Rainforest Problems
Unilever backtracks: may purchase palm oil from Sinar Mas
The world's biggest buyer of palm oil, Unilever, says it will again purchase palm oil from PT SMART, a subsidiary of Indonesian company Sinar Mas, if allegations about deforestation and peatland destruction prove untrue, or if Sinar Mas shows it is addressing the issue. Last December, the food and cosmetic giant, Unilever, suspended its $32.6 million contract with Sinar Mas after an independent audit—spurred by a 2008 Greenpeace report—showed that the Indonesian company was involved in the illegal destruction of rainforests and peatlands. Yet the company now seems to be signaling that the contract is back on the table even as it touts its sustainability efforts to the public.
US Eastern forests suffer "substantial" decline: 3.7 million hectares gone
The United States' Eastern forests have suffered a "substantial and sustained net loss" over the past few decades, according to a detailed study appearing in BioScience. From 1973 to 2000, Eastern have declined by 4.1 percent or 3.7 million hectares. Deforestation occurred in all Eastern regions, but the loss was most concentrated in the southeastern plains.
Forest epidemic is unprecedented phenomenon, still getting worse
The Swiss needle cast epidemic in Douglas-fir forests of the coastal Pacific Northwest is continuing to intensify, appears to be unprecedented over at least the past 100 years, and is probably linked to the extensive planting of Douglas-fir along the coast and a warmer climate, new research concludes.
Scientists in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University have also found that this disease, which is affecting hundreds of thousands of acres in Oregon and Washington and costing tens of millions of dollars a year in lost growth, can affect older trees as well as young stands - in some cases causing their growth to almost grind to a halt.
How Amazongate blighted the rainforest harvest for WWF
Two weeks ago I reported on what is potentially the greatest global warming wheeze of all – a scheme to claim $60 billion in carbon credits for keeping intact a large chunk of the Amazon rainforest which is not under any threat, The architects of this imaginative project are the environmental campaigners of the WWF and their close ally the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts.
New timber ban failing to stop illegal logging in Madagascar
Rainforest timber continues to be cut illegally from Madagascar's national parks despite a recently announced moratorium on precious wood exports and logging, reports a source from the Indian Ocean island nation.
On March 24, Madagascar's transitional authority unveiled decree (no. 2010-141) prohibiting all exports of rosewood and precious timber for two to five years during a council meeting held at Ambohitsorohitra Palace in Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital city. But with the revelation that logging is continuing within Masoala National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, questions are now being raised about the decree.
