Commentary by Doug Boucher, special to www.mongabay.com
December 15, 2010Guest commentary by Doug Boucher, director of the Tropical Forest and Climate Initiative at the Union of Concerned Scientists
Amid the whirlwind of climate change news before and after the Cancún climate conference, including a landmark agreement on REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation, and related pro-forest actions), an important story seems to have passed by with little notice. Over the past two months, several new analyses have given clear evidence that deforestation has gone down over the past several years. In fact, the drop is quite impressive, and shows that of all the approaches to avoiding the worst consequences of global warming, reducing tropical deforestation is the one that has contributed by far the most to date.
The first analysis to come out, in October, was the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) for 2010. This compendium of data from all the countries on the planet is released every five years, and provides the broadest look at the state of the world’s forests. The new FRA data showed that tropical deforestation in the first decade of the 2000s was down 18% from the level of the 1990s, dropping from 11.33 million hectares per year in the 1990s to 9.34 million hectares per year in the 2000s. Furthermore, the rate dropped from the first 5 years of the decade to the second five years, principally due to a dramatic decline in Brazilian Amazon deforestation. The FRA 2010 data also showed that the rate of primary forest loss, not just total forest loss, has declined. …
Thursday, December 16, 2010
New data shows REDD+ is succeeding
Friday, July 30, 2010
Avatar’s Na’vi in London to stop Vedanta mine
Two Na’vi from James Cameron’s film Avatar today paid a visit to British mining company Vedanta Resources’ Annual General Meeting in Westminster, London.
The Na’vi joined tribal rights organization Survival in a demonstration against Vedanta, over its controversial plan to mine the sacred mountain of India’s Dongria Kondh tribe.
Martin Horwood MP, Chair of the all-party parliamentary group for tribal peoples, also attended the AGM, whilst former Monty Python star Michael Palin sent a message of support: ‘I’ve been to the Nyamgiri Hills in Orissa and seen the forces of money and power that Vedanta Resources have arrayed against a people who have occupied their land for thousands of years, who husband the forest sustainably and make no great demands on the state or the government. The tribe I visited simply want to carry on living in the villages that they and their ancestors have always lived in.’
Vedanta’s AGM was the same day that British Prime Minister David Cameron met Indian PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. Martin Horwood MP wrote to David Cameron urging him to raise the issue of the plight of the Dongria Kondh at the meeting.
The Dongria Kondh tribe have been described as ‘the real Avatar tribe’ because their plight closely parallels that of the aliens in James Cameron’s blockbuster.
Vedanta Resources is majority-owned by billionaire Mayfair resident Anil Agarwal. …
Avatar’s Na’vi in London to stop Vedanta mine
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
European Parliament approves illegal timber ban
James Murray, BusinessGreen, Wednesday 7 July 2010 at 13:22:00
MEPs vote 644-25 in favour of legislation blocking the import and sale of illegally logged timber
Green groups celebrated today after the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to pass legislation banning the import and sale of timber obtained through illegal logging.
The parliament voted 644-25 in favour of the legislation, paving the way for the rules to come into effect from 2012.
The regulations still need to be rubber stamped by the European Council of member states, although the final approval is expected to be a formality after the council signalled last month that it would support the legislation.
The new rules will close a loophole that has made it possible for European firms to import and sell timber that has been logged illegally in countries such as Brazil and Indonesia.
According to WWF, the trade is worth up to £700m a year, with up to a fifth of timber imported into the EU alleged to come from illegal sources.
Under the new regulations, all companies importing and selling timber in the EU will be required to demonstrate that they have exercised adequate due diligence to ensure their timber has been felled legally.
European environment commissioner Janez Potocnik welcomed the passage of the legislation, arguing that the regulations marked a significant step towards tackling illegal logging.
"Combating illegal logging will bring environmental and development benefits, " he said. "With this, we are sending a signal to the world that the EU will no longer serve as a market for illegally harvested timber." …
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver protest against Amazon dam
Director James Cameron says a real-life Avatar battle is playing out in Brazil's Amazon rain forest, where indigenous groups are trying to halt the construction of a huge hydroelectric project.
Cameron and actress Sigourney Weaver are in Brazil to protest against a proposed dam in the Amazon that would be the world's third-largest hydroelectric project.
The Hollywood celebrities joined about 1000 demonstrators in Brasilia's streets on Monday as they urged the government to halt the planned Belo Monte project.
Cameron said he was in Brazil's capital to support Indian and environmental groups.
Cameron attended an environmental summit in the Amazon with former US Vice-President Al Gore last month.
