325 – Earth’s Tree News

Today for you 36 new articles about earth’s trees! (325th edition)
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–British Columbia: 1) Plans to create conservancies, 2) Queen Charlotte’s Huna Watershed getting logged, 3) Sign the petition to save the flathead, –Canada: 4) Beetle “emergency” funds even more logging, 5) Boreal carbon bomb,
–Brazil: 6) The soybean king is about to throw in the towel, 7) Rubber tree condom factory, 8) Marriott International to protect 1.4 million acres,
–South East Asia: 9) 3,100 mile long chain of about 20,000 islands
–Laos: 10) Economic boom due to low population density
–Malaysia: 11) Another illegal logging operation
–Solomon Islands 12) concern over politicians assessing log export values
–Indonesia: 13) Palm oil farmers ignore burn ban, 14) Deforestation rates since 1982, 15) Asian Development Bank working with enviros, 16) Gov protests Malaysian acceptance of illegal logs, 17) 2nd heart of Borneo meeting, 18) Senior police aiding theft?
–Papua New Giunea: 19) New Carbon Partnership ignorant of deforestation rates,
–New Zealand: 20) Trade agreement with China, 21) Greenpeace treeplanting protest, 22) Another 5 star hotel in the rainforest, 23) $400 million “Treelords” deal,
–Australia: 24) Dangar Falls Reserve, 25) Lack of value-added products from Jarrah harvest, 26) Ban on logging in Mt Rae forest not to change! 27) Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary expands, 28) Climate change robbing Koala of essential nutrients, 29) Gunns moves ahead, 30) Rudd ratifies Kyoto yet has no interest in reducing logging emissions,
–World-wide: 31) Irrational myth of manifest destiny, 32) Loss of 28,000 km2 of forest every year in Asia, 33) IUFRO: Old Forests, New Management, 34) Logging slowdown worth billions, 35) FSC promises: ‘best most sustainable way’ 36) Green water research is based on moisture in soil and via evapotranspiration,

British Columbia;

1) The plan to create conservancies, a new form of legal land protection, was publicly announced by Premier Gordon Campbell in February of 2006, as a way of ending a decade of confrontations in and around the Great Bear Rainforest, supporting aboriginal people and protecting the area’s natural diversity. Commercial logging, mining and hydroelectric power generation are banned from the conservancies. But while the province has formally established 65 such areas on the central and north coasts since 2006, the proposed Cascade-Stutslem conservancy, which falls within Heiltsuk Nation territory near Bella Coola, remains undesignated. That’s despite a land-use agreement between the province and the Heiltsuk tribal council, according to NDP North Coast MLA Gary Coons. He raised the issue in the legislature this week. The reason for the delay, Mr. Coons said, is that a numbered company, wholly owned by Vancouver-based Primex Investments Ltd., has proposed to build a two-site hydroelectric project with a combined capacity of 71 megawatts on the Nascall River. The project would overlap with the proposed conservancy, but, under the 2006 agreement, the two cannot coexist. Despite that, it seems both proposals are making their way through the system. [Ministry of Environment] representatives have indicated that the conservancy designation would not be going ahead until there was agreement with first nations and Independent Power Producers … in the area.” Mr. Coons said a private project should not interfere with a public agreement. “Of the roughly 140,000 hectares that could be set aside, about 1,000 hectares would be affected, she said. But Ian McAllister, founder of the B.C. coast conservation group Pacific Wild, said the impact on the land will be much greater, and the project goes against “the spirit and intent” of the conservancy agreement. “This isn’t a small project by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “This is in fact flooding one of the most spectacular, intact lake systems on the B.C. coast. And they’re planning on flooding it as deep as 10 to 15 metres. Entire first nations seasonal villages would be flooded. Large tracts of forest could be lost. It would completely alter the entire lake system.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080405.BCRIVER05/EmailTPStory/

2) Harvesting timber in the Honna watershed is underway with more to come, prompting Queen Charlotte council to raise concerns about the potential for cumulative impacts.
At a recent council meeting, Mayor Carol Kulesha discussed forestry activity in the Honna, an area that will become QC’s water source. She noted that Island Timberlands is currently logging and that Western Forest Products has received road permits in the area.
She sent a letter to the Ministry of Forests stating the village’s concern and their desire to remain informed about the ongoing activity. One of her concerns is that runoff from the road and logging operations may impact the water source. WFP forester Garth Johnson says his company is building logging roads in the area, but they intend to do some road work to a section of the QC Main before they begin hauling wood from three cutblocks in the TFL 39 part of the watershed. They are also awaiting approval of cutting permits for these blocks. When approved, WFP will be hauling between the log sort in Queen Charlotte and kilometer 8.5 and within that section, the river is very close to the road.
Mr. Johnson says he has met with the mayor before and his company has taken measures to ensure their work will not cause any problems. A hydrologist has looked at their plans and they intend to do some ditching, culvert work and resurfacing. Meanwhile, Island Timberlands is hauling logs off the private land in the watershed. Makenzie Leine, manager of sustainability and community affairs for the company, says Island Timberlands is operating on land that covers 17 percent of the watershed. She says they will harvest 66.3 ha within the watershed out of four different areas and 22 ha of that will be heli-logging with low ground impact. Ms Leine, who works out of Nanaimo, says her Island Timberland representatives intend to meet with QC Council but haven’t had the chance to travel here yet. She said they are not doing a watershed assessment but are following regulations related to water quality like those under the Private Management Forest Act, the Fisheries Act and the Drinking Water Protection Act. The company does priorize watershed assessments where they own a majority of the watershed. But here their private land only makes up 17 percent of the total watershed. She says in these situations, the company uses best practices from other watershed areas in their operations.
Mr. Johnson says his three blocks will yield 50,000 cubic metres and make up 100 ha of the 1,925 ha WFP holds within the watershed. He estimates the Honna watershed is 2,068 ha. Island Timberland has 765 ha and 2,068 ha are in the Timber Supply Area. http://www.qciobserver.com/Article.aspx?Id=3212

3) Nestled into BC’s southeast corner is a wilderness area of global significance called the Flathead Valley. Sometimes compared with Africa’s Serengeti for its richness of species, the Flathead’s rare convergence of wildlife and stunning vistas are under threat from mountain-top removal coal mining and other industrial development. It is time for British Columbians to do our part and place the missing jewel on what National Geographic Magazine calls the “Crown of the Continent” – by agreeing to permanent protection for our Flathead Valley and safeguarding it from destructive coal mining in adjacent areas. Sign the petition: http://www.sierraclubbc.ca/flathead/petition.html

