Farmland to revert to forest in China's green plan

Shrugging off accusations of rampant industrial pollution and the news that it has overtaken the US as the world's largest carbon emitter, China last week unveiled a conservation strategy for its flora.

The country is home to 10 per cent of all known plant species - half of those unique to China - and about 5000 species are under threat. The initiative involves a novel collaboration between three state agencies and London-based Botanic Gardens Conservation International. The plan is to safeguard China's plant diversity by allowing 15 million hectares of farmland to revert to forest over the next three years, extending nature reserves, protecting biodiversity hotspots and setting up a plant monitoring system. Farmland will also be managed to support wild plant conservation.

"The Chinese government is working hard to develop the economy and improve our sustainable environmental practices," says Jia Jiansheng of the department of wildlife conservation in the State Forestry Administration, Beijing.

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Forest officer single-handedly reclaims 6,000 acres in 3 years

(Picture might be copyrighted)


In June 2008, when he took over as Nenmara Divisional Forest Officer in Kerala, P. Dhanesh Kumar was widely seen as a hunted man.
His daring interventions as Mananthavady range officer had got him into trouble with politicians and the ganja mafia.
Quotation gangs were unleashed against him. He was given police protection and an attack on the Mananthavady range office left a senior superintendent seriously injured.
Dhanesh was often advised by his seniors and well-wishers to quit Wayanad, if not for his sake then for his staff’s.
His transfer to Nenmara with a promotion as DFO, was seen as a way of keeping him safe as he had escaped death by a whisker a number of times in Mananthavady, Chalakkuzhy, Marayur and Attappady.
His right leg, injured in an encounter with cinnamon bark poachers, had been operated on. Then he lost the little toe of the same limb in another attack and it had to be attached surgically.
But if anyone expected him to lie low in the face of the threats and injuries, he soon proved them wrong.
Within a month of taking over as Nenmara DFO, the officer launched a one-man operation that environmentalists now refer to as ‘Operation Clean Nelliampathy’.
Between June 2008 and July 2011 he dug up documents, fought multiple court battles and suffered deep physical and emotional wounds to reclaim over 6,000 acres of illegally occupied forest land in Nelliyampathy, exposing lease violations of 32 estates spread over 4,000 acres in the process.
“Dhanesh did a great job. He took care of all legal loopholes and the evictions carried out on the basis of his report can never be questioned,” says Mr Harish Vasudevan, a lawyer who worked closely with the dogged officer.
‘Operation Clean Nelliyampathy’ began with attempts to reclaim the 462 acre Oruvambady estate, whose owners had allegedly secured a favourable verdict from the high court using fabricated documents.
“I knew that the land was notified as ecologically fragile and belonged to the forest department. A preliminary inspection revealed that a gang of land grabbers with expertise in forging documents was operating out of Nenmara,” Dhanesh recalls.
His battle was fought on two fronts; one in the musty backrooms of sub-registrar offices and the other in the court-room.
Dhaneesh was looking for original lease deeds and this meant digging up records dating back to the 19th century as most leases were granted in the latter half of the 1800s by the Kochi maharaja.
But, the job also required scouring archives to find British survey numbers.
A detailed investigation later, the irregularities detected included: violation of lease conditions and the Forest Conservation Act, encroachment of surrounding forests, use of forged documents and lessees holding on to land even after having lost cases in courts.
“During his stint in Nenmara, Dhanesh prepared at least six counters a day to present in court, each one running into 20-30 pages,” recalls Mr Vasudevan. Dhaneesh didn’t hesitate to spend from his own pocket either.
“Each forest division gets not more than Rs 10,000 a year for making photostats. But Dhanesh spent over 1.5 lakh annually on this. He is not the kind who would recover the money by fudging accounts,” the advocate adds.
But his mission to save the forests has cost him in other ways too. Because of the constant threats to his life, he has kept his wife and child at a distance.
“My son is now three years old. I hardly saw him for nearly two-and-a-half years while the Nelliampathy operation was on,” recalls the officer, who finally sought a transfer in 2011, after his dogged fight of three years to restore the state’s forests.

