http://www.rainforestportal.org/ "Rainforest Portal" is an Internet Search Tool that provides access to reviewed rainforest conservation news and information Rainforest Portal a project of Ecological Internet, Inc. info@ecologicalinternet.org (Dr. Glen Barry) http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/images/eilogo85.gif http://www.rainforestportal.org/ Associated Press: Rich nations must contribute more to a climate change fund and help fight deforestation, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in opening a conference Thursday on saving the world's forests -- a key defense against global warming. Ministers from some 40 nations were attending the one-day Paris meeting, including Indonesia and other heavily wooded countries in the Amazon and Congo river basins. Efforts to halt deforestation, one of the culprits in climate change, have been ... http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jNcYn41DoIUhLYsvgKUqhKotngRQD9ECEIP86 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154732 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST deforestation funds fight | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Associated Press: Elaine Ganley) Guardian: It is the ultimate greenwash nightmare. A tough international deal to curb emissions of greenhouse gases is passed in Mexico later this year. Companies then meet their targets not by cutting their own pollution but by buying into hundreds of forest "conservation" projects round the world. But those projects then fail to deliver real benefits for forests or staunch the flow of carbon into the atmosphere. Some big-time green groups prosper but the planet burns. Exhibit A in this ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/11/greenwash-noel-kempff-forests http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154719 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate rainforest REDD failure | South/Central America/Caribbean | Bolivia info@ecologicalinternet.org (Guardian: Fred Pearce) Associated Press: French President Nicolas Sarkozy will open a daylong conference Thursday of some 40 nations to start turning plans into action to save the world's forests and help rein in the noxious gases blamed for climate change. Ministers from countries of the Amazon and Congo river basins and Indonesia -- whose massive forests, most at risk, are at the heart of efforts to end deforestation -- were among those attending the one-day conference. A follow-up meeting is scheduled for May in Oslo, ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100310/ap_on_re_eu/eu_climate_forests http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154650 10 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST deforestation international policy | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Associated Press: none given) Mongabay: Mature male orangutans produce what scientist's call 'long calls', which can be heard for one kilometer in all directions even in dense forests. New research in Ethology has uncovered that these calls are employed for a number of reasons and provide information about who is calling and why. "Orangutans have a rich repertoire of calls, however only sexually mature, flanged males emit long-distance calls with a series of long booming pulses and grumbles," explains co-author Dr Brigitte ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0310-hance_orangutans.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154605 10 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST orangutan communication | East/South-East Asia | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Jeremy Hance) Inter Press Service: Science fiction blockbuster Avatar was the big loser in the Oscar awards ceremony - not only a blow for director James Cameron but also seen as a symbolic reverse in the struggle to recover Amazon rainforest areas in Ecuador from the effects of oil pollution. Several environmental organisations, like the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and the Amazon Defence Coalition, had asked Cameron to "let his legions of fans know that while Pandora is fictional, what is happening to (indigenous) ... http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50610 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154551 10 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST indigenous Avatar | South/Central America/Caribbean | Ecuador info@ecologicalinternet.org (Inter Press Service: Gonzalo Ortiz) Inter Press Service: Although the Peruvian government reported that it had suspended the exploration activities of the Afrodita mining company in the country's northern Amazon jungle region to avoid further protests by local indigenous people, officials took no actual steps to bring the firm's work to a halt. So what really happened? After a meeting of the Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Javier Velásquez and Minister of Energy and Mines Pedro Sánchez announced on Feb. 17 that the Peruvian ... http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50608 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154550 09 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST rainforest mining suspend | South/Central America/Caribbean | Peru info@ecologicalinternet.org (Inter Press Service: Milagros Salazar) Agence France-Presse: Wealthy and developing nations should be able to seal an agreement this year on deforestation, unlocking a key part of the next treaty on global warming, Indonesian negotiators said Monday. At December's Copenhagen climate summit, six nations pledged a total of 3.5 billion dollars to help developing countries fight the loss of forests, seen as a leading cause of global warming along with industrial pollution. Basah Hernowo, a senior official in Indonesia's forestry ministry, ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100309/wl_asia_afp/unclimatewarmingforestsindonesiaus_20100309002156 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154463 09 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate forest deal | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: none given) Reuters: Four environmental groups have sued the European Union's executive for withholding documents they say will add to a growing dossier of evidence that biofuels harm the environment and push up food prices. The lawsuit, lodged with the EU's General Court, the bloc's second highest court, alleges several violations of European laws on transparency and democracy. But the European Commission countered that the action was premature as it had not formally refused access and had already ... http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62801Q20100309 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154456 09 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST biofuel Europe court challenge | Europe | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: Pete Harrison) Business Green: European biofuel developers are facing fresh uncertainty about