Canada:

4) For the second straight year, the province is declaring an emergency in its war against mountain pine beetle. The move will allow Sustainable Resource Development to tap extra funding to tackle the infestation of Alberta’s pine forests. Department spokeswoman Joan McCracken said the amount of money needed for the beetle fight will be released in the province’s budget later this month. The government has spent about $138 million since 2006 on the pest problem, which spread to Alberta from British Columbia. While the beetles are beginning to run out of older pine trees to invade and kill in B.C., there’s plenty of fuel here. Joanna Byers, a provincial pine beetle information officer, said winter cold snaps have kept northern Alberta’s beetle population at bay, but not in the Canmore and Crowsnest Pass areas. Despite efforts to cut down infected trees — which has raised protests from some residents and environmental groups in Kananaskis Country — the infestation along the southern Rockies’ eastern slopes has doubled since last year. Pine beetle outbreaks have occurred in southern Alberta in the past, but they’ve never been this extensive, Byers said. And as climate change scientists forecast continuing warmer winters, the beetle will likely become a mainstay. “It’s a threat to social, economic and environmental values,” Byers said, adding if the infestation isn’t controlled, it could hurt the logging industry, watersheds and tourism. http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=e0903356-376e-4e6f-a1a7-92d764adccf3

5) A Greenpeace study released Thursday says cutting down trees in the boreal forest is exacerbating climate change by releasing stores of greenhouse gases trapped in soil and vegetation. It also found that logging makes the forest more susceptible to insect outbreaks and wildfires which, if widespread, could cause a spike in greenhouse-gas emissions – the so-called “carbon bomb.” And the report says a warmer climate melts permafrost, releasing methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. “The idea is that if the current trends continue … what could happen is a sudden and massive release of greenhouse gases from the forest caused by a rapid outbreak of forest or peat fires,” said Greenpeace’s Christy Gerguson. Canada’s boreal forest stores 186 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, the report says – about 27 times the world’s yearly fossil-fuel emissions. About 80 per cent of the carbon is stored in the soil as dead organic matter. The rest is stored in the forest’s evergreen trees, moss and peat. Older, untouched parts of the forest tend to store about three times more carbon than younger trees planted to replace logged ones, Gerguson said. The boreal forest cuts a swath from Canada’s Far North down to British Columbia and all the way across to the east coast. Most of the untouched parts of the boreal forest are located in the northern parts of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. The federal government’s national forestry database shows about 900,000 hectares boreal forest are logged each year. There’s some debate, however, about how much carbon is actually released through logging. The Greenpeace report, a collaboration with University of Toronto researchers, says logging removes about 36 million tonnes of above-ground carbon annually. That would be more yearly carbon emissions than all the passenger vehicles in Canada combined, according to an Environment Canada report on greenhouse gas sources. But Natural Resources Canada released a report last year saying the bulk of carbon from logged trees stays in the forest after they’re cut down, and the rest stays in logs that are taken to mills. Gerguson says forests continue emitting carbon up to 10 years after they’ve been logged as their remnants decompose and decay. “Research is starting to show that the boreal forest is tipping from being a overall carbon sink to an overall carbon source,” Gerguson said. Greenpeace isn’t suggesting Canada halt all logging of the boreal forest, she said. http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5j5pQb4e7XUvCsk8s_H3jqyiz4o3w

Brazil:

6) On Monday, Blairo Maggi was in need of some help. Known as the “Soybean King,” Maggi is a former soy plantation owner and now governor of the western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. He is considered one of Brazil’s most powerful men, but with tensions rising in the region, he recently turned to Daniel Nepstad, an Amazon-based U.S. ecologist, for advice. “He was saying he was about ready to throw in the towel, unless…there will be some effort to help him govern this vast forest reserve,” said Nepstad, who works for the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts and conducts research on one of Maggi’s farms. “The fans of revolution are pushing embers up into the air.” In Mato Grosso, as in other parts of the Amazon, the rapid expansion of agriculture is triggering mounting tensions between locals and environmental authorities. Satellite imagery released in January showed that as much as 2,700 square miles (4,345 kilometers) of the massive Brazilian Amazon was cleared between August and December of 2007-about 60 percent more land than during the same five months in 2006. Experts attribute the rising deforestation to growth in global meat consumption, which is driving soybean and beef production, and to a lesser extent to the boom in biofuels, which is reportedly pushing cattle ranchers off conventional farmlands and deeper into the Amazon. To counteract this trend, the Brazilian government decreed in December that any landowners found to be illegally felling trees would be fined and possibly embargoed, which would cut them off from domestic and international trading. And in February, the government ruled that as of July 1, 2008, both public and private banks would have to demand environmental permits from landowners before supplying any loans. Such enforcement is seen as necessary to stop deforestation, but it has resulted in sweeping civil unrest. http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5697

7) Making love might not seem like the most obvious way to save the world’s largest tropical rainforest – and combat the threat of Aids. But according to the Brazilian government, which this week opened a £10m condom factory deep in the Amazon jungle, it could be an effective weapon in the battle to silence the chainsaws of Amazonia. On Monday government ministers gathered in the remote town of Xapuri to open a condom factory that will use latex manually extracted from the area’s forests to make around 100 million condoms a year. The factory, in the Amazon state of Acre, would allow local rubber tappers to profit from the rainforest without destroying it, officials said. Marina Silva, Brazil’s environment minister, said the Natex condom would help create “a new pattern of production and a new process of inclusion that would value the forest being left standing”. As well as protecting the rainforest government officials hope the factory will help to reduce Brazil’s dependence on condoms imported from Asia. Last year Brazil distributed around 120 million free condoms as part of a massive anti-Aids drive that has helped to slash infection rates in South America’s largest country. In a statement the health ministry said more than 500 local families would also benefit from what has been dubbed the “made in Amazonia” condom, together earning R$2.2m (£657,000) each year. Hugo Paz de Souza, 43, a rubber tapper, said the factory would allow him to double his income to around £200 a month. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/09/forests.conservation?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfro
nt

