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DocWatch rain forest depletion Twitterit? News stories about "rain forest depletion," with punchlines: http://apocadocs.com/d.pl?rain+forest+depletion Related Scary Tags: forests  ~ deforestation  ~ climate impacts  ~ carbon sinks  ~ drought  ~ ecosystem interrelationships  ~ economic myopia  ~ carbon emissions  ~ habitat loss  ~ governmental corruption  ~ oil issues   Wed, Jul 13, 2016 from University of Exeter, via DesdemonaDespair: Drought stalls tree growth and shuts down Amazon carbon sink A recent drought completely shut down the Amazon Basin's carbon sink, by killing trees and slowing their growth, a ground-breaking study led by researchers at the Universities of Exeter and Leeds has found. Previous research has suggested that the Amazon - the most extensive tropical forest on Earth and one of the "green lungs" of the planet - may be gradually losing its capacity to take carbon from the atmosphere. This new study, the most extensive land-based study of the effect of drought on Amazonian rainforests to date, paints a more complex picture, with forests responding dynamically to an increasingly variable climate.... Co-author Professor Oliver Phillips, from the University of Leeds, said: "For more than 20 years the Amazon has been providing a tremendous service, taking up hundreds of millions more tonnes of carbon every year in tree growth than it loses through tree death. But both the 2005 and 2010 droughts eliminated those net gains." ... Surely this was included in the modeling algorithms upon which the barely-sufficient Paris accords depend. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 29, 2016 from PhysOrg: Landscape pattern analysis reveals global loss of interior forest Between 2000 and 2012, the world lost more forest area than it gained, according to U.S. Forest Service researchers and partners who estimated a global net loss of 1.71 million square kilometers of forest--an area about two and a half times the size of Texas. Furthermore, when researchers analyzed patterns of remaining forest, they found a global loss of interior forest--core areas that, when intact, maintain critical habitat and ecological functions.... Their analysis revealed a net loss of 3.76 million square kilometers of interior forest area, or about ten percent of interior forest--more than twice the global net loss of forest area. The rate at which interior forest area was lost was more than three times the rate of global forest area loss. All forest biomes experienced a net loss of interior forest area during the study period. Across the globe, temperate coniferous forests experienced the largest percentage of loss, tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests lost the most area of interior forest, and boreal forests and taiga lost interior forest at the highest rate. ... There are so many trees in heaven.... ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Nov 15, 2015 from DesdemonaDespair: Sao Paulo on emergency reserve water; drought means Brazilian hydropower falls short ... The main water supply in São Paulo has been running on emergency reserves, and the system is only able to deliver about 40 percent of its usual capacity. Before 2014, it was able to supply approximately 8,700 gallons of water per second, but now, it only delivers around 3,500 gallons per second. Because two-thirds of Brazil's power comes from hydroelectric power plants, electricity has also been in short supply. Widespread blackouts have hit the country's largest cities, and increased energy rationing is a possibility, which could stunt the economy.... ... The Free Market (™) will solve this problem for sure. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 22, 2015 from Science, via Vice Motherboard: Every Forest Biome on Earth Is Actively Dying Right Now Forests are ecological superheroes--they ventilate the planet, nurture the most biodiverse habitats on Earth, and regulate global climate and carbon cycles. From the poles to the equator, our survival is completely dependent on healthy woodlands. But according to the latest issue of Science, which is devoted to forest health, every major forest biome is struggling. While each region suffers from unique pressures, the underlying thread that connects them all is undeniably human activity.... "The health of the immense and seemingly timeless boreal forest is presently under threat, together with the vitality of many forest-based communities and economies," the researchers said. Temperate forests aren't faring much better, according to another study from the issue written by US Geological Survey ecologists Constance Millar and Nathan Stephenson. Temperate forests are primarily composed of deciduous trees that shed their leaves seasonally, and are common in mid-latitude regions around the world.... ... If a tree falls, and then its forest, and everyone pretends not to hear it, does it make a sound? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jul 13, 2015 from Vice, via DesdemonaDespair: The Wettest Place in North America Is Burning Vancouver Island is home to the wettest place in North America--and right now it's on fire. Drought has plunged the the Port Alberni-Clayoquot Region, part of Canada's only rainforest, into one of the worst dry seasons on record. Forest fires are spreading quickly through sun-scorched woods that, in the past, have received almost seven metres--or 22 feet--of precipitation per year. The fire, which has been burning since last Saturday on Dog Mountain near Sproat Lake, has reached over 245 hectares and is still spreading.... ... I fear we're nowhere near Peak Irony. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jul 4, 2015 from Desdemona: World arable land per capita, 1961-2012 ... Add these numbers, and there are at least 14.5 million hectares per year of wildlands being converted to human uses, probably mostly for agriculture.... Humans are destroying soil at a rate of 12 million hectares per year, and we’re making up for it by destroying forest and wetlands at a comparable rate. But is all of this destruction of the natural world enabling us to keep up with the ever-growing human population? ... I am still hungry. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Sep 11, 2014 from Guardian: Amazon deforestation jumps 29 percent last year The destruction of the world's largest rainforest accelerated last year with a 29 percent spike in deforestation, according to final figures released by the Brazilian government on Wednesday that confirmed a reversal in gains seen since 2009. Satellite data for the 12 months through the end of July 2013 showed that 5,891 sq km of forest were cleared in the Brazilian Amazon, an area half the size of Puerto Rico. Fighting the destruction of the Amazon is considered crucial for reducing global warming because deforestation worldwide accounts for 15 percent of annual emissions of heat-trapping gases, more than the entire transportation sector. Besides being a giant carbon sink, the Amazon is a biodiversity sanctuary, holding billions of species yet to be studied. ... That biodiversity will just have to go somewheres else. There's money waiting to be made! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Feb 23, 2014 from American Live Wire: Google Joins Deforestation Fight By Launching Global Forest Watch Website The Global Forest Watch website produced by the search giant Google itself is about to change all that. It is an online forest monitoring system available to anyone with an Internet connection around the globe. World Resources Institute partnered with Google to create the site and system along with a team of more than 40 other partners. The website will make use of the technology that includes Google's own Earth Engine and the Maps Engine to track forests around the world with the help of satellite imagery. It will also detect changes taking place in forests in close to real-time. All the information will be made available for free to the general public through the World Wide Web. ... This'll help us find the sweetest spots to mow down! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Feb 1, 2014 from The Independent: Climate change: Rainforest absorption of CO2 becoming erratic Tropical rainforests are becoming less able to cope with rising global temperatures according to a study that has looked back over the way they have responded to variations in temperature in the past half a century. For each 1C rise in temperature, tropical regions now release about 2 billion extra tonnes of carbon-containing gases - such as carbon dioxide and methane - into the atmosphere, compared to the same amount of tropical warming in the 1960s and 1970s, the study found. Rising levels of man-made carbon dioxide could stimulate the growth of tropical vegetation by providing them with extra "carbon fertiliser" but scientists believe this beneficial effect is probably being outweighed by the detrimental impact on forest growth caused by the extra heat and drought resulting from higher CO2 concentrations. ... That's why we're cutting the rainforest down as fast as we can. We get carbon credits! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 23, 2013 from Huffington Post: The Amazon Rain Forest Is Drying Out, Probably Because Of Climate Change The Amazon rain forest's dry season lasts three weeks longer than it did 30 years ago, and the likely culprit is global warming, a new study finds. Rain falls year-round in the Amazon, but most of the annual deluge drops during the wet season. (The rainy season's timing varies with latitude.) Scientists think that a longer dry season will stress trees, raising the risk of wildfires and forest dieback. The forest's annual fire season became longer as the dry season lengthened, according to the study, published today (Oct. 21) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ... The likely coalprit is global warming. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 23, 2013 from Sydney Morning Herald: Indonesian forest open for mining, logging A mining company has boasted of an Indonesian government decision to free up 1.2 million hectares of virgin forest in Aceh for commercial exploitation. The announcement to the Canadian stock exchange late on Tuesday was met with disbelief by environmental groups worried about endangered orang-utans, Sumatran tigers, rhinos and elephants across the heavily forested region. But Ed Rochette, chief executive of Canadian mining company East Asia Minerals, celebrated the ''good progress and positive news for mineral extraction in the area''. The company's announcement quotes Anwar, chairman of the Aceh government's spatial planning committee, as saying the Indonesian forestry ministry had accepted ''almost 100 per cent of the province's new spatial plan'' that would ''zone large blocks of previously protected forest for mineral extraction, timber concessions and oil palm plantations''. ... "Orangs and Tigers and 'phants, oh my!" ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Mar 29, 2013 from Guardian: Ecuador auctions off Amazon to Chinese oil firms Ecuador plans to auction off more than three million hectares of pristine Amazonian rainforest to Chinese oil companies, angering indigenous groups and underlining the global environmental toll of China's insatiable thirst for energy.... On Monday morning a group of Ecuadorean politicians pitched bidding contracts to representatives of Chinese oil companies at a Hilton hotel in central Beijing, on the fourth leg of a roadshow to publicise the bidding process. Previous meetings in Ecuador's capital, Quito, and in Houston and Paris were each confronted with protests by indigenous groups.... According to the California-based NGO Amazon Watch, seven indigenous groups who inhabit the land claim that they have not consented to oil projects, which would devastate the area's environment and threaten their traditional way of life.... In an interview, Ecuador's secretary of hydrocarbons, Andrés Donoso Fabara, accused indigenous leaders of misrepresenting their communities to achieve political goals. "These guys with a political agenda, they are not thinking about development or about fighting against poverty," he said. Fabara said the government had decided not to open certain blocks of land to bidding because it lacked support from local communities. "We are entitled by law, if we wanted, to go in by force and do some activities even if they are against them," he said. "But that's not our policy." ... This is what kleptocracy looks like. