Grave incendio arrasa con las selvas de Chocó

DESASTRE. La voraz coflagración afecta selvas vírgenes del municipio de Unguía desde hace casi una semana.

La selva profunda chocoana arde en llamas desde hace una semana. Las autoridades del departamento, en especial Codechocó -la Corporación Autónoma Regional (CAR) de esa región- están en alerta máxima.

Más de 3.500 hectáreas han sido devastadas por las llamas y nadie ha podido detenerlas. Como la selva es húmeda y pantanosa, la única posibilidad de llegar a atender la emergencia es por aire. Pero el Chocó no tiene aviones ni helicópteros y depende de la Fuerza Aérea y el Ejército para hacerle frente a esta emergencia.

Autoridades informan que se han encontrado animales totalmente calcinados. / Foto: Leonardo Montoya.

Según Codechocó, aunque el presidente, Juan Manuel Santos, autorizó helicópteros cisterna de las Fuerzas Armadas, estas, hasta ayer, no habían podido llegar pues según les han dicho se encuentran en combates.

Sin embargo, la Fuerza Aérea informa que, desde las primeras horas del día de ayer, puso a disposición "una aeronave (...) para evidenciar e identificar los focos de incendio junto con un Helicóptero UH-60 dotado con el equipo Bamby Bucket, para efectuar los lanzamientos de agua con liquido retardarte y apagar en el menor tiempo posible la conflagración".

El teniente coronel Robert Zambrano, encargado de la Dirección de Operaciones Especiales Aéreas, señaló que “las condiciones meteorológicas en la zona han dificultado el desarrollo del apoyo aéreo.”

Foto: FAC. Mientras tanto, la situación de los pobladores de Unguía es incierta. Las autoridades de la zona reportan que más de 300 personas pueden estar en riesgo inminente por cuenta de este incendio.

Se teme que de no frenarse esta emergencia las llamas consuman una gran parte de dos santuarios naturales, la reserva regional Lago Azul, los manatíes y el Parque Nacional Natural Katíos.

Más de 3.500 hectáreas han sido devastadas por las llamas. / Foto: Leonardo Montoya.

Según Codechocó, “la pérdida de flora, fauna y recursos naturales es incalculable. Se han encontrado especies como osos perezosos, serpientes, iguanas y micos totalmente calcinadas”. También hay preocupación por los manatíes que habitan esa región y que han intentado salir de los bosques para resguardarse.

El portal de noticias regional NotiChoco.com informó que cazadores de la tortuga manatí iniciaron el incendio como mecanismo de presión para que el animal saliera de su anidadero. Las autoridades están tras la pista de estas personas, informó ese medio.

Más de 300 personas podrían estar en riesgo inminente por cuenta del desastre. / Foto: Leonardo Montoya.

Unguía es un municipio desconocido para la mayoría de colombianos. Es el pueblo natal de la exreina nacional de la belleza Vannessa Mendoza. Está ubicado en la frontera con Antoquia y es el centro de las culturas indígenas Tuna y Kuna.

Las llamas sobrepasarían los 15 metros de altura. / Foto: @MauricioCabal.

Foto: @JairMosquera.

ORIGINAL: Semana
19 marzo 2014

Follow the Frog

Follow the Frog was nominated for a People's Voice Webby!

You don't have to go to the ends of the Earth to save the rainforest. Just Follow the Frog! Shop for Rainforest Alliance Certified products here: http://ow.ly/dKlao.

The Rainforest Alliance is a nonprofit conservation organization that holds Charity Navigator's highest rating of Four Stars: http://ow.ly/ekYUy.

What's behind the green frog seal? Only farms that meet rigorous sustainability criteria earn the right to use the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal. These criteria address all of the three pillars of sustainability --

• environmental protection, 
• social equity and 
• economic viability -- 

and farms are evaluated by independent, third-party auditors. Learn more about Rainforest Alliance Certification and its impacts here: http://ow.ly/ekYOW.
This film was written and directed by our talented friend Max Joseph. You can follow him at http://www.facebook.com/mjosephfilm

Produced by Aaron Weber from Wander: http://www.wanderfilms.com

Certification, Verification and Validation Services
The Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and improve livelihoods by promoting and evaluating the implementation of the most globally respected sustainability standards in a variety of fields. Through RA-Cert, the Rainforest Alliance's auditing division, we provide our forestry, agriculture and carbon/climate clients with independent and transparent verification, validation and certification services based on these standards, which are designed to generate ecological, social and economic benefits.

ORIGINAL: Rainforest Alliance

How Thirsty Trees Drink Cloud Water

ORIGINAL: LiveScience

by LiveScience Staff

Date: 13 December 2012

Graduate student Greg Goldsmith in the montaine cloud forest of Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica. CREDIT: Photo courtesy of Drew Fulton (Canopy in the Clouds)

0When roots just aren't getting the job done, leaves on some thirsty tropical trees can suck up water from low-hanging clouds, new research shows.

"The textbooks teach us that water enters roots, moves up the trunk and into the branches, then finally exits the leaves," graduate student Greg Goldsmith, a University of California, Berkeley said in a statement. "That's true, but it's not the whole story."

