***********************************************
PAPUA
NEW GUINEA RAINFOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS
PNG
Risks Losing Virgin Forests
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
4/18/97
OVERVIEW,
SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
Following
is coverage in PNG's popular media, the Post-Courier
newspaper,
of a recent World Resources Institute report on the status
of
frontier forests. It is good to see
local news coverage which
places
PNG's rainforest decline in a global perspective of diminishing
forests
of all types.
g.b.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title
-- 574 ENVIRONMENT: PNG risks losing virgin forests
Date --
15 April 1997
Byline
-- Ruth Waram
Origin
-- Niuswire
Source
-- Post-Courier (PNG), 15/4/97
Copyright
-- Post-Courier
Status
-- Unabridged
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PNG
RISKS LOSING VIRGIN FORESTS
PORT
MORESBY: Papua New Guinea and 27 other countries will lose the
remnants
of their "ecologically intact" forests if they do not take
preservation
action now, according to a new report, the Post-Courier
reported
today.
The
report, prepared by the World Resources Institute, a non-profit
research
organisation, says other countries in the same category as
PNG are
the United States, Malaysia, Panama, Mexico, Argentina, India
and
Australia.
According
to the United States Information Service Brazil, Canada and
Russia
have more than two-thirds of the world's remaining great tracts
of
forests and the survival of many of them is being threatened.
"We
have finished the first comprehensive assessment of the world's
forests,"
Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute
said
recently, the USIS reports.
Mr Lash
listed 76 countries - almost all of the nations of Europe and
East
Africa and all of North Africa and the Middle East - as having
completely
lost all of their original forests or the remaining
portions
are so small that they cannot sustain the diversified plant
and
animal life they had.
According
to the USIS, the the report lists a further 11 countries
which
it classifies as about to lose the last 5 per cent of their
original
forests, the Post-Courier said.
They are
Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Central African Republic, Finland,
Sweden,
Vietnam, Laos, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Thailand and Guatemala.
The
USIS cites the report as saying only eight countries have large
tracts
of relatively secure original forests.
They are
Brazil, Surinam, Guyana, Canada, Columbia, Venezuela, French
Guyana
and Russia.
After
exports from 90 experts around the world, the report concluded
that
the earth has about half the forests now that it had 8000 years
ago.
"It
is important to preserve what remains," Mr Lash said. "Because of
the
diversity of plant and animal life in the forest supports humans
with
food, medicinal supplies and absic ingredients for research into
compounds
that improve health."
The
USIS said the report called for and new and balanced approach to
forests
managements.
This
should include collecting information about forests and how they
are
being used, involving local communities in management decisions
based
on the long term needs of preserving forests, charging fees for
and
eliminating corruption in the use of forests in a manner that does
not
harm their sustainability and preservation without disturbance to
special
areas, the newspaper said.
+++niuswire
Queries:
niusedita@pactok.net.au
http://www.pactok.net.au/docs/nius/
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