the future of the industry, after four environmental groups yesterday launched legal action against the European Union, accusing it of withholding evidence that allegedly shows that current biofuel policies harm the environment and push up food prices. The lawsuit, filed on Monday by ClientEarth, Transport & Environment, the European Environmental Bureau and BirdLife International, will result in further investment ... http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2259153/legal-action-targets-eu-biofuel http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154224 09 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST biofuel Europe policy legal action | Europe | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Business Green: Rachel Fielding) Inter Press Service: Fourteen-year-old Isaac Wadyegere of Bundesi village in Bududa district woke up to a rainy and chilly Monday morning and went to school as usual. But Mar. 1 was not a usual day in eastern Uganda. When he heard the sound of rocks and soil tumbling down Mountain Elgon on a path to destroy part of his school, Wadyegere, along with other pupils, fled home. But instead of finding the refuge he hoped for, disaster awaited Wadyegere. His house and family were ... http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50612 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154552 09 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST deforestation landslides | Africa | Uganda info@ecologicalinternet.org (Inter Press Service: Joshua Kyalimpa) Reuters: Farm experts plan to track down wild relatives of crops such as rice or wheat with traits that make them able to resist global warming in a project costing perhaps $50 million, a leading expert said on Tuesday. "The wild relatives of cultivated crops ... are largely uncollected or conserved in gene banks," said Cary Fowler, head of the Rome-based Global Crop Diversity Trust which co-manages a "doomsday" seed vault on an Arctic island north of Norway. "We're at the early stages" ... http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6272DL.htm http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154469 09 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST food crops wild relatives | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: Alister Doyle) Independent (UK): The star of the BBC's Gardeners' World has been drafted in by the Government as they try to persuade the public to stop using peat compost. Ministers hope that Diarmuid Gavin will help them convince gardeners to stop using peat, which is present in almost half of all compost sold by garden centres. Yesterday the Environment Secretary Hilary Benn announced a new target to phase out the use of peat compost in amateur gardens by 2020 but shied away from imposing a ban, provoking ... http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/gardeners-urged-to-stop-using-peatbased-compost-1918355.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154268 09 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST garden peat | Europe | United Kingdom info@ecologicalinternet.org (Independent (UK): Martin Hickman) Reuters: Salt is precious in poverty-stricken coastal West Africa, but conservation experts say efforts to extract it are laying waste to mangrove swamps, causing erosion and ravaging fish stocks. In Sierra Leone, one of Africa's poorest nations still recovering from a 1991-2002 civil war, lawmakers are preparing a bill to join a seven-nation charter to protect the region's mangrove forests. Conservation group Wetlands International says the initiative is essential for West Africa to ... http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6272K720100308?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154409 08 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST mangrove protection West Africa | Africa | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: Felicity Thompson) Telegraph: Despite hope that nature was fighting back, it appeared that the global wipeout of species was accelerating, they said. Speaking ahead of two next week on the state of British and European wildlife, Simon Stuart, from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, admitted that the rate of extinction had not slowed. Previously research has shown that world was currently in the midst of a "sixth great extinction" of species, which was being driven by natural habitat ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7397420/Worlds-nature-becoming-extinct-at-fastest-rate-on-record-conservationists-warn.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154400 08 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST extinction evolution | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Telegraph: Andrew Hough) Yale Environment 360: With a single, concerted initiative, says Lakshman Guruswami, the world could save millions of people in poor nations from respiratory ailments and early death, while dealing a big blow to global warming -- and all at a surprisingly small cost. "If we could supply cheap, clean-burning cook stoves to the large portion of the world that burns biomass," says Guruswami, a Sri Lankan-born professor of international law at the University of Colorado, "we could address a significant ... http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2250&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154484 08 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST black carbon stoves | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Yale Environment 360: Jon R. Luoma) Associated Press: An environmental group is accusing Congolese soldiers of killing more rare wild animals in a national park in Congo's volatile east. Bantu Lukambo of Innovation for Development and Environmental Protection said Monday soldiers killed the animals in Virunga National Park in February while stationed in the area to fight rebels. Their toll includes seven hippos, two elephants, two chimpanzees and four baboons. The report also accused soldiers of illegal fishing and logging. Army ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100308/ap_on_re_af/af_congo_poaching http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154362 08 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST wildlife soldiers kill | Africa | Democratic Republic of Congo info@ecologicalinternet.org (Associated Press: none given) Guardian: Three species thought to be extinct have been found again, to the delight of conservationists. In the UK, the rare ghost orchid, declared extinct in this country just last year, has been found in England, and a caddisfly – a small flying insect – last seen more than a century ago has been discovered again in Scotland. On the global stage the yellow-spotted bell frog, presumed "possibly extinct" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, has been seen on a creek-bed in ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/08/ghost-orchid-extinction