Goldsmith and his colleagues set up plastic moisture-detecting "leaves" to study the patterns of leaf wetness caused by the constant cloud-cover in the tropical forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica. They also installed tiny sensors on the branches of the cloud forest plants to see whether or not water was entering leaves when they were wet.

"With our sensors, we observed water entering the leaves and actually moving back down the branches toward the trunk," Goldsmith said, adding that the mechanism likely helps the trees hydrate when there's not much rain.

"Many cloud forests experience an annual dry season when the primary water source isn't rain, but rather, the moisture from the clouds," he said. "This is when the trees are most likely to draw water in through their leaves."

Goldsmith is in the lab of Todd Dawson, senior author of the study, who demonstrated a similar phenomenon in California redwoods.

The new research was detailed online last week in the journal Ecology Letters.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+. 

How Genetically Engineered Soy Threatens Ecological Stability

ORIGINAL: Mercola

By Dr. Mercola

November 01 2012

Soybeans are touted by the food industry as the answer to world hunger. But very few pieces of propaganda could be more misleading. Not only does soy consumption lead to a number of health problems, but its production is leaving a trail of ecological devastation beyond belief.

While most people know the Amazon is under threat, few know that one of the principal perpetrators is soy.

One of the regions hardest hit by soy monoculture is Brazil, home of the largest expanse of precious Amazon rainforest. For several years, Greenpeace has been involved in an intense investigation of Amazon soy production using satellite images, aerial surveillance, previously unreleased government documents and on-the-ground monitoring, to expose the links in the soy chain.

Many of their findings are presented in the documentary "Soy: In the Name of Progress," which you can watch in its entirety in the link above. For more information, you can also read their final report, Eating up the Amazon1.

Agricultural multinational bullies are rushing into Brazil to flatten forests into massive soy farms, expelling native peoples from their land by any means possible, legal or otherwise.

Peaceful community protests are met with violent beatings from large soy producers and their hired thugs, and individuals speaking out the loudest have been assassinated. The Brazilian government is sadly absent, uninvolved, and ineffective on this issue.

Not only is the soy takeover harming the Brazilian people and their native culture, but it's having a devastating ecological impact that could potentially affect the rest of the world.

Soy Monoculture Could Alter Global Climate Patterns

The Amazon is the largest expanse of tropical rainforest on the planet, but deforestation is occurring at an alarming rate. An area the size of France has been destroyed thus far. Not only does the Amazon contain some of the richest biodiversity in the world, but it's being destroyed before it can even be studied — so we don't even know what treasures have been lost.

The rainforest is tied into climatic patterns worldwide and provides a major source of the water vapor that ends up falling on your garden as rain. Some estimate that, if trends continue, the entire Amazon rainforest could be gone in 30 to 40 years. Consequences would be far reaching to the world's climate, including the U.S. and Europe — a climate that is already undergoing significant stress.

Soy's Cycle of Destruction in the Amazon

Between 2007 and 2008, almost three million acres of Brazilian rainforest were lost to illegal logging, soy plantations, and cattle ranching2. Soy traders encourage farmers to cut down forest vegetation and plant massive soy monocultures. The traders then take the soy and ship it to Europe where it's fed to animals like chickens and pigs. The animals are then turned into fast food products.

Before soy can be planted, soy farmers have to remove the most valuable timber from areas they illegally occupy. According to Greenpeace2 :

"As one of the first steps in the cycle of destruction, land grabbers build logging roads into pristine rainforest. Once accessible, these roads open the door to further devastation of the forest ecosystem through clearing for agricultural operations, fuel wood gathering, and mining."

The illegal timber trade supports the cheap sale of once-valuable tree timber. Then deforested lands are set on fire to clear any remaining debris. So not only is the rainforest destroyed, but tons of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere by these burnings. Profits from this illegal logging are then used to seed soy plantations and line the pockets of a few select multinationals.

Three major companies account for 60 percent of the total financing of soy production in Brazil: ADM, Bunge and Cargill3. These enormous corporations build soy silos and terminals at the rainforest edge and buy soy from illegally cleared and operated farms, including those implementing slave labor.

As if this cycle of destruction is not bad enough, most of the soy crops are genetically engineered, which introduces an entire new set of dangers to you and the food chain. Genetically engineered crops come with serious risks, including resistant super weeds and super pests, uncontrollable cross contamination and serious health hazards, including allergies, infertility, birth defects, bizarre mutations and cancer, just to name a few.

Brazil Sees Fastest Climb in GE Soybean Share

The United States is the world's top soybean producer (33 percent), with Brazil running a close second (27 percent), followed by Argentina (21 percent)4. As of 2007, more than half of the world's soybean crops (58.6 percent) were genetically engineered (GE).

GE soybeans contain a gene that confers herbicide resistance, engineered by Monsanto. "Roundup ready soy" is being cultivated on a massive scale across the globe, having devastating effects in many countries, such as Argentina, where people are being sickened daily by massive herbicide spraying. According to GMO Compass5, at one time, GE soybeans were not permitted in Brazil, but that isn't the case today. GE seed was smuggled in from neighboring countries and planted illegally.

