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forests > newsfile
SE Asian forests disappearing fast
The tropical forests of South East Asia, important for local livelihoods and the last home of the orang-utan, are disappearing far faster than experts have previously supposed according to a new Rapid Response report from the UN Environment Programme. ... more
Financial incentives could save tropical forests
A majority of people in rural tropical areas � about 800 million � live in or around vulnerable forests or woodlands, depending on them heavily for survival. Yet deforestation at five per cent a decade is steadily depleting this resource base, contributing to 20 per cent of annual global CO2 emissions and seriously threatening biodiversity. ... more
Future of cork oak forests still in the balance
Earlier this year WWF warned that three quarters of the Western Mediterranean's cork oak forests could be lost within 10 years, threatening an economic and environmental crisis, unless the industry took action to support the cork stoppers market. But still no action has been taken. ... more
Green Belt Movement goes international
Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Wangari Maathai has launched a new international charity, the Green Belt Movement International. ... more
Greenpeace links McDonald's with Amazon destruction
Greenpeace today accused McDonald's of destroying the Amazon rainforest. Using satellite images, aerial surveillance, previously unreleased government documents, and on-the-ground monitoring, Greenpeace says it has traced soya grown on land that once was rainforest to an animal feed producer whose chickens are processed into Chicken McNuggets and other McDonald's products. ... more
Heart of Borneo project launched
Despite the gloom over the outcome of the biodiversity conference in Curitiba in the last week of March, some good things were achieved, among them the agreement on island marine parks and the launch of the three-country Heart of Borneo Conservation initiative, reported below. ... more
Amazon could turn into Savannah, WWF warns
Climate change and deforestation could convert the majority of the Amazon rainforest into Savannah, with massive impacts on the world's biodiversity and climate, WWF said today. ... more
Global protests mount over Tasmanian forest felling
Demonstrators picketed Australian embassies and consulates in America, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom today to protest against the destruction of old-growth forests in the country�s island state of Tasmania by Forestry Tasmania and Gunns, Ltd., a billion-dollar logging giant whose practices rank among the world�s worst according to recent reports. The IUCN compares Gunns� operations to rampant illegal logging in the Third World. ... more
Brazil expands Amazon national park
Brazilian President Luiz In�cio Lula da Silva on Monday signed decrees expanding Amazon National Park and creating seven new environmental protected areas in the western part of Par� state, a region marked by land disputes and environmental devastation. ... more
Victory for Canadian forest campaign
A coalition of four leading environmental groups, along with industry leaders and indigenous groups, are celebrating success after a decade-long campaign to protect the globally unique Great Bear Rainforest, in British Columbia, Canada. ... more
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