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 28, 2013 from Guardian: Peru declares environmental state of emergency in its rainforest Peru has declared an environmental state of emergency in a remote part of its northern Amazon rainforest, home for decades to one of the country's biggest oil fields, currently operated by the Argentinian company Pluspetrol. Achuar and Kichwa indigenous people living in the Pastaza river basin near Peru's border with Ecuador have complained for decades about the pollution, while successive governments have failed to deal with it. Officials indicate that for years the state lacked the required environmental quality standards.... In declaring the state of emergency, Peru's environment ministry said tests in February and March found high levels of barium, lead, chrome and petroleum-related compounds at different points in the Pastaza valley. Pluspetrol, the biggest oil and natural gas producer in Peru, has operated the oil fields since 2001. It took over from Occidental Petroleum, which began drilling in 1971, and, according to the government, had not cleaned up contamination either. ... Can we extend the boundaries of that emergency? Like, to "everywhere"? ApocaDoc permalink Want more context? Try reading our book FREE online: Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! More fun than a barrel of jellyfish! Mon, Jan 21, 2013 from NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Severe Climate Jeopardizing Amazon Forest, Study Finds An area of the Amazon rainforest twice the size of California continues to suffer from the effects of a megadrought that began in 2005, finds a new NASA-led study. These results, together with observed recurrences of droughts every few years and associated damage to the forests in southern and western Amazonia in the past decade, suggest these rainforests may be showing the first signs of potential large-scale degradation due to climate change. ... I'm guessing a rainforest needs the occasional rainstorm. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 29, 2012 from Los Angeles Times: Amazon in danger as Brazil moves forward with bill, critics say The Brazilian government is pressing forward with controversial legislation that critics say will lead to widespread destruction of the Amazon rain forest. After months of heated discussion, President Dilma Rousseff on Monday presented a final version of the bill that was heavily influenced by the country's powerful agricultural lobby. The update to the country's 1965 Forestry Code would reduce both the amount of vegetation landowners must preserve and the future penalties paid for those who currently flout environmental laws. After valuable wood is sold, much of the land in deforested areas ends up being cleared for grazing cattle and agriculture. ... Rain forest... down the drain. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Mar 30, 2012 from The Independent: Up in smoke: ecological catastrophe in the Sumatran swamps Fires raging unchecked in an Indonesian peat swamp forest could wipe out the remaining Sumatran orang-utans which live there, conservationists are warning. The forest is one of the last refuges of the great apes. The illegal fires, started by palm-oil companies clearing land to plant the lucrative crop, are believed to have killed at least 100 orang-utans -- one-third of those living in the Tripa swamp, on the west coast of Sumatra's Aceh province. The rest could die within weeks, according to Dr Ian Singleton, conservation director of the Sumatran Orang-utan Conservation Programme. "The speed of destruction has gone up dramatically in the last few weeks... This is obviously a deliberate drive by these companies to clear all the remaining forests," Dr Singleton said. "If this is not stopped right now, all those orang-utans... will be gone before the end of 2012." Only 6,600 Sumatran orang-utans are estimated to be left in the wild, and the Tripa swamp -- where they are most densely concentrated -- is considered crucial to the species' survival. But less than one-quarter of the peat forest remains; the rest has been converted to palm-oil plantations.... Satellite imagery showing 92 fires over the past week has horrified conservationists, who are awaiting a court ruling with far-reaching implications for the protection of wildlife habitats in Indonesia. ... It'll grow back. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 14, 2012 from Mongabay: Surging demand for vegetable oil drives rainforest destruction Surging demand for vegetable oil has emerged as an important driver of tropical deforestation over the past two decades and is threatening biodiversity, carbon stocks, and other ecosystem functions in some of the world's most critical forest areas, warns a report published last week by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). But the report, titled Recipes for Success: Solutions for Deforestation-Free Vegetable Oils, sees some reason for optimism, including emerging leadership from some producers, rising demand for "greener" products from buyers, new government policies to monitor deforestation and shift cropland expansion to non-forest area, and partnerships between civil society and key private sector players to improve the sustainability of vegetable oil production.... To meet increased demand, large swathes of land have been converted for rapeseed (canola), oil palm, sugar cane, maize (corn), and soy. Some of the area has included carbon-dense rainforest in Brazil, Malaysia, and Indonesia, a development that has alarmed environmentalists, scientists, and people who rely on forests for subsistence. ... But I love fries with that. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 23, 2012 from BBC: Race to save Ecuador's 'lungs of the world' park The Yasuni National Park, known as "the lungs of the world" and one of the most bio-diverse places on earth, is under threat from oil drilling. The race is on to find the funds required to develop new sustainable energy programmes that would leave the oil - and the forest - untouched. ... I breathe. Can I contribute somehow? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jul 6, 2011 from TreeHugger: 'Agent Orange' Being Used to Clear the Amazon Agent Orange is one of the most devastating weapons of modern warfare, a chemical which killed or injured an estimated 400,000 people during the Vietnam War -- and now it's being used against the Amazon rainforest. According to officials, ranchers in Brazil have begun spraying the highly toxic herbicide over patches of forest as a covert method to illegally clear foliage, more difficult to detect than chainsaws and tractors. In recent weeks, an aerial survey detected some 440 acres of rainforest that had been sprayed with the compound -- poisoning thousands of trees and an untold number of animals, potentially for generations.... Last week, in another part of the Amazon, an investigation conducted by the agency uncovered approximately four tons of the highly toxic herbal pesticides hidden in the forest awaiting dispension. If released, the chemicals could have potentially decimated some 7,500 acres of rainforest, killing all the wildlife that resides there and contaminating groundwater. In this case, the individual responsible was identified and now faces fines nearing $1.3 million. ... Napalm might be more cost-effective. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 1, 2011 from Bloomberg: Amazon Deforestation Rates Double as Farmers Anticipate Pardons Deforestation rates in the Amazon, the world's biggest rain forest, more than doubled in May as Brazilian farmers become more confident they'll be granted amnesty for illegal logging. Almost 268 square kilometers (66,200 acres) of protected rain forest were cut down in May, up from 110 square kilometers a year ago, the National Institute for Space Research said in an e-mailed statement. Brazil lawmakers are considering a bill that alters its forestry code and would forgive farmers who illegally cleared trees. The possibility that the government may ease these restrictions is encouraging more logging, said Marcio Astrini, coordinator of forest campaigns for Greenpeace International's Brazil unit. That would hamper international efforts to fight global warming by protecting trees that absorb greenhouse gases. "Brazil's been reducing its deforestation for the last five years and this bill comes along and now it shoots up," Astrini said yesterday by phone. "There is only one reason why deforestation is increasing: it's called the forestry code," which may be changing. ... There's more than one way to skin a rainforest. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 10, 2011 from Reuters: Rising forest density offsets climate change: study Rising forest density in many countries is helping to offset climate change caused by deforestation from the Amazon basin to Indonesia, a study showed on Sunday. The report indicated that the size of trees in a forest -- rather than just the area covered -- needed to be taken into account more in U.N.-led efforts to put a price on forests as part of a nascent market to slow global warming. "Higher density means world forests are capturing more carbon," experts in Finland and the United States said of the study in the online journal PLoS One, issued on June 5 which is World Environment Day in the U.N. calendar.... And in Africa and South America, the total amount of carbon stored in forests fell at a slower rate than the loss of area, indicating that they had grown denser. And some countries still had big losses of carbon, including Indonesia and Argentina. The study did not try to estimate the overall trend, saying there was not yet enough data. ... See? Proof that we can grow our way out of trouble. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, May 26, 2011 from The Independent: Slash and burn: Brazil shreds laws protecting its rainforests Brazil has taken a big step towards passing new laws that will loosen restrictions on the amount of Amazon rainforest that farmers can destroy, after its lower house of parliament voted in favour of updating the country's 46-year-old forest code. In a move described as "disastrous" by conservationists, the nation's congress backed a bill relaxing laws on the deforestation of hilltops and the amount of vegetation farmers must preserve. The law also offers partial amnesties for fines levied against landowners who have illegally destroyed tracts of rainforest. The legislation, which must still be passed by the Brazillian Senate and approved by President Dilma Rousseff, aims to help owners of smaller farms and ranches compete with under-regulated rivals in countries such as the USA and Argentina.... "It's a disaster. It heightens the risk of deforestation, water depletion and erosion," Paulo Gustavo Prado, head of environmental policy at Conservation International-Brazil, told Reuters. He believes that the new bill will result in the loss of roughly 10 per cent of Brazil's remaining rainforest. ... Use it and lose it. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 25, 2011 from Yale Environment 300: By Barcoding Trees, Liberia Looks to Save its Rainforests Nearly two-thirds of West Africa's remaining rainforests are in the small but troubled nation of Liberia. That is a small miracle. A decade ago, Liberia's forests were being stripped bare by warlords to fund a vicious 14-year civil war that left 150,000 dead. In 2003, the United Nations belatedly imposed an embargo on Liberian "logs of war." Revenues crashed and, coincidentally or not, the war swiftly came to an end. Now the elected government of Harvard-trained President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has signed a deal with the European Union to place timber sales on a permanently legal footing. The deal, agreed to this month, makes use of a unique national timber-tracking system that requires every legally harvestable tree and every cut log to carry a barcode that will enable it to be tracked from its origin to its final destination. ... It's gonna take someone named Sirleaf to save the trees. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 20, 2011 from BBC: Brazil: Amazon rainforest deforestation rises sharply Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest has increased almost sixfold, new data suggests. 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. The news comes shortly before a vote on new forest protection rules. Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said the figures were "alarming" and announced the setting up of a "crisis cabinet" in response to the news. ... All I gotta say is that "crisis cabinet" better not be made of wood! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 12, 2011 from EnvironmentalResearchWeb: Satellites show effect of 2010 drought on Amazon forests A new study has revealed widespread reductions in the greenness of Amazon forests caused by the last year's record-breaking drought. "The greenness levels of Amazonian vegetation - a measure of its health - decreased dramatically over an area more than three and one-half times the size of Texas and did not recover to normal levels, even after the drought ended in late October 2010," says Liang Xu of Boston University and the study's lead author. The drought sensitivity of Amazon rainforests is a subject of intense study. Computer models predict that in a changing climate with warmer temperatures and altered rainfall patterns, the ensuing moisture stress could cause some of the rainforests to be replaced by grasslands or woody savannas. This would release the carbon stored in the rotting wood into the atmosphere, and could accelerate global warming.... The maps show the 2010 drought reduced the greenness of approximately 2.5 million square kilometers (965,000 square miles) of vegetation in the Amazon - more than four times the area affected by the last severe drought in 2005.... "Last year was the driest year on record based on 109 years of Rio Negro water level data at the Manaus harbor. For comparison, the lowest level during the so-called once-in-a-century drought in 2005, was only eighth lowest," said Marcos Costa, coauthor from the Federal University in Vicosa, Brazil. ... Are we sure the satellite's "hue" dial doesn't need adjusting? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 24, 2011 from BusinessInsider: Time Lapse Satellite Photos Show How Humans Are Destroying The World It takes a lot to provide for 7 billion humans. Mankind is destroying rainforests, draining marshes and drilling into mountains to provide timber, water, coal and other resources. Some of this destruction has been captured in before and after satellite photos.... Before a Soviet Union irrigation project in the 1960s, the Aral Sea was the world's fourth largest lake. During the 2005 to 2009 drought, the lake continued to dry up and was polluted by pesticides and fertilizer. A twenty-five year time-series of coal mining in West Virginia shows the surrounding "valley fills," streams filled with excess rock from the mountaintop removal. Scientists concluded that this mining process has "pervasive and irreversible" consequences. ... They can Photoshop anything these days. I'm sure everything's just fine. ApocaDoc permalink You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore. Mon, Mar 21, 2011 from Mongabay: UN: Want water? Save forests The UN-backed Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) is urging nations to conserve their forests in a bid to mitigate rising water scarcity problems. "[Forests] reduce the effects of floods, prevent soil erosion, regulate the water table and assure a high-quality water supply for people, industry and agriculture," said the Forestry Department Assistant Director General, Eduardo Rojas-Briales, with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). "Forests are part of the natural infrastructure of any country and are essential to the water cycle." In addition, forests reduce the impact of droughts, while preventing desertification and salinization, while loss of tropical rainforests has been shown to decrease local rainfall. In addition, cutting-edge research has even established a link between forest cover and winds delivering rainfall, one that remains quite controversial.... According to the UN, within 15 years 1.8 billion people could suffer from 'absolute water scarcity', while two-thirds of the global population could see water scarcities. Currently, 20 percent of people in the developing world don't have access to clean water. ... No thanks. I'll just drink beer. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 9, 2011 from The Independent: US judge halts damages claim over pollution in Amazon An American judge has extended his temporary ban on the collection of $18bn in damages from Chevron, saying the US oil giant would be irreparably harmed if it had to pay compensation - ordered by a court in Ecuador - for pollution in parts of the Amazon rainforest.... But Karen Hinton, a spokeswoman for the Ecuadoreans, said Judge Kaplan's failure to consider key evidence or schedule a hearing to learn more facts was a "trampling of due process" and "an inappropriate exercise of judicial power".... The US oil firm Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, stands accused of dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into unlined pits and Amazon rivers between 1972 and 1992. Campaigners allege that crops were damaged, farm animals died and local cancer rates increased. But Chevron claims that Texaco spent $40m cleaning up the area in the 1990s and signed an agreement with Ecuador in 1998 absolving it of any further responsibility. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said there was evidence that lawyers for 30,000 Ecuadorean plaintiffs would move swiftly to pursue multiple enforcement actions and asset seizures around the globe, including in areas where Chevron would not be immediately able to challenge the lawsuits. He said his decision was justified because without it Chevron would be at significant risk of "missing critical deliveries". ... Ain't justice grand? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 6, 2011 from Telegraph.co.uk: Gloomy Malthus provides food for thought as world's appetite builds At some point, argued Malthus, the demands of the human race will exceed agricultural capacity, sparking violence, population decline and radical social change. A highbrow version of the man with the "End is Nigh" sandwich board, Malthus banged his "impending catastrophe" drum until his death in 1834 - hence the "dismal" sobriquet.... The United Nations index of global food prices hit yet another record high in February - the eighth successive monthly increase. The respected UN index - which tracks prices of cereals, meat, dairy, oils and sugar - is now up 40 percent on a year ago and 5 percent above its June 2008 peak. The price of corn - a widespread staple crop - is now 95 percent higher than a year ago. While there were many factors behind the outbreak of dissent in Libya, soaring food prices were the catalyst. A wave of price-related resentment has swept across a number of North African nations and could yet cause a political eruption in the Gulf. Since before the days of Malthus, economists have tracked the natural swing and counter-swing of food prices, as production has responded with a lag to price signals and the vagaries of the weather. But maybe Malthus was right and that self-correcting cycle is now over. ... Relax! We'll just make a bigger pie! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 2, 2011 from Guardian, from DesdemonaDespair: Scientists flee blaze in Chinese rainforest restoration project One of the world's most advanced rainforest restoration projects may be going up in smoke in southern China. A short while ago, I received a frantic phone call from Bulang Mountain in Xishuangbanna, where scientists and conservationists are fleeing 30m-high flames that, they said, were consuming trees in seconds. Witnesses said the blaze had reached the edge of the Seeds of Heaven biodiversity development centre, where an ecologically healthy forest had been painstakingly rebuilt over the past four years on the site of a former rubber plantation.... "It's horrific. This model, which is recognised internationally as one of the most advanced of its type in the world, is now going up in flames." The project - which was launched about five years ago by the German biologist Josef Margraf, now deceased, and his wife Minguo - pioneers a "rainforest farming" technique that creates a rich habitat for multiple species, from which a modest income for people can be cultivated from orchids, tea, honey and other products.... The flames appear to have spread from the direction of a neighbouring cow farm. Local officials say the spark was deliberately lit to create a controlled firebreak. Others told the visiting group that the fire may have been part of an effort to clear land for the expansion of a cattle farm. "This is no accident. You just don't do a controlled fire on a windy day like today," said Pavlos Georgiadis, a former student of Margraf, who died of a heart attack last year. "This is the peak of the dry season. We haven't had rain for two months." ... I bet they didn't even have insurance. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Feb 26, 2011 from Mongabay: Indonesian Borneo and Sumatra lose 9 percent of forest cover in 8 years Kalimantan and Sumatra lost 5.4 million hectares, or 9.2 percent, of their forest cover between 2000/2001 and 2007/2008, reveals a new satellite-based assessment of Indonesian forest cover. The research, led by Mark Broich of South Dakota State University, found that more than 20 percent of forest clearing occurred in areas where conversion was either restricted or prohibited, indicating that during the period, the Indonesian government failed to enforce its forestry laws.... Forest loss was higher in Sumatra, which saw large areas of forest converted for pulp and paper plantations and oil palm estates. Both Sumatra and Kalimantan suffered from large-scale fires set for land-clearing purposes.... Indonesia has lately signaled an interest in slowing deforestation. In 2009, President Yudhoyono announced Indonesia would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26-41 percent from a projected 2020 baseline, provided it receive international assistance. The country has since signed a 'REDD+' (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) partnership with Norway that would generate up to $1 billion if Indonesia meets deforestation reduction targets. ... That rate doesn't even keep up with inflation! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 24, 2011 from TreeHugger: Amazon Deforestation Up 1000 Percent From Last Year Over the last several years, the rate of forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon had been in steady decline, but the latest data is yet again proving that the problem is far from over. According to figures released today, deforestation in the world's largest rainforest has increased nearly 1,000 percent from the same period the year before, marking the first rise in over two years -- though only time will tell if it is merely a disappointing uptick, or a troubling reverse of trends. A newly disclosed report from the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment (IMAZON) reveals that 175 square kilometers (68 mi2) of forest were cleared this past December, compared with just 16 km2 (6 mi2) reported last year for December 2009, a rise of 994 percent.... Just last month, 83 km2 (32 mi2) of forest were cleared and 376 km2 (145 mi2) degraded -- representing increases over last year's rates of 22 and 637 percent, respectively. ... No big deal. It's only part of the lungs of the world. