Monks Fight to Get Cambodian Forests on the Carbon Market

For years, the guardians of Sorng Rukavorn forest have drifted through the muted greens and grays of the underbrush in their saffron robes. In the far north of Cambodia, the monks live in what should be peaceful isolation, but all too often they have had to fend off incursions on this land. Using their authority as holy figures, they've turned away illegal loggers - among them, they say, armed police and soldiers - as well as local officials who have tried to wrestle control of the public land to parcel it out for their own profit.

Now the monks are looking for backup. They plan to institutionalize their communal ownership of the forest and shared profit from its 44,479-acre bounty by demarcating it an international ecological asset. Sorng Rukavorn is one of 13 community forests spreading over 168,032 acres in Oddar Meanchey province that is being registered as a bank of carbon credits. Under this nascent international tool of climate change mitigation referred to as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), governments and companies in industrialized nations can pay developing countries to cut carbon emissions on their behalf by not cutting trees. Deforestation accounts for roughly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, according to the UN. Trees and plants absorb the gas - produced by a number of natural and manmade processes, from the combustion of fossil fuels by factories, cars and volcanic eruptions, to the flatulence of livestock - and are therefore essential to balancing its levels in the atmosphere.

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Painting by Ivan Shishkin

New Data Highlights Role of Forests in Fight Against Climate Change

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2010 - The USDA Forest Service today released new estimates of the total carbon storage of U.S. forests, highlighting the important role America's forests play in the fight against climate change. According to the new data, 41.4 billion metric tons of carbon is currently stored in the nation's forests, and due to both increases in the total area of forest land and increases in the carbon stored per acre, an additional 192 million metric tons of carbon are sequestered each year. The additional carbon sequestered annually offsets roughly 11 percent of the country's industrial greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of removing almost 135 million passenger vehicles from the nation's highways.

"America's forests play a critical role in combating climate change, collectively capturing and storing significant amounts of carbon that would otherwise pollute the atmosphere," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "Forest management on all lands can contribute significantly toward cooling a warming planet, and this new information will assist the public and policy makers as we work to address this significant issue."

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Painting by Ivan Shishkin
View of Valaam Island. Kukko. 1859.

Forest owners can sell carbon credits for their trees

IRVINE — Justin Maxson admits that the concept he's been explaining to Appalachian landowners is a little difficult to wrap your mind around:

"There's an odorless, colorless gas that is sucked out of the air by your trees, and somebody's going to pay you for that."

The gas is carbon dioxide, or CO2, which contributes to global warming. Industries that produce it, and want to reduce their carbon footprint, are willing to pay when healthy trees do what they do naturally, which is absorb the CO2 and store it.

Because the trees must be in forests that are well-managed, a side benefit is that the region's long-abused forests could finally get some respect. That, in turn, is good news for wildlife and water quality.

No money has changed hands yet, mostly because the program is voluntary and the recession has lowered the amount of money that companies are willing to spend. But legislation is looming that could limit CO2 emissions and push up prices.

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The painting is by Alfred Glendening

Texas is second to Alaska in acres of forest land

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The first detailed statewide tree count in Texas history is headed toward this conclusion: Texas is No. 2.

The Texas Forest Service said Wednesday initial results of the first inventory outside East Texas indicate that the state has 60 million acres of forest land. That ranks second to Alaska and is about 23 percent of the forestation in the southern U.S.

The state has counted trees in the Piney Woods above the Gulf Coast since the 1930s. But this is the first scientific statewide tally.

"Last one we had was some dude on a horse in like 1904, rode through there and made notes," said Burl Carraway, a forest service department head.

The 10-year study is at the halfway point. But Tom Boggus, the state forester and interim director of the forest service, said he doesn't expect the number to change. The projection was made from 10,000 plots of land scattered from the heavily wooded areas of East Texas to the desert plains of West Texas.

The forest service called the report a baseline for all change — like the U.S. census, but for trees.

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The Painting is by Frederick William Hulme

Senate boosts wilderness protection across US

WASHINGTON – In a rare Sunday session, the Senate advanced legislation that would set aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as wilderness. Majority Democrats assembled more than enough votes to overcome GOP stalling tactics in an early showdown for the new Congress.

Republicans complained that Democrats did not allow amendments on the massive bill, which calls for the largest expansion of wilderness protection in 25 years. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other Democrats said the bill — a holdover from last year — was carefully written and included measures sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats.