8) Marriott International, Inc. and the state of Amazonas today signed an agreement to support the first project of its kind to help protect 1.4 million acres of endangered rainforest. This innovative partnership between government and the private sector is one of the first in the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation. Marriott has committed $2 million to fund an environmental management plan administered by the newly created Amazonas Sustainable Foundation. By year end, Marriott guests and group customers will also be able to offset the greenhouse gas emissions generated from their hotel stays by contributing to this rainforest fund. In addition to offering this carbon offset, Marriott is taking new steps to reduce the company’s water, waste and energy consumption; green its supply chain; build greener hotels; and engage employees and guests to take action. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/marriott-and-brazilian-state-of-amazonas-partner-to-prot
ect-rainforest,341454.shtml

South East Asia:

9) Southeast Asia is a 3,100 mile long chain of about 20,000 islands strung between Asia and Australia. It covers and area of 1,112,000 square miles, almost twice the size of Alaska. The area lies from latitude 20° north and 16° south, and longitude 95° to 105° east. The average daily temperature varies from 70°F to 90°F. Humidity is always high. Millions of years ago, as the rest of the world went through cooling and warming periods, the climate of the Southeast Asian region remained more or less the same. This was due mainly because of its location on the equator and being surrounded by water. Because the climate on the equator doesn’t change much and the surrounding oceans provide plenty of moisture in the form of rain, the region was able to have consistent forests over very long periods of time. As sea levels rose and fell through warming and icing cycles, small pockets of forests survived as “forest refugia”, or reservoirs of wildlife from which various species could reestablish themselves. Malaysia and the islands of Borneo, Sumatra and Java were all part of the same landmass during the last ice age. When the glaciers melted and sea levels rose many of these reservoirs were cut off from each other. This forced species to developed their own distinctive evolutionary paths in response to local environments, leading to an amazing diversity of species of every kind. One interesting feature of the lowland rainforests of Malaysia, Borneo and Sumatra is the dominance of one family of trees, the Dipterocarpaceae. Dipterocarp are emergent trees and can reach heights of 120 feet. Their crowns are supported on large straight trunks. Many epiphytes, like orchids and ferns grow on the trees. Lianas, vines and strangler figs cling to the trees as they grow towards the sunlight. The emergent species is the tualang (Koompassia excelsa)which can reach heights of 280 feet. It is the 3rd tallest tree species in the world, and is almost never cut down because of its hard wood and massive buttresses. But most importantly it is home to large honey bees (Apis dorsata)whose honeycombs hang like enormous wedges from the underside of its branches. These trees are worth more money when left standing. http://rashidfaridi.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/southeast-asean-rainforest/

Laos:

10) After decades of isolation, Communist-led Laos is enjoying an economic boom fuelled in part by surging demand for its abundant commodity — land. From China to Japan and South Korea to Thailand, agri-business firms are flocking to the landlocked Southeast Asian nation to grow everything from rubber and pulp trees to organic vegetables and “green” crops for alternative fuels. “Laos will be ASEAN’s orchard in a couple of years,” Thai embassy commercial officer Chalaempon Pongchabubnapa said of the 10-nation Southeast Asia grouping of which Laos is a member. One of the poorest countries in Asia, with many of its citizens living on around $1 per day, Laos has gradually opened its tiny economy to foreign investment since the Pathet Lao Communists adopted market reforms in the mid-1980s. In its 2008 outlook, the Asian Development Bank forecast nearly 8 percent growth led by mining and hydropower, but “an expansion of agriculture remains the key to raising incomes and employment”. However, the rapid investment in agriculture so far — 39 projects worth $458 million were approved in 2006 compared to six valued at $14 million in 2002, according to the Ministry for Planning and Investment — has not gone smoothly. The system for granting concessions “is a mess”, said a foreign advisor to the central government, which imposed a halt on new land grants last May that provinces have largely ignored. Land conflicts are rising as plantations encroach on village fields and nearby forests, taking away traditional livelihoods with little or no compensation, activists say. “Laos has one of the lowest population densities of any Southeast Asian nation by far,” retired professor and Laos expert Martin Stuart-Fox said of its 5.8 million people living in an area half the size of France. “There is land available and the government can very easily take it off the people and sign deals for plantation agriculture,” he told Reuters. http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7450390

Malaysia:

11) They were curious when they saw a bulldozer followed by a four-wheel-drive full of men drive out of the forest near their village last week. But the residents of Kampung Charuk Malau decided it must have been the Forestry Department doing some work. “We talked about it among our selves, thinking that some land clearing was being carried out by the Forestry Department. So we left it at that,” villager Mohd Zahir Md Saad said. But something didn’t sit right for Mohd Zahir and his neighbours, who cultivate small vegetable plots on the edge of the forest reserve about 70 kilometres from here. So on Sunday they invited reporters on a trek into the jungle to see what was going on, and after about 20 minutes walking they stumbled on a clearing the size of a football field. Huge trees had been felled, and 80 logs had been stacked in neat piles of eight to 10. Most of the logs were 10 metres long and two-and-a-half metres in diameter. “This is a real surprise,” said Mohd Zahir. “I hope the authorities will come and check.” State Forestry Department director Kassim Othman said his department had not issued logging permits in the area, and for the rest of Padang Terap district, since the last week of last month “I’m not sure about the status, but I have sent some officers to investigate. There are many things to look into and we will have a better picture by tomorrow (today),” he said. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Monday/NewsBreak/20080407170233/Article/index_html

Solomon Islands:

12) Transparency Solomon Islands, TSI, is concerned at the involvement of politicians in assessing the export log values. There are reports circulating in Honiara that the government is losing up to two million dollars a week in revenue because the price on which export duty is paid on logs is too low. Acting Executive officer of TSI, Jean Tafoa says that this has been going on for several years with the country losing hundreds of millions of dollars that should have gone into improving government services. She says ministers have been fixing low export prices under pressure from logging companies with whom they were involved. Mrs Tafoa says TSI wants to see this practice stopped. She says export duty is paid at a rate fixed by the Minister of Finance. Mrs Tafoa says the duty is paid on the value of the log when it is loaded onto the ship. She says the exporter when declaring the value in the customs entry documents for the shipment may or may not be telling the truth, and it is an offence to give false information. Mr Tafoa says TSI welcomes the government commitment for the Ministry of forestry ‘to ensure Solomon Islands receives fair returns on the export of round logs. Prime Minister Derek Sikua has said it’s estimated that the transition period for the present government system to the State Government system will take about 10 years of implementation. In a statement in Parliament on the progress of the Federal System of Government, Dr Sikua said during the 10 year period the people will be expected to enjoy full responsibilities and benefits that come from the new change. http://langalanga.blogspot.com/2008/04/tsi-concern-over-politicians.html