Unfortunately, the GE soybean share has risen faster in Brazil over the past decade than in any other major soy-producing country, as you can see in the following graphic illustrating GE soybean share trends over time.

GE Soybean Share: From GMO-Compass. Strategies for Avoiding GE Foods

There are some measures you can take to make sure the foods you select are not genetically engineered. Soy is one of only nine common GE food crops, but their derivatives are in over 70 percent of supermarket foods, particularly processed foods. So, the more fresh, organic and local foods you eat, the less likely you'll be consuming GE ingredients. Also, look for the USDA Certified 100% Organic seal: This green or black seal assures the product is certified organic by the USDA, which means it contains at least 95 percent organic ingredients that are free of genetically engineered ingredients. 

'Amazonia sigue siendo vista como el patio de atrás': Von Hildebrand

ORIGINAL: Instituto Humboldt

Viernes 26 de Octubre de 2012 00:00

Martín von Hildebrand ganó un premio Nobel alternativo de paz en 1999. Foto: Archivo / El TIEMPO

El director de la fundación Gaia, habla de la alianza Amazonas 2030.

Más de 40 años lleva Martín von Hildebrand entre los indígenas amazónicos, fortaleciéndolos y, de paso, contribuyendo a la conservación de la selva tropical más grande e importante del mundo.

En medio de esa lucha, que incluso le valió ser reconocido con el premio mundial Right Livelihood Award, llamado el Premio Alternativo de Paz, en 1999, Von Hildebrand siempre es recordado como aquel asesor del expresidente Virgilio Barco que logró que se reconocieran 13 millones de hectáreas de bosque húmedo tropical como resguardos y áreas de conservación.

Pero la Amazonia sigue al garete, tal como lo ha concluido el Índice Amazonas 2030, una alianza liderada por las fundaciones Gaia -que Von Hildebrand dirige-, Alisos, Etnollano y el Consejo Empresarial Colombiano para el Desarrollo Sostenible (Cecodes).

Este proyecto, que incluye, además, una encuesta de percepción que muestra lo que la gente del común piensa de la región, reveló que la Amazonia nacional, que ocupa el 42 por ciento del territorio, carece de información de las instituciones estatales frente a temas como minería ilegal e informal.

Además, presenta una institucionalidad aún débil, incapaz de darle un giro a uno de sus problemas más graves y que más del 70 por ciento de la población considera el más grave: la deforestación.

Von Hildebrand dice que gran parte de las dificultades de la región surgen porque no hemos tenido en cuenta a las culturas indígenas amazónicas, a las que siempre les hemos hablado en otro idioma. Lo explica así: "Se les debe poner más atención, valorar sus conocimientos, en lugar de estar imitando tanto a Miami".

¿A qué se debe, según usted, la debilidad de las instituciones amazónicas?

Es irónico: en la Amazonia la debilidad institucional se da porque hay muchas instituciones. Gobernaciones, alcaldías, corporaciones... Hay mucha entidad para poco conocimiento. No hay mayor coordinación entre ellas y sus funcionarios tienen dificultades para hacer presencia.

Hay un vacío político-administrativo, porque hay pocos municipios y a los gobernadores les toca cumplir funciones que muchas veces no conocen, sobre todo en el 80 por ciento del Vaupés, Amazonas y Guanía.

¿Hoy cuál es la situación del Amazonas frente a la minería ilegal y la deforestación?

Amazonas 2030 dice que no hay datos certeros frente a estas amenazas. Creo que el problema no se reduce a tener datos. Lo importante es llegar a las causas. En la Amazonia se tala para meter ganadería, extraer madera ilegalmente para comercializar (la llevan al interior del país por el río Putumayo) y también para introducir cultivos ilícitos y traficar animales.

Sabemos todo, tenemos clara la situación, pero falta control estatal. Se expiden normas que no se cumplen. Usted recorre el río Putumayo y hay dragas por todas partes. La Policía no hace nada, no hacen cumplir la ley.

Usted ha dicho que la migración también es un problema.

Sí, porque la gente que sale huyendo de otras regiones o por necesidades llega a la Amazonia, se instala, genera impactos y comienza a demandar recursos. Mientras no haya un control adecuado a la migración y se les repongan las tierras a los más pobres o afectados por la violencia, este problema no se detendrá.

Según la alianza Amazonas 2030, la gente tiene muy claro que la selva es de todos los colombianos, pero al mismo tiempo, hay una gran indiferencia por esta zona del país ¿Por qué ocurre esto?

Colombia siempre ha sido enfocada como una nación andina y caribeña y el Amazonas sigue siendo mirada como el patio de atrás del país. No hay vías, comercio ni tecnología, pocos pueden estar cómodamente allá. La Amazonia no le genera muchos ingresos al país y por eso el Gobierno no se interesa por ella.

Los políticos saben que allá no hay votos y mucho menos plata. Por el Amazonas nadie pierde o gana una elección y por eso siempre será intrascendente. De ahí el desinterés, que solo se despierta cuando hay alguna intención ambiental de por medio, pero que siempre es pasajera.