By a 66-12 vote, with only 59 needed to limit debate, lawmakers agreed to clear away procedural hurdles despite partisan wrangling that had threatened pledges by leaders to work cooperatively as the new Obama administration takes office. Senate approval is expected later this week. Supporters hope the House will follow suit.

"Today is a great day for America's public lands," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. "This big, bipartisan package of bills represents years of work by senators from many states, and both parties, in cooperation with local communities, to enhance places that make America so special."

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The painting is by Nancy Merkle

Scientists discover new forest with undiscovered species on Google Earth

A British-led expedition found 7,000 hectares of forest, rich in biodiversity, known as Mount Mabu

The mountainous area of northern Mozambique in southern Africa had been overlooked by science due to inhospitable terrain and decades of civil war in the country.

However, while scrolling around on Google Earth, an internet map that allows the viewer to look at satellite images of anywhere on the globe, scientists discovered an unexpected patch of green.

A British-led expedition was sent to see what was on the ground and found 7,000 hectares of forest, rich in biodiversity, known as Mount Mabu.

In just three weeks, scientists led by a team from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew found hundreds of different plant species, birds, butterflies, monkeys and a new species of giant snake.

The samples which the team took are now back in Britain for analysis.

So far three new butterflies and one new species of snake have been discovered but it is believed there are at least two more new species of plants and perhaps more new insects to discover.

Julian Bayliss, a scientist for Kew based in the region, discovered Mount Mabu while searching on Google Earth for a possible conservation project. He was looking at areas of land 5,400ft (1,600m) above sea level where more rainfall means there is likely to be forest.

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The painting is by Benjamin Williams Leader

Deal struck on forests in climate talks

POZNAN, Poland (AP) — Negotiators broke an impasse Wednesday on including forest conservation in a new climate change agreement, guaranteeing a voice for native peoples who live in forests and rewarding India and China for replanting depleted lands.

Environmentalists said the compromise text, agreed in a committee at the U.N. climate talks, was an important step that cleared the way to discuss politically sensitive questions on how countries will be compensated for protecting their woodlands.

Though activists said they were disappointed that four countries, including the United States, deleted any specific reference to the "rights" of indigenous people, the agreement recognizes, "the full and effective participation" of local communities.

Activists hope the reference will give indigenous people a say in the way forests are managed.

The draft text also made no mention of biodiversity, which could allow countries to uproot natural forests to plant palm oil or fruit plantations, said Nils Hermann Ranum, of Rainforest Foundation Norway.

"More than 50 percent of the planet's species are found in tropical rain forests," he said, and may not fall under the protection of the climate agreement.

A deal on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, known as REDD, has been tied up in a technical committee since the conference opened Dec. 1, frustrating environmentalists who said some countries were backtracking on understandings reached four months ago at the last climate change conference in Ghana.

"It is a good text to go forward, though we didn't get everything we wanted," said Gustavo Silva-Chavez, a deforestation specialist for the New York-based Environmental Defense Fund.

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The painting is by Benjamin Williams Leader

Forest Service honors Vermont groups for their river work

ARLINGTON — The Batten Kill Watershed Alliance and the White River Partnership, along with the Green Mountain National Forest, will be awarded the U.S. Forest Service's Eastern Region Honor this month for the work the groups have done together to protect Vermont rivers.

Cynthia Browning, executive director the alliance, said the key to the award was that it was about partnerships.

"We would not be able to do the work we do without the assistance and expertise of the Green Mountain National Forest. But they need us too. They need a grass-roots group that has ties to the local property owners and government," she said.

The award from the U.S. Forest Service recognizes those projects achieved in cooperation with the Forest Services local arms and citizens' groups formed to serve ecological preservation or restoration projects.

Steve Roy, fisheries program manager for the Green Mountain National Forest, nominated the groups for the award in a letter to the U.S. National Forest.

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The painting is by Nancy Merkle

Ancient Forest Discovered in Mines

Researchers from the US and the UK have found a fossil forest in the coal mines of Illinois.

The team reported a similar discovery last year, but has recently found five other examples.

The petrified vegetation is visible in the mine ceilings covering thousands of hectares.

Dr. Howard Falcon-Lang believes they are among the first forests to evolve on Earth.

"Theses are the largest fossil forests found anywhere in the world at any point in geological time," Dr. Falcon-Lang said.

