of this remaining forest, only about three percent is under protection in parks. The country’s president has pledged to triple the amount of parkland by 2009, but of course, that will still leave the overwhelming majority unprotected. Helping the government in its agonising decision-making process are scientists such as Achille Raselimanana, a Malagasy herpetologist who works for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Madagascar. “What we would like to do is a biological inventory to record what kind of animals live in this area,” he explains during a field-trip to the country’s north-east. In a two-week survey of an area the size of a city park, he and his colleagues found a wide variety of birds, bats, and small insect-eating mammals. They also spotted one of the world’s rarest mammals – a hairy-eared dwarf lemur – while Dr Raselimanana himself found 28 species of amphibians and 33 species of reptiles, including a spiny green chameleon: “To find a chameleon like this is very exciting. That’s the reason I’m always in the forest if I have time,” he smiles. “What we’re seeing today is the ecological impact of the incorporation of Madagascar into the international economy, he says. “So what we’re doing now is focusing more on how to create market incentives for practising sustainable agriculture.” Like an investment portfolio containing different stocks, he thinks a diverse suite of crops could also help Malagasy farmers to overcome the vagaries of the market. http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/science/050829rf?view=Standard

China:

36) Marubeni Corp said Monday they will plant trees in China through a company they have jointly established there in a bid to keep stable resources for paper. The companies set up Huizhou Nanyou Forest Development Co in alliance with China’s Guangdong Petro-Trade Development Corp The new company will at first plant trees on an area of 33,000 hectares in Huizhou in Guangdong Province by 2008. http://japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=3&id=347545

South East Asia:

37) Large forest fires in South-East Asia, notably in Indonesia, have caused serious health and environmental problems, in particular choking haze in the region, FAO said today. “Most of these fires are intentional and planned by agro-industrial companies to clear forests for agricultural land use,” said Mike Jurvelius, FAO forest fire expert. “Using fire to clear forests is prohibited in most of the South-East Asian countries and the ban should urgently be enforced. In South-East Asia, large-scale conversion of forests into agricultural land takes place mainly in flat areas with peat soils, the most productive land for agriculture. Land conversion is usually carried out by removing the trees and then burning the residues; a cheap way to clear land on a large scale. A particular problem in the region is that large amounts of smoke result from fires burning as much as 20 meters down in the peat soils. These fires are almost impossible to extinguish, regardless of how many airplanes or helicopters are used. On a single hectare of land, up to 100 000 cubic meters of peat soil can burn. “So long as people do not understand the dangers of using fires for land clearance on peat soils the fight against forest fires will be very costly and have only limited success,” Jurvelius added. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6FRG6D?OpenDocument

Malaysia:

38) The government will impose mandatory prison terms to punish people who illegally harvest wood from rain forests in Malaysia, one of the world’s largest exporters of tropical timber, authorities said Tuesday. Anyone involved in illegal logging will face jail sentences of between one year and 20 years under new laws expected to be ready within six months, said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak. The current penalty of a fine has failed to curb illegal logging, which is believed to be actively perpetrated by a small number of timber trade syndicates, Najib was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama. “Such actions can undermine the quality of our water and air, threaten water catchment areas and lead to other problems such as floods and droughts,” Najib said. Activists have long said illegal logging is damaging the environment in the country’s jungles, found mainly in central peninsular Malaysia and Borneo island. These forests in Malaysia and neighboring Indonesia are home to orangutans, rhinoceros, tigers and other endangered animals. Sawn timber is often smuggled to other countries in Asia, such as China and Taiwan, where the wood is used for furniture, baby cribs, picture frames and other items to be exported to U.S. and European markets, environmentalists have said. http://www.chinapost.com.tw/i_latestdetail.asp?id=30310

Australia:

39) FORESTS NSW has denied that a plan to harvest Kippara State Forest is related to the decision to close popular picnic site Slippery Rock. The picnic site, located in compartment five of the Kippara State Forest, was closed in May this year. The decision to close the area, according to Forests NSW, was made because of on-going vandalism. However, Stephen Cartwright of Hastings Forest Watch said this statement was misleading, if not a total deception. “A harvest plan was prepared and signed off by a Forests NSW planning officer in May this year for compartments five, six and seven of Kippara State Forest,” Mr Cartwright said. The spokesperson for Forests NSW said the two matters were not connected. “Forests NSW would have been able to harvest the area around Slippery Rock even if the site had not been closed,” the spokesperson said. Members of the Birpai Land Council were also unhappy about how the recreational site had been closed down and are in the process of following-up the matter with Forests NSW. http://portmacquarie.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&category=general%20news&story_
id=420070&y=2005&m=8

