Rational, logical Darwinian science has won out over superstitious, antiquated creationism. And in a further repudiation of "unintelligent" design, Science magazine has named recent advances in the study of Evolution the science story of the year.

?Intelligent Design' Barred From Biology Class

A federal judge has ruled ?intelligent design? cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, concluding that several school board members lied about their motives for introducing the concept to students.

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Environmentalists are frequently disparaged for blaming supposedly "natural disasters" as being attributed to environmental decline. In the past year I have highligted the role of coastal development and ecosystem loss as a cause for damaged done by the Asian Tsunami and the Gulf Coast Hurricanes. It appears I missed one sign of ecological collapse in 2005 - the damage caused in Pakistan by the recent earthquake were greatly exacerbated by deforestation of the steep mountain slopes. Land slides claimed many lives and many deaths could have been prevented by maintaining and restoring natural forest cover on land slide prone areas in earthquake zones.

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The issue of biofuels being made from oil palm and soya which are destructive to rainforest ecosystems is taking on a high profile in the conservation community. This issue was first raised by Forests.org and our international network earlier in the year with an alert to the EU. At that time, in my exhaustive perusal of forest news I had seen no mention of the the topic. Since our alert many other groups have become active on the matter. This is one example of the critical role that Forests.org plays in identifying and mobilizing actions against emerging threats to the world's forests and climate. Our innovative network has more impact than appreciated, and suble moves forward are as frequent as outright conservation victories.

EU must ensure bioenergy is really 'green'

Travelling in a car fuelled by biodiesel seems like a great, environmentally-friendly thing to do. However, if the biodiesel has come from soya planted in the Brazilian Amazon or palm oil from Indonesia, the green consumer is likely to be unwittingly driving another nail into the coffin of the world's great ecosystems."

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The interplay between forests and the atmosphere is complex and largely unknown. The conventional wisdom is that planting trees is a laudable response to climate change, but it is not so simple. A new study indicates trees planted in temperate areas actually raise temperatures by aborbing more heat - while trees in tropical areas transpire this heat more effectively thus leading to more cooling. These impacts may outweigh whatever benefits in terms of reduced warming result from carbon capture.

There is a whole array of unknowns regarding the interplay between forests and climate. Those with a vested interest in tree planting for alleged climate benefits must take heed or risk being label as charlatans. Other issues include whether replacing ancient forests with plantations may lead to more lost carbon storage than is gained by growing forests, and the possibility that if global warming continues apace forests - planted and otherwise - may suffer tremendous dieback and carbon release.

The lesson here is that given current knowledge humanity is well advised to focus upon reducing emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, energy efficiency and keeping existing carbon stored in intact ancient forests. Planting trees - particulary in monocultures outside of their natural ranges - should not be embraced as a climate change remedy at this point. By all means restoring of native forests where they traditionally occurred is another matter and should be pursued aggressively.

7/12/2005 -- Study: Forests could worsen global warming

A study by the Carnegie Institution and U.S. government scientists says planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide may worsen global warming... the researchers found that while tropical forests help keep Earth cool by evaporating a great deal of water, northern forests tend to warm the Earth because they absorb sunlight without losing much moisture. In one computer simulation, the scientists covered much of the northern hemisphere with forests and saw a jump in surface air temperature of more than 6 degrees Fahrenheit.

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TAKE ACTION
Industrial logging of ancient primary forests is ecologically and socially indefensible
http://forests.org/action/alert.asp?id=world_bank_congo

The World Bank is moving forward with plans to subsidize ancient rainforest logging in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) mighty ancient rainforests. On Thursday December 8th, the Board of the World Bank will consider whether to approve more than $200 million in new funding for the government of DRC, some of it linked to 'development' of the country's rainforests. The World Bank is laying the basis for the destruction of Congo's rainforests, and it has breached many of its own internal safeguard policies in the process. Under the World Bank plan some 600,000 square kilometers of Congo's precious rainforest could eventually be handed over to logging companies. Forests are being zoned into areas for timber felling against the wishes of many local communities. On the eve of this important decision by the Bank's Board, twelve organizations representing the various indigenous 'Pygmy' peoples of the Congo have submitted a formal complaint to the World Bank Inspection Panel, an
official independent watchdog, stating the Bank has failed to take into account the impact that its plans would have on people depending on the forest for their survival. The World Bank Board must urgently be called upon to suspend any further funding for forestry and mining in DRC until there has been a thorough review of the Bank's activities in DRC's forests to date, and until the Inspection Panel has conducted an investigation. Please take action now.