He returned to Sao Paulo this week to promote the DVD version of his blockbuster movie Avatar, in which the fictitious Na'vi race fights to protect their homeland, the forest-covered moon Pandora, from mining.
He said he came to Brasilia on his own initiative because he was drawn to the activists' plight.
Avatar has struck a chord with environmentalists worldwide, from China, where millions have been displaced by major infrastructure projects, to Bolivia, where Evo Morales, the nation's first indigenous president, praised the film for sending the message of saving the environment from exploitation.
"I'm drawn into a situation where a real-life Avatar confrontation is in progress," Cameron said in a telephone interview while en route to protests taking place in front of the Mines and Energy Ministry. …
Thursday, February 25, 2010
I want Avatar Oscar speech to mention real-life Ecuador struggle against Chevron
By Rebecca Tarbotton
Once upon a time there was a movie.
Hundreds of millions of people around the world saw this movie. They were transported to the beautiful jungles of Pandora and introduced to the blue Na'vis and the evil RDA corporation.
Avatar (or unil-tìran-tokx in Na'vi) has been nominated for 9 Oscars. James Cameron, its infamous creator, has explicitly said he wants the highest grossing film in history to inspire mass environmental activism.
Fast forward to March 7. You're watching the Oscars and Avatar wins.
What if in his acceptance speech James Cameron mentioned the real-life Indigenous Ecuadorean heroes who are battling the real-life Chevron bad guys?
Retweet and help make it happen! I want Avatar director James Cameron to mention real-life Ecuador struggle against #Chevron at #Oscars:http://bit.ly/aOwuNI #realavatar
If James Cameron called out Chevron in his Oscars speech a world transfixed by this film phenomenon could take off the 3D glasses and step into a reality where they can make a difference.
The story of Chevron in Ecuador is no less dramatic, tragic, or inspiring than the fantasy world of Pandora. …
I want Avatar Oscar speech to mention real-life Ecuador struggle against Chevron
Friday, January 29, 2010
For eighth day, climate activists block bulldozers at West Virginia’s Coal River Mountain
From Climate Progress:
This is a TP repost by Brad Johnson.
Yesterday in Washington, DC, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) exhorted citizens to “get angry about the fact that they’re being killed and our planet is being injured by what’s happening on a daily basis by the way we provide our power and our fuel.” In West Virginia, climate activists are not just getting angry, they’re taking action — blocking the demolition of Coal River Mountain by coal company Massey Energy. The activists, members of the aptly named organization Climate Ground Zero, have been living in trees for over a week to prevent bulldozers from reaching the summit:
High up in the trees near the summit of Coal River Mountain, two activists dangle in the air near a mountaintop removal mine site. Eric Blevins and Amber Nitchman are still preventing the expansion of mining on the summit of Coal River Mountain, a mountain that has the best wind energy (and therefore economic) potential in the area.
Employees of coal baron Don Blankenship, the “scariest polluter in the United States,” have been blasting the tree-sit activists with air horns and flood lights. Following hundreds of phone calls from supporters of the non-violent civil disobedience action, Gov. Joe Manchin (D-WV) met today with Climate Ground Zero representatives and “asked the activists to scale down their campaign.” …
For eighth day, climate activists block bulldozers at WV’s Coal River Mountain.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Real-life Avatar: court blocks destruction of indigenous community in Borneo
A court in the Malaysian state of Sarawak has issued an injunction to block the continued destruction of the Iban village of Sungai Sekabai, reports the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), an indigenous rights groups.
Last week Sarawak state police demolished 39 Iban homes in a dramatic escalation of land dispute between the community and a state-backed palm oil developer, Tatau Land Sdn Bhf, which is owned by a holding company controlled by Sarawak's Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, according to the local news service, Bintulu.Org. Authorities said they were serving an eviction order, but a lawyer for the Iban said the order was under appeal. The homes were destroyed without prior notice. …
Real-life Avatar: court blocks destruction of indigenous community in Borneo
Friday, January 1, 2010
The real Avatar story: indigenous people fight to save their forest homes from corporate exploitation
Commentary by: Jeremy Hance
www.mongabay.com
December 22, 2009Spoiler Alert: article reveals end of the film Avatar.
In James Cameron's newest film Avatar an alien tribe on a distant planet fights to save their forest home from human invaders bent on mining the planet. The mining company has brought in ex-marines for 'security' and will stop at nothing, not even genocide, to secure profits for its shareholders. While Cameron's film takes place on a planet sporting six-legged rhinos and massive flying lizards, the struggle between corporations and indigenous people is hardly science fiction.