Indonesia:

13) Palm oil firms have continued burning peatland forest to expand their businesses, defying a government ban aimed at curbing the country’s carbon emissions, a leading environment group says. Greenpeace conducted a field investigation of Riau province, the country’s largest peatland forest and the biggest producers of palm oil, between February and March. “We are shocked to find two palm oil concessions are still clearing, draining and burning peatland forest in Riau,” Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest campaigner Hapsoro said at a press conference here Monday. “We are afraid such practices are still going on in provinces of Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua,” he said. Hapsoro said two palm oil companies had started operating at the peatland area in Indragiri Hulu regency. “They are yet to secure concession permits from the local regent,” Hapsoro said. “We call on the government to ‘give teeth’ to their Bali commitment to saving the forests and tackling climate change, by putting measures immediately in place to regulate the palm oil industry,” he said. Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono issued a statement during the UN conference on climate change in Bali in December, ordering all governors to cease issuing permits for palm oil firms in peatland ecosystems. The statement was a response to Greenpeace and other environmental groups, who urged the government to stop converting the country’s peatlands. Indonesia has about 20 million hectares of peatland. A hectare of peatland is predicted to store between 3,400 and 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main global warming contributor. http://redapes.org/news-updates/carbon-emissions-skyrocket-as-indonesian-palm-oil-firms-openly-d
efy-peatland-burning-ban/

14) Over exploitation of forests due to illegal logging has resulted in a tremendous rate of deforestation. The average rate of deforestation between 1982 and 1990 was 0.9 million hectares per year, increasing to 1.8 hectares per year between 1990 and 1997. When the New Order regime collapsed in 1998 and the government became weaker, illegal logging went rampant and consequently deforestation peaked to 2.8 million hectares annually before lowering again in 2000. Last year, environmental activists accused Indonesia of having the highest rate of rain forest depletion in the world. A forest concession area is divided into 35 blocks, with one block allowed to be cut per year. Only trees with a diameter larger than 50 cm can be cut. The smaller trees are left for 35 years until the next harvest, with an assumption that their diameters would increase by as much as 1 cm a year. If natural regeneration is considered insufficient, then enrichment planting can be implemented in open spaces, especially in those formerly used as timber collection areas. But this simple system does not work. How come? It doesn’t work simply because it is incorrectly applied. Many concession companies do not obey the rules. In many areas, illegal logging is so blatant that we can logically conclude that all related authorities are involved. Authorities are used to receiving grafts from illegal loggers, while even companies that harvest the forests legally are forced to pay bribes to those in charge, or their work will be hindered and they will not be able to transport their wood from the logging sites. Looking back over the 25 years since its establishment, it is clear the Forestry Ministry has failed to consistently manage its forests and that it will be unable to do so in the future. Our country’s failure in managing its forests is mirrored in many of our other natural resources. http://old.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20080408.F04&irec=3

15) Manila – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a $1.5 million grant to fund environmental plans to save the ‘Coral Triangle’ and the ‘Heart of Borneo’ in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The development bank is working with environmentalists to save the region’s seas and rainforest particularly the Coral Triangle, which has the highest marine biodiversity in the world, and the Heart of Borneo, with rainforests covering 54 million acres that are some of the last refuges for orangutans, Asian elephants, and Sumatran rhinos. Illegal logging, mining, and farming destroy millions of acres of forests that pose extinction threats to a number of species. Destructive fishing methods such as using cyanide and dynamite, on the other hand, destroy coral areas and kill marine resources. ‘The degradation threatens millions of people who rely on the natural resources for their livelihoods. Urgent attention is needed to stop the deforestation and damage to the marine environment,’ said Urooj Malik, Director of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources of ADB’s Southeast Asia Department. http://rashidfaridi.blogspot.com/2008/04/gis-newsasian-development-bank-grants.html
16) Forestry Minister MS Kaban said the Indonesian government would soon lodge a protest against Malaysia for accepting illegal logs smuggled from West Kalimantan on a large scale. Minister Kaban made the statement in Muara Sungai Pawan on Thursday when inspecting 12,000 cubic meters of logs that had been seized by the police and 19 boats detained for transporting the illegal logs. During the visit, Kaban was accompanied by National Police Chief General Sutanto and the National Police`s Criminal Investigation Department Head Comm Gen Bambang Hendarto Danuri. The forestry ministry believed the seized logs were to have been smuggled to Kuching, Malaysia as wood industries in the neighboring country had often used smuggled logs from Indonesia. “We also urge the international world to boycott the wood products. International support is very much needed,” Kaban said.Indonesia had documents proving that Malaysia had accommodated smuggled wood from Indonesia, the minister said. “We are ready to carry out a DNA test (on the wood), so that they cannot deny that the logs they have used were smuggled Indonesian logs,” the minister said. Indonesia had the results of DNA tests on wood from its forests, he said. The Indonesian Police Headquarters had arrested 18 suspects consisting of boat skippers and log owners in an anti-illegal log raid in West Ketapang. Six officers of the Ketapang forestry service were also detained for issuing documents to legalize the illegal logs. http://redapes.org/news-updates/indonesia-to-protest-malaysia-for-accepting-smuggled-logs/

17) Three countries that took part in the second “Heart of Borneo” (HoB) meeting — Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam — have agreed to implement five things to protect forest areas, conservation and production forests for the sake of future generations, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said. Speaking at a press conference here on Friday, the ministry`s director of forest areas and nature conservation (PHKA), Nur Hidayat, said the three countries had committed themselves to implementing five points agreed on during the four-day Heart of Borneo meeting in Pontianak from April 1 to 4. The five points had to do with space layout, utilization of protected and conserved forests in accordance with their types or qualifications, processing of forest products based on conservation principles as not all forests are included in the HoB, conducting activities designed to make use of the existing potentials by avoiding tree-cutting, making efforts to save and maintain forests in line with their function or increase the local communities` role in conserving forests, Nur Hidayat said. He said the HoB covered a total area of 200,000 square km of which 57.1 percent was located in West Kalimantan, followed by Malaysian 42.3 percent and Brunei Darussalam about 0.6 percent. Nur Hidayat further said though the three countries had agreed to the five important points to save the HoB, Indonesia also stressed the need to make various efforts to raise the prosperity level of people living in HoB areas by making use of forest potentials without destorying the forests and their ecosystems. A member of the Indonesian delegation, Fathan A Rosyid, said the forests in the HoB area were a source of living to people in Kalimantan and the world in general. More support from many sides was also needed to protect the forests from illegal logging. http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2008/4/4/heart-of-borneo-countries-agree-to-five-points-to-cons
erve-forests/