Article here

A Man Made a Forest and Lives Inside It

Read about Abdul Kareem in the following links who created a forest in a barren land.

Picture may be copyrighted. Courtesy Outlook India.
He lives in the thick of a forest, created by him
Article in Outlook
From Good News India
From Shekhar Kapoor

110 of the 200 left Syzygium travancoricum trees are here

The sacred grove of the Siva Vishnu temple at Kalassamala, near Kunnamkulam, in Thrissur will be designated the first Biodiversity Heritage Site of Kerala by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board.

The Board is finalising the steps for making the declaration and is organising a meeting of the stakeholders.

The nearly 3.5-acre grove has 110 Syzygium travancoricum (Kulavetti or Vathamkolli in local parlance) trees, a critically endangered species on the IUCN Red List. The trees, which grow in freshwater swamps, are endemic to India. The Red List says fewer than 200 of the species are left. The sacred grove of Aickad is reported to have four of them, while Guddrikal has 15 to 20. A major threat “faced by the trees is that the swampy wetland habitat has been widely drained and converted into paddy fields,” the IUCN says.

The board had earlier identified the sacred groves at Iringole, near Perumbavoor, the Paliyeri Mookambika temple in Kannur, the Conolly Teak Plantation in Nilambur, and Pathiramanal to be designated biodiversity heritage sites of the State.

The Biological Diversity Act, 2002, defines such sites as ecologically unique terrestrial, freshwater or marine areas, having rich biodiversity, with one or more of the components such as species richness, high endemism, presence of rare, endangered, and threatened species, keystone species, species of evolutionary significance, and sacred groves with wild relatives of domesticated biodiversity.

The State biodiversity Boards, in consultation with the local bodies and other stakeholders, shall designate such areas heritage sites and the State governments should issue the notification, says the Act.

The Kerala Board is planning to convene a meeting of the stakeholders shortly for completing the formalities regarding the declaration, said R.V. Varma, Chairman of the Board.

The temple authorities, including its trustees, will become the protectors of the unique ecosystem. The National Biodiversity Authority and the State Board will financially support the temple for protecting the ecosystem. The local panchayat can earmark funds in its plan for protecting the site. The only restriction will be a ban on cutting trees, Mr. Varma said. The temple authorities will play a crucial role in the management of the system when the local-level management committee is formed.

The views of the trustees will be considered while formulating the management plan and its implementation, he said.

M.K. Harinarayanan, Assistant Professor of Botany at Sree Krishna College, Guruvayur, who lives in the area, said the deep swamps in the area could not be crossed by feet. Most of the swamps had dried up or had been reclaimed over the years.

He said the extant swamp extended up to nearly one acre. A section of the local population depended on the critically endangered trees for firewood. Many trees were lost in the process, but some were regenerating.

Considering the ecological significance of the area and the presence of dolmens at sites near the temple, a comprehensive conservation plan needs to be evolved, Prof. Harinarayanan, a former assistant programme coordinator of the Kerala Board, said.

Painting by Ivan Shishkin

Article here

Indian Government Gives Forest Land to Industries! Protest this move!

More forest land for projects after PM intervention

The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has agreed to divert additional 25% forest land that was earlier categorised as no-go area for setting up projects concerning infrastructure ministries such as power, road and coal. This is after the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) stepped in and pushed the ministry to fast-track project clearances.

Government sources said the move has come as a huge relief for the industry, as around 30-50 projects will now be taken up for consideration. It will also provide access to some of India's best sites for natural resources deep inside forests in tribal areas. "We are working on the finer print," an official said.

Moreover, the ministry has said environment clearance for projects will come in 60 days and forest clearance in 180 days after all the documents are submitted. The environment ministry has also listed priority projects for consideration of its Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), which is mandated to examine each project with respect to its environmental impact.

The agreement was reached at the two meetings called by the Prime Minister's principal secretary Pulak Chatterjee on business projects over the last fortnight after a group of chief executive officers led by industrialist Ratan Tata met the PM and other central ministers.

The coal and power ministries had complained to the PMO that the environment ministry takes up to six years to clear projects, thereby leading to a shortage in coal supply and power generation. "Priority projects will be cleared within the deadline," an official said.

