Glen Barry: How to tame the logging beast
Source: Copyright 2005, Independent
Date: November 28, 2005

The enchanting cry of the bird of paradise, a refreshing swim in a cool swollen river, dozens of exotic and tasty foodstuffs cooked on a fire, and a kaleidoscope of brilliant and diverse culture - welcome to Papua New Guinea's (PNG) rainforests.

Deep in PNG's still abundant rainforests most local peoples continue to live traditional lives. While life may be lacking in material goods, it is full of leisure and tight family bonds, as bountiful rainforests provide dependable stores of groceries, hardware and medicine. Sadly, increasingly the whirr of chain saws can be heard, signalling an end to rainforests and their human habitats.

At last the idea of the developed world paying rainforest rich countries to protect their rainforests, in this case in exchange for carbon storage, is being seriously proposed by Papua New Guinea (PNG) and others at this week's Montreal climate meetings. However, this grand "rainforest protection through carbon markets" vision is largely removed from the daily logging plunder occurring in PNG and the world's other remaining large rainforests.

Covering thirty-six million hectares, PNG's ancient rainforests are the largest intact tropical rainforest wilderness in the Asia Pacific region and the third largest on the planet. In addition to powering the global ecological system, PNG's forests are among the most complex and species-rich terrestrial ecosystems in the world, containing an estimated 5-7 per cent of the world's total number of species. The human cultural diversity is just as impressive as over 700 distinct languages are spoken - one quarter of the world's total.

There exists a strong attachment to rainforest land in PNG, as some 97 per cent of the country is under clan based land tenure. Most PNG citizens continue to rely heavily on their forests for their subsistence and economic wellbeing. These forests are vital to the livelihoods of the mostly rural population - providing them with food, shelter, medicines and their spiritual identity. Sadly PNG is currently experiencing a massive logging boom, as a large commercial timber industry is carrying out highly unsustainable resource extraction.

Without reigning in the "timber-mafia" roaming PNG's countryside like robber barons, all the carbon market money in the world will not save PNG's precious ancient rainforests. The mostly Malaysian owned logging companies have their tentacles in virtually every orifice of government, and to some respect can be said to be running the country. Corruption, much of it derived from the timber industry, is epidemic and makes the country essentially ungovernable.

For a carbon market to have any chance of protecting PNG's rainforests, the logging mafia's timber export industry must be disbanded and replaced with small-scale, community based, environmentally sensible eco-forestry practices. Further, to tame the logging beast and provide a policy environment conducive to carbon markets, a Commission of Inquiry must be established with broad powers to investigate and prosecute the logging industry, and a timeline established to permanently end industrial log exports.

By all means, the climate and rainforest crises demand the world expand the carbon trading market to reward land conservation. Rainforests provide habitats not only to millions of indigenous peoples, but their ecosystem services such as carbon storage regulate the climate for all of humanity. But if large, ancient rainforests adequate to store appreciable amounts of carbon are to remain, logging of rainforests must first be brought under control.

Dr. Glen Barry is the President of Ecological Internet which provides exhaustive environmental portals including http://EcoEarth.Info/

Originally posted at: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article329868.ece

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TAKE ACTION
The last thing Indonesia's rainforests need now is more pulp and wood mills
http://forests.org/action/alert.asp?id=indonesia

Two major Austrian corporations are constructing and financing a huge pulp mill and wood chip mill in South Kalimantan, Indonesia by the company "United Fiber System" (UFS). Andritz AG and RZB of Austria are reported to be financing the destruction of at least 113,000 hectares of largely intact tropical rainforest.

