Photo: AIR's volunteers are planting seedlings in Caliaj, Guatemala [credit: AIR]
How Mumbai’s Mangrove Forests Saved the City Millions of Dollars, Akhila Vijayaraghavan, Triple Pundit, December 23, 2011 - Six years ago, the Bombay High Court made a monumental decision and passed an order to stop the destruction of mangrove forests. This decision was made a little after the 2004 tsunami that struck the eastern Indian coast and badly affected Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
Nedbank and Face the Future Join Forces to Reforest Africa, Gina-Marie Cheeseman, Triple Pundit, December 14, 2011 - Nedbank Capital, one of the largest South African banks, and Face the Future, a global forest carbon project developer, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) last week to jointly develop sustainable forestry projects in Africa. Both companies already participate in developing African forestry projects.
Risks remain despite Indonesian forest moratorium: study, David Fogarty, October 30, 2011 - The ban is the centerpiece of an important climate deal with Norway, signed last year, worth up to $1 billion. A major goal is to cut greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, by far the largest source of emissions in Indonesia.
Why Logging US National Forestland to Sell Timber to China is a Really Bad Idea, Carol Pierson Holding, Triple Pundit, October 17, 2011 - Countries around the world are working harder than ever to save their forests. Brazil's president recently announced that the country's 80 percent Amazon deforestation reduction target will be met by 2016 – four years earlier than promised.
Massive New York Times Story on Forests and Climate Change Ranks As A Must Read,
Daniel Kessler, Treehugger.com, October 1, 2011 -
New York Times reporter Justin Gillis is out this morning with "With Deaths of Forests, a Loss of Key Climate Protectors," a recommended read for anyone concerned about how climate change is affecting the planet and what it means for the present and future.
UN project shows how trees help halt desertification, Mark Kinver, BBC News, June 20, 2011 - A UN-led pilot scheme hopes to highlight how trees can help people in arid zone, considered to one of the most hostile habitats on the planet. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Acacia project's goal is to show how trees provide, food, fuel, shelter and income during times of hardship.
Congo's poor need incentives to save giant forest, Jonny Hogg, Reuters, May 31, 2011 - Simon Kasagana knows his meager livelihood depends on the forest, but like many others eking out a living in the vast Congo basin, he has little choice but to destroy it. He used to be a nursing assistant, but the pay was too low to live off, so he began cutting trees for a local businessman, who pays him in planks.
Forests Growing in Quantity, Not Quality, Roland Oliphant, The Moscow Times, May 25, 2011 - Viktor Grishenkov uses the weight of his spade to open a slit in the sandy ground, inserts a 30-centimeter oak seedling into the hole and packs the earth tight around it with his foot. “All right. Come back in a hundred years and see how it's going.”
Brazil's lower house OKs looser forest protections, AP, May 23, 2011 -
Brazil's lower house passed legislation Tuesday night that would loosen restrictions on how small farmers use their land in the Amazon forest, but lawmakers dropped a change that most worried environmentalists.
Brazil: Amazon rainforest deforestation rises sharply, BBC News, May 19, 2011 - Satellite images show deforestation increased from 103 sq km in March and April 2010 to 593 sq km (229 sq miles) in the same period of 2011, Brazil's space research institute says. Much of the destruction has been in Mato Grosso state, the centre of soya farming in Brazil.
EU Partnership the First Step Toward Sustainable Forestry, The Jakarta Globe, May 4, 2011 - Have we failed in our efforts to tackle illegal logging? With the crime continuing unabated despite the numerous regulatory instruments created to crack down on it, one can be forgiven for being pessimistic. Just have a look at the market mechanism of forest certification.
Global forestry institutions call for more community-based forest management, First Science, April 26, 2011 - The leading international organizations working to protect and manage the world's forests are calling for governments across the globe to increase communities' role in forest management. Doing so could contribute to lifting close to a billion people out of poverty, as well as improve the health and vitality of forests.