While the officials of coal and power ministries are happy with the development, non-government organisations (NGOs) are worried about its adverse impact on forests and the environment.

Over 100 NGOs from across the country will meet in Delhi this weekend to discuss ways to protect India's dwindling forest cover and degrading natural resources. The Centre for Science and Environment has analysed recent environmental clearances and found that the country saw more clearances than those planned for during the 11th and 12th five-year plans.

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'Saalumarada' Thimmakka - A Peerless Green Champion!

Thimmakka, aged 101*, is a native of Hulikal village in the Magadi taluk of Bangalore Rural district in Karnataka.

She has an unsurpassed credit to her name—some 1000 plus sturdy banyan trees, which she has lovingly tended against all odds, from mere saplings to a sweeping canopy.

Saalumarada Thimmakka (“saalumarada”—“row of trees” in Kannada—is an honorific people have added to her name) and her landless labourer husband Chikkannah could not have children. So one day more than 60 years ago, they started planting trees.

The road to the next village Kudur (Kudoor) was a dry hot one. Ficus (banyan) trees were aplenty near Thimmakka's village. Thimmakka and her husband started grafting saplings from these trees. Ten saplings were grafted in the first year and they were planted along a distance of 20 kilometres near the neighbouring village of Kudur. Fifteen saplings were planted in the second year and 20 in the third year and so on. She used her own meager resources for planting these trees. The couple used to carry pots of water for a distance of four kilometres to water the saplings. They were also protected from grazing cattle by fencing them with thorny shrubs.

The saplings were planted mostly during monsoon season so that sufficient rain water would be available for them to grow. By the onset of the next monsoons, the saplings had invariably taken root.

They covered the whole stretch. The saplings grew to become trees, the trees grew tall, and the couple rejoiced in their children. Chikkanna died in 1990, but Thimmakka continued her life’s work.

Thanks to her unusual labour of love, this illiterate woman is the idol of every environmentalist.

A "living monument of our times" is how the citation of National Citizen's Award describes Thimmakka.

Titles like Vanamitra, Nisargaratna, Vrikshasri and Vrikshapremi, an award by Karnataka government, among many others have been conferred on her.
For one who barely set out of her village once a year, Thimmakka now finds her way to Delhi and Mumbai for tree planting ceremonies. Thimmakka is busy spreading the message of afforestation. She unassumingly suggests that everybody should leave behind some asset for humanity.
She barely ekes out a living from various awards and a monthly pension. But nothing stops her from dreaming big. Now, she has made her will to open up a hospital in her village, so that no poor is affected.

Saalumarada Thimmakka, Hulikal-561101, Kudur, Hubli, Magadi Taluk, Bangalore-Rural dist.

Archive Video: http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/thimmakka-the-tree-lady/79918

*age discrepancy

‎"We need to be the change we wish to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi

Story from here
Other links
From mangalorean
From Webarchive
From Good News India

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.

Full article here

Painting by Ivan Shishkin

Earth could be 'unrecognizable' by 2050

Earth could be 'unrecognizable' by 2050, experts say

The earth could become "unrecognizable" by 2050, if a growing affluent global population keeps consuming more resources, researchers warned at a major US science conference.

"By 2050 we will not have a planet left that is recognizable" if the global population continues to increase, said Jason Clay of the World Wildlife Fund Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The United Nations has predicted the global population will reach seven billion this year, and climb to nine billion by 2050, "with almost all of the growth occurring in poor countries, particularly Africa and South Asia," said John Bongaarts of the non-profit Population Council.

Meanwhile, as income is expected to rise over the next 40 years -- tripling globally and quintupling in developing nations, people tend to consume more meat, eggs or dairy products, which would cost more grains to produce, adding more strain to global food supplies.

"We want to minimize population growth, and the only viable way to do that is through more effective family planning," said John Casterline, director of the Initiative in Population Research at Ohio State University.

It takes around seven pounds (3.4 kilograms) of grain to produce a pound of meat, and around three to four pounds of grain to produce a pound of cheese or eggs, AFP reported.