The UFS's pulp project consists of two separate projects on Borneo: a pulp mill is planned for the southern-most tip of South Kalimantan, and the wood chip mill is already under construction on the island of Pulau Laut. Pulp produced will be sold mainly to China, Japan and South Korea. The Indonesian pulp industry already has a shortage of fiberwood plantations, and the construction of these two new projects would result in further over-capacity, compounding the industry's unsustainability of wood supply. Meeting the fiberwood needs of these new pulp behemoths would require extensive new plantations to be planted. This shortfall severely threatens endangered lowland tropical rainforests found within the concession area and region. A complete loss of aquatic sea life near the pulp mill, loss of mangrove forests for a deep sea port, and an increase is disease are also expected. European companies with reputations of being environmentally aware are acting in an irresponsible manner when involved in industrial projects which destroy ancient rainforests. Please ask Austrian financing companies to withdraw from the projects and to end their business relation with United Fiber System. Please take action now at http://forests.org/action/alert.asp?id=indonesia

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The world's remaining large ancient forests are priceless - providing the ecosystem services, habitat, evolutionary potential and spiritual awe upon which all life depends. Sadly some people can only appreciate this tapestry of life if expressed in economic terms. A new report on Canada's Boreal forests shows what so many have shown before - that these and other large forest wildernesses purify water, regulate climate and produce oxygen - all services worth billions of dollars. I remain slightly disturbed that the self-evident truth that ecological systems are the base of all aspects of human life including economics is not more generally recognized and acted upon. When all the forests, arable land, clean water, breathable air and ocean abundance are gone - go ahead, try eating money.

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Today the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Global Forest Resources Assessment was released, finding that some 13 million hectares of mostly natural forests are destroyed each year. FAO set the net loss of forest area between 2000-2005 at some 7.3 million hectares a year, compared to 8.9 million hectares in the 1990-2000 period. As in the past, the FAO falsely indicates that this continued massive devastation of the world's forests is somehow good news. They downplay the loss or modification of six million hectares of primary forests each year, failing to grasp the ecological value of these ancient and sacred ancient forest landscapes. Global forest loss remains by at least an order of magnitude too severe to sustain global forests and the Earth's biosphere.

Once again FAO's heavily industry orientated perspective has resulted in fatally flawed figures, skewed by poor methodology which equates trees with forests, and plantations with primary forests. Forest.org concurs with the Rainforest Foundation's assessment that FAO's "new deforestation figures are misleading, inaccurate and understate the real extent of deforestation and damage to forests globally". The UN figure for 'net' deforestation is grossly misleading, as it conceals the fact that most deforestation is taking place in the world's tropical rainforests, whereas most of the reforestation and natural re-growth of forests is taking place in the northern hemisphere, and much of this consists of plantations rather than forests.

The degree to which the United Nations and the world's governments are letting down the world's last large primary forests is shocking. We pay for this research with our taxes, and we must demand more than we are getting; notably, a course of action to stop and reverse primary forest loss. Plantations are not forests, and they and secondary regrowth certainly are not equal to ancient forests. Why do most people other than the timber industry and United Nations get this? The FAO report can be found at http://www.fao.org/forestry/fra2005 and a critical critique by the Rainforest Foundation to which Forests.org contributed at: http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/fcpage.php?fcpage=1237&language=EN

MORE INFORMATION:

Title: NEW UNITED NATIONS FIGURES FOR GLOBAL DEFORESTATION ARE 'BAD SCIENCE' AND CONCEAL FULL HUMAN IMPACT ON WORLD'S FORESTS
Source: Rainforest Foundation
Date: November 14, 2005

RAINFOREST FOUNDATION
PRESS RELEASE

14th November 2005: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW UNITED NATIONS FIGURES FOR GLOBAL DEFORESTATION ARE 'BAD SCIENCE' AND CONCEAL FULL HUMAN IMPACT ON WORLD'S FORESTS

The Rainforest Foundation today claimed that new figures released today by the United Nations on the 'state of the world's forests' are misleading, inaccurate and understate the real extent of deforestation and damage to forests globally. [1]

The new UN figures purport to show that the rate of "net forest loss is slowing down, thanks to new planting and natural expansion of existing forests". [2]

However, analysis by the Rainforest Foundation indicates that there are major methodological flaws in the UN's report, especially that:

* the UN figure for 'net' deforestation is grossly misleading, as it conceals the fact that most deforestation is taking place in the world's tropical rainforests, whereas most of the reforestation and natural re-growth of forests is taking place in the northern hemisphere, and much of this consists of plantations rather than forests.