Amazon Rainforest is Looking a Bit Brown and Wilted, Stephen Messenger, Treehugger, March 29, 2011 - If the billion acres of Amazon rainforest are 'the lungs of the Earth', then our planet had better get in to see a pulmonary specialist right quick. According to research conducted with the help of satellite imagery, the typically-lush Amazon is losing its greenness -- with an astonishing 618 million acres looking a bit on the brown and wilted side.
I am the Lorax. And so are you. (Five Reasons to Love Forests), Todd Paglia, ForestEthics, March 21, 2011 - During my decade-long career as the head of ForestEthics, I've become a hopeless tree geek. Dr. Suess' Lorax come-to-life, my days are too often spent studying the sources of forest destruction: endless piles of catalogs and junk mail, mountains of copy paper with no recycled content, and other forest-plowing norms of modern life.
Canada's forests the earth's 'waterkeeper': U.S. environmental group, thestar.com, March 16, 2011 - A report by U.S.-based conservationists says Canada's boreal forest is one of the world's great storehouses of fresh water. The Pew Environment Group concludes that any impacts on the forest affect the entire planet.
Palm Oil Plantations Equal Deforestation, Bryan Walsh, Time.com, March 7, 2011 - Now a study on palm oil plantations published in the March 7 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences confirms what environmentalists have feared: palm oil plantations create deforestation and hurt biodiversity.
Let's make 2011 a turning point for the South's forests, Danna Smith, Charlotte Observer, February 18, 2011 - This month the United Nations designated the year 2011 as the International Year of Forests. Why? Because forests play a critical role in protecting the health of our planet. From supporting biodiversity to renewing and filtering water supplies, preventing floods, and removing carbon from the atmosphere, forests are essential for life on earth.
Possible breakthrough: Indonesian palm oil giant pledges zero deforestation, Glenn Hurowitz, Grist, February 14, 2011 -
Potential good news for orangutans, tigers, and the climate: Indonesian palm oil giant Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), a subsidiary of all-round planet pulper Sinar Mas (palm oil, illegal logging, coal) is promising not to destroy forests and ultra carbon-rich peatlands for palm oil.
How do trees and forests relate to climate change?, The Guardian, February 11, 2011 - Deforestation, and especially the destruction of rainforests, is a hugely significant contributor to climate change. Scientists estimate that forest loss and other changes to the use of land account for around 23% of current man-made CO2 emissions – which equates to 17% of the 100-year warming impact of all current greenhouse-gas emissions.
Huge Win for Southern U.S. Forests (& the World), Zachary Shahan, Planetsave.com, December 27, 2010 - 90 million acres of Southern hardwood forests, along with 600,000 acres in 11 endangered forests and special areas in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Eco-Region, recently got a big boost in protection. Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific (GP) has announced that "it will no longer purchase trees from endangered forests and special areas, or from new pine plantations established at the expense of natural hardwood forests."
Greenpeace: Sears, Best Buy, Other Big Brands ‘Failing Our Forests’, Environmental Leader , December 16, 2010 - Sears, Best Buy, Toys R US, Home Depot, and Harlequin are “failing our forests” according to the “2010 Boreal Marketplace” annual report from Greenpeace.
The study evaluates 23 major forest-products customers on their concrete actions to protect the Boreal Forest and the woodland caribou. “True leaders” were determined to be Axel Springer, Cascades, Indigo Books, Kimberly-Clark, Office Depot and Rona.
Indonesia Using $1 Billion in Forest Protection Funds to Cut Down Forests?, Brian Merchant, Treehugger , November 23, 2010 - It was a trailblazing 'showcase' deal in global climate negotiations: Norway agreed to send $1 billion to Indonesia (most of it coming from Norway) if the nation would put a moratorium on logging its natural forests and peat lands, and replant degraded areas. The deal would reduce carbon emissions by millions of tons, and prevent widespread habitat loss...There's just one small problem - Indonesian politicians and major timber and palm oil companies appear to be gaming the agreement.