"It is quite extraordinary to find a fossil landscape preserved over such a vast area; and we are talking about an area the size of (the British city of) Bristol."

The forests are stacked on top of each other in the rock, and grew just a few million years apart.

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The painting is by Laura Tasheiko

Venezuela’s “Tree Mission” Reforests 1,235 Acres in Central State

Mérida, August 27, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- Venezuela’s national tree planting program known as the “Tree Mission” has reforested 500 hectares (1,235 acres) in the state of Aragua, according to a statement released by the Environment Ministry.

The state level ministry director, Carmen Cannata, reported that during two large-scale tree planting operations last year, 290,000 trees of a variety of species were planted on river banks, in national parks, and other deforested areas across the state, which is on Venezuela’s central coast.

Environment Ministry workers teamed up with military personnel, military reservists, and the National Guard to carry out the operations. The total number of people involved was 850, according to Cannata.

Cannata said a new operation is planned to begin in the state of Aragua in September.

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Save the Rain Forest One Pen at a Time!

RICHARDSON, Texas, Aug 20, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- As it turns out, the pen really is mightier than the sword. And the machete. And the bulldozer, or whatever else they're using to demolish Earth's endangered rain forests.
Or, at least one pen is: the new Bamboo Tornado(TM) by Retro 51 of Richardson, Texas.
It's a pen that's fun to use. Lightweight, ergonomic, and writes like a dream. More important, the barrel is made from solid bamboo, a durable hardwood that's also eco-friendly. Bamboo -- the fastest-growing woody plant in the world -- is a favorite with environmentalists because it's an abundant, replenishable resource.
Bamboo is also a favorite with giant pandas, who eat 20-40 lbs. of the stuff every day. Hence the engraving of a bamboo-noshing panda on the back of the pen.
The pen also features the long lasting easy flow refill system, which is in itself ecologically sound. (As America goes "green," refillable pens are making a comeback.) But that's only the beginning.

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The paiter of this picture is Mr:Fernando Luiz Neves Soares

Verso donating $100K to forest preservation

Verso Paper Corp. has announced a $100,000 grant over two years to help preserve U.S. forests.

The grant was provided to the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands and will go to expand the organization's Forest Stewardship Council group forest certification program. The program seeks to identify small, family forestland owners and to certify their lands to specific standards.

Verso officials said the grant will help expand the program through six states and help certify about 100,000 additional acres.

States included in the program are Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont.

Once certified, landowners receive education on the proper forestry techniques to preserve trees for years to come, company officials said.

Based in Memphis, Verso Paper produces coated papers, including coated groundwood and coated freesheet, and super-calendered products. Verso's paper products are used primarily in media and marketing applications, including magazines, catalogs and commercial printing applications such as high-end advertising brochures, annual reports and direct-mail advertising.

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Carbon huddles deep in the forest

Australia's old-growth forests can store up to five times more carbon than previously thought, scientists say, as they warn that natural forests are crucial in the worldwide fight against climate change.

A study on the role of natural forests in carbon storage has found that unlogged natural eucalypt forests in Australia's south-east store about 640 tonnes of carbon a hectare, while intact old-growth forests in Victoria and Tasmania store up to 1200 tonnes a hectare.

The study was carried out by the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University.

The report's co-author, Professor Brendan Mackey, said the leading world climate change body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, had got carbon storage levels wrong.

The scientific body said the average carbon stock in temperate forests was 217 tonnes a hectare.

The report by Professor Brendan Mackey, Heather Keith, Sandra Berry and David Lindenmayer found that natural forests stored almost three times as much carbon as plantations did.

Professor Mackey said, ''Protecting the carbon in Australia's and the world's natural forests is no longer an option: it is a necessity.''

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Untouched forests store 3 times more carbon

SYDNEY, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Untouched natural forests store three times more carbon dioxide than previously estimated and 60 percent more than plantation forests, said a new Australian study of "green carbon" and its role in climate change.

Green carbon occurs in natural forests, brown carbon is found in industrialised forests or plantations, grey carbon in fossil fuels and blue carbon in oceans.

Australian National University (ANU) scientists said that the role of untouched forests, and their biomass of green carbon, had been underestimated in the fight against global warming.

The scientists said the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Kyoto Protocol did not distinguish between the carbon capacity of plantation forests and untouched forests.

Yet untouched forests can carry three times the carbon presently estimated, if their biomass of carbon stock was included, said the ANU report released on Tuesday.