"More people, more money, more consumption, but the same planet," Jason Clay told AFP, urging scientists and governments to start making changes now to how food is produced.

Population experts called for more funding for family planning programs to help control the growth in the number of humans, especially in developing nations.

News here

Painting by Ivan Shishkin

Brazil judge blocks Amazon Belo Monte dam

A Brazilian judge has blocked plans to build a huge hydro-electric dam in the Amazon rainforest because of environmental concerns.

Federal judge Ronaldo Desterro said environmental requirements to build the Belo Monte dam had not been met.

He also barred the national development bank, BNDES, from funding the project.

The dam is a cornerstone of President Dilma Rousseff's plans to upgrade Brazil's energy infrastructure.

But it has faced protests and challenges from environmentalists and local indigenous groups who say it will harm the world's largest tropical rainforest and displace tens of thousands of people.

Judge Desterro said the Brazilian environmental agency, Ibama, had approved the project without ensuring that 29 environmental conditions had been met.

In particular, he said concerns that the dam would disrupt the flow of the Xingu river - one of the Amazon's main tributaries - had not been met.

His ruling is the latest stage in a long legal battle over Belo Monte. Previous injunctions blocking construction have been overturned.

The government says the Belo Monte dam is crucial for development and will create jobs, as well as provide electricity to 23 million homes.

The 11,000-megawatt dam would be the biggest in the world after the Three Gorges in China and Itaipu, which is jointly run by Brazil and Paraguay.

It has long been a source of controversy, with bidding halted three times before the state-owned Companhia Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco was awarded the contract last year.

Celebrities such as the singer Sting and film director James Cameron have joined environmentalists in their campaign against the project.

They say the 6km (3.7 miles) dam will threaten the survival of a number of indigenous groups and could make some 50,000 people homeless, as 500 sq km (190 sq miles) of land would be flooded.

Article here

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.

Obama administration reverses Bush wilderness policy

DENVER (Reuters) - The Obama administration has restored U.S. land managers' powers to curb development on vast tracts of America's back country, undoing what conservation groups called a "no more wilderness" policy put in place under President George W. Bush.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced on Thursday that the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will again have the authority to set aside large areas of federally owned territory in the West that it deems deserving of wilderness protection.

It would still be up to Congress to decide whether to grant those areas formal wilderness status, putting them permanently off-limits to energy development and other commercial uses.

An official wilderness designation by law prohibits the building of roads or other structures, or any human activities that would alter the natural landscape, such as farming, logging, mining, or oil and gas drilling.

In years past, lands classified by BLM as eligible for such protection were to be protected as de facto wilderness until or unless Congress acted.

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Painting by Ivan Shishkin
View in the Vicinity of St. Petersburg. 1856

Churches Across Faith Traditions Plant 12,000 Trees

In keeping with the biblical mandate to care for God's creation, thousands of people from ten faith traditions have come together to plant 12,000 trees in northern Michigan.

About 100 congregations from Presbyterian, Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, United Methodist Church, Jewish, and Quaker traditions, among others, and nonprofit organizations are participating in a tree project led by the interfaith coalition Upper Peninsula Earth Keepers.

Volunteers planted the first of 12,000 12- to 16-inch White Spruce and Red Pine trees during the blessing of the trees ceremony on Wednesday in observance of Earth Day.

"This is about more than putting trees in the ground – it’s an expression by the faith communities of love and care for God’s creation," said Kyra Fillmore, Catholic Earth Keeper team member and the project’s communications coordinator for faith communities, according to the Presbyterian News Service.

Thousands of volunteers will be picking up tree seedlings on May 2 and planting the equivalent of a forest across 400 miles the following day.

"Our interfaith tree-planting effort is more than another conservation project," said the Rev. Jon Magnuson, co-founder of the Earth Keeper initiative and executive director of the Cedar Tree Institute, as reported by the Presbyterian News Service. "With prayers, hymns and the blessing of 12,000 seedlings, it's a gentle proclamation of a new consciousness and commitment among our faith communities to care for God's creation."

Being stewards of God's creation has taken on greater significance as more Christians view global warming as a serious problem.

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The Painting is by Henry Hillier Parker