For decades real indigenous tribes around the world have faced off with corporations—mining, logging, oil and gas—determined to exploit their land. These corporations, much like the company in the film, usually have support from the government and access to 'security forces', sometimes in the form of ex-military or state police. Yet unlike the film, in which the indigenous group triumphs over the corporate and military invaders, the real-life stories of indigenous tribes rarely end justly: from Peru to Malaysia to Ecuador their struggles continue.
In Avatar the indigenous tribe, called the Na'vi, use poison-tipped arrows to defend themselves against the guns, gas, and explosions used by the human invaders. Art imitates life: in June of this year, violence erupted in Peru as heavily-armed police clashed with indigenous protestors, some carried spears, others were unarmed.
The indigenous tribes were protesting nearly 100 new rules pushed through the Peruvian government—led by President Alan Garcia—that made it easier for foreign companies to exploit oil, gas, timber, and minerals on indigenous land. The violent skirmish that followed led to the deaths of 23 police officers and at least 10 indigenous people—with indigenous groups saying the government went to great lengths to hide/dispose of bodies to make it appear that fewer natives were killed. Bodies were allegedly dumped in rivers.
What is known is that 82 protesters suffered gunshot wounds and 120 in total were injured in the melee. Protesters say tear gas was used; in addition some say machine guns—shown in photos—were fired at them. …
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Brazilian tribe owns carbon rights to Amazon rainforest land
By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.com
December 09, 2009A rainforest tribe fighting to save their territory from loggers owns the carbon-trading rights to their land, according to a legal opinion released today by Baker & McKenzie, one of the world’s largest law firms.
The opinion, which was commissioned by Forest Trends, a Washington, D.C.-based forest conservation group, could boost the efforts of indigenous groups seeking compensation for preserving forest on their lands, effectively paving the way for large-scale indigenous-led conservation of the Amazon rainforest. Indigenous people control more than a quarter of the Brazilian Amazon.
"This really is a landmark opinion,” said Michael Jenkins, President and CEO of Forest Trends. “What we have been able to demonstrate here is that there will be opportunity and a path forward for indigenous groups to participate in emerging markets from a global warming deal. In fact, the indigenous groups would now be part of the solution."
Baker & McKenzie reached its conclusion based on the Brazilian Constitution and legislation, which "provides for a unique proprietary regime over the Brazilian Indians land... which reserves to the Brazilian Indians... the exclusive use and sustainable administration of the demarcated lands as well as... the economic benefits that this sustainable use can generate." …
Brazilian tribe owns carbon rights to Amazon rainforest land
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Nazcas' destruction of forests caused downfall
An ancient civilisation brought about its own demise by destroying forests which kept its delicate ecosystem in balance according to researchers who claim the discovery has important implications for the modern world.
Archaeologists examining the remains of the Nazca, who once flourished in the valleys of south coastal Peru, discovered a sequence of human-induced events which led to their ''catastrophic'' collapse around 500 AD.
The Nazca civilisation, noted for creating vast patterns in the desert that can only be seen from the air, disappeared partly because it damaged the fragile ecosystem that held it in place, a study found.
Author Oliver Whaley, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, said: ''The mistakes of prehistory offer us important lessons for our management of fragile, arid areas in the present.''
In the study published in the journal Latin American Antiquity, the researchers found that the Nazca cleared areas of forest to make way for their own agriculture over the course of many generations.
In doing so, the huarango tree, which once covered what is now a desert area, was gradually replaced by crops such as cotton and maize.
But the tree was crucial to the desert's fragile ecosystem as it enhanced soil fertility and moisture and helped to hold the Nasca's narrow, vulnerable irrigation channels in place, the researchers said.
The Nazca eventually cut down so many trees that they reached a tipping point at which the arid ecosystem was irreversibly damaged. …
Nazcas' destruction of forests caused downfall
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Global brands refuse to endorse ‘slaughter of the Amazon’
Meat companies sign a moratorium on cattle products linked to rainforest destruction
By David Adam, guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 October 2009 16.48 BST
Four of the biggest companies involved in Brazilian cattle farming have joined forces to stop the purchase of cattle from newly deforested areas of the Amazon.
Meat companies Marfrig, Bertin, JBS-Friboi and Minerva yesterday signed a formal moratorium in which they pledge better protection for the rainforest.
