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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from
View By Scenario:
Species Collapse:(2)
Plague/Virus:(1)
Climate Chaos:(15)
Resource Depletion: (7)
Biology Breach:(13)
Recovery:(13)
This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
global warming  ~ arctic meltdown  ~ unintended consequences  ~ smart policy  ~ ecosystem interrelationships  ~ climate impacts  ~ faster than expected  ~ feedback loop  ~ anthropogenic change  ~ rain forest depletion  ~ efficiency increase  



ApocaDocuments (4) matching "rain forest depletion" from this week
[see full week] ~ [see all stories tagged "rain forest depletion"]
Fri, Feb 20, 2009
from Mongabay:
Indonesia confirms that peatlands will be converted for plantations
Indonesia's Minister for the Environment has approved a decree that will allow the conversion of carbon-rich peatlands for oil palm plantations, reports The Jakarta Post. Rachmat Witoelar said that oil palm plantations will only be established in areas where peat is less than 3 meters (10 feet) deep. Conversion will require an environmental impact analysis (Amdal). "The conversion of peatlands is possible for certain criteria, but should be done very selectively," Rachmat told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. "The conversion is strictly forbidden in [peatland] more than 3 meters deep." ... "Allowing the destruction of more peatlands is a disaster for the fight against climate change, and will only confirm Indonesia's status as the world's third biggest polluter," Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest campaigner Bustar Maitar told The Jakarta Post. ...


Oh. Only ten feet deep? Guess we didn't measure in that spot. Oh well.

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Thu, Feb 19, 2009
from Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, via EurekAlert:
Cleaning the atmosphere of carbon: African forests out of balance
"If you assume that these forests should be in equilibrium, then the best way to explain why trees are growing bigger is anthropogenic global change -- the extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could essentially be acting as fertilizer." says Muller-Landau, "But it's also possible that tropical forests are still growing back following past clearing or fire or other disturbance. Given increasing evidence that tropical forests have a long history of human occupation, recovery from past disturbance is almost certainly part of the reason these forests are taking up carbon today." Muller-Landau, who directs a project to monitor carbon budgets in forest study sites worldwide as part of the Smithsonian's Center for Tropical Forest Science and the HSBC Climate Partnership, advises that this newfound sink shouldn't be taken for granted, or presumed to continue indefinitely. "While we still can't explain exactly what is behind this carbon sink, one thing we know for sure is that it can't be a sink forever. Trees and forests just can't keep getting bigger. Tropical forests are buying us a bit more time right now, but we can't count on them to continue to offset our carbon emissions in the future." ...


Just a wee bit more time.

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Thu, Feb 19, 2009
from Agence France-Presse:
Unchecked economic growth imperils Amazon: study
Unbridled economic development fuelled by globalisation is devastating large swathes of the Amazonian basin, the United Nations warned in a major study released Wednesday. A population explosion concentrated in poorly planned cities, deforestation driven by foreign markets for timber, cash crops and beef, and unprecedented levels of pollution have all taken a heavy toll on the planet's largest forest basin, the United Nations Environment Programme said. The report, which pooled research by more than 150 experts from the eight countries that straddle Amazonia, acknowledged that these governments have individually taken steps to address environmental degradation. But coordinated action is urgently needed to stem and possible reverse the damage, it said. ...


Amazon.... Amagone....

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Mon, Feb 16, 2009
from Telegraph.co.uk:
Tropical forests are drying out because of global warming
Damp regions that had previously been considered immune to the type of blazes that blighted Australia this month could turn to tinderboxes as temperatures rise, it is claimed. Rainforests currently play a critical role in regulating climate by absorbing carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. But if they were to catch alight they would become carbon producers, accelerating climate change.... "It is increasingly clear that as you produce a warmer world, lots of forest areas that had been acting a carbon sinks could be converted to carbon sources." ...


Seems to me you wouldn't call them rainforests then. Maybe... fireforests.

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