¿Falta que se sepa el valor de la selva?

Sí. Colombia no tiene claro cuánto valen los servicios ecosistémicos que presta la selva, tampoco sabe a cuánto ascienden los costos ambientales por no conservarla. Cuando la valoremos, entrará a formar parte de los activos del país.

¿El futuro del Amazonas estaría en el pago que otros países le puedan dar por servicios ambientales?

Es una posible opción, pero para eso el país tendría que optar por adoptar un modelo de preservación. Si Colombia decide cuidar la Amazonia, debe exigir un pago a la comunidad internacional. Así lo hace Guyana. Dejar sin explotar casi la mitad del país debe generar unos recursos y esa sería una forma de compensación.

La Agencia Nacional Minera ha dicho que solo cuando se tenga conocimiento suficiente del suelo y las comunidades, y además existan autoridades fuertes en la zona, se abrirán las puertas de la Amazonia colombiana a una minería responsable. ¿Le cree?

Sí. Debo creerle y estamos trabajando para que esto sea posible. La idea es que dentro de un año debemos tener claro todo el valor cultural para que se pueda identificar en cuáles sitios se podría hacer minera y cuáles debemos dejar bajo protección. Eso va en la misma vía de la resolución que expidió el exministro Frank Pearl, que determina que no se podrá hacer gran minería en territorio amazónico, hasta tanto el Minambiente haga un ordenamiento ambiental en la región.

¿Pero hay muchos sectores que piensan que esto se oye demasiado bien como para ser cierto?

La posición pesimista, opinando desde la hamaca, es la más fácil, pero la posición optimista es la que implica trabajo. Yo puedo pensar que la frase es mentirosa, claro, pero también que es cierta, y por esto último la aprovecharé e intentaré que funcione.

Usted ha dicho que para entender la Amazonia hay que aprender a escuchar. ¿Hemos estado sordos durante décadas?

Total, porque siempre hemos tenido un enfoque colonialista. Hemos querido involucrar a los indígenas en nuestra vida, a la vida de las ciudades y no hemos tenido en cuenta sus conocimientos. Queremos imponerles todo.

La Constitución Política dice que este es un país diverso, pero nunca lo hemos interpretado así, respetando al otro. Si un indígena no habla español, se le tilda de ignorante. Si no va al médico nuestro, se le tilda de irresponsable. ¿Acaso ellos nos han cuestionado a nosotros por no tener ni idea sobre el valor de la naturaleza?

¿Cree que ha hecho falta pensar que en Colombia existen diferentes maneras de ser un ser humano?

Se lo respondo así. Unos indígenas fueron hace poco a Catar, por invitación de la comunidad árabe. Los alojaron en hoteles cinco estrellas y hasta les regalaron unos camellos de carreras. Y cuando volvieron, uno de ellos me dijo: "Nos fue muy bien, pero, ¿sabe una cosa?: esa pobre gente no tiene sino plata. Ni una gota de naturaleza". Colombia no ha aprendido a valorar lo que tiene el Amazonas.

El Gobierno impulsa una reserva minera, de 17 millones de hectáreas, entre la Amazonia y la Orinoquia, para que se haga minería responsable. ¿Está de acuerdo?

Sí, porque detiene la avalancha de la minería desordenada que podría poseer cerca de 2.000 títulos. La reserva minera ordena el panorama y le pone altos estándares a las explotaciones que se intenten de ahora en adelante. Yo preferiría que no hubiera minería, pero hay que reconocer que es imprescindible. ¿O de que está hecho su carro o su celular? De minería. Si no aceptamos la minería, apague y vámonos. Ahí sí tendríamos que comenzar a vivir como en el Amazonas.

Lo noto conciliador, esto a pesar de que usted tiene ascendencia alemana e irlandesa, es decir, tiene los genes de la resistencia en la sangre. ¿Podríamos decir que esos genes están en reposo?

Prefiero ser propositivo, dialogar, buscar soluciones dentro de la racionalidad y con el principio de precaución que indica que si algo implica un riesgo, no se debe hacer. La resistencia es buena, pero a veces también puede convertirse en violencia, y ya en el país tenemos suficiente.

Muchos dicen que la debacle amazónica está cerca, que antes del 2030 podría convertirse en una sabana. ¿Qué podemos esperar verdaderamente?

Va a existir una sabanización, eso es indiscutible según los modelos, principalmente en el suroeste de la Amazonia (sur y centro de Brasil). Pero la parte colombiana de la selva será la menos afectada. Es probable que el último reducto de selva amazónica que se vea al final del siglo XXI, tal como la conocemos hoy, sea la colombiana. Pero hay una sola amenaza que podría impedir que esto no ocurra y que ya no es climática: la amenaza humana.

¿Qué tanto del pensamiento indígena nos hace falta a nosotros?

En la concepción indígena el ser humano hace parte de la naturaleza, vive y comparte con ella. Mientras que nosotros vemos la naturaleza como un recurso, para explotarla y beneficiarnos. Cuando el indígena encuentra su satisfacción y vive cómodo, se queda allí, detiene su búsqueda de mayores beneficios.