18) Jakarta – More than a dozen senior police officers have been grilled for their alleged roles in illegal logging in West Kalimantan province on the Indonesian portion of Borneo island, local media reports said Wednesday. National police chief General Sutanto had vowed to take legal action against any police officer involved in illegal logging or log smuggling in the country. ‘We want to deal with illegal logging activities conclusively. Whoever is suspected to be involved will be investigated,’ the state-run Antara news agency quoted Sutanto as saying. At least 14 police officers in West Kalimantan province were being held at the national police headquarters in Jakarta for questioning, he said. ‘The investigations are being conducted by the National Police general supervisory inspector,’ Sutanto said, adding that they were questioned on suspicion of having colluded with log smugglers in West Kalimantan. Sutanto, who like many Indonesians goes by only name, said he supported the forestry ministry’s plan to cooperate with neighbouring countries, such as Malaysia, in an attempt to stop log smuggling from the country. West Kalimantan police last month named 26 people as suspects in illegal logging cases, including 14 boat crew members, six officers of the Ketapang transportation service, eight illegal log owners – with two of them still at large – and one mediator between illegal logging financiers and loggers. Police continued their manhunt for four Malaysians who have been named suspects in connection with illegal logging in West Kalimantan province. In March, police seized around 12,000 cubic metres of illegal logs worth about 208 billion rupiah (22.6 million dollars), which were about to be smuggled to Malaysia from the province’s Ketapang district, the report said. According to the environmental watchdog Greenpeace, Indonesia had the world’s fastest rate of deforestation between 2000 and 2005, with the equivalent area of some 300 football pitches cut down every hour. Deforestation is regarded as the main factor for Indonesia turning into the third largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/news/article_1399023.php/Indonesian_police_office
rs_grilled_in_illegal_logging_case

Papua New Giunea:

19) In early March, the Prime Minister announced the formation of the Papua New Guinea-Australia Forest Carbon Partnership, which is aimed at creating acceptable carbon offset opportunities from reduced deforestation in Papua New Guinea. Another question that must be tackled is the potential scale of avoided deforestation that will be possible in the deal. There is some disagreement in the literature as to how much deforestation actually occurs in that country and this needs to be resolved quickly, before too much political (and financial) capital is invested. There are probably large areas of forest in PNG that are being degraded due to bush gardening or logging activities, but the degree to which this contributes to net carbon losses is by no means an easy question to answer. It is possible, at least, that the overall carbon losses from forest sites that are degraded but which then recover, are not significant. Some figures suggest that PNG may in fact have been losing only something in the order of 60,000 hectares of forested area a year in recent years. This may seem like a lot of forest, but even by using fairly high estimates of how much carbon dioxide would be released annually from the loss of this area of forest, we arrive at a number in the order of only 6 per cent of annual human-induced GHG emissions in Australia; enough to be of interest, certainly, but not to be transformative of Australia’s options for GHG reduction. To put this forest loss figure in perspective, the rate of loss of forest area in neighbouring Indonesia in recent years has been 10 to 15 times greater. This raises a more general concern about trading in avoided deforestation that has yet to be effectively tackled by the international community. Consider two facts: first, under current Kyoto provisions, avoided deforestation trading is of most value, potentially, to countries that have historically high levels of deforestation such as Brazil and Indonesia since these have most to gain in emissions trading from a significant reduction in their rates of forest loss. Second, the global scale of deforestation as a cause of climate change is large (between 20 and 25 per cent of all human-induced GHG emissions result from forest destruction) and this means that aggregate, global levels of GHG emissions from forest loss must come down significantly for the overall effort to mitigate climate change to be successful. http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/news/opinion/opinion/trade-holds-trees-to-ransom/1217682.html

New Zealand:

20) Gisborne producers expect to gain enormous benefits from the free trade agreement signed yesterday between New Zealand and China. The farming and forestry sectors, in particular, expect to get more traction in this gigantic new market, which is growing exponentially as the country’s middle classes expand. “China, with its huge population and ever-increasing appetite for better-quality goods, will be looking to our country for those services,” said Mayor Meng Foon, who is delighted about the development. “First, we think we grow the best, second, we will be more competitive because we don’t have to fight price on the tariff front and, third, we are not a threat to Chinese imports. “I support the free trade deal, not only because I am Chinese but from the perspective of trade and better human rights for the people of New Zealand and China.” Present tariffs imposed on New Zealand goods in China were quite substantial — in the case of wine, for instance, the tariff was around 30 percent. “We have a number of sectors this will benefit — sheep, wool and beef farmers, the horticulture sector, Zespri, fresh fruits and fresh vegetables, our timber industry and from it added-value products, manufacturing, the wine sector and many more,” he said. His comments were supported by members of various sector groups, including the district’s sole remaining clothing manufacturer, Columbine Hosiery. General manager Alistair Thorpe is “very confident” about the future of the hosiery manufacturer, despite the China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which removes tariffs on Chinese clothing and textiles between 2014 and 2016. The company had long known about the likelihood of a China FTA and had taken the appropriate step of introducing new machinery and technology, he said. http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/Default.aspx?s=3&s1=2&id=d6f317f7948b408aa76bae533924a319

21) Over 1000 trees planted today by 30 Greenpeace volunteers in a central North Island block of Landcorp land have been pulled out. The volunteers began at 7.30am today to “re-forest” around 1600 square metres of land that had been cleared for dairy farming.
Greenpeace climate campaigner Simon Boxer said the re-planting campaign was aimed at drawing more attention to the large amounts of forestry land in the Tahorakuri Forest, northeast of Taupo, being converted to dairy farming. But state owned Landcorp chief executive Chris Kelly which leased the land said the trees had been removed soon after the volunteers left. “The owners of the land have taken some action, the trees have gone and as I understand it the trees are being donated to a local group,” he said. http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/Story/tabid/209/articleID/51790/cat/41/Default.aspx