http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154350 08 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST orchid extinction rediscovered | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Guardian: Juliette Jowit) New Nation: Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim, an eminent scientist of Bangladesh and nature lover notes that about 40 per cent of about 44 thousand species of the world are at stake due to climatic and other disasters. Human-induced climate change tends to reduce the genetic diversity of individual species. Again, successful adaptation to climate change may depend to a greater extent on the ability of species to disperse to new areas but this ability is also increasingly impeded by human-induced landscape change. ... http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/03/08/news0556.htm http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154182 08 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate change biodiversity global | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (New Nation: Muhammad Selim Hossain) Guardian: For the first time since the dinosaurs disappeared, humans are driving animals and plants to extinction faster than new species can evolve, one of the world's experts on biodiversity has warned. Conservation experts have already signalled that the world is in the grip of the "sixth great extinction" of species, driven by the destruction of natural habitats, hunting, the spread of alien predators and disease, and climate change. However until recently it has been hoped that the ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/07/extinction-species-evolve http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154188 07 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST extinction rates faster | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Guardian: Juliette Jowit) Guardian: We turned off the main road to Awassa, talked our way past security guards and drove a mile across empty land before we found what will soon be Ethiopia's largest greenhouse. Nestling below an escarpment of the Rift Valley, the development is far from finished, but the plastic and steel structure already stretches over 20 hectares – the size of 20 football pitches. The farm manager shows us millions of tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables being grown in 500m rows in computer ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/07/food-water-africa-land-grab http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154166 07 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST Africa land grab | Africa | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Guardian: John Vidal) New York Times: The numbers are not encouraging. Experts believe the global wild tiger population has fallen to below 3,000 -- less than 3 percent of what it was just 100 years ago. Today, their range has been reduced to small patches, isolating many of the animals in genetically impoverished groups of dozens of cats or fewer. In India, some famous tiger reserves have no tigers left at all. The new Year of the Tiger, which began last month, will be a year of talking about the tiger, and ... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/weekinreview/07marsh.html?partner=rss&emc=rss http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154156 07 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST tiger conservation | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (New York Times: Bill Marsh) Mongabay: The first in an interview series with participants in the 5th Frugivore and Seed Dispersal International Symposium. There are few areas of research in tropical biology more exciting and more important than seed dispersal. Seed dispersal--the process by which seeds are spread from parent trees to new sprouting ground--underpins the ecology of forests worldwide. In temperate forests, seeds are often spread by wind and water, though sometimes by animals such as squirrels and birds. But ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0307-hance_forget.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154184 07 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST forest seed dispersers | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Jeremy Hance) Mongabay: Brazil and the United States have signed an agreement to worth together to reduce deforestation as part of an effort to slow climate change. The memorandum of understanding signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Brasilia last Wednesday comes as talks on REDD, a proposed climate change mitigation mechanism that would pay tropical countries for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, move forward despite the lack of a formal climate treaty. Under the MOU, ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0307-brazil_us_mou.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154160 07 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST deforestation international coordination | South/Central America/Caribbean | Brazil info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: none given) The Nation: At first glance, these questions will seem bizarre. Groups like Conservation International are among the most trusted "brands" in America, pledged to protect and defend nature. Yet as we confront the biggest ecological crisis in human history, many of the green organizations meant to be leading the fight are busy shoveling up hard cash from the world's worst polluters--and burying science-based environmentalism in return. Sometimes the corruption is subtle; sometimes it is blatant. In the ... http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100322/hari http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154117 06 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST environment group sell-out | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (The Nation: Johann Hari) Times (UK): Two of the world's most iconic endangered species, the bluefin tuna and African elephant, could be protected under a backroom deal being negotiated between Europe and Africa. New rules restricting international trade in endangered species will be debated at a meeting of 175 countries beginning next week in Doha, Qatar. Europe wants to protect dwindling stocks of bluefin tuna and most African states want to prevent the sale of stockpiles of ivory to Japan and China. The ... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7051923.