Pero nosotros tenemos la visión del progreso, siempre queremos más y más. Buscamos respuestas en el budismo o en las religiones orientales, cuando muchas veces esas respuestas están entre nuestra gente.

Tomado de: www.eltiempo.com

MACAW-esome SlowMo Rainforest Research!

ORIGINAL: YouTube - Smarter Every Day

This is a REAL PLACE... and this happens EVERY MORNING!! I went there two mornings and made observations. It was amazing.

Please Click to Tweet! http://bit.ly/MACAWesomeSLOWMO

I apologize for the video being a couple of minutes longer... but it took months of planning and preparation to do this. I wanted to leave a bit in there about the boat so I wouldn't lose the memories! The noise was awful though (Macaws have a horrible song).

I didn't know most of the rain in the Amazon comes from the Atlantic!

So this is what happens when you combine a battery operated Miro LC320S high speed camera with an incredibly specific spot of dirt that Macaws LOVE. It took several days and lots of modes of transportation to get there, but we took a new MIRO (http://www.visionresearch.com/Products/High-Speed-Cameras/Phantom-Miro-M320S/) to one of the most remote research facilities in the Peruvian Rainforest. The footage we obtained was incredible. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How to get there yourself!:

I coordinated the travel with Rainforest Expeditions 

http://www.perunature.com/

They ran me up and down the river in a boat, gave me lenses, a clean bed, awesome food etc. It was pretty amazing!

See the research project's website here:

http://macawproject.org/index.php

The project is led by Dr. Don Brightsmith

Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center

Department of Veterinary Pathobiology

College of Veterinary Medicine

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Artist Info:

Sarah Xu, a student at the Vancouver Film School made the awesome introduction Drawing. http://captainpillow.blogspot.ca/ The math is accurate!

The Music was provided by A Shell In the Pit:

http://ashellinthepit.bandcamp.com

Human rights key to rainforest conservation, argues report

ORIGINAL: Mongabay

mongabay.com 

September 06, 2012

Dani tribesman in Indonesia New Guinea. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

Recognizing the rights of forest people to manage their land is critical to reducing deforestation rates and safeguarding global forests, argues a new report published by Rainforest Foundation Norway. 

The report, published Wednesday and titled Rights-based rainforest protection, reviews the current status of tropical forests and the people who inhabit them, highlighting a series of examples where forest people are responsibly managing forest resources. The report makes the case that past approaches based on exclusion of forest people from their traditional lands won't work, nor will business-as-usual whereby large tracts of forest are granted to corporations for logging, mining, industrial agriculture, and conversion for palm oil or paper production. 

"In the part, the mainstream approach to forest conservation has been to exclude people living in the forest from decision making, and in many cases expel them from the forest. The economic perspective on forest management has been to maximize the short term exploitation of its resources – again at the expense of the rainforest communities," Lars Løvold, director of Rainforest Foundation Norway, said in a statement. "By making human rights the cornerstone of forest management strategies, we can achieve both long term protection of forest and secure the livelihood and development needs of some of the worlds' most vulnerable peoples." 

The report argues that human rights needs to be at the center of forest conservation efforts like the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) program. Secure land tenure, real participation, conflict resolution, and Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) play a central role in ensuring that basic rights of forest people are respected. 

The report says governments and consumers need to do more to protect forests from the entities that destroy them. 

"We all know that as a global community it’s more costly to destroy the rainforest than paying the prize to protect it. Still, today, the real money is made by those who exploit the rainforest for its resources, timber, palm oil, minerals and such, with large scale destruction as a result," said Løvold. "While a change of policy in rainforest countries is necessary, all countries have to take the responsibility of preventing their companies from investing in rainforest destruction, and by sharing the bill for the global ecosystem services the rainforest provide." 

United Nations project to revive Zambia’s forest

ORIGINAL: Daily Mail-Zambia

By DOREEN NAWA
July 19, 2012

MONITORING forestry losses in Zambia and the effects that the loss has on the environment can be a challenge because of lack of technical know-how.

NURSERY for future forest

Following the effects that deforestation has on the environment in relation to climate change, the situation in Zambia is rather a hopeless case for the lack of expertise in monitoring and managing forestry countrywide.

Environmental advocates say that forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change through the confiscation and storage of carbon in woody perennial biomass and soils.

Unfortunately, deforestation and forest degradation account for approximately 18 percent of annual global carbon dioxide emissions.

But all hope is not lost following the recently held training organised by the forestry department in the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection under the United Nations collaborative programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (UN-REDD) project and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The training was meant to build capacity of stakeholders in greenhouse gas reporting as well as Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system as support to the readiness process of forestry management in Zambia.

“The training is critical to the sustainability and successful management of out forests in the country. By the way addressing the driver of deforestation is the cheaper way of addressing climate change,” director in the forestry department, Anne Masinja says.

According to Mrs Masinja, management of the forest has been a challenge following massive deforestation due to charcoal burning, unsustainable agricultural and unsustainable land use practices.

“It is a pity that most of the people do not realise the harm they are causing to the environment due to careless cutting of trees. Loss of forests contributes as much as 30 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions each year and this is very dangerous, we need to do something to stop this,” Mrs Masinja says.