22) Work has started on a new five-star $26.5 million rainforest hotel near Franz Josef on the West Coast of the South Island. The lodge-style hotel is part of the Scenic Circle chain and will be surrounded by native rainforest and built with sustainable and locally sourced materials. Scenic Circle Hotels’ managing director Brendan Taylor said the vision was for guests to feel encircled by the natural rainforest. The hotel is also expected to help with a severe shortage of accommodation for tourists over the peak summer season. Tourism West Coast general manager Sonya Matthews said more than 1.4 million visitors came to the area each year and most of those came in during the summer peak months of December to February. “That creates huge pressure on our accommodation providers.” Matthews said the new hotel would go some way towards relieving the pressure but the bigger issue was how to get more tourists to come over the shoulder seasons. “We just try to push the message that you don’t have to come only in that December to February period. It’s equally as nice to come from October through to April.” The hotel is expected to be completed by January next year and will feature 100 rooms with the potential for a further 60 to be added. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10502378

23) A spokesman for Treaty Negotiations Minister Michael Cullen says it is too early to speculate on the impact a proposed $400 million “Treelords” deal will have on other Treaty settlements. Central North Island iwi representatives will present their proposal for the handover of several forests, which if accepted will represent the largest ever Treaty deal, to Dr Cullen today at the Waihi Marae on the shores of Lake Taupo. However, if the deal is settled it could trigger a top-up clause in Ngai Tahu’s historic Treaty settlement. That 1997 settlement contains a relativity clause that gives the tribe the right to return to the negotiating table if total Treaty settlements between 1994 and 2044 exceed the $1 billion fiscal envelope set by the previous National government. Ngai Tahu leader Mark Solomon said if the Government accepted the claimants’ terms it would take total Treaty settlements “well over $1 billion”. “We’ll be invoking our relativity clause if this deal goes ahead. We’ve been told the current Treaty total payout figure stands above $700 million.” At the heart of proposed settlement are nine central North Island forests – Kaingaroa, Horohoro, Whakarewarewa, Crater, Waimihia, Marotiri, Pureora, Waituhi and Taurewa. Under the proposed deal, Tuwharetoa will also be offered the opportunity to buy the Lake Taupo and Lake Rotoaira forests from the Crown. The forests are administered by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust, which holds about $240 million in rental revenue collected from foresters renting land in the nine forests. Carbon credits are also understood to be on the negotiating table as part of the deal. Tainui, the first iwi to complete a Treaty settlement with the Crown, also has a relativity clause like Ngai Tahu’s. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10501974

Australia:

24) Dangar Falls Reserve supports an interesting riparian rainforest vegetation community of Antarctic Beech, Tree Ferns, Blackwood, Koda and Sassafrass to name just a few of the species. The waterfall on the Bielsdown River is spectacular and is one of the important tourism sites in Dorrigo. Bellingen Council has allocated $15,000 from the environmental levy to bush regeneration work in this reserve and contracted Greg Booker for the work. Small-leaved privet is the major weed in the reserve, forming a thick edge along the top end, a strong band along the edge of the water and scattering all through the forest as an understorey plant of various size. Greg has almost completed the privet work in the initial knock-down , frilling plants carefully in order not to damage the dense native regeneration. He has left tobacco bush intentionally to provide some canopy and protection for the emerging native plants. This will be removed at a later date when appropriate. Also left for protection and to keep light infiltration low is the outer edge of privet. The result is fantastic – the forest floor is covered with native ferns of several species and with lots of very small native rainforest tree seedlings, not obvious to the untrained eyes of the casual visitor. Greg has been working here just one day per week, weather permitting, and the allocated funds have not yet been fully spent. This is a shining example of excellent professional bush regeneration work and of well-targeted environmental levy expenditure. http://bellingen.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/funding-to-regenerate-dangar-falls-reserve
/1218419.html

25) Just 20 per cent of jarrah and 12 per cent of karri harvested from WA’s native forests last financial year ended up as value-added products such as furniture, flooring or structural timber, prompting fresh calls to end what was labelled an unsustainable and unacceptable use of a precious resource. Conservation Council vice-president Beth Schultz said figures from the Forest Product Commission’s annual report proved the timber would be more valuable left in the ground given the environmental, social and recreational benefits provided by native forests. Industry leaders dismissed Dr Schultz’s views as simplistic and unreasonable, saying the recovery rate for any primary product was never more than a third, the renewable resource was well managed and it provided impressive returns to the State. According to the FPC, about 45 per cent of the 295,000 tonnes of jarrah harvested last financial year was sold for firewood or charcoal production and 55 per cent was sold to local timber mills for value-adding. http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=66743

26) Upper Lachlan Shire Council will not re-open discussion on its ban on logging in the Mt Rae forest despite strong criticism from The Southern Tablelands Farm Forestry Network and “Fire Baron” Bernie Smillie. Mr Smillie, in a letter discussed at the March 27 Shire Council meeting at Taralga, stated his intention to lodge a complaint with the Local Government Minister. He pointed out that the new Department of Environment and Climate Change had issued him a Vegetation Plan which allowed for the felling of trees under strict guidelines. Both Mr Smillie claimed he and the Forestry Network had not been treated with “procedural fairness” in his application to log his section of the forest for firewood. For the full story, please see Monday’s Goulburn Post, available from our front office in Auburn St, or at all leading newsagencies across the Goulburn area. http://goulburn.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/logging-debate-closed/1217769.html

27) CURRUMBIN residents will benefit from the ongoing rejuvenation of a spectacular eight hectare land parcel adjacent to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. Eco-friendly developer Mark Chapman (pictured, right) is planning a $25 million swag of initiatives on his Currumbin Hill site which has spectacular views of the southern beaches and hinterland. Mr Chapman will be transforming the land from overgrown and weedy bushland into pristine rainforest and installing much needed infrastructure as part of Precinct A at the $80 million Currumbin Ridge gated estate. The latest undertaking to commence this month includes bitumen roads, stormwater installation, sewerage system, street lighting, car parks and foundations for homes. “Upgrades cannot be completed soon enough,” said Mr Chapman. “The rejuvenation will be of great benefit to residents of Currumbin Ridge and the community at large.” It marks an important milestone in the development of a project on a site which has been neglected until recent years. The plan is to create pristine A-grade rainforest from weedy and overgrown bushland; native trees will be protected and landscaping completed which should attract increased wildlife. Already completed is a retaining wall which addresses land slippage issues and the introduction of native species of flora. There will be 70 per cent of the site as bushland while upmarket homes are developed on the estate. http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/04/05/9675_gold-coast-real-estate.html

