http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/ Save Our Earth is dedicated to saving the Rainforests of the Earth and campaigns on other environmental issues. We aim to raise the awareness of these issues and to source news articles and bring them to your desktop. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/images/favicon.gif http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/ 120 111 Save Our Earth is dedicated to saving the Rainforests of the Earth and campaigns on other environmental issues. We aim to raise the awareness of these issues and to source news articles and bring them to your desktop. en Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:21:10 +0000 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9961 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9961 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:31:50 +0000 (Source: Reuters) JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's government plans to create one of the world's largest palm oil and rubber firms in March by combining state planters with total assets of $5.6 billion, a government minister told Reuters on Thursday. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9960 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9960 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:30:05 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) Students from Yale University have made the amazing discovery of a species of fungus that devours one of the world's most durable, and therefore environmentally troublesome, plastics: polyurethane. The new species of fungus, Pestalotiopsis microspora, is even able to consume polyurethane in zero-oxygen (anaerobic) conditions, which would be important in eating plastics in the deep dark layers of landfills where little sunlight, water, or oxygen is found. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9959 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9959 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:29:37 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) The International Institute for Environment and Development has published a new report on benefit distribution under Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programs. The report includes a top ten list of recommendations to ensure REDD+ works for poor communities that live in and around forests. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9958 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9958 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:28:56 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) Applicants for forest concessions in Indonesia will soon be required to prove there aren't overlapping claims on their holdings, reports The Jakarta Globe. The move, which offers the potential to reduce land disputes between forest developers and local communities, could complicate investments in the forestry sector in Indonesia. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9957 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9957 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:47:39 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) New, radical theories in science often take time to be accepted, especially those that directly challenge longstanding ideas, contemporary policy or cultural norms. The fact that the Earth revolves around the sun, and not vice-versa, took centuries to gain widespread scientific and public acceptance. While Darwin's theory of evolution was quickly grasped by biologists, portions of the public today, especially in places like the U.S., still disbelieve. Currently, the near total consensus by climatologists that human activities are warming the Earth continues to be challenged by outsiders. Whether or not the biotic pump theory will one day fall into this grouping remains to be seen. First published in 2007 by two Russian physicists, Victor Gorshkov and Anastassia Makarieva, the still little-known biotic pump theory postulates that forests are the driving force behind precipitation over land masses. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9956 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9956 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:26:00 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) Climate change, in the form of rising temperatures and less precipitation, is shrinking the carbon sink of western Canada's forest, according to a new study released today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Tree mortality and a general loss of biomass has cut the carbon storage capacity of Canada's boreal forests by around 7.28 million tons of carbon annually, equal to nearly 4 percent of Canada's total yearly carbon emissions. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9955 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9955 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:24:44 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) Tropical rainforests store some 229 billion tons of carbon in their vegetation -- about 20 percent more than previously estimated -- finds a new satellite-based assessment published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The findings could help improve the accuracy of reporting CO2 emissions reductions under the proposed REDD program, which aims to compensate tropical countries for cutting deforestation, forest degradation, and peatlands destruction. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9954 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9954 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:22:54 +0000 (Source: BBC News) Chance encounters near an isolated Amazon tribe have resulted in the most detailed pictures ever taken of them. Campaign group Survival International has released images of the Mashco-Piro tribe, which lives near the Manu National Park in southeastern Peru. The tribe has had little if any peaceful contact with the outside world, but sightings are on the rise. Survival blames the change on gas and oil projects and illegal logging in the area, pushing the tribe into new lands. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9953 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9953 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:22:21 +0000 (Source: BBC News) Hundreds of protesters have arrived in Bolivia's main city, La Paz, to demand the government resume the construction of a controversial road through an Amazon reserve. President Evo Morales cancelled the project last year after a similar protest march by indigenous tribes. They said the road would destroy their rainforest homeland. But other communities say the highway would bring much-needed economic development to the Bolivian Amazon. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9952 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9952 Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:56:13 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) Greenhouse gas emissions from palm oil-based biodiesel are the highest among major biofuels when the effects of deforestation and peatlands degradation are considered, according to calculations by the European Commission. The emissions estimates, which haven't been officially released, have important implications for the biofuels industry in Europe. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9951 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9951 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:44:58 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled on Friday that palm oil-based biofuels will not meet the renewable fuels standard due to carbon emissions associated with deforestation. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9950 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9950 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:18:48 +0000 (Source: BBC News) Organisers of a project to create a series of new woods to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee hope to plant one million trees during February. The Woodland Trust said next month marked the 60th anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne. Free tree-planting packs would be available for groups wanting to take part in the project, it added. The centrepiece of the Trust's plans will be a Diamond Park - a 460-acre site containing 500,000 trees. Dame Judi Dench, the Oscar-winning actress, has lent her support to the Jubilee Woods project. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9949 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9949 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:17:36 +0000 (Source: ENS) WASHINGTON, DC, January 26, 2012 (ENS) - The Obama administration today proposed a new forest planning rule that will guide the management of 155 forests, 20 grasslands and one prairie in the National Forest System. The rule provides the framework for U.S. Forest Service land management plans. Once approved, the final rule will update planning procedures that have been in place since 1982, creating a planning process that the the Forest Service says reflects the latest science and knowledge of how to create and implement effective land management plans. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9948 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9948 Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:59:20 +0000 (Source: The Guardian (UK)) The biggest trees in the world, known as the true ecological kings of the jungle, are dying off rapidly as roads, farms and settlements fragment forests and they come under prolonged attack from severe droughts and new pests and diseases. Long-term studies in Amazonia, Africa and central America show that while these botanical behemoths may have adapted successfully to centuries of storms, pests and short-term climatic extremes, they are counter-intuitively more vulnerable than other trees to today's threats. "Fragmentation of the forests is now disproportionately affecting the big trees," said William Laurance, a research professor at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia. "Not only do many more trees die near forest edges, but a higher proportion of the trees dying were the big trees." http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9947 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9947 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:13:19 +0000 (Source: BBC News) Current tropical timber practices are not sustainable and nations should consider the "implications of 'peak timber'", a study has suggested. A team of researchers says the standard cutting cycle of 30-40 years is too short to allow trees to grow to a volume required by commercial loggers. As a result, they add, the pressure to harvest primary forests will continue, leading to ongoing deforestation. The findings have been published in the journal Biological Conservation. The scientists used logging on the Solomon Islands as an example because it was, in some respects, "a microcosm of the challenges facing sustainable forest management in the tropics". http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9946 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9946 Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:15:42 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) The economic crisis has pushed many nations to scramble for revenue and jobs in tight times, and the small Eastern European nation of Latvia is no different. Facing tough circumstances, the country turned to its most important and abundant natural resource: forests. The Latvian government accepted a new plan for the nation's forests, which has resulted in logging at rates many scientists say are clearly unsustainable. In addition, researchers contend that the on-the-ground practices of state-owned timber giant, Latvijas Valsts meži (LVM), are hurting wildlife and destroying rare ecosystems. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9945 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9945 Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:27:05 +0000 (Source: BBC News) The Yasuni National Park, known as "the lungs of the world" and one of the most bio-diverse places on earth, is under threat from oil drilling. The race is on to find the funds required to develop new sustainable energy programmes that would leave the oil - and the forest - untouched. In the early light of dawn, the Napo River, running swiftly from its headwaters in the high Andes, swirled powerfully past the bow of our motorised canoe. Suddenly, a dense cloud of green parrots swooped down from the canopy of the jungle and in a cackling din started scooping tiny beakfuls from the exposed muddy bank. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9944 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9944 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:20:33 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) The combination of deforestation, forest degradation, and the effects of climate change are weakening the resilience of the Amazon rainforest ecosystem, potentially leading to loss of carbon storage and changes in rainfall patterns and river discharge, finds a comprehensive review published in the journal Nature. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9943 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9943 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:20:09 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) on Thursday announced a regulation that would protect 45 percent of Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, according to a statement issued by his office. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9942 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9942 Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:02:13 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) Levi Strauss & Company became the latest firm to drop Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) as a supplier due to concerns over APP's continued clearing of rainforests in Sumatra, reports the Rainforest Action Network, a green group in the midst of a campaign against APP. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9941 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9941 Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:37:33 +0000 (Source: The Guardian (UK)) Current climate models and projections may be inaccurate because measurements are based on guidelines that do not include the effects of trees on the local climate, according to agroforestry experts. This in turn may be hindering effective adaptation by local farming communities, as the true effect of climate change on their crops is not accurately captured. Trees can influence many of the climate factors predicted by modelling, and their effects should be added to climate maps, scientists from the the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) said in a book, How people and trees can co-adapt to climate change, launched last month (1 December). http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9940 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9940 Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:52:44 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) Indonesia could have earned $5 billion in revenue and avoided 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions between 2000 and 2005 had a reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) program been in place, reports an assessment published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9939 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9939 Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:52:05 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) An investigation by Brazil's Federal Police has detailed a significant trade of illegally logged rainforest wood by Peruvian nationals making its way from northern Brazil to the U.S. and Mexico, reports O Globo. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9938 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9938 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:37:46 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) Intensive palm oil production is expanding at the expense of biolologically-rich lowland rainforests in the Peruvian Amazon, reports a study published in Environmental Research Letters. The research indicates that enthusiasm for oil palm -- one of the world's most lucrative crops -- is taking a toll on forests outside of Southeast Asia, where the vast majority of palm oil is produced. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9937 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9937 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:23:08 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) A protest in which 28 Indonesian sewed their mouths shut has led to an inquiry into a logging concession on Padang Island. The Ministry of Forestry has formed a mediation team to look into the controversial concession, reports Kompas. Around a hundred natives of Padang Island rallied for weeks against the logging concession held by PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), which covers 37 percent of the island's total land. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9936 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9936 Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:10:49 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) A sharp drop in deforestation has been accompanied by an increase in food production in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, reports a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. The research argues that policy interventions, combined with pressure from environmental groups, have encouraged agricultural expansion in already-deforested areas, rather than driving new forest clearing. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9935 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9935 Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:19:25 +0000 (Source: BBC News) Tropical forests in Africa may be more resilient to future climate change than the Amazon and other regions, a gathering of scientists has said. An international conference agreed that the region's surviving tree species had endured a number of climatic catastrophes over the past 4,000 years. As a result, they are better suited to cope with future shifts in the climate. The event at the University of Oxford looked at the "fate of Africa's tropical forests in the 21st Century". http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9934 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9934 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:55:25 +0000 (Source: BBC News) For years, the story told about the Amazon has been one of destruction - the world's largest rainforest, a region of amazing biodiversity, key to the fight against climate change, being remorselessly felled. But that is no longer the whole truth. The Environment Agency special ops team gathered in a sultry town right on the southern edge of the Amazon. A group of officers, men and women, were relaxing in the shade of a majestic mango tree outside their offices. They were smoking and chatting. These aren't bureaucrats with crumpled suits and clipboards. In Brazil, environment agents wear military fatigues, with heavy black pistols slung casually on their thighs. These officers are, as I was to discover, soldiers on the front line in what Brazil regards as a war - a war to protect the Amazon rainforest. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9933 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9933 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:54:24 +0000 (Source: BBC News) An Ecuadorean appeals court has upheld a ruling that Chevron should pay damages totalling $18.2bn (£11.5bn) over Amazon oil pollution. Chevron said the judgement was "illegitimate" and "a fraud". Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping toxic materials in the Ecuadorean Amazon. The original ruling ordered Chevron to pay $8.6bn in damages, which was more than doubled after the company failed to make a public apology. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9932 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9932 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:52:45 +0000 (Source: BBC News) A botanist in Brazil has found a plant that he claims may hold the key to reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. Jatoba, or hymenaea, a rainforest tree, has been found to grow much faster in atmospheres with high levels of carbon dioxide. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9931 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9931 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:51:02 +0000 (Source: BBC News) The Ghanaian Government is agonising over whether to grant licenses to six mining companies which are ready to invest over $2bn or preserve the forest and help save the earth. Over the past five years, only a handful of new mines have opened as against dozens in the early to mid 1990s. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9930 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9930 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:59:14 +0000 (Source: BBC News) A US geneticist who died earlier this year has been accused of deliberately infecting thousands of Yanomami Indians with measles, killing hundreds of them. The geneticist, James Neel, worked in the Yanomami homeland in Brazil and Venezuela in the mid-1960s. A book to be published on 1 October says Neel vaccinated the Yanomami as an experiment to test the effects of natural selection on primitive societies. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9929 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9929 Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:39:54 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) The town of Ayun, home to 16,000 people in the Chitral district of Pakistan, has been rocked by large-scale protests and mass arrests over the issue of corruption and deforestation in recent days. Villagers are protesting forest destruction in the Kalasha Valleys, the home of the indigenous Kalash people. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9928 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9928 Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:39:15 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) A possibly ground-breaking idea has been kept on life support after Ecuador revealed its Yasuni-ITT Initiative had raked in $116 million before the end of the year, breaking the $100 million mark that Ecuador said it needed to keep the program alive. Ecuador is proposing to not drill for an estimated 850 million barrels of oil in the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputinin (ITT) blocs of Yasuni National Park if the international community pledges $3.6 billion to a United Nations Development Fund (UNDF), or about half of what the oil is currently worth. The Yasuni-ITT Initiative would preserve arguably the most biodiverse region on Earth from oil exploitation, safeguard indigenous populations, and keep an estimated 410 million tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere. However, the initiative is not without its detractors, some arguing the program is little more than blackmail; meanwhile proponents say it could prove an effective way to combat climate change, deforestation, and mass extinction. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9927 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9927 Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:18:49 +0000 (Source: Reuters) QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador vowed on Friday to press ahead with a plan to shield the Yasuni reserve in the Amazon jungle from oil companies after international donors pledged more than $100 million in exchange for the government not permitting exploration. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9926 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9926 Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:04:52 +0000 (Source: ENS) BUCHAREST, Romania, December 21, 2011 (ENS) - Virgin forests in Romania will receive the status of protected areas and the Romanian Ministry of Environment and Forests will work with the global conservation organization WWF to identify, map and protect virgin forests. These actions are specified in the Memorandum of Understanding signed Tuesday by the Minister of Environment and Forests Laszlo Borbely and WWF two months after the launch of WWF's campaign to save Romania's virgin forests. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9925 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9925 Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:48:58 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) Indonesia exempted 3.6 million hectares of forests and peatlands from protected status under its two-year moratorium on forest concessions, according to a revised version of its moratorium map released near the end of climate talks in Durban. The new Indicative Map includes 10.7 million hectares of peatlands, down from 15.5 million hectares in the previous version of the map that defines areas off-limits for new concessions. Some 1.2 million hectares of previously unprotected "primary forest" has been added to the moratorium area, resulted in a net decline of 3.6 million hectares under the moratorium, according to analysis by Daemeter Consulting, an Indonesia-based forestry consultancy. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9924 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9924 Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:21:48 +0000 (Source: Reuters) SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - The massive drought that has dried out Texas over the past year has killed as many as half a billion trees, according to new estimates from the Texas Forest Service. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9923 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9923 Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:19:02 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) As the Philippines begins to bury more than a 1,000 disaster victims in mass graves, Philippine President Benigno Aquino has ordered an investigation into last weekend's flash flood and landslide, including looking at the role of illegal logging. Officials have pointed to both climate change and vast deforestation as likely exacerbating the disaster. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9922 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9922 Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:18:12 +0000 (Source: BBC News) The UN has co-produced a study that lists scientific details of Amazon plant species that can be harvested for economic or medicinal purposes. It is estimated that 80% of people in developing nations depend on non-wood forest products, such as fruit, for nutrition and medicine. The publication aims to help bridge the gap in knowledge between scientists and local people, the authors have said. The publication coincides with the end of the International Year of Forests. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9921 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9921 Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:25:59 +0000 (Source: Reuters) FAIRVIEW VILLAGE, Guyana (Reuters) - After decades of depending on bauxite, timber and gold for revenue, Guyana proposed five years ago that wealthy foreigners pay it to protect its tropical South American rainforests. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9920 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9920 Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:26:30 +0000 (Source: The Telegraph (UK)) Official records of the Forestry Commission (FC) show that it earned millions selling land to private companies including those permitted to carry out logging. Between 1997 and 2010 the FC sold almost 12,000 hectares of forest in a period when it took control of just 5,403 hectares on behalf of the public. Some of the buyers are alleged to have barred walkers from the formerly public land in breach of contracts stating traditional rights of way must be maintained, the Independent on Sunday claimed. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9919 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9919 Sat, 17 Dec 2011 22:22:45 +0000 (Source: BBC News) A judge in Brazil has revoked a decision which had halted work on the Belo Monte dam in the Amazon region. Judge Carlos Castro Martins reversed the order he had issued in September, which had barred any work on the Belo Monte dam that interfered with the natural flow of the Xingu river. He said the company behind the project had subsequently shown its work would not harm local fishing. The project has been heavily criticised by environmentalists. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9918 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9918 Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:21:09 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) continues to mislead the public about its role in destroying rainforests and critical tiger habitat across the Indonesian island of Sumatra, alleges a new report from Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of Indonesian environmental groups including WWF-Indonesia. The report, titled The truth behind APP's Greenwash, is based on analysis of satellite imagery as well as public and private documentation of forest cleared by logging companies that supply APP, which is owned by the Indonesian conglomerate, Sinar Mas Group (SMG). The report concludes APP's fiber suppliers have destroyed 2 million hectares of forest in Sumatra since 1984. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9917 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9917 Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:20:31 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) A coalition of environmental NGOs have called upon Japan to adopt stronger measures to block illicit timber imports, alleging that Japanese companies are buying illegally logged wood from Samling Global, a Malaysian logging company. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9916 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9916 Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:19:51 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) A program proposed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation made mixed progress during climate talks in Durban. Significant questions remain about financing and safeguards to protect against abuse, say forestry experts. REDD+ aims to reduce deforestation, forest degradation, and peatland destruction in tropical countries. Here, emissions from land use often exceed emissions from transportation and electricity generation. Under the program, industrialized nations would fund conservation projects and improved forest management. While REDD+ offers the potential to simultaneously reduce emissions, conserve biodiversity, maintain other ecosystem services, and help alleviate rural poverty, concerns over potential adverse impacts have plagued the program since its conception. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9915 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9915 Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:45:41 +0000 (Source: Reuters) LONDON (Reuters) - Canada still has a legal obligation under U.N. rules to cut its emissions despite the country's pullout from the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N. climate chief said Tuesday. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9914 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9914 Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:43:31 +0000 (Source: Mongabay) Less than two days after signing on to a "road map" agreement at the UN Climate Summit in Durban, South Africa, Canada has announced it is formally withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol after failing to meet its emissions pledges. Although not surprising, reaction from other nations and environmental groups was not only swift, but harsh. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9913 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9913 Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:14:31 +0000 (Source: Reuters) DURBAN (Reuters) - Countries from around the globe agreed on Sunday to forge a new deal forcing all the biggest polluters for the first time to limit greenhouse gas emissions, but critics said the plan was too timid to slow global warming. http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9912 http://www.saveourearth.co.uk/soe_enews.php?number=9912 Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:13:14 +0000 (Source: The Guardian (UK)) A new global climate deal has been struck after being brought back from the brink of disaster by three powerful women politicians in a 20-minute "huddle to save the planet". A major crisis had been provoked after 3am on Sunday morning when the EU clashed furiously with China and India over the legal form of a potential new treaty. The EU plan to bind all countries to cuts was close to collapse after India inserted the words "legal outcome" at the last minute into the negotiating text. EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard, backed by UK energy secretary Chris Huhne, said it would have made the EU plan legally meaningless and would have forced the EU to walk away, effectively collapsing the negotiations.