Forest area bigger than Canada can be restored

 

By Nina Chestney

LONDON (Reuters) - Only one fifth of the world's forests remain but an area bigger than Canada could be restored without harming food production, a global alliance dedicated to restoring forests said on Thursday.

A study by the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (GPFLR), which includes the WWF, Britain's Forestry Commission and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said a billion hectares of former forests, equivalent to six percent of the world's total land area, could be restored.

Previous assessments estimated 850 million hectares had restoration potential.

"This is a first go at identifying the total scale of this opportunity. The next stage is to work at a country level to identify what we would restore in the real world," Tim Rollinson, GPFLR chairman and director general of the British Forestry Commission told Reuters in an interview.

Marginal agricultural land, where productivity was low, had the most potential for restoration, the study found.

"There are opportunities in almost every continent. The most potential is in Africa; there are substantial areas in China and India, as well as parts of Brazil," William Jackson, IUCN's deputy director general. …

Forest area bigger than Canada can be restored

Technorati Tags: environmental restoration,reforestation

BP signs Aussie deal to offset carbon emissions by planting 10 million eucalyptus trees

My only hope is that they plant these trees where the changed Australian climate can support them.

By Asa Wahlquist | October 15, 2009

EUROPE'S second-largest oil company, BP, has hired Perth-based Carbon Conscious to plant 10 million gum trees in Australia to absorb greenhouse gas emissions as companies prepare for the introduction of climate change laws.

The deal sent Carbon Conscious shares soaring 10 per cent to close at 44c.

The company will begin planting trees on marginal farmland in 2010, at an initial cost of $2.5million.

It is the second major deal for Carbon Conscious, which confirmed an agreement with Origin Energy in July to plant $26m worth of trees over three years.

The trees "sequester" carbon dioxide, pulling it out of the atmosphere and storing it.

Carbon Conscious chief executive Peter Balsarini said the mallee eucalyptus trees would be planted on working farms.

"We go to farmers and we look for their marginal, less productive country," he said.

This included land that had been over-cleared or affected by salinity, Mr Balsarini said.

"We are looking at preventing salinity by getting our tree roots into the water table and lowering it. It has risen because of the over-clearing of the land," he said. Carbon Conscious became an accredited provider under the federal government's Greenhouse program last December. …

BP signs Aussie tree deal to offset carbon emissions

Technorati Tags: carbon sequestration,carbon market,carbon offset,carbon footprint,oil production,reforestation,carbon dioxide

UC scientists determine that ancient Maya practiced forest conservation -- 3,000 years ago

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati find the forest and water conservation practices of the ancient Maya hold lessons for the future — ours.

As published in the July issue of the "Journal of Archaeological Science," paleoethnobotanist David Lentz of the University of Cincinnati has concluded that not only did the Maya people practice forest management, but when they abandoned their forest conservation practices it was to the detriment of the entire Maya culture.

"From our research we have learned that the Maya were deliberately conserving forest resources," says David Lentz, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Cincinnati and executive director of the Cincinnati Center for Field Studies. "Their deliberate conservation practices can be observed in the wood they used for construction and this observation is reinforced by the pollen record." …

UC scientists determine that ancient Maya practiced forest conservation -- 3,000 years ago

Technorati Tags: reforestation

The Ache Guayaki Project: How cultivation under native woods can help indigenous communities

Photos: Courtesy of Guayaki.

Keeping native communities and woods untouched may seem like a beautiful idea, but it is -in most cases- an unrealistic goal. Many communities of indigenous people want to develop and grow, and work their lands. The real question is, then, Can that happen in a truly sustainable way? Is there a way for them to get revenue without harming the environment and encountering sustainable growth (not just a few years of richness to leave burned ground behind)? The Ache Guayaki Kue-Tuvy project in Paraguay might be a good example that this is possible. Guided by the folks of Guayaki, a company which we've talked about a few times, a group of 45 families that wanted to start laboring their lands learnt a technique to cultivate crops under native woods and found a way to get profit while maintaining vegetation and opening new business opportunities. …

The Ache Guayaki Project, or How Cultivation under Native Woods can Help Indigenous Communities

Technorati Tags: environmental restoration,reforestation