40) Mention forests in Australia and the mental compass of most Australians will point south to Tasmania. But it’s to the north of Australia where the country’s national interest and forests most intersect – in the tropical rainforests of the Asia-Pacific region. Unlike never before, the region needs Australia’s forestry expertise. Unlike never before, forestry is now vitally important to Australia and the Asian-Pacific for peace and prosperity. Not surprisingly, these issues feature highly at a major international conference on Forests, Wood and Livelihoods hosted by the Crawford Fund in Canberra recently. Forests make a huge contribution to reducing poverty in the developing economies that lay on Australia’s doorstep. Half the Solomon Island’s export revenue comes from its forest products. In Indonesia, the figure in 2004 was 13 per cent – more than double the amount it received in foreign aid that year. For Papua New Guinea, the figure is A$170 million annually – a tidy sum for a population of 5.5 million people. Regrettably, most of this money goes to Malaysian logging companies with little interest in PNG’s development. Each of these countries benefit significantly from Australia’s generosity, either in the form of taxpayers’ aid dollars, technical assistance, or military support. And in each of these countries, the future of forests looks shaky at best. If forestry no longer provides jobs and income to the needy – whether due to over-harvesting, illegal logging, fires, conflict or simply bad management – regional stability will suffer, and dependency on Australian aid is likely to increase. Much of Australia’s aid focuses on helping governments become more efficient, transparent and accountable – the hallmarks of good governance. And yet for much of the region, forestry practices are synonymous with the opposite – with bribery, tax evasion and human rights abuses. It is no wonder that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared fighting illegal-logging as one of his Government’s top priorities, along with eradicating corruption. For him it is not just a question of a few billion dollars in unpaid taxes, it is about establishing the rule of law and attracting international investors. It is also about improving his nation’s reputation, providing jobs, reducing poverty and, ultimately, ensuring social stability. The same arguments apply to anywhere in the Asia-Pacific region where a dose of good forestry governance could improve the welfare of millions of rural poor. http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3767

41) OVER 100 people attended a recent forum on forest health and dieback and were told that 132,000 hectares of forest on the Far South Coast are affected by dieback. The forum was organised by SE NSW Private Forestry. Four presenters spoke at the forum and the day concluded with a bus tour to inspect forest sites near Bermagui which were in various stages of decline. Committee chairman, Graham Gray said “I think we have hit a nerve with this forum judging by the excellent attendance. “Bellbird dieback as it has come to be known is becoming of concern across the whole of the South Coast”. Dr Ross Florence, a Canberra based academic with expertise in the ecology of eucalypt forest described how the ecology of the forests had changed over time largely due to the influence of human settlement. He implicated fire as an essential part of the maintenance of stable eucalypt ecosystems. Mr Vic Jurskis, Forests NSW Silviculturalist, who has studied eucalypt decline all over Australia, gave examples of a variety of forests in decline, only some of which were associated with Bellbird occurrence. He went on to elaborate, with examples, of where forests had been modified by grazing and mild fire regimes, showing that eucalypt forest thrives where the understorey is minimal but declines when the understorey becomes ‘scrubbed up’. Dr Tom White, an eminent scholar most recently associated with the Waite Institute, South Australia and author of several books on ecology spoke on the theme ‘Insects don’t cause decline of forest trees’. When trees were stressed they put out new foliage rich in nitrogen and this is an excellent food source for insects and other herbivores. The supply of nutritious food allows the insect population to build up. The stress could be caused by changes in the soil that kills feeding roots and this limits the tree’s capacity to take up water and nutrients. He indicated that the primary areas of concern were at the interface of private land and the broader forest tracts as these were the remnants of the valley forests cleared for agriculture and consisted of the most susceptible forest types. The study had identified that about 25 per cent of forests in this area are either affected or have a high potential for decline which translates to 132,000 hectares. http://bega.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&category=general%20news&story_id=419847
&y=2005&m=8

42) Up to 4000 sheep will be moved from the floodplain under the agreement, which Murray River Minister Karlene Maywald said would take pressure off the ailing river. However, property owner Jock Robertson said the decision to end grazing was “not based on anything but a political decision”. Victorian National Parks Association representative Nick Roberts congratulated the South Australian government for “setting a new standard in managing the iconic forest wetlands”. “These red gum forest wetlands are national icons, not cow paddocks or logging coupes, and damaging practices like logging and grazing should be stopped,” Mr Roberts said. http://www.countrynews.com.au/story.asp?TakeNo=200508295525384