* the UN figure is based on a definition of forest as being an area with as little as 10% actual tree cover, which would therefore include areas that are actually savannah-like ecosystems and badly damaged forests;

* areas of land that presently have no trees on them at all, but that are 'expected' to regenerate, are also counted as forests;

* the UN includes in its data for existing areas of forest those that are covered by industrial tree plantations, which are actually lacking some of the key functions of true forests;

These flaws are analysed in detail in a new Rainforest Foundation report, entitled 'Irrational Numbers: Why the FAO's Forest Assessments are Misleading", which is published today to coincide with the release of the new UN figures [3].

Simon Counsell, of the Rainforest Foundation, said: "It is a global disgrace that, after decades of concern about the world's declining forests, the United Nations still can't even produce an accurate assessment of how much forest is actually left. The new Forest Resources Assessment repeats the bad science of previous assessments, which have been widely criticised, and obscures the real extent of deforestation. The United Nations should scrap this latest report, should make a firm commitment to revising the methods by which it assesses and reports on the state of the world's forests, and should then set out an urgent plan as to how global deforestation can be halted."

ENDS

For further information:

Simon Counsell, Rainforest Foundation
T (office): +44 (0) 207 251 6345
T (Cell): +44 (0)7941 899 579
simonc@rainforestuk.com


Notes to editors:

[1] The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation - the agency which has lead responsibility for forests within the UN system - today launched its 'Global Forest Resource Assessment' for 2005. Similar reports have been produced since 1948.

[2] The press release issued by the FAO today claims that "The annual net loss of forest area between 2000 and 2005 was 7.3 million hectares/year... down from an estimated 8.9 million hectares/year between 1990 and 2000" (http://www.fao.org/forestry/foris/webview/forestry2/index.jsp?siteId=101&sitetreeId=1191&langId=1&geoId=0)

[3] A copy of 'Irrational Numbers' is available for download free from: http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/fcpage.php?fcpage=1237&language=EN

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TAKE ACTION: Insist Colombia not cancel natural forest protections
http://forests.org/action/alert.asp?id=colombia

The Fundación GAIA of Colombia reports that Forests.org's alert on behalf of Colombia's rainforests has already had positive impact. "The debates on the Forestry law are taking place every Tuesday in the House of Representatives. Last Tuesday, the opposition used the letter signed by environmental NGOs. It had impact. Those who promoted the project did not succeed in getting it approved. The debate continues next Tuesday. We made progress in the sense that it has been accepted that the concept of "vuelo forestal" (separating rights to land from rights to the forest cover, PV) will not be applied to indigenous or afro-colombian territories. In spite of this, they want to cancel all norms that protect natural forests." It was suggested that our campaign also send copies to the media. The alert at http://forests.org/action/alert.asp?id=colombia has been updated to include this new information and to send messages to media as well.

FUND RAISING UPDATE: We are 40% to our goal with $15,000 still needed to be raised in order to guarantee we can remain operational. If you value global forest ecological sustainability and Forests.org efforts on their behalf please donate now at http://forests.org/donate/ .

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The world's second largest rainforest expanse found in the Democratic Republic of Congo is threatened by new illegal timber concession allocations. Nearly 150,000 square kilometers of forest (an area the size of England and Wales) have been allocated to timber companies within the last three years in violation of an existing "moratorium" or ban on new logging concessions.

Africa's rainforest ecosystems - vitally essential for local, regional and global ecological sustainability - are threatened by illegal logging, as are virtually all of the World's remaining large, contiguous rainforests. These rainforests provide critical habitat to indigenous, local and by virtue of their ecosystem services and biodiversity - all of the Earth's peoples and species.

Meanwhile WWF, and even Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network, advocate misguided policies to log many if not most of the Earth's ancient forests in an "environmentally sustainable" manner. Environmentally sustainable ancient forest logging is perhaps the ultimate oxymoron. Natural rainforest management in an ecologically sustainable manner is impossible. Once logged ancient forests are no longer primary forests, and they enter a period of permanent and ultimately fatal decline.

Mainstream and even "radical" NGOS must clarify and alter their positions regarding industrial logging of large ancient forests if these planetary species and ecosystem powerhouses are to have more of a future than becoming tree farms. The forest conservation movement must commit to ecologically sustainable, and socially equitable and just, rainforest conservation, not merely what is possible and brings superficial, inadequate and impermanent "protections". Half-baked reforms will not save forests or the Earth in an age of ecological meltdown.