Zambia has approximately 50 million hectares of forest, with an estimated deforestation rate of 250,000 to 300,000 hectares per year.

“Zambia is faced with a number of challenges in reducing deforestation and forest degradation caused by various factors like energy requirement, unsustainable agricultural and unsustainable land use practices, timber and non-timber forest products extraction, mining and infrastructure development,” Mrs Masinja said.

Statistics show that between 1990 and 2010, Zambia lost an average of 166,600 hectares or 0.32 per cent per year of its forest mainly due to deforestation resulting from charcoal burning (energy requirements), unsustainable agricultural and land use practices such as mining and infrastructure development, and timber and non-timber forest products extraction.

Indiscriminate charcoal burning is fast destroying Zambia's forest cover. 

Indiscriminate charcoal burning is fast destroying Zambia's forest cover.

With global concern growing over deforestation, loss of carbon stored in forests and the role of forests in climate change, the spotlight has been turned on forest monitoring in a bid to safeguard forests and monitor emissions from deforestation.

In another recent effort in the monitoring and managing of the forest in the country was the handover of Geographical Information System (GIS) equipment to the department.

As part of the mission to monitor the remaining forest in the country, the participants were also trained to undertake a countrywide remote sensing survey of forests.

The survey will substantially improve knowledge on land use including deforestation, reforestation and natural expansion of forests.

It is hoped that the training and the handover of new GIS equipment, the forestry department and other stakeholders will strengthen the capacity of all provinces countrywide to monitor their own forests.

“The need to improve national forest monitoring is overwhelming as the demand for information has never been greater even in the face of some challenges. National policy processes are striving to address cross-cutting issues such as poverty alleviation and food security related to forests,” Julian Fox, Food and Agriculture Organization UN-REDD MRV facilitator for Zambia says.

FAO supports Zambia’s efforts to close the knowledge gap through field inventories and forest monitoring systems.

“Deforestation continues at an alarming rate of about 13 million hectares annually at the global level. By combining remote sensing technology with field data collection, we improve the quality of both methods. This provides more accurate information on forest trends and new information on the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation,” Dr Fox says during his facilitation at the training.

About REDD

In 2005, a group of developing countries launched a new initiative that put forest conversation on the international agenda known as REDD.

While REDD is a new name, the activities to ensure reduced deforestation and forest degradation are well known to Zambians and these include conservation agriculture, community based natural resources management, joint forest management, sustainable energy projects (solar, improved stoves), enhancing policy and legislative frameworks.

REDD therefore calls for an integrated approach to forest management, the main reason for the training.

Land use change and especially deforestation contributes about 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the UN-REDD programme, Zambia is expected to come up with a policy statement to regulate forest and the country is said to have been making steady progress towards the UN-REDD collaborative programme.

The UN-REDD programme assists developing countries to prepare and implement national REDD strategies and mechanisms towards addressing climate change.

Zambia is one of the nine countries piloting the UN-REDD programme that helps countries to get ready for the REDD mechanism in addressing climate change.

The other eight countries include Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bolivia, Viet Nam, Paraguay, New Papua Guinea, Panama and Indonesia.

And during the training, UN-REDD national co-ordinator Deuteronomy Kasaro said, “UN-REDD Programme is not a development project as it has been understood by some, but instead it is a process of consultations, strategic planning, creative thinking and seeking realistic solutions to reduce deforestation and forest degradation and make REDD work for Zambia.”

“In recognition of the role REDD can plan in reducing emissions and facilitating sustainable socio-economic development, the Government of the Republic of Zambia is presently assessing the opportunities that can be potentially delivered through REDD,” Mr Kasaro added.

While the goal of reversing deforestation and achieving sustainable development is clear, the path to reach it can only be paved by Zambia and Zambians themselves.

The growing interest among stakeholders towards REDD is felt not only through the high participation in the training while developing its UN-REDD national programme document, but also through the numerous questions and discussions with people and organisations willing to support the efforts to protect the forests in Zambia.

The questions range from a request to provide seedlings for a tree-planting at a local school for guidance on designing sub-national forest monitoring systems that are aligned to the national measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) framework.

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation or REDD also mitigates climate change by changing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere from the existing forest carbon stocks.

Carbon is becoming a commodity which can be managed and traded as a household and community income stream. The involvement in measurement and monitoring of forest carbon by local people can empower them as co-managers of areas under REDD projects.

At international level it has been recognised that addressing the drivers of deforestation is one of the cheaper ways to mitigate against the impact of climate change. Hence the ability of stakeholders to assess and monitor landuse changes aimed at addressing the drivers of deforestation being vital.

It is believed that understanding drivers of deforestation and sources of greenhouse gas emissions in landuse, landuse change and forestry will enhance capacity to effectively monitor the source and potential changes.

In fact poverty plays a major role in deforestation. Just like in any other developing country, in Zambia most people in rural areas have no the options for survival like jobs or reliable businesses and rural people end up in the forest for survival.

The high poverty level costs the entire world through the loss of forests (deforestation). Without finding a lasting solution to poverty, saving the forests providing for these people, rainforests cannot be saved.