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 23, 2011 from ScienceDaily: 6,000-Year Climate Record Suggests Longer Droughts, Drier Climate for Pacific Northwest University of Pittsburgh-led researchers extracted a 6,000-year climate record from a Washington lake that shows that the famously rain-soaked American Pacific Northwest could not only be in for longer dry seasons, but also is unlikely to see a period as wet as the 20th century any time soon. Lead researcher Mark Abbott, a Pitt professor of geology and planetary science, said those unusually wet years coincide with the period when western U.S. states developed water-use policies. "Western states happened to build dams and water systems during a period that was unusually wet compared to the past 6,000 years," he said. "Now the cycle has changed and is trending drier, which is actually normal. It will shift back to wet eventually, but probably not to the extremes seen during most of the 20th century." ... It never rains in sunny Seattle / and girl don't get rattled / when it pours / man it pours. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 10, 2011 from Guardian: Mass tree deaths prompt fears of Amazon 'climate tipping point' Billions of trees died in the record drought that struck the Amazon in 2010, raising fears that the vast forest is on the verge of a tipping point, where it will stop absorbing greenhouse gas emissions and instead increase them. The dense forests of the Amazon soak up more than one-quarter of the world's atmospheric carbon, making it a critically important buffer against global warming. But if the Amazon switches from a carbon sink to a carbon source that prompts further droughts and mass tree deaths, such a feedback loop could cause runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences. "Put starkly, current emissions pathways risk playing Russian roulette with the world's largest forest," said tropical forest expert Simon Lewis, at the University of Leeds, and who led the research published today in the journal Science.... He said increasing droughts in the Amazon are found in some climate models, including the sophisticated model used by the Hadley centre. This means the 2005 and 2010 droughts are consistent with the idea that global warming will cause more droughts in future, emit more carbon, and potentially lead to runaway climate change. "The greenhouse gases we have already emitted may mean there are several more droughts in the pipeline," he said. ... That tale of the pipeline is exhausting. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 3, 2011 from Discovery: Amazon Drought of 2010 Sign of Forest Fatigue The tropical forests of Amazonia may be giving up their role as buffers against the continuing buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, scientists report, a circumstance that could accelerate climate change. The warning comes in the new issue of the journal Science, where an international research team reports that the drought in the Amazon during 2010 was even worse than what scientists called the "once-in-a-century" drought of 2005.... "The two recent Amazon droughts demonstrate a mechanism by which remaining intact tropical forests of South American can shift from buffering the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide to accelerating it," the scientists write. Growing trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Dying trees give it back. ... How can a carbon sink become a carbon faucet? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Dec 16, 2010 from NASA, via environmentalresearchweb: Humans consume increasing amounts of the biosphere NASA satellite images have revealed that the biosphere is being placed under increasing strain as rising population on a global scale is accompanied by increased consumption of crops and animals per capita. If population and consumption continue to grow at present rates then by 2050 more than half of the new plant material generated on Earth each year will be required for humans. These findings were presented on Tuesday by NASA scientists at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco.... "These images tell us very dramatically that we do need to look at what kind of impact human consumption rates have on the ability of the biosphere to generate the supply," said Imhoff. He believes that the need for more plant products will have big implications for land management. As more land is required for agriculture, planning authorities will be faced with difficult decisions as they try to protect important ecosystems, such as boreal forest. ... Don't worry -- the natural law of "supply and demand" means that the biosphere will just produce more widgets. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Nov 13, 2010 from New York Times: Drought in the Amazon, Up Close and Personal In the field we worried about why it was raining so little. Back in Iquitos, Peru, we discovered that our field work had coincided with the worst drought ever recorded in the Amazon basin. Reading the previous two-and-a-half weeks of e-mail, it was possible to track the drought's progress through the newsletters I receive every few days from a Brazilian research institute. First there was a note saying that the river level gauge at Manaus was at the twelfth lowest stage in recorded history. A few days later, a note said it was at the second lowest stage in history, and then, on Oct. 26, a note confirmed that the river had dropped to the lowest recorded level since measuring began 108 years ago.... The low readings at Manaus did not make front-page news back home, but maybe they deserved to: Two of the three worst Amazon droughts in history have now occurred within the last five years,­ the sort of coincidence that also turns up in conversations these days about icebergs and hurricanes and Siberian heat waves. But the drought was definitely news in Iquitos, where people were deeply upset by the lack of rain. It was unsettling, too, for our little band of biologists to be writing about the drought on laptops powered by Iquitos's gas-fired power plant, located in a part of Peru where roughly half of the landscape is currently inside oil and gas concessions. ... Iiii wanna know / if we never see the rain / will we smile / on a sunny day ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Nov 7, 2010 from GlobalPost: Rivers run dry as drought hits Amazon The world's largest rain forest was dangerously dry, and may well be drying out. October marked the end of one of the worst Amazon droughts on record -- a period of tinder-dry forests, dusty cropland and rivers falling to unprecedented lows. Streams are the highways of the deep jungle and they're also graveyards for dead trees, usually hidden safely under fathoms of navigable water. But not this year, and the drought's significance extends far beyond impeded boats. While the region has seen dry spells before, locals and experts say droughts have grown more frequent and severe. Scientists say there's mounting evidence the Amazon's shifting weather may be caused by global climate change.... "Every ecosystem has some point beyond which it can't go," said Oliver Phillips, a tropical ecology professor at the University of Leeds who has spent decades studying how forests react to changing weather. "The concern now is that parts of the Amazon may be approaching that threshold." Phillips led a team of dozens of researchers who studied the damage caused by a severe 2005 drought to trees and undergrowth at more than 100 sites across the Amazon. His findings, published in the journal Science, are troubling. ... I'm sure everything's fine. They call it a rainforest, after all! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Nov 2, 2010 from ScienceDaily: Expanding Croplands Decreasing World's Carbon Sinks Nature's capacity to store carbon, the element at the heart of global climate woes, is steadily eroding as the world's farmers expand croplands at the expense of native ecosystem such as forests. The tradeoff between agricultural production and maintaining nature's carbon reservoirs -- native trees, plants and their carbon-rich detritus in the soil -- is becoming more pronounced as more and more of the world's natural ecosystems succumb to the plow. The problem, experts say, is most acute in the tropics, where expanding agriculture often comes at the expense of the tropical forests that act as massive carbon sinks because of their rich diversity and abundance of plant life. The seriousness of the problem is documented in the most comprehensive and fine-grained analysis of the world's existing carbon stocks and global crop yields. The study is published online this in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Minnesota, Stanford University, Arizona State University and The Nature Conservancy.... "The main news is that agricultural production by clearing land in the tropics releases a lot of greenhouse gases per unit of food produced." ... "Eating ourselves out of house and home" takes on a whole new meaning, doesn't it? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 26, 2010 from Telegraph.co.uk: New species discovered in the Amazon every three days The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) counted the number of new discoveries between 1999 and 2009 to highlight the one of the most diverse areas on Earth. The report Amazon Alive! found some 1,200 new species of plants and vertebrates have been discovered in the area over ten years, a new species every three days. The new species include 637 plants, 257 fish, 216 amphibians, 55 reptiles, 16 birds and 39 mammals, confirming that the Amazon is one of the most diverse places on Earth. Among the findings are the first new species of anaconda identified since 1936, a frog with a 'burst of flames' on its head, a parrot with a bald head, a pink river dolphin, a bright red blind catfish and a tiger-striped tarantula. Sarah Hutchison, WWF-UK forest programme manager for Brazil, said all the species were at risk of deforestation. She pointed out that in the last 50 years humankind has caused the destruction of at least 17 per cent of the Amazon rainforest, an area twice the size of Spain. ... If we hadn't destroyed 17 percent, then we might be finding a new species every 2.49 days. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Oct 23, 2010 from BBC: Nagoya biodiversity talks stall on cash and targets Conservation groups have expressed concern that a major UN conference on nature protection is stalling, with some governments accused of holding the process hostage to their own interest. Their warning comes halfway through the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Nagoya, Japan. During negotiations some countries have proposed weaker rather than stronger targets for protection, they say. Some developing countries say the West is not meeting their concerns. "The most optimistic assessment is that we have not gone far towards a deal," said Muhtari Aminu-Kano, senior policy advisor with BirdLife International.... "It's your usual story - it's people putting their national interests far above the importance of biodiversity." ... I'm all for supporting biodiversity. Just not in my backyard. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jun 17, 2010 from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Loss of rain forest leads to malaria spike, UW researchers find Chopping down the rain forest can harm animals such as toucans, golden lion tamarind monkeys and poison dart frogs. Now, add another species to the list - humans. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon can lead to malaria epidemics years later, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The findings are some of the most detailed yet to link environmental changes with the spread of disease. The work, published Wednesday in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, combined malaria case reports with high-resolution satellite imagery from a remote, sparsely populated region of tropical Brazil about half the size of Rhode Island. For every square kilometer of forest cut down, the number of reported malaria cases spiked by 50 percent, the study found.....In a previous study, the team showed that the population of Anopheles darlingi, the species of mosquito that carries the disease, explodes after deforestation. ... Oh my little darlingi! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 15, 2010 from Mongabay: Indonesian government's promise up in smoke: fires rise by 59 percent The Indonesian government failed to live up to its promises to reduce fires across the tropical nation last year. Instead a 2009 State Environment Report showed a 59 percent rise of fire hotspots from 19,192 in 2008 to 32,416 last year, as reported by The Jakarta Post. Officials say land clearing was the primary cause of the fire increase in the tropical nation. Unlike temperate forest, rainforests rarely burn naturally. "Illegal land clearing with fires by local people in Kalimantan and Sumatra is still rampant," Heddy Mukna, deputy assistant for forest and land management at the Environment Ministry told The Jakarta Post. The state of Kalimantan on the island of Borneo saw fires triple in some areas from 2008 to 2009. Haze blanketed much of the island last year during the 'burning season'. ... At least this way the land'll be useful. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 14, 2010 from National Geographic News: Ecuador Puts a Price Tag on Untapped Oil In the coming weeks, Ecuador aims to sign a unique agreement to forgo drilling for oil in a huge plot of this rain forest in exchange for money. The idea is that contributions from industrialized nations and, potentially, from corporations would make up for the badly needed petroleum revenue that the South American nation would lose by keeping the fossil fuel underground....If it comes together, some hope that the so-called Yasuní-ITT Initiative -- named for the area's Ishpingo, Tiputini, and Tambococha oil fields --could be a model for combating global warming. ... And they can pay me to cheer about it! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 7, 2010 from BBC: Amazon forest fires 'on the rise' The number of fires destroying Amazon rainforests are increasing, a study has found. A team of scientists said fires in the region could release similar amounts of carbon as deliberate deforestation. Writing in Science, they said fire occurrence rates had increased in 59 percent of areas with reduced deforestation. As a result, the rise in fires could jeopardise the long-term success of schemes to reduce emissions from deforestation, they added.... The practice of "slash and burn" is widely used by farmers in the Amazon region to clear secondary forests and allow food and cash crops to be cultivated. ... Eaarth is goofing on us again! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jun 5, 2010 from Mongabay, via DesdemonaDespair: French company to break moratorium on shipments of illegally logged rosewood from Madagascar SEAL, a French transport company, is scheduled to ship 79 containers of rosewood tomorrow from the port of Toamasina on its vessel Terra Bona, reports Midi Madagascar. The shipment -- worth nearly $16 million -- comes less than three months after Madagascar's ruling authority banned timber exports after international uproar over the organized logging of the country's national parks in the aftermath of last year's military coup. SEAL's shipment of timber will be in direct violation of the moratorium. Madagascar's Ministry of Environment estimates there are some 1,500 containers' worth of precious hardwoods awaiting shipment in northeastern Madagascar. The street value of a container full of rosewood is around $200,000, according to a study published last year by researchers at the Missouri Botanical Garden. ... Pauvre, pauvre planet. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 14, 2010 from BBC: Climate change link to lizard extinction Climate change could wipe out 20 percent of the world's lizard species by 2080, according to a global-scale study. An international team of scientists also found that rising temperatures had aready driven 12 percent of Mexico's lizard populations to extinction. Based on this discovery, the team was able to make global predictions using an "extinction model". They conclude, in an article in Science journal, that "lizards have already crossed a threshold for extinctions". Although the grim prediction for 2080 could change if humans are able to slow global climate warming, the scientists say that a sharp decline in their numbers had already begun and would continue for decades. ... Pshaw, in 70 years we'll have fixed every problem. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 24, 2010 from BBC: UN body to look at meat and climate link UN specialists are to look again at the contribution of meat production to climate change, after claims that an earlier report exaggerated the link. A 2006 report concluded meat production was responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions - more than transport.... But a new analysis, presented at a major US science meeting, says the transport comparison was flawed.... In an attempt to capture everything associated with meat production, the FAO team included contributions, for example, from transport and deforestation. By comparison, the IPCC's methodology collects all emissions from deforestation into a separate pool, whether the trees are removed for farming or for some other reason; and does the same thing for transport. This is one of the reasons why the 18 percent figure appears remarkably high to some observers. ... Oh, I see -- transportation may be more, so meat might be somewhat less proportionally -- so bring on the BBQ!! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 23, 2010 from Telegraph.co.uk: Rare animals are being 'eaten to extinction' Research in the Congo Basin in Africa found more than three million tonnes of 'bush meat' is being extracted from the area every year, the equivalent of butchering 740,000 bull elephants. Most of the animals are small antelopes like blue duiker or rodents like the porcupine but larger mammals like monkeys and even gorillas are also taken.... But in a 500 million acre region of the Congo Basin stretching into eight countries, hunting has reached an unprecedented scale. Researchers from the Overseas Development Institute calculated that 3.4 million tonnes of bushmeat is removed every year from that area alone, equivalent to the weight of 40.7 million men. ... The hunterier I go, the hungrier I get. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 2, 2010 from Mongabay: Madagascar traders ready $50m shipment of illegally logged rainforest timber Traders in Vohemar, a port in northeastern Madagascar, are preparing for to ship $54 million worth of timber illegally logged from the Indian Ocean island nation's rainforest parks, report local sources. Some 270 containers are being loaded with valuable hardwoods cut during a logging frenzy that ensued following a military coup nearly a year ago. Delmas, a French shipping company, was last week cleared by the "transition authority" army-based to pick up the timber. A local timber syndicate -- alleged allied with top advisers in the current regime -- has been pushing for resumption of shipments. The shipment is expected to escalate the already rampant logging of protected rainforests, especially Masoala National Park, a World Heritage site, since stocks of valuable timber trees have been largely exhausted in unprotected areas. ... MORE. I want MORE. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 1, 2010 from Sydney Morning Herald, from DesdemonaDespair: Rampant logging 'destroying Papua New Guinea' Brother Jim Coucher worked in and near Vanimo on the north-west coast of PNG for 43 years until five years ago. Just returned from his first visit since, he was utterly horrified at the changes, he said yesterday, the speed of destruction caused by logging and corruption, and the plight of the local people.... ''I don't think anyone has an idea of the extent of logging, and I don't think anything can be done,'' Brother Coucher said. He does not want his religious order identified for fear of reprisals against members still working in Papua New Guinea.... The landowner, a sub-clan chief, said loggers destroyed a creek that had provided fish for his villagers. They bulldozed breadfruit trees, sago and coconut palms, and built a wharf in the harbour that meant villagers could not fish. They hired almost no villagers, he said. Instead, they brought in unskilled Asian workers. ''Malnutrition is rampant. It is horrible to see young mothers who are skin and bone. There is no sanitation, no running water -- it is a time bomb,'' the landowner said. ''They are logging Vanimo to its death.'' ... Gotta make a profit, right? What's the point otherwise? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 18, 2010 from Guardian: Almost half of all primates face 'imminent' extinction Almost half of the world's primate species – which include apes, monkeys and lemurs - are threatened with extinction due to the destruction of tropical forests and illegal hunting and trade. In a report highlighting the 25 most endangered primate species, conservationists have outlined the desperate plight of primates from Madagascar, Africa, Asia and Central and South America, with some populations down to just a few dozen in number.... "All over the world, it's mainly habitat destruction that affects primates the most," said Christoph Schwitzer, head of reseaarch at the Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation and one of the authors of the report. "Illegal logging, fragmentation of forests through fires, hunting is a big issue in several African countries and also now in Madagascar. In Asia one of the main problems is trade in hearts for traditional medicine, mainly into China." ... Lucky for us we're not primates! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 16, 2010 from BBC: Fog decline threatens US redwoods Scientists in California say a drop in coastal fog could threaten the state's famed giant redwood trees. Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says such fog has decreased markedly over the past 100 years.... "Fog prevents water loss from redwoods in summer and is really important for the tree and the forest," said research co-author Professor Todd Dawson.... Dr Johnstone thinks drought stress could affect the growth of new trees and the plants and animals that depend on the redwoods. But he notes that the negative impact on the tree population is, as yet, unproven. "We're concerned for certain, we expect some impact on the ecology but we don't have clear evidence that the redwoods are about to go extinct in the near term." ... "Near term" may mean something different to us than to two-thousand-year-olds redwoods. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 20, 2010 from Mongabay: Cheerios maker linked to rainforest destruction An activist group linked General Mills to destruction of rainforests in Southeast Asia in dramatic fashion on Tuesday, when it unfurled a giant banner, reading "Warning: General Mills Destroys Rainforests", outside the company's Minneapolis headquarters building. The stunt was executed by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), an activist group campaigning to highlight the role that palm oil consumption has in deforestation in Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. Expansion of oil palm plantations over the past twenty years has emerged as one of the biggest threats to the Southeast Asia's rainforests, which house such endangered species as the orangutan, the pygmy elephant of Borneo, and the Sumatran rhino. Palm oil production has also become a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, which result from deforestation, degradation and conversion of peatlands, and fires set for plantation establishment. ... Cheeri-oh-oh! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Dec 13, 2009 from Mongabay: Unilever suspends palm oil contract after supplier found to be destroying rainforests The world's largest user of palm oil, Unilever, has suspended its $32.6 million contract with the Indonesian group Sinar Mas after an independent audit proved that Sinar Mas is involved in the destruction of rainforest, reports Reuters. The audit was conducted early this year after a report by Greenpeace alleged that Sinar Mas was engaged in deforestation and the draining of peatlands, both of which release significant amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Deforestation across Indonesia and Malaysia, in part for oil palm plantations, has also added pressure on many many endangered species, including orangutans, tigers, elephants, and rhinos.... "Unilever's decision could represent a defining moment for the palm oil industry. What we're seeing here is the world's largest buyer of palm oil using its financial muscle to sanction suppliers who are destroying rain forests and clearing peatlands," said Greenpeace director John Sauven in a statement. ... Unilever is sure using its fulcrum here! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Dec 10, 2009 from CGIAR, via EurekAlert: Disagreement over what constitutes a forest is Achilles' heel of REDD plan Disagreement over what constitutes a forest could undermine an agreement to protect forests, which is expected to be one of the bright spots at the UN climate change meeting in Copenhagen, according to an analysis by the Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) Partnership for Tropical Forest Margins.... "Countries can clear massive amounts of forest and still claim that deforestation had not occurred," said Peter A Minang, ASB Global Coordinator, who has extensive experience working with the REDD initiative. For example, replacement of tropical rainforests by oil palm plantations in Southeast Asia would not be considered 'deforestation' because the plantations meet the definition of a forest. Lands that have been clear cut or burned, but which remain under control of forest institutions, are also still considered forest. ... We can't see the forest for the nomenclature. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Nov 14, 2009 from Helmhotz, via EurekAlert: TEEB: on the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity for policy makers Policy makers who factor the planet's multi-trillion dollar ecosystem services into their national and international investment strategies are likely to see far higher rates of return and stronger economic growth in the 21st century, a new report issued today says.... Subsidized commercial shrimp farms can generate returns of around $1,220 per hectare by clearing mangrove forests. But this does not take into account the losses to local communities totaling over $12,000 a hectare linked with wood and non-wood forest products, fisheries and coastal protection services (Barbier 2007). Nor does the profit to the commercial operators take into account the costs of rehabilitating the abandoned sites after five years of exploitation -- estimated at over $9,000 a hectare.... The economic invisibility of ecosystems and biodiversity is increased by our dominant economic model, which is consumption-led, production-driven, and GDP-measured. This model is in need of significant reform. The multiple crises we are experiencing -- fuel, food, finance, and the economy -- serve as reminders of the need for change. ... Placing a value on ecosystem services is so... arbitrary. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Nov 12, 2009 from Mongabay: Boreal forests contain more carbon than tropical forest per hectare A new report states that boreal forests store nearly twice as much carbon as tropical forests per hectare: a fact which researchers say should make the conservation of boreal forests as important as tropical in climate change negotiations. The report from the Canadian Boreal Initiative and the Boreal Songbird Initiative, entitled "The Carbon the World Forgot", estimates that the boreal forest -- which survives in massive swathes across Alaska, Canada, Northern Europe, and Russia -- stores 22 percent of all carbon on the earth's land surface. According to the study the boreal contains 703 gigatons of carbon, while the world's tropical forests contain 375 gigatons.... Researchers explain that while tropical forests store most of their carbon in vegetation, boreal forests store vast amounts of the greenhouse gas deep in permafrost soil and peatlands in addition to its trees. Cold temperatures prevent the complete breakdown of dead biomass in the boreal, so that carbon is accumulated over time, sometimes even millennia. Scientists have found carbon that has been locked away for 8,000 years. ... All right! We can still burn rainforests for palm oil plantations! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 26, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: World goes into 'ecological debt' The global recession meant "ecological debt day" on September 25 fell a day later than the previous year for the first time in 20 years as less resources were used. However environmental groups said the slow down was not enough to make a difference to the environmental damage being caused by over consumption, the burning of fossil fuels and intensive farming.... "Debt-fuelled overconsumption not only brought the financial system to the edge of collapse, it is pushing many of our natural life-support systems towards a precipic," he said. "Politicians tell us to get back to business as usual, but if we bankrupt critical ecosystems no amount of government spending will bring them back. "We need a radically different approach to 'rich world' consumption. While billions in poorer countries subsist, we consume vastly more and yet with little or nothing to show for it in terms of greater life satisfaction." ... If debt is the last growth industry, I wonder how I can profit from it? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jul 29, 2009 from Mongabay: Burning by Asia Pulp and Paper contributes to haze in Indonesia, Malaysia One quarter of fire hotspots recorded in the Indonesia province of Riau on the island of Sumatra in 2009 have occurred in concessions affiliated with Sinar Mas Group's Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), according to new analysis by Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of environmental groups. The fires are contributing to the "haze" that is affecting air quality and causing health problems in Malaysia. The analysis of NASA satellite imagery by Eyes on the Forest reveals that APP continues to clear forest in the Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu, a block of which was recently declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.... "Between 1996 and 2007, APP had pulped 177,000 hectares -- 65 percent of all natural forest lost in the ecosystem," added Nursamsu of WWF-Indonesia.... APP plans to clear up to 200,000 hectares of Bukit Tigapuluh. ... Hey, can we get to that "paper-free office" anytime soon? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 17, 2009 from Mongabay, via DesdemonaDespair: Credit Suisse, UBS, BNP Paribas to finance razing of rainforests for palm oil Swiss banks Credit Suisse and UBS, together with the French BNP Paribas, are helping Singapore-listed Golden Agri-Resources raise up to 280 million Swiss francs ($258 million) to finance conversion of large areas of rainforest in New Guinea and Borneo for oil palm plantations, reports the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), a group that campaigns on behalf of forest people in Southeast Asia.... "The vast majority of future expansion is likely to involve deforestation, some on peatlands and in the habitats of the critically endangered orangutan", said Greenpeace in the report.... ... Now that's enhancing shareholder value! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 10, 2009 from Mongabay: NASA photos reveal destruction of 99 percent of rainforest park in Rwanda Satellite images released by NASA show nearly complete destruction of Rwanda's Gishwati Forest between 1986 and 2001. Deforestation of the forest reserve is largely the result of subsistence harvesting and cultivation by refugees in the aftermath of the country's 1994 genocide. Overall only 600 hectares of Gishwati's original 100,000 hectares of forest remain, a loss of 99.4 percent. "According to UNEP, the reserve's forests were largely intact in 1978, and substantial forest cover still remained in 1986. But in the 15 years that elapsed between these images -- a time that spanned the country's tragic genocide -- wave after wave of refugees arrived in Gishwati Forest and began clearing it, often for subsistence farming," wrote Michon Scott and Rebecca Lindsey on NASA's Earth Observatory site. "By 2001, only a small circular patch of native forest remained -- 1,500 acres of the forest's original 250,000." ... I think I now need a microscope. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jun 4, 2009 from Mongabay: Tribes in Peru to get $0.68/acre for protecting Amazon forest Indigenous communities in Peru will be paid 5 soles ($1.70) per hectare ($0.68/acre) of preserved forest under a new conservation plan proposed by Peru's Ministry of Environment, reports the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) in its bi-monthly update. Antonio Brack, Peru's Minister of Environment, says the scheme could generate $18.3 million dollars for forest communities, which control some 11 million hectares of forest in the country, beginning in 2010. Brack says money has already been set aside for the program in the 2010 budget.... Nevertheless the program will represent a substantial increase in funding over the $30,000 per year indigenous communities presently receive in direct international support for forest conservation, according to Brack. ... Jeez, can I buy a few acres? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 18, 2009 from Mongabay: Orangutan population in Borneo park plunges 90 percent in 5 years The population of orangutans in Indonesia's Kutai National Park has plunged by 90 percent in the past five years due to large-scale deforestation promoted by local authorities, reports The Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP), an Indonesian environmental group. According to park officials interviewed by COP, the population of morio orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio) declined from 600 in 2004 to 30-60 this year. COP attributes the drop to state-sponsored colonization of the Kutai, which has led to hunting and forest clearing.... "The root of the problem with the Kutai National Park is a breach of duty committed by officials to get political and financial advantages. They gave away land spaces to people to win their votes in the local administration elections. They also mobilize people to seize the national park area. Their strategy to win people's hearts by giving away the land seemed successful." ... Orangutans are probably smart enough to vote. Too bad they're such a minority. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 11, 2009 from New Scientist: Brazil's other big forest in dire straits The ongoing degradation of the Amazon rainforest has obscured the plight of its smaller sibling: the Atlantic forest in Brazil, which is a biodiversity hotspot. Once covering about 1.5 million square kilometres, the rainforest has been reduced to about one-tenth of its original area in the past 500 years, a new study has shown. The Atlantic forest supports more than 20,000 species of plants, 260 mammals, 700 birds, 200 reptiles, 280 amphibians and hundreds of unnamed species. Unless the damage is halted, monkeys and birds unique to the region will go extinct, including iconic species such as the golden lion tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia) and the northern woolly spider monkey (Brachyteles hypoxanthus), both among the most endangered of all the world's monkeys. "Unfortunately, the forest is in very bad shape," says Jean Paul Metzger at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. "Species extinctions will occur more rapidly and, since 30 per cent of the species are endemic to the region, they will disappear forever." ... That Amazon "spare" is flat? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 14, 2009 from TIME Magazine: The Dire Fate of Forests in a Warmer World In a new study published April 13 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), scientists at UA found that water-deprived pinon pines raised in temperatures about 7 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) above current averages died 28 percent faster than pines raised in today's climate. It's the first study to isolate the specific impact of temperature on tree mortality during drought -- and it indicates that in a warmer world trees are likely to be significantly more vulnerable to the threat of drought than they are today. ... We call it ... mortreelity. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 11, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: Galaxy chocolate bars to be made with sustainably sourced cocoa by 2010 Around 160 million bars of the chocolate -- Mars' biggest seller in the UK -- will carry the Rainforest Alliance Certified trademark seal by next year, the company said. The move is part of a larger commitment by Mars to certify its entire cocoa supply as sustainably sourced by 2020.... In 2008, Mars Drinks achieved Rainforest Alliance certification for three Flavia coffee offerings. Howard-Yana Shapiro, global director of plant science and external research at Mars, said: "Rainforest Alliance certification will make a positive difference for everyone involved from cocoa farmer to chocolate bar. ... By 2010? I guess there is hope after all! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 3, 2009 from BusinessGreen: Research warns two degree rise will halve rainforest 'carbon sink' The impact of global warming on tropical rainforests will be so severe that even increases in temperature that are widely regarded as "safe" could raise tree mortality rates to such a level that almost 50 billion tons of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. That is the sobering warning contained in new research from a team of Australian scientists, which suggests that even a two degree increase in average global temperatures will see the "carbon sink" effect currently provided by the world's rainforests cut in half.... The researchers calculated that for each degree Celsius global temperatures rise, the rainforests will shrink at such a rate that 24.5 billion tons of carbon is released to the atmosphere. In comparison, man-made emissions of greenhouse gases in 2007 reached a peak of 10 billion tons CO2 equivalent. ... Oh good. Soon we'll have the rainforests to blame, instead of ourselves. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 26, 2009 from Mongabay: 'Ecstasy Oil' Threatens Cambodian Rainforests Authorities, working with conservationists, have raided and closed several 'ecstasy oil' distilleries in Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains. The distilleries posed a threat to the region's rich biological diversity, reports Fauna and Flora International (FFI), the conservation group involved in the operation. "The factories had been set up to distill 'sassafras oil'; produced by boiling the roots and the trunk of the exceptionally rare Mreah Prew Phnom trees and exported to neighbouring countries," said FFI. "The oil is used in the production of cosmetics, but can also be used as a precursor chemical in the altogether more sinister process of producing MDMA -- more commonly known as ecstasy. The distillation process not only threatens Mreah Prew Phnom trees, but damages the surrounding forest ecosystem. Producing sassafras oil is illegal in Cambodia." ... More collateral damage from the War on Drugs. ApocaDoc permalink 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. ApocaDoc permalink 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. ApocaDoc permalink 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.... ApocaDoc permalink 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. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 4, 2009 from Mongabay: Malaysian government says forest reserve 'plundered' for oil palm development Responding to allegations by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) that indigenous people have been forced from their lands (a charge it denied), the Sabah Forestry Department said that more than 30 percent of Mt. Pock And Tanjong Nagos Forest Reserves were "plundered" by "people with means to plant illegal oil palm including companies" up until 2001. The statement is noteworthy in that leaders of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, the marketing and lobbying arm of the Malaysian palm oil industry, have maintained that oil expansion has not taken place at the expense of natural forest in Malaysia. The Forestry Department statement noted that oil palm companies spent million of ringgit "to develop the illegal oil palm including the recruitment of illegal workers to destroy forests and intimidate Forestry Department staff on the ground." It said that 202 people were arrested in the reserves between 2003 and 2006. Statewide, 732 were apprehended for illegal encroachment. 471 of these were illegal immigrants. ... I wonder what palms were greased? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 26, 2009 from Mongabay: Palm oil may be single most immediate threat to the greatest number of species Efforts to slow the rapid expansion of oil palm plantations at the expense of natural forests across Southeast Asia are being hindered by industry-sponsored disinformation campaigns, argue scientists writing in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. The authors, Lian Pin Koh and David S. Wilcove, say that palm oil may constitute the "single most immediate threat to the greatest number of species" by driving the conversion of biologically rich ecosystems -- including lowland rainforests and peatlands.... Despite substantial scientific evidence to the contrary, the industry claims that expansion has not occurred in natural forest areas and that oil palm plantations sequester more carbon than rainforests.... "To effectively mitigate the threats of oil palm to biodiversity, conservationists need to persuade consumers to continue to demand both greater transparency in land-use decisions by governments and greater environmental accountability from oil palm producers." ... If the information is as bad as it sounds, I'd diss it too! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 21, 2009 from New Scientist: Mountain gorillas in dire straits, DNA reveals Mountain gorillas are in more trouble than we thought. Fewer of them are living in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP) than previous estimates suggest. This is one of only two places worldwide where the gorillas survive in the wild.... It might also mean that the gorilla population in the park is not growing after all -- a census in 1997 found 300 gorillas, while one in 2003 found 320 individuals, but these figures may also be inaccurate. "Now we don't really know what is happening with this population," says Guschanski. "Probably the safest thing is to assume that the population is stable, but we will need to wait for another four to five years to assess how it is changing." ... Four or five years is a lifetime in gorilla-years.... ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 4, 2009 from Science Daily (US): Amazon Deforestation Trend On The Increase Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon forests has flipped from a decreasing to an increasing trend, according to new annual figures recently released by the country's space agency INPE. Commenting on the figures, Brazilian environment minister Carlos Minc confirmed that the government will on Monday announce forest related carbon emission reduction targets, which will link halting deforestation to the national climate change campaign. From August 2007 to July 2008, Brazil deforested 11,968 square kilometers of forests in the area designated as the Legal Amazon, a 3.8 per cent increase over the previous year and an unwelcome surprise following declines of 18 per cent over the previous period. ... Maybe this is a version of "set the price 18 percent higher and offer a 14 percent discount" marketing. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 12, 2008 from Greenpeace, via Mongabay: Computer hackers are helping illegal loggers destroy the Amazon rainforest Computer hackers are helping illegal loggers destroy the Amazon rainforest by breaking into the Brazilian government's timber tracking system and altering the records so as to increase logging allocations, reports Greenpeace.... "By hacking into the permit system, these companies have made their timber shipments appear legal and compliant with the forest management plans. But in reality, they're trading illegal timber which is making the problem of deforestation worse, and a lack of control and policing in the areas they're logging means they think they can get away with it." ... Something tells me a backdoor was left open on this system. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 3, 2008 from Mongabay: Agricultural firms cut incentives for Amazon deforestation As grain prices plummet and concerns over cash mount, agricultural giants are cutting loans to Brazilian farmers, reports the Wall Street Journal. Tighter farm credit may be contributing to a recent slowing in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, where agriculture is an increasingly important driver of forest clearing.... Now strapped for cash and facing rising risks in the credit markets, agricultural firms including Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Bunge Ltd. and Cargill Inc., and equipment suppliers like Deere & Co. are reducing loans and advance cash payments to farmers at a time when production and borrowing costs are rising. "As the volatile commodities market and the global financial crisis have increased the risk and expense of doing business in Brazil, big grain companies are reining in lending," writes Etter. ... You mean the invisible hand of the market might actually do something good? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 2, 2008 from Mongabay: Brazil to cut Amazon deforestation by 70 percent to fight global warming Brazil will aim to cut its deforestation rate by 70 percent by 2018 under its plan to reduce emissions from forest clearing, Environment Minister Carlos Minc. The plan will be financed by the country's Amazon Fund which relies on voluntary contributions from governments, corporations, and wealthy individuals. Norway has pledged up to a billion dollars to the fund depending on Brazil's effectiveness in reducing deforestation. Contributors are not eligible for carbon credits. ... "Aims"? "Voluntary contributions"? "Plan"? "Reduce"? I'm not excited by weasel words. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 1, 2008 from Mongabay: Amazon deforestation rises slightly to 4,600 square miles in 2008 Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased slightly for the August 2007-July 2008 period, reports the country's National Institute of Space Research (INPE). The rise is the first since 2004 when 27,379 square kilometers were destroyed, but is lower than forecast. The 2008 figure is the second-lowest annual loss since 1991.... Regional climate trends indicate that large swathes of the Amazon are increasingly susceptible to drought and fire. Coupled with continued deforestation, degradation, and fragmentation, some researchers say the Amazon is approaching a critical tipping point which could see more than half of the forest damaged or destroyed within a generation. ... Luckily, we can just grow it back whenever we want! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Oct 24, 2008 from Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, via EurekAlert: Diversity of trees in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest defies simple explanation Trees in a hyper-diverse tropical rainforest interact with each other and their environment to create and maintain diversity, researchers report in the Oct. 24 issue of the journal Science.... It is difficult to determine the effects of climate change, habitat fragmentation and species extinctions on life's diversity without a coherent model of how communities are organized; but a unified theory of diversity patterns in ecological communities remains elusive. The most complex biological systems -- such as tropical rainforests -- are the most important testing grounds for theories that attempt to generalize across ecological communities; as they pose the greatest challenge. At Yasuni, in addition to the 600 species of birds and 170 of mammals, there are approximately 1,100 species of trees in the 25 hectare plot -- more than in all of the U.S. and Canada, combined. ... Let's hope we can figure it out before the Amazon has been turned into cattle ranches. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 22, 2008 from Saskatoon Star Phoenix: Ecological stocks plummet around the world In fully 52 per cent of the mammals for which population trends are known, numbers are dwindling. Some 188 species are in the highest threat category of critically endangered. An additional 29 species have been flagged as critically endangered possibly extinct, and nearly 450 mammals have been listed as endangered. The greatest threats mammals face are deforestation and other habitat loss, as well as overhunting. Habitat loss and degradation affect 40 per cent of the world's mammals and climate change is increasingly a factor affecting habitat. ... Only 52 percent? We can do better than that! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 8, 2008 from SciDev.net: Brazil's climate change plan 'ready for public scrutiny' The recommendations are organised into four lines of action: mitigation; vulnerability, impact and adaptation; research and development; and empowerment and divulgation. Goals include getting 7,000 megawatts of power from renewable energy between 2008 and 2010, increasing production of ethanol from 25.6 billion litres in 2008 to 53.2 billion litres by 2017, and preventing the release 570 million tonnes of carbon dioxide between 2008 and 2017 by using biofuels. Targets will be met by promoting sustainable development in the industrial and agricultural sectors, maintaining a high proportion of renewable energy in the electricity production, encouraging the use of biofuels in the transportation sector, and reducing deforestation. ... Here's my scrutiny: It's a start. Would that the US were taking a stab at it. Not to mention opening it for "public scrutiny." ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 9, 2008 from London Daily Telegraph: Amazonian Chernobyl -- Ecuador's oil environment disaster "Once it was pristine rainforest. Now it has been described as an Amazonian Chernobyl. Millions of gallons of crude oil and toxic waste -- the legacy of an oil extraction programme -- has blighted 1,700 hectares of land and poisoned the rivers and streams in Sucumbios in the north-east corner of Ecuador... Indigenous Indian people blame the pollution on the US oil giant Chevron -- formerly Texaco -- and say it has caused a catalogue of health problems including severe birth defects, spontaneous miscarriages and cancers." ... It takes the power of human energy to so completely ruin a planet. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 24, 2008 from Ohio State University: Paying to save tropical forests could reduce carbon emissions Wealthy nations willing to collectively spend about $1 billion annually could prevent the emission of roughly half a billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year for the next 25 years, new research suggests. It would take about that much money to put an end to a tenth of the tropical deforestation in the world, one of the top contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, researchers estimate. If adopted, this type of program could have potential to reduce global carbon emissions by between 2 and 10 percent. ... A billion a year? Come on, make it 10 billion! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 22, 2008 from World Wildlife Fund via NaturalNews.com: Half the Amazon Rainforest to be Lost by 2030 "Due to the effects of global warming and deforestation, more than half of the Amazon rainforest may be destroyed or severely damaged by the year 2030, according to a report released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The report, "Amazon's Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire," concludes that 55 percent of the world's largest rainforest stands to be severely damaged from agriculture, drought, fire, logging and livestock ranching in the next 22 years." ... We've seen fire and we've seen rain, but we don't like seeing fire in the rainforest. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jul 14, 2008 from Rights and Resources Institute, via EurekAlert: New studies predict record land grab as demand soars for new sources of food, energy and wood fiber Escalating global demand for fuel, food and wood fibre will destroy the world's forests, if efforts to address climate change and poverty fail to empower the billion-plus forest-dependent poor, according to two reports released today by the U.S.-based Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), an international coalition comprising the world's foremost organisations on forest governance and conservation. ... If a forest falls in the world and nobody hears it, it still won't absorb carbon dioxide. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 3, 2008 from Great Ape Trust: Orangutans 'declining more sharply' than previously estimated Endangered wild orangutan (Pongo spp.) populations are declining more sharply in Sumatra and Borneo than previously estimated, according to new findings published this month by Great Ape Trust of Iowa scientist Dr. Serge Wich and other orangutan conservation experts in Oryx – The International Journal of Conservation. Conservation action essential to survival of orangutans, found only on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, must be region-specific to address the different ecological threats to each species, said Wich and his co-authors, a pre-eminent group of scientists, conservationists, and representatives of governmental and non-governmental groups. The experts' revised estimates put the number of Sumatran orangutans (P. abelii) around 6,600 in 2004. This is lower than previous estimates of 7,501 as a result of new findings that indicate that a large area in Aceh that was previously thought to contain orangutans actually does not. ... In the Primate Death Match, humans are kicking ass -- though we may be sustaining mortal wounds in the process. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 1, 2008 from Guardian (UK): Map reveals extent of deforestation in tropical countries A map of the world's tropical forests has revealed that millions of hectares of trees were cut back to make way for crops in recent years. Created from high-resolution satellite images, the map shows the extent of deforestation in the tropics with unprecedented accuracy.... The map showed that deforestation in Indonesia was largely concentrated in just two regions, and that much of it was peatland. "The peatlands are essentially all carbon, so if you clear it and fire it, an enormous amount of carbon will be emitted into the atmosphere," said Stolle. "Without a precise map, we would not know that level of detail." ... Whoops. Did we calculate this rate of burning into our computer modeling? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jun 19, 2008 from Science, via ScienceDaily: Tropical Forest Sustainability: A Climate Change Boon Improved management of the world’s tropical forests has major implications for humanity’s ability to reduce its contribution to climate change, according to a paper published in the journal, Science. The authors say the billions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed annually by the world's forests represents an 'economic subsidy' for climate change mitigation worth hundreds of billions of dollars. ... waidaminit -- we're subsidizing the rainforest!? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 3, 2008 from BBC (UK): Images reveal 'rapid forest loss' High-resolution satellite images have revealed the "rapid deforestation" of Papua New Guinea's biodiversity rich rainforests over the past 30 years. An international team of researchers estimates that the current rate of loss could result in more than half of the nation's tree cover being lost by 2021.... Although it only accounts for less than 0.5 percent of the Earth's land cover, the heavily forested island nation is home to an estimated 6-7 percent of the planet's species. ... Heck, we can just replant it, right? Or maybe build golf courses. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 16, 2008 from The Post (Pakistan): Prince Charles urges forest logging halt The halting of logging in the world's rainforests is the single greatest solution to climate change, Prince Charles has said, reports BBC News. He called for a mechanism to be devised to pay poor countries to prevent them felling their rainforests. The prince told the BBC's Today programme that the forests provided the earth's "air conditioning system". He said it was "crazy" the rainforests were worth more "dead than alive" to some of the world's poorest people. ... Jolly good. Tho, the "worth" isn't to the "poorest people." No, gov'n'r, it's the richest people who benefit most from the rapine of the world's rainforests. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 14, 2008 from Guardian (UK): Fears for Amazon rainforest as Brazil's environment minister resigns Silva said her decision was the result of the "difficulties" she was facing in "pursuing the federal environmental agenda". She said her efforts to protect the environment had faced "growing resistance … [from] important sectors of the government and society".... Sergio Leitao, the director of public policy for Greenpeace in Brazil, said Silva had taken her decision because of growing pressure from within the government to relax laws outlawing bank loans to those who destroyed the rainforest. ... Using other people's money to wipe out everyone's inheritance. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 6, 2008 from International Public Forum on Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples: Indigenous peoples hardest hit by climate change describe impacts Indigenous people point to an increase in human rights violations, displacements and conflicts due to expropriation of ancestral lands and forests for biofuel plantations (soya, sugar-cane, jatropha, oil-palm, corn, etc.), as well as for carbon sink and renewable energy projects (hydropower dams, geothermal plants), without the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous people.... [such as] a Dutch company whose operations include planting trees and selling sequestered carbon credit to people wanting to offset their emissions caused by air travel.... Forced evictions continued to 2002, leading indigenous people to move to neighboring villages, caves and mosques. Over 50 people were killed in 2004. ... Wait -- buying off my guilt with carbon credits led to forced evictions and murders? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 6, 2008 from Telegraph.co.uk: Scheme to protect 1.8m acres of rainforest "A world-first rainforest conservation project which will lock up 100 million tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 50 million flights from London to Sydney, has been agreed in Indonesia. The scheme will protect 1.8 million acres of rainforest in northern Sumatra, including endangered species such as the Sumatran tiger, Sumatran elephant and the northernmost population of orangutans." ... Arguably, this sort of strategy needs to start happening plenty -- and plenty fast -- or you can add "humans" to the list of endangered species. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 3, 2008 from Tropical Conservation Science, via Mongabay.com: China's tropical rainforests decline 67 percent in 30 years Tropical rainforest cover in southern Yunnan decreased 67 percent in the past 30 years, mostly due to the establishment of rubber plantations, according to a new assessment of tropical forests in southwestern China. ... They're crushing the competition from Brazil! ApocaDoc permalink Copyright 2009 The Apocadocs.com