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154056 06 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST species protection | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Times (UK): Ben Webster) Arab News: The world, it is said, belongs to those with the most energy. And the search for alternative energy, for a number of reasons - from political to environmental - continues. The price spike in 2008, preceding the recession the world is now desperately endeavoring to climb out - gave a fillip to the pursuit. In his State of the Union address in January 2007, former US President Bush emphasized developing biofuels, so as to reduce the American dependence on oil. And then on Jan. 24, while ... http://arabnews.com/economy/article26771.ece http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154124 06 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST biofuel concerns | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Arab News: Danny Fortson) Inter Press Service: Amidst allegations that Canadian mining companies operating in Latin America have been complicit in the murders and harassment of activists, several positive developments in Canada are seen as a source of hope that firms may begin to be held accountable on human rights and environmental questions. The Canadian parliament is currently considering Bill C-300, "An Act Respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas Corporations in Developing Countries", aimed ... http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50561 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154113 05 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST Canada mining firm oversea oversight | South/Central America/Caribbean | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Inter Press Service: Emilio Godoy) Reuters: A move by Unilever to stop buying palm oil from Indonesia's top supplier Sinar Mas and to blacklist another supplier PT Duta Palma was "unfair," Indonesian Agriculture Minister Suswono said on Friday. Green campaigners and consumers have turned up the heat on European firms such as Unilever, saying these companies' palm oil suppliers are responsible for deforestation and peatland clearence that can speed up climate change. "If there is a dispute we should ask an independent to ... http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6243CO20100305 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154105 05 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST rainforest oil palm Unilever | East/South-East Asia | Indonesia info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: Aloysius Bhui) Reuters: The European Union's promotion of plant-based biofuels will raise EU farm incomes and agricultural commodity prices, but could create food shortages for the world's poorest consumers, draft EU reports show. The EU has a legal target to get a tenth of its road transport fuels from renewable sources such as biofuels by 2020. For EU farmers hit by falling incomes, Europe's 5 billion euros-per-year ($6.84 billion) biofuels market is coveted as a source of new revenues. Impact ... http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62420Y20100305 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154100 05 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST biofuel hunger Europe | Europe | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: Charlie Dunmore) Inter Press Service: Caribbean countries are considering options like desalination plants and cloud seeding to confront a drought that threatens the regional economy and which experts warned about years ago. In St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago, the authorities are warning of prosecution, including jail time, if consumers violate measures introduced to curb the use of water other than for drinking, cooking and bathing. In a paper presented in a 2007 conference in Barbados, entitled "Coping with ... http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50544 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153883 05 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST water Caribbean | South/Central America/Caribbean | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Inter Press Service: Peter Richards) National Geographic: Like the vegetarian who can't resist the occasional burger, the otherwise herbivorous gorilla might succumb to cravings for its evolutionary cousins, a new study hints. While some zoo specimens are known to eat meat, wild gorillas eat only plants and fruit, along with the odd insect--as far as scientists know (see video of wild gorillas feasting on figs). But a recent study found DNA from monkeys and small forest antelopes called duikers in the feces of wild African mountain ... http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100305-first-proof-gorillas-eat-monkeys-mammals-feces-dna/ http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154114 05 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST primate cannibalism | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (National Geographic: Ker Than) Living on Earth: Bicycles burn calories, not carbon, so they're considered among the cleanest forms of transportation. But most bikes are made of aluminum and steel which leave a large carbon footprint since the materials are mined and processed. Now a group of young men have come up with a clean, renewable replacement: bikes made of bamboo. Living on Earth's Jessica Ilyse Smith went to the Bamboo Bike Studio in Brooklyn, New York and has our story. YOUNG: It's Living on Earth, I'm Jeff Young. ... http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00010&segmentID=5 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154104 05 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST bicycle bamboo | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Living on Earth: none given) Discovery News: Slowly but surely, a picture of climate change at the regional scale -- where it really matters -- is beginning to take shape. Apart from the obvious warming at the high polar latitudes, which already is affecting Arctic sea ice, the rate of Greenland ice cap melting, and Antarctic ice shelves, new details are beginning to emerge about the impact of global warming in the Tropics -- the boiler-room of Earth's climate and weather. This is the home of El Niño, and the generator of ... http://news.discovery.com/earth/regional-rainfall-in-a-warming-world.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154087 05 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate rain regional | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Discovery News: John D. Cox) Times (UK): A leading scientific institute allowed its evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into climate science to be influenced anonymously by an energy industry consultant who argues that global warming is a religion. It emerged last night that the Institute of Physics' (IOP) written submission to the Select Committee on Science and Technology had been influenced by Peter Gill, an IOP official who is head of a company in Surrey called Crestport Services. Crestport provides "consultancy and ... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7050737.