Currently, forest carbon storage capacity is based on plantation forest estimates.

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Cameroon: Irrational Forest Exploitation Cause Climate Change

Joe Dinga Pefok
Buea

The Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Prof. Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, has said forest exploitation is beneficial only if the effects of global warming are taken into consideration.

He was speaking at the graduation ceremony of some 274 technical staff of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, MINFOF, after a 45-day paramilitary course at the Camp du Régiment du Génie Militaire, Douala, on April 25.


"No one can deny that forest exploitation is beneficial, but it equally has an adverse effect on climate change if done irrationally," Ngolle Ngolle said. The radical climatic changes observed recently, the minister asserted, is connected with irrational forest exploitation.

Prof. Ngolle Ngolle also emphasised that sustainable forest management was necessary, to avert climate change threats. He unveiled government's efforts, together with development partners, to attain the sustainable management of Cameroon's forests.

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Science can help in increasing forest cover

New Delhi (PTI): Application of science can help in increasing forest cover, R K Pachauri, chairman of Nobel Award winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Friday said.

"Forests are our biggest treasure. Today there are many stresses and challenges on the forest sector. Application of science can help in increasing forest cover," Pachauri said at a function organised to mark World Forestry Day.

S Raghupathy, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests said the institutional framework of forest development is shifting from regulatory to participatory mode of administration and will be more people-oriented in future.

He aid the major task of the government is to enhance afforestation.

The minister said to ensure better forest management, India is actively participating in different forest-related international projects.

"India has highlighted the gaps in the implementation of sustainable forest management in the decisions of Bali conference on climate change and other international forums," Raghupathy said.

Referring to this year's theme "Forest and Climate Change" he said the process of economic growth and development through industrialisation and urbanisation has led to emission of green house gases into the atmosphere leading to rise in the global temperature.

"The carbon dioxide is released mainly from burning of fossils fuels and urbanisation. We have to work very hard to increase land area under forest and achieve one-third area of the country under trees," he added.

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Vanavaibhava - Forest Splendour

The splendour of the moon, the stars, the rising sun, the winds, the sky, the vegetation, the animals, birds, rivers, trees and mountains together form the beauty of the natural creation in its entirety. Part of that beauty is called in sanskrit vanavaibhava. There is no exact equivalent in English for this word, but the nearest term would be "forest splendour". Human beings are part of this forest splendour and should therefore, in their natural state, love and respect it. We are part of it, it gives us our identity, and without it we are lost. Thus we must carefully nourish and preserve the forest. This is the world forest referred to by Banwari, the primeval forest from which we come and where we find our identity

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A New Model To Simulate Forest Growth

The Algorithm Engineering Group at the UPM’s School of Computing has developed, in conjunction with a forestry engineer from the University of Córdoba, a simulator modelling the evolution of a forest. This tool, called Vorest, is a forestry engineering research aid and an excellent example of how to apply computational geometry to real-world problems.

Tree development within a forest largely depends on how much space they have both on the ground and in the air, around the treetops. Trees compete to dominate the space they need to develop, and this relates these biological systems directly to Voronoi diagrams. A Voronoi diagram can be seen as the space partition as a result of expanding the sites in the diagram.

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Snow storms destroy one tenth of China's forests

China has lost about one tenth of its forest resources to recent snow storms regarded as the most severe in half a century, state media reported Sunday.

A total of 17.3 million hectares (43 million acres) of forest have been damaged across China as the result of three weeks of savage winter weather, the China Daily website said, citing the State Forestry Administration.

More than half the country's provinces have been affected, and in the worst-hit regions, nearly 90 percent of forests have been destroyed, according to the paper.

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Lost in the Forest - A poem by Pablo Neruda

Lost in the forest...

Lost in the forest, I broke off a dark twig
and lifted its whisper to my thirsty lips:
maybe it was the voice of the rain crying,
a cracked bell, or a torn heart.

Something from far off it seemed
deep and secret to me, hidden by the earth,
a shout muffled by huge autumns,
by the moist half-open darkness of the leaves.

Wakening from the dreaming forest there, the hazel-sprig
sang under my tongue, its drifting fragrance
climbed up through my conscious mind

as if suddenly the roots I had left behind
cried out to me, the land I had lost with my childhood---
and I stopped, wounded by the wandering scent.

Pablo Neruda