Rainforest Problems
Oil palm plantations support fewer ant species than rainforest
Oil palm plantations support substantially less biodiversity than natural forests when it comes to ant species, reports new research published in Basic and Applied Ecology.
Tom Fayle, a Cambridge University biologist, and colleagues sampled ant populations in a rainforest in Danum Valley Conservation Area and nearby oil palm plantations in Sabah, a state in Malaysian Borneo. The researchers counted 16,000 worker ants from 309 species in the natural forest but only in 110 species at the oil palm plantation.
REDD may not provide sufficient incentive to developers over palm oil
In less than a generation oil palm cultivation has emerged as a leading form of land use in tropical forests, especially in Southeast Asia. Rising global demand for edible oils, coupled with the crop’s high yield, has turned palm oil into an economic juggernaut, generating US$ 10 billion in exports for Indonesia and Malaysia, which account for 85 percent of palm oil production, alone. Today more than 40 countries - led by China, India, and Europe - import crude palm oil.
French Company Prepares to Ship Illegally Logged Rainforest Wood from Madagascar
Delmas, a French shipping company that has been under pressure for facilitating the destruction of Madagascar's rainforest parks, has been cleared to begin picking up contraband rosewood as soon as Monday, report local sources in the Indian Ocean island nation. Leaders behind last year's military coup — which displaced the autocratic, but democratically elected President Marc Ravalomanana — have signed off on the shipment.
Logged Forests Burn Easily
Decades of industrial logging in Australia’s wet forests have made them more fire prone, raising urgent fire management issues, according to an ANU academic.
Professor David Lindenmayer of the Fenner School of Environment and Society challenges current fire protection practices in the March issue of Australasian Science magazine, published today.
“Much discussion focuses on how to best protect human lives and built assets,” Professor Lindenmayer writes. “But management also needs to counter the effects of past forestry activities on fire regimes.
Orangutan survival and the shopping trolley
The challenge of saving the orangutan - man's closest relative - from extinction is trickling down to the weekly shop.
Many of the biscuits, margarines, breads, crisps and even bars of soap that consumers pick off supermarket shelves contain an ingredient that is feeding a growth industry that conservationists say is killing the orangutans.
The mystery ingredient in the mix is palm oil - the cheapest source of vegetable oil available - and one that rarely appears on the label of most products.