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154055 05 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate religion | Europe | United Kingdom info@ecologicalinternet.org (Times (UK): Ben Webster) Reuters: Biodiesel and other "green" fuels that Europeans put in their cars can have unintended consequences for tropical forests and wetlands, European Union reports show -- the first evidence of EU misgivings. The EU aims for its 500 million citizens to get about a tenth of their road fuels from renewable sources such as biofuels by 2020, but some EU officials want the target reduced in a review in four years time. Modelling exercises are starting to show unwanted impacts spreading ... http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6211EK.htm http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154016 04 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST biofuel environmental damage | Europe | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: Pete Harrison) Washington Post: The main culprit causing climate change isn't the Hummer; it's the hamburger. That's the message Anna Lappé, the author of "Diet for a Hot Planet," presented last week to a crowd of more than 100 regional gardeners and foodies at the annual Green Matters Symposium at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, which zeroes in on pressing environmental issues. The damaging impact of commercial food production has largely slipped under the radar of global environmental policy, although it is ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/03/AR2010030302065.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153839 04 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate food production | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Washington Post: Amber Parcher) Asia Times: Palm oil plantations play a major role in the growing problems of deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions in Indonesia and tropical woodlands around the world. Last week's gathering of the International Conference on Oil Palm and Environment (ICOPE) is one move toward making the industry part of the solution. Whether the palm oil industry can, in fact, be part of the solution to deforestation is a proposition that divides palm oil producers, manufacturers, retailers, and, ... http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LC04Ae01.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153748 04 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST palm oil sustainability | East/South-East Asia | Indonesia info@ecologicalinternet.org (Asia Times: Muhammad Cohen) Jakarta Globe: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has signed a decree to allow mining, power plants and other projects deemed strategically important to take place in protected forests. The decree, which took effect on Feb. 1, is certain to anger environmental groups given that the country already has one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world. "The use of forest areas for development activities can be done for unavoidable strategic purposes," said the decree, which said key ... http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/indonesias-protected-forests-now-open-to-development/361392 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153656 03 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST protected rainforests development | East/South-East Asia | Indonesia info@ecologicalinternet.org (Jakarta Globe: none given) BBC: Deep in the forests of central Africa roams one of the world's largest, but most elusive land animals, the forest elephant. Few are ever seen, and no-one knows how many exist: in fact, it was only a few years ago that scientists identified them as a unique species. But researchers are now lifting the veil on the elephants' secretive lives, and they are doing so by listening to the rumbles in the jungle. This month, scientists have published an acoustic survey of elephant ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8546000/8546127.stm http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153645 03 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST forest wildlife elephant | Africa | info@ecologicalinternet.org (BBC: Matt Walker) Business Green: Measures designed to cut carbon emissions could inadvertently undermine efforts to improve air quality unless the government tightens integration between climate change and air pollution policies. That is the conclusion of a major new report from Defra released today, which estimates the UK economy would save £24bn by 2050 adopting measures that jointly help prevent carbon emissions and air pollution. The study, titled Air Pollution: Action in a Changing Climate, acknowledges ... http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2258856/government-report-warns-climate http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153682 03 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST air quality biomass | Europe | United Kingdom info@ecologicalinternet.org (Business Green: James Murray) Daily Mirror: Global warming has triggered the sixth mass extinction of life on earth and this time human life is being threatened along with that of animals and plants due to man-made causes, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Patali Champika Ranawaka said, addressing the Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industries on Monday. Delivering his presentation on global warming, the Minister explained that there had been five major extinctions in the history of life on earth, with the last one dating ... http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/index.php/business/127-local/5011.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153698 03 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST extinction sixth | South Asia | Sri Lanka info@ecologicalinternet.org (Daily Mirror: Cheranka Mendis) AAP: ASX-listed m2m Corporation Ltd has dropped a $10 million merger with Carbon Planet and gone into business with a man accused of running a carbon "cargo cult" in Papua New Guinea. Former disqualified Australian horse trainer and Philippine cock-fighting syndicate operator Kirk Roberts, and his company Nupan, is now working for technology investment group m2m to develop carbon trading projects in PNG. At a volatile meeting between PNG government and forest landowners on Monday ... http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/png-carbon-trader-joins-aust-tech-group-3389371 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153540 02 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST carbon trade rainforest | Pacific/Oceania | Papua New Guinea info@ecologicalinternet.org (AAP: none given) Reuters: Indonesia and Australia launched a A$30 million project on Tuesday to fight deforestation in Sumatra as part of efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and boost a planned forest-carbon trading scheme. The project, to target Sumatra's Jambi province that has suffered rapid deforestation, is the second joint venture between the neighbouring countries keen to learn how to save forests by giving local communities incentives to keep the trees standing. Indonesia, like Brazil, is on ... http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-46582520