28) The future of the koala, perhaps Australia’s best-loved animal, is under threat because greenhouse gas emissions are making eucalyptus leaves – their sole food source – inedible. Scientists warned yesterday that increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were reducing nutrient levels in the leaves, and also boosting their toxic tannin content. That has serious implications for koalas and other marsupials that eat only, or mainly, the leaves of gum trees. These include a number of possum and wallaby species. “What we’re seeing, essentially, is that the staple diet of these animals is being turned to leather,” said Bill Foley, a science professor at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. Climate change could help to explain decreases in the numbers of brushtail possums and greater gliders (a large possum) in certain parts of Queensland where none of the usual factors – disease, hunting, loss of habitat – appears to be to blame. Jane De Gabriel, a zoologist at ANU, told The Australian newspaper that brushtail possums had been found to breed more prolifically in woodland areas where the protein levels in eucalyptus leaves were high. “This suggests that in areas where nutrient levels are inadequate, animals will not be able to reproduce successfully,” she said. “What follows are extinctions of wildlife populations. It’s pretty scary stuff.” Despite koalas’ predilection for eucalyptus, the leaves are not nutritionally rich. In fact, even in the best conditions they are so low in protein that koalas – which spend up to 20 hours a day asleep, and most of the rest of their waking hours eating – have to eat 700g (1.5lb) of them a day to survive. Like koalas, greater gliders feed only on eucalyptus leaves. Greater gliders have disappeared from some habitats where they were abundant 20 years ago. Brushtail possums, ringtail possums and many wallabies rely on the leaves as the major component of their diet. Ivan Lawler, a researcher at Queensland’s James Cook University, found that when there was more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the levels of nitrogen and other nutrients fell.” WWF Australia warned recently that rising temperatures threatened numerous Australian native species, including the tree frog, the hare kangaroo, the tiny tree kangaroo and the greater bilby. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/koalas-in-danger-805228.html?service=Print

29) The man appointed by the Commonwealth to monitor work on Gunns’ Northern Tasmanian pulp mill will alert the government to any sign of environmental damage. The independent site supervisor, Rob Joy, will work with two Hobart-based Federal Environment Department officers to ensure the mill does not impact on threatened and migratory species or Bass Strait. The Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, has given Gunns a permit to bring in heavy equipment and start earthworks, two months after approving vegetation clearing. Australian Greens leader, Bob Brown, has savaged Mr Garrett for granting the latest permit. Senator Brown says the nation’s most powerful environmentalist has given the go-ahead for wildife and forest destruction. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/03/2206591.htm?section=justin

30) Australia’s new government led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has ratified Kyoto, appears genuinely committed to global climate change policy, and speaks often of how Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the world must protect primary forests to solve global climate change. Yet in an act of unseemly doublespeak, the country that is perhaps most impacted by climate change continues to log its last centuries old trees found in ancient forest ecosystems vital for holding both carbon and water. Why is forest protection a good idea internationally but not for Australia’s much reduced and climate impacted natural habitats? Australia’s new government must be called upon to stop their hypocrisy and end logging of their own old growth forests as a keystone response to climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity and ecosystem sustainability. Australia’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions are amongst the highest in the world and unsustainable lifestyles threaten the continent’s fragile ecosystems. Australia is currently experiencing extreme drought, and continued soaring temperatures will result in failing water supplies, plummeting agricultural yields, rising sea levels, surging extreme weather including super cyclones and bushfires, and an influx of climate refugees. http://www.climateark.org/alerts/send.asp?id=australia_tasmania_climate

World-wide:

31) Among the English-speaking settler societies — U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand — an irrational but powerful myth still prevails. It drove “manifest destiny” and is still alive and well, if usually unconscious. Divinely inspired colonists wrested lands occupied by native peoples and bestowed the mixed blessings of civilization on them. The rationalization for dispossession then — and now — was that these “primitive” peoples were not making productive use of their lands. What they did not know, and still do not, is that they took over lands that were largely shaped and maintained by indigenous peoples through extensive and intensive land care practices that enabled them to not only survive but also thrive. Enter the 21st century. The work of indigenous dispossession is about to be completed. The last great global land grab and indigenous asset stripping is happening as I write. (I borrowed these phrases from Rebecca Adamson of First Peoples Worldwide and Andy White of Rights and Resources Initiative at a meeting of the World Bank that I participated in.) We have a big problem. Some unintended outcomes of well-intentioned climate mitigation measures are below the media radar screen. Land values are dramatically increasing because of demand by northern multinational corporations for land to produce biofuels, plantation monocultures for carbon trading offsets and transfat substitutes such as palm oil in the developing south. Indigenous peoples presently occupy 22 percent of the Earth’s land surface, are stewards of 80 percent of remaining biodiversity and comprise 90 percent of cultural diversity. As demand increases the value of indigenous lands — already poorly protected — the rate of loss of indigenous assets and livelihood options becomes more rapid. Adding to these losses are losses of homelands set aside by big environmental NGOs and third-world government elites for conservation reserves and parks through forced evictions. Also disappearing is global genetic diversity maintained by indigenous peoples, which is essential for maintaining the capacity of plants and animals to adapt to climate change. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/357294_ecocultural02.html

32) A report from the United Nations has warned that the loss of more than 28,000 km2 of forest every year in Asia must be stopped and reversed immediately, according to a Reuters report. A UN climate conference in Bali last year agreed to launch pilot projects to grant poor countries credits for slowing deforestation under a new long-term climate pact beyond 2012. “If these trends continue, land-use emissions are likely to increase until 2050; much damage will already have been done by the time they start to recede,” the report said. “Reversing deforestation is thus critical.” Experts say reversing the trend would also help reduce the impact of soil erosion and drought, protect against floods and increase bio-diversity, and thus food security The report said governments in Asia and the Pacific were likely to face “eco-refugees” from their own countries and elsewhere in the region, seeking shelter from short term and long term environmental catastrophes. “These refugees are likely to head to cities and towns, so government needs to plan for this influx both in the short term and long term.” it said. “A regional food bank is one measure that countries can adopt for mutual assistance.” The report said it was unfair to expect developing countries to sacrifice growth to cut emissions, but it was also imperative to include them in all mitigating efforts, Reuters reported. “The solution is invest in carbon-reducing technologies,” the UN said. The UN estimates the cost of returning greenhouse gas emissions to present levels by 2030 would be about $200 billion annually through measures such as investing in energy efficiency and low-carbon renewable energy. http://www.internationalforestindustries.com/2008/04/01/asian-deforestation-must-cease-un/