Misunderstandings

While there are uncertainties in both the international REDD framework and the national arrangements, it is essential not to let these uncertainties discourage the actors who feel the urgency of acting now to stop deforestation.

To quell misunderstandings about the programme and to reassure the multitude of actors involved, a significant part of the programme funding has been allocated to building the institutional arrangements and stakeholder engagement processes that provide a platform for discussing the issues and finding the answers that work best the Zambian context.

Soil temperature, environmental and methodological effects determine Soil CO2 efflux in Central Amazonia

ORIGINAL: SCIELO

A group of researchers from the Universidade Federal do Amazonas-UFAM, Free University-VU, Wageningen University-WUR, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia-INPA and Max Planck institute-MPI, measured the soil CO2 respiration in the Central Amazon forest to understand the environmental and methodological effects on the soil CO2 emission.

The authors found that the main factor influencing the soil respiration was soil temperature, because the soil respiration followed the same pattern, while rainfall only caused a brief disturbance in soil respiration. Rainfall seems to contribute by creating favorable conditions for a quick decrease in temperature and consequently respiration followed the physical effect of soil water percolation. The methodology of automatic soil respiration used in this paper showed a better estimative of total CO2 emission in the Central Amazonian ecosystem. The authors also noticed that it was difficult to account for the rainfall effects in the simple model estimation.

According to the authors, for a better estimative of soil CO2 emissions, or to model a region and vegetation type, it is necessary to find the main influencing factors to decrease the uncertainties about the final carbon release measurements. The automated soil respiration datasets and the right procedure are a good tool to improve the technique and increase the reliability of measurements to allow a better understanding of all possible factors driven by soil respiration processes.

The study was carried out in the Cuieiras and Campina reserves near to Manaus city, during 2006 to 2008 at seven different rainforest types, four at different forests in the Cuieira reserve (plateau, slope, campinarana and valley forest) and another tree at different forests in the Campina reserve (bare soil, stunted and tall heath forest). The researchers used an automatic soil respiration system.. The authors investigated the effects of the method of ring insertion in the soil as well as of rainfall and spatial distribution on CO2 emission.

The article is published in the Acta Amazonica Journal (Vol. 42, n.2).

Contact: 

Fabrício Berton Zanchi 

Universidade Federal do Amazonas-UFAM/IEAA 

email: faberzanchi@gmail.com

Megaproyectos. SOS emberás represa Urrá

ORIGINAL: SOSColombia

Documental que trata diferentes megaproyectos de multinacionales relacionados con la mineria, las represas y las petroleras. Los efectos sociales y medioambientales son incalculables, provocando desplazamientos y muertes de mucha poblacion indigena, campesina, sindicalistas y activistas de derechos humanos.

Aun hay tiempo de frenar estos megaproyectos que tienen muchas iregularidades y provocan violencia en la zona con la implantacion de paramilitares y del mismo ejercito colombiano que se instala cerca de los megaproyectos para defender a estas trasnacionales.

Si desaparece uno de los pulmones del mundo, que esta en Colombia, desapareceremos tod@s y las consecuencias para el cambio climatico seran ireversibles. 

Joe Smith: How to use a paper towel /Save Paper - Save the Planet

ORIGINAL: TED / LaBioGuía.org

http://labioguia.com/labioguia/noticias

R. P. Joe Smith served as a District Attorney in Umatilla County and nearly won a race for Oregon Attorney General without taking a single contribution over $99.99. He is a former chair of the Oregon Democratic Party and is active with several local nonprofits. 

Danger Listing Denied Four Natural World Heritage Sites

ORIGINAL: Environment News Service

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 30, 2012 (ENS) - None of the four natural World Heritage sites recommended for inclusion on the World Heritage Danger List by the official advisory body on nature have been added by the World Heritage Committee.

As the committee's advisory body, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN, had recommended that

• Lake Turkana National Parks in Kenya, 
• the Dja Faunal Reserve in Cameroon, 
• the Virgin Komi Forests in Russia, and 
• the Pitons Management Area in the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia 

be added to the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Lake Turkana in Kenya (Photo by International Rivers) 

The committee, meeting in St. Petersburg until July 6, has rejected all four recommendations.

A UNESCO agency, the World Heritage Committee identifies cultural and natural properties of Outstanding Universal Value that are to be protected under the treaty protecting World Cultural and Natural Heritage and inscribes those properties on the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger.

"We are disappointed that the committee has not inscribed any of these threatened sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger this year," said Tim Badman, director of IUCN's World Heritage Programme.

"These four sites face significant threats to their values, from threats including major infrastructure projects, the extractive industry and property speculation," said Badman.

The proposal to include Kenya's Lake Turkana on the Danger List was made due to construction of Gibe III dam in Ethiopia, a transboundary issue between Kenya and Ethiopia.

The Dja River in the Cameroon's Dja Faunal Reserve (Photo by Cameroon Travel ) 

An IUCN assessment shows that dam construction will result in a steep reduction in the water level of the world's largest desert lake, increased salinity and a decline in fish stocks and wildlife. It will also affect local communities who depend on the lake for their livelihoods. Local communities have been demonstrating against the dam for years.