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The World Bank is moving forward with a plan to open up the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) mighty rainforests -- the world's second largest -- for massive industrial felling of timber. Forests are being zoned into areas for timber felling against the wishes of many local communities including the 'Pygmy' peoples. Nonetheless, the World Bank continues with funding plans for the DRC government, which include commitments to begin massive industrial rainforest development through highly exploitative logging. I am sure that WWF and other ancient forest logging apologists providing cover to such ecological sacrilege are giddy with the prospects of having more ancient forest logging to certify as being environmentally sound. Shame on those that destroy ancient primary forests, and mislead saying this slaughter reduces poverty or is environmentally benign. May their ecological desecration and social upheaval bring them the eternal damnation they deserve.

*******************************

RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

RAINFOREST FOUNDATION
PRESS RELEASE

5th December 2005: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONGO'S 'PYGMIES' AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS CHALLENGE WORLD BANK ON THREAT TO RAINFORESTS: UK GOVERNMENT CALLED ON TO INTERVENE

On the eve of an important decision by the Board of the World Bank, ' Pygmy ' people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have issued a major challenge to the Bank about its plans to open up the world's second largest rainforest for massive industrial felling of timber.

Since 2002, the World Bank has taken a leading role in reforming DRC's forestry laws, starting the process of 'zoning' the forest into areas for timber felling and other uses, and encouraging foreign investment in the timber industry [1].

Twelve organisations representing the various indigenous 'Pygmy' peoples of the Congo have now submitted a formal complaint to the World Bank Inspection Panel, an official independent watchdog, because the Bank has failed to take into account the impact that its plans would have on people depending on the forest for their survival [2].

On Thursday December 8th, the Board of the World Bank will consider whether to approve more than $200 million in new funding for the government of DRC, some of it linked to 'development' of the country's rainforests [3].

The Rainforest Foundation and Friends of the Earth have written to the Board of the Bank, including the UK Government's Executive Director, calling on it to suspend any further funding for forestry and mining in DRC until there has been a thorough review of the Bank's activities in DRC's forests to date, and until the Inspection Panel has conducted an investigation [4] .

Simon Counsell, Director of the Rainforest Foundation, said:

"The World Bank is laying the basis for the destruction of Congo's rainforests, and it has breached many of its own internal safeguard policies in the process. It has set out a plan to 'zone' Congo's forests in which up to 600,000 square kilometres of rainforest could eventually be handed over to logging companies. The Board of the Bank now has the chance to avert a major environmental and humanitarian disaster, and should not provide any further funding for forestry in DRC until there has been a thorough investigation as to how Bank staff could act with such blatant disregard for both the environment and the rights of the millions of people living in Congo's forest ".

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:

[1] In 2002, the Bank provided funding for the government of DRC to develop a new set of laws regulating the use of the country's forests. In September 2003, the Board of the Bank also approved a project entitled 'Emergency Economic and Social Reconstruction and Support Project', which included $4 million to start the process of 'zoning' DRC's forests, potentially opening up tens of millions of hectares for industrial logging. It is this latter project which is the main subject of the complaint by Congo's indigenous 'Pygmy' people, as Bank staff failed to 'trigger' the Bank's operational policy on indigenous people (OD 4.20) when developing the project.

[2] The complaint to the World Bank Inspection Panel was registered by the Chair of the Panel on December 1st. An English summary of the complaint by the Chair of the Panel can be found on the Rainforest Foundation's website at:

http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/s-World%20Bank%20Inspection%20Panel%20complaint%20summary%20and%20registration

The full (French language) complaint can be found on the Rainforest Foundation's website at:

http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/s-Complaint%20to%20World%20Bank%20Inspection%20Panel%20-%20Dec%2005

[3] The new Bank funding under consideration by the Bank Board on Thursday 8th December includes a project entitled 'Transitional Support for Economic Recovery'. This is 'development policy lending' which Bank documentation shows is to be linked to further implementation of the Bank's programme for development of DRC's forests.

[4] The full text of the Rainforest Foundation's letter to the Executive Directors of the Bank can be found at:

http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/s-RF%20and%20FoE%20letter%20to%20World%20Bank%20Board%20re%20DRC%20-%20Dec%2005

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