33) Newly sensitised to the dangers of climate change, researchers around the world are making progress in helping to protect old growth forests that are threatened by fires, urban development and logging. This week the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) published a scientific summary of the ‘Old Forests, New Management’ international conference, held February, in Hobart, Tasmania, that is expected to influence current thought and policy worldwide. IUFRO, which networks more than 15,000 forest scientists in almost 700 member organisations in over 110 countries, co-hosted the Hobart conference along with the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry, Tasmania. “Old growth” forests have different connotations in different countries. In parts of North America, it may mean the open forests of Ponderosa pine that were fire-managed by the native Americans. In Europe, it may mean the great oak forests that were planted in the middle ages to feed pigs and to supply timber for ships. In Australia, it may refer to forests that have been undisturbed by human activity for long periods. But issues and responses to silviculture and management of old growth forests have many similarities across Australia, Europe, North and South America, according to several participating forest scientists contacted by IPS. Today many countries enforce rigid policies which help prevent loss of old forest areas. In addition, economic affluence and greater farming efficiency are leading to increase in old growth forests in some countries after centuries of contraction. Old growth forests have become one of the most contentious issues in the forestry debate. The term evokes images of ancient forests with a spiritual link, tall majestic trees and an ecosystem which is a haven for unique biodiversity. David Lindenmayer, professor of ecology and conservation biology at the Australian National University in Canberra, said, “We probably ought to look to phasing out old growth forest logging altogether.” While the conservationists are for a total ban on logging, arguing that the jobs lost in forestry and logging will be replaced by jobs in ecotourism or other industries, the economists think otherwise. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41858

34) A slowdown of deforestation from the Amazon to the Congo basin could generate billions of dollars every year for developing nations as part of a U.N. scheme to fight climate change, a study showed on Monday. Burning of forests by farmers clearing land accounts for 20 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions. A 190-nation U.N. climate conference agreed in Bali, Indonesia, in December to work on ways to reward countries for slowing deforestation. “Even with quite conservative assumptions, you can generate substantial amounts of money and emissions reductions,” said Johannes Ebeling of EcoSecurities in Oxford, England, of a study with Mai Yasue at the University of British Columbia in Canada.They said a 10 percent decline in the rate of tropical forest loss could generate annual carbon finance for developing nations of between 1.5 billion and 9.1 billion euros ($2.4 to $14.30 billion) assuming carbon prices of 5 to 30 euros a tonne. Such curbs would represent about 300 million tonnes of avoided carbon dioxide emissions a year — about the amount of heat-trapping gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels, emitted by Turkey, or half the total of France. The United Nations wants reduced emissions from deforestation to be part of a new long-term climate treaty beyond 2012 to help avert more droughts, heatwaves, outbreaks of disease and rising seas. Ebeling told Reuters that any credits for avoided deforestation would have to be matched by tough restrictions elsewhere, for instance forcing coal-fired power plants or cement factories to pay for right to emit carbon dioxide. http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL06460279.html

35) “The need for timber resources is growing and predicted to continue to do so,” Hasse told Mongabay, “some [of our critics] are concerned about plantation forests, others about logging in natural forests. At FSC we understand the concerns and crucial importance of these issues extremely well. But we are also realistic enough to understand that faced with massive demand for timber resources, neither are going to stop. So based on the fact that FSC has developed the highest and most widely supported social and environmental standards, we engage to make sure this happens in the best and most sustainable way possible.” Addressing the major criticisms one by one, Hasse says that in regards to the certification of products from monoculture plantations the “FSC certified plantations do not replace natural forests” and the “FSC does not support conversion of natural forests to plantations or other land uses.” She adds that, “Many of FSC certified plantations actually contribute to the restoration of natural forests, by either allowing or actively promoting regeneration of natural forests in sensitive areas such as riparian zones.” As for certifying forest products from old-growth logging, Haase argues that FSC certified logging — even old-growth logging — can under certain circumstances help preserve forests by making the ecosystem-at-large worth something. The FSC believes that one way to ensure long-term conservation is to use the very market forces behind most forest’s destruction to work in the forest’s favor, helping to keep the areas in question free from greater threats like deforestation for agriculture, ranching, plantations, or illegal logging. “A key factor behind the threats faced by natural forests is their lack of economic value, as seen by society at large. The extraordinary social and ecological value of forests in comparison to other land uses is often not considered. In other words, forests are often converted to other land uses, which lack many of the social and environmental values of forests but promise higher economic returns. FSC uses certification to engage market dynamics in driving recognition for forests at large and in improving social and environmental standards in forest management practices worldwide. FSC standards ensure that these forests maintain the values and benefits they provide to society. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0407-hance_fsc_interview.html

36) Assistant Professor Line Gordon of Stockholm University in Sweden and Assistant Professors Garry Peterson and Elena Bennett of Montreal’s McGill University argue global water management has been focused too much on the “blue water” side of the hydrological cycle, neglecting the largely invisible changes humanity has had on so-called “green water.” “Blue water is the part of the cycle we can see, like streams and rivers,” Gordon said. “This is as opposed to ‘green water’ in soil moisture or evapotranspiration from plants, which agriculture can affect in significant ways.” The researchers looked at the likelihood of vital resilience being lost in the aftermath of catastrophic changes to the hydrological cycle that could be caused by agriculture and land-use practices. “Our main point is that these effects aren’t necessarily going to result in gradual change,” said Peterson. “They can result in surprising, dramatic changes, what we call ‘ecosystem flips’ or ‘ecosystem regime changes,’ which can be very difficult or even impossible to reverse.” The subject will be discussed April 14-17 in Stockholm during the 2008 Resilience Conference. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Study_Agriculture_can_disrupt_water_flows_999.html