Oil exploration and poaching pose additional threats to the area. Flagship species such as the reticulated giraffe and Grevy's zebra seem to have disappeared.

Cameroon's Dja Faunal Reserve is one of the largest and best preserved rainforests in Africa, surrounded by the Dja River and inhabited by a wide variety of primates, including the Critically Endangered western lowland gorilla and the Endangered chimpanzee.

Mining activities in the vicinity of the reserve as well as wildlife poaching and ongoing dam construction on the river Dja were the main reasons for the site's danger listing proposal, the IUCN said.

Russia's Virgin Komi Forests (Photo by MerJade )

For the second year in a row, IUCN's recommendation to include Russia's Virgin Komi Forests on the Danger List has not been followed. Preparation works for a gold mine inside the site and national level boundary changes, which led to the loss of legal protection for parts of the site, are both clear criteria for a site to be declared in danger, warned the IUCN.

In the Northern Ural mountains of Russia's Komi Republic, the Virgin Komi Forests cover 3.28 million hectares of tundra and mountain tundra, as well as one of the most extensive areas of virgin boreal forest remaining in Europe. Both European and Asiatic species inhabit the site with some 43 mammal, 204 bird and 16 fish species recorded. Threatened mammal species include wolf, otter, beaver, sable, wolverine and lynx.

The Pitons Management Area in Saint Lucia has been subjected to significant development since its inscription on the World Heritage List in 2004, and development threats risk irreversible loss of its outstanding universal value.

Recognizable for its two eroded remnants of lava domes rising from the sea to heights greater than 700 meters, Pitons Management Area includes a geothermal field with sulphurous fumeroles and hot springs. The forested spires contain eight rare tree species. The larger one is inhabited by some 27 bird species, five of them found nowhere else on Earth.

Pitons Management Area in the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia (Photo by Michael Blanding ) 

Coral reefs cover almost 60 percent of the site's marine area, which is inhabited by 168 species of finfish.

Badman said, "Inscription on the Danger List is not a black mark for countries, but a way of drawing attention and providing support to the sites that need it the most."

The World Heritage Fund provides about US$4 million annually to support activities requested by governments in need of international assistance. The World Heritage Committee allocates funds according to the urgency of requests, priority being given to the most threatened sites.

The committee is composed of representatives from 21 governments that are Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.

At the 2012 meeting they are: Algeria, Cambodia, Colombia, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Iraq, Japan, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand and United Arab Emirates.

On Tuesday, the IUCN released a new independent review of World Heritage and extractive industries, published in response to growing concerns over the rapidly increasing number of World Heritage Sites threatened by planned mining or oil and gas projects.

Threats to natural World Heritage sites from mining activities are growing, especially in Africa, where one out of four iconic natural areas is negatively affected.

The outcome of a joint project by IUCN, the International Council on Mining and Metals, JP Morgan Bank, Shell International and UNESCO, the report proposes practical ways of strengthening the role of the World Heritage Convention in safeguarding these areas of outstanding value.

"These exceptional places, which cover less than one percent of the Earth's surface, have been included on the World Heritage List because they are of outstanding value to all of humanity. It's the duty of every one of us to cooperate in their protection and conservation," said Badman.

Companies such as Shell and the financial services firm JP Morgan, as well as ICMM, which brings together many of the world's major mining companies, have recognized the importance of conserving World Heritage Sites and have committed not to undertake activities that would damage them.

Yet other companies and some countries still profit from resource exploration in these sensitive areas.

"It is clear that the desired conservation outcomes will not be achieved through individual corporate commitments alone," Badman said. The task of ensuring World Heritage Sites are not impacted by extractive industries cannot be effective if it is a commitment of only a few responsible companies."

"Mining and energy companies' ability to fund substantial environmental programmes in the vicinity of their operations should not be viewed as adequate recompense for negative impacts on natural World Heritage properties. Nor are offsets an admissible strategy to compensate for such impacts," the report states.

"Nevertheless, the extractive industries should not automatically be seen as a threat to these properties. Instead, there may be opportunities, within broader planning and management frameworks, to identify mutually beneficial strategies for company support to environmental initiatives and capacity development that directly or indirectly benefit them," according to the report, which points out, "In the 21st century, a positive environmental profile is an increasingly valuable asset for the private sector."

After more than 10 years of dicussion on this issue, the World Heritage Committee has decided to develop formal policy guidelines governing extractive industries affecting natural World Heritage sites.

The joint industry-UNESCO-IUCN review proposes wording for the policy guidelines that would prohibit extractive industry operations in natural World Heritage sites. The proposed wording would provide for the committee to encourage and assist governments in ending any existing concessions or operations. And it proposes that governments take legislative and planning measures to prevent negative impacts on natural World Heritage sites by extractive industry operations beyond their boundaries.

The World Heritage List includes 951 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers to have outstanding universal value.

These include 739 cultural sites, 183 natural sites and 29 mixed cultural-natural properties in 155 countries. As of March 2012, 189 of the world's 193 governments had ratified the World Heritage Convention.