Further, if Africa's rainforests are to have a future, it is imperative that the World Bank - which strives so hard to position itself as a rainforest policy-making leader - use its political and economic power to ensure forest policies are followed as a condition for economic assistance. If they are unwilling to make a stand for a non-industrial logging rainforest paradigm - based upon locally acceptable protection and community based eco-forestry, discontinuing forest and other lending because of the government's failed logging moratorium - they should step aside.

There will be little hope of the Congo achieving political stability, poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability if their sacred rainforests are squandered. Sadly ill-conceived, misguided rainforest conservation policies of the type espoused by WWF and the World Bank are one of the biggest threats to large ancient rainforests worldwide.
g.b.

*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

RAINFOREST FOUNDATION
PRESS RELEASE

9th November 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AFRICA'S RAINFORESTS FOR THE CHOP IN WORLD'S BIGGEST ILLEGAL GIVEAWAY

New information obtained by the Rainforest Foundation shows that vast areas of the world's second largest rainforest - in the Democratic Republic of Congo - are being handed out illegally to timber companies by the Congolese government.

Official information published yesterday reveals that nearly 150,000 square kilometres of forest (an area the size of England and Wales) has been allocated to timber companies within the last three years, mostly during 2005 [1]. The opening up of new areas of rainforest for timber felling has been illegal in the Congo since May 2002 [2].

Last week, the President of Congo signed a decree re-stating the moratorium on new logging activities, but the new information shows that the existing ban has been completely ineffective.

In December, the World Bank will consider approving a new credit of $90 million to the Congolese government, some of it to finance new forestry activities.

Simon Counsell, Director of the Rainforest Foundation, said: "The Rainforest Foundation has been warning for several years that the timber industry in Congo is about to spiral out of control, and that international pressure should be brought to bear on the Congolese authorities to stop the handing out of vast concessions to logging companies. The Congolese government has acted in defiance of its own laws, and is set on a course that could have disastrous consequences for the many millions of people, as well as the wildlife, that are dependent on the country's forests. The World Bank should make it a strict condition of any new funding for forestry in DRC that all the illegally allocated concessions are immediately cancelled".

ENDS


For further information:

Simon Counsell
T (office): 0207 251 6345
T (mobile): 07941 899 579
E-mail: simonc@rainforestuk.com


Notes to editors:

[1] The information was published on November 8th as a list of all logging concession areas in a 'Communique de Presse' issued by the Congolese Ministries of the Environment and Finance. The list shows that 103 'concessions' have been handed to logging companies since the May 2002 logging moratorium, covering 147,526 square kilometres. A copy of the list is available for inspection.

[2] The logging 'moratorium' was established through ' Ministerial Arrêté No CAB/MIN/AF.F-E.T/194/MAS/02 portant suspension de l'octroi des allocations forestières' passed on 14th May 2002.

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Here is an excellent article on the issue of indigenous peoples being removed from their lands in the name of conservation. As a conservation biologist I realize that indigeneous and local traditional livelihoods must be respected and maintained just as surely as any other force of nature. But I will not go so far as to say if indigenous people want to whack down all their forests and destroy their ecosystems it is acceptable. Where you draw the line between ecology and human rights is tricky -- as without the former you can forget about the latter.

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Many in the U.S. Congress continue to embrace the industry sponsored fraud that logging of forests is required to make them healthy. It is hard to imagine how forests survived for all those millenia pre-human industrial logging. The recent gamesmanship involves Congressional efforts to open up forests that have been burned and undergone other natural disturbances to industrial logging. Again they couch it in terms of forest health and restoration. What a sham. Burned forests are completely natural, and they possess the processes to naturally regenerate themselves. Efforts to log and then replant mostly monocultures of timber species turns a healthy, regenerating forest landscape full of life and ecosystem outputs into a toxic tree plantation.

Bill to Force Logging Public Forests After Fires Introduced

Nearly 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sponsored legislation that they say would expedite the cleanup and restoration of federal forests after catastrophic events such as wildfires, hurricanes and windstorms.

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