The move follows a three-year Greenpeace investigation, reported extensively in the Guardian in June, which exposed the link between forest destruction and the expansion of cattle ranching in the Amazon. The investigation prompted calls for action from key international companies, including food group Princes and footwear manufacturers Clarkes, Adidas, Nike, and Timberland, which threatened to cancel contracts unless their beef and leather products were guaranteed free from raw materials linked to Amazon destruction.
John Sauven, head of Greenpeace, said: "Today's announcement is a significant victory in the fight to protect the Amazon. Cattle ranching is the single biggest cause of deforestation globally, and the fact that these multibillion dollar companies have committed to cleaning up their supply chains will lead to real change in the Amazon."
…
Global brands refuse to endorse "slaughter of the Amazon"
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Palm oil industry pledges wildlife corridors to save orangutans
By Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
October 03, 2009In an unlikely—and perhaps tenuous—alliance, conservationists and the palm oil industry met this week to draw up plans to save Asia's last great ape, the orangutan. As if to underscore the colloquium's importance, delegates on arriving in the Malaysian State of Sabah found the capital covered in a thick and strange fog caused by the burning of rainforests and peat lands in neighboring Kalimantan.
After two days of intensive meetings the colloquium adopted a resolution which included the acquisition of land for creating wildlife buffer zones of at least 100 meters along all major rivers, in addition to corridors for connecting forests. Researchers said such corridors were essential if orangutans were to have a future in Sabah.
"This has to be the way the way forward to restore or allow reversion of forests along riverbanks," John Payne with WWF-Malaysia said.
If the corridors, both connecting forests and alongside rivers, are implemented this will prove a huge success for conservationists and a vital step forward in saving the last remaining—and still declining—populations of orangutans in Malaysia. Such action would also represent a seismic shift in the palm oil industry's quest to repair a long-battered reputation due to large-scale deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Sponsored by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), the Bornean Conservation Trust, and the local conservation organization HUTAN, the meeting provided a rare venue for government officials to have drinks with primatologists, and palm oil entrepreneurs to share a meal with conservationists. …
Palm oil industry pledges wildlife corridors to save orangutans
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
World's largest meat exporter says no more Amazon deforestation beef
photo: David Morimoto via flickr.
A little bit late to the game, but glad they've arrived... The world's largest exporter of meat products, Brazil's JBS-Frisboi has pledged to no longer buy cattle raised from areas of the deforested Amazon which were cleared after September 23rd of this year, Greenpeace reports. Additionally, they will not work with any farms found to be using slave labor (what year is it again?!?) or raising cattle in designated protected areas or on indigenous lands:
To ensure a modicum of transparency, JBS-Frisboi says it will implement a tracking system within six months -- the exact nature of which (ear tags, something else?) was not mentioned, other than that it will be based on maps from its cattle suppliers. Within two years, this system will extend farther down the distribution chain to include farms that raise young cattle and ranchers that directly supply its meat processing plants. …
World's Largest Meat Exporter Says No More Amazon Deforestation Beef
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
World Bank's IFC suspends lending to palm oil companies
The World Bank has agreed to suspend International Finance Corporation (IFC) funding of the oil palm sector pending the development of safeguards to ensure that lending doesn't cause social or environmental harm, according to a letter by World Bank President Robert Zoellick to NGOs. A recent internal audit found that IFC funding of the Wilmar Group, a plantation developer, violated the IFC's own procedures, allowing commercial concerns to trump environmental and social standards. The findings were championed by environmental and indigenous rights' groups who have criticized World Bank support for industrial oil palm development which they say has driven large-scale destruction of forests in Indonesia, boosting greenhouse gas emissions, endangering rare and charismatic species of wildlife, including the orangutan, and displacing forest communities. …
World Bank's IFC suspends lending to palm oil companies
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Amazon deforestation to fall 30% in 2009
Deforestation is the Brazilian Amazon is likely to fall between 8,500 square kilometers (3,088 square miles) and 9,000 sq km (3,474 sq mi) for the 12 months ended July 31, 2009, a reduction of 29-37 percent from last year, reports Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc. If the estimate is confirmed by high resolution satellite data to be published later this year, the rate of forest loss for 2008-2009 would be the lowest since annual record-keeping began in the 1980s. …
Amazon deforestation to fall 30% in 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Obama administration takes legal action to uphold roadless rule
DENVER, Colorado, August 13, 2009 (ENS) - The Obama administration today appealed a Wyoming federal district court ruling that struck down the national roadless rule. The appeal will go to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, issued just a few days before the end of the Clinton administration, protected 58.5 million acres of America's pristine roadless national forest lands from new road building and timber harvesting.
The appeal filed today is a response to the 2008 ruling by a federal district court judge in Wyoming, who invalidated the roadless rule nationwide. Judge Clarence Brimmer issued a permanent injunction against the rule, saying it violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Wilderness Act.
Judge Brimmer's order already has been appealed by environmental groups. Now, the federal government, a defendant in the case brought by the State of Wyoming, is also appealing it.
The Wyoming case is the last gasp of a decade of litigation by conservation groups and states seeking either to protect or to harvest the roadless national forest lands.
Last week, in a lawsuit brought by 20 environmental groups and four states, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the original Clinton-era roadless rule across the country.
That decision overturned a Bush-era U.S. Forest Service rule that required governors to petition the federal government for protection of roadless areas on national forests in their states.
The 58.5 million acres originally protected under the roadless rule have now shrunk to 40 million acres. …
Obama Administration Takes Legal Action to Uphold Roadless Rule
Monday, August 3, 2009
Peru to raise payment to indigenous communities for Amazon forest conservation
Peru's environment minister now says the government will pay indigenous communities 10 sols ($3.30) for every hectare of rainforest they help to preserve, reports the Latin American Herald. Previously Antonio Brack said that communities would see about half that amount.
The $3.30-per-hectare figure is low by international standards. Under a proposed mechanism that compensates countries for reducing deforestation (REDD), forest land could be worth $800 or more per hectare for its carbon (225 tons of carbon/ha), depending on its level of threat. Forests in areas of high deforestation would be compensated at a higher rate than inaccessible forests at low-risk of development.
But Brack left open the possibility that communities could receive higher payment if parties agree to include REDD compensation in a future climate framework. …
Peru to raise payment to indigenous communities for Amazon forest conservation
Monday, July 13, 2009
Illegal Amazon timber passed off as eco-certified in massive wood laundering scheme
A Brazilian federal prosecutor is leading an investigation into charges that illegal timber from the state of Pará is being laundered as "eco-certified" wood and exported to markets in the United States, Europe, and Asia, reports Sunday's edition of O Globo.
Prosecutor Bruno Valente Soares has found evidence to suggest that timber companies are doctoring paperwork and using other methods to disguise timber that is being illegally cut from reserves and indigenous lands.
International buyers pay a premium for certified timber, which they can market as being more sustainable than other wood. The timber goes to furniture makers and construction companies abroad.
The scheme allegedly involves up to 3,000 companies across Pará's timber sector, writes Liana Mello.…
Illegal Amazon timber passed off as eco-certified in massive wood laundering scheme
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
NASA images show huge drop in Amazon fires in 2008
New NASA research shows a sharp decline in the amount of smoke over the Amazon during the 2008 burning season, coinciding with a drop in deforestation reported last week by Carlos Minc, Brazil's Environment Minister. Analyzing the aerosol concentrations over the Amazon each September from the past four burning seasons using the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA's Aura satellite, atmospheric scientist Omar Torres of Hampton University and several colleagues found a dramatic decline in airborne particular matter in 2008, indicating reduced incidence of fire in the region. Fire in the Amazon is primarily used by humans for land-clearing to establish cattle pasture, which now accounts for the vast majority of land-use change in the world's largest rainforest. …
NASA images show huge drop in Amazon fires in 2008
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
A new idea to save tropical forests takes flight
By John O. Niles, special to mongabay.com
…in 2005, a small group of countries changed everything. Papua New Guinea teamed up with Costa Rica and a handful of other countries to make a formal plea to the United Nations. Their request was simple—if developing countries can credibly reduce rates of deforestation and the associated CO2 emissions, the countries should get paid. This band of countries, organized as the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, was even more specific. They asserted that tropical nations should get lucrative carbon credits for each ton of CO2 that otherwise would have been emitted because of deforestation. The global market for carbon credits was worth tens of billions of dollars, so tying rainforest protection to carbon finance would raise vast new sums to conserve tropical forests. Since almost 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are from tropical land-use change, and with growing concern about global warming, other countries began to listen.
Since 2005, the concept of paying countries to conserve their forests and reduce global warming has been dubbed by diplomats as reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries, or REDD. REDD is a bold and evolving plan to radically slow the pace of CO2 emissions by offering hefty incentives for developing countries to stem deforestation. Instead of a couple hundred million dollars per year in conservation charity, billions of dollars in carbon credits could be spent to curtail logging, stop agriculture expansion, or in other ways prevent forests from getting knocked down or set on fire. …
A New Idea to Save Tropical Forests Takes Flight
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