Urgency
Government decree sanctions trafficking of rainforest timber in Madagascar
A new decree by Madagascar's transitional government may fuel continued destruction of the country's tropical forests and biodiversity, warns a statement issued jointly by a dozen leading scientific and conservation groups.
The decree, issued by Andry Rajoelina, a politician who seized the presidency during a March military coup, allows the export of hardoods illegally harvested from Madagascar's national parks during the political crisis. The timber, much of which was cut from Marojejy and Masoala national parks, was previously banned from export following international outcry over the destruction of protected areas as well as the accompanying commercial bushmeat poaching of endangered lemurs and other wildlife.
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Saving the Rainforest Could Make Economic Sense
A landowner in Indonesia may soon find it more profitable to sell
carbon credits from untouched forest
than to clear the land for agriculture, according to new research. As a
case study, the researchers looked at 8.2 million acres that are slated
to become plantations in Kalimantan, the Indonesian region of the
island of Borneo. The researchers found that
paying to conserve the forest was more valuable than plantations as long
as poorer nations could earn between $10 and $33 for each tonne of CO2
saved. Currently a credit representing a tonne of CO2 sells for about
$20 in the European Union, which has the world’s largest greenhouse gas
trading system [The
New York Times].
Forest loss slows, as China plants and Brazil preserves
Yet forests continue to be lost at "an alarming rate" in some countries, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Its Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 finds the loss of tree cover is most acute in Africa and South America. But Australia also suffered huge losses because of the recent drought. "It is good news," said the report's co-ordinator Mette Loyche Wilkie, a senior forestry office with FAO.
"This is the first time we've been able to say that the deforestation rate is going down across the world, and certainly when you look at the net rate that is certainly down. But the situation in some countries is still alarming," she told BBC News.
Tracking down the elusive Knysna elephants
The sound of
birds calling, twittering and chattering to one another fills the cool
forest air.
The trees towering above - kalander, yellowwood, stinkwood - create a vast, soaring canopy of mingled shade and light that surrounds you as you walk the paths.
The Knysna forests are one of the great wonders of our country, and one of the most rewarding experiences you can have is to explore them with children.
Recently, I was there with my wife and stepchildren. The beauty and the fascination of the forest were enhanced by the excitement they brought to their first encounter with it.
A century ago there were up to 600 elephants here. They were hunted ruthlessly for their ivory, but for a long time the impenetrable nature of the forest and the elephants' skill at threading their way through the trees meant that their numbers remained relatively stable.
Then gold was discovered in the area and, although the seam petered out, it led to many more humans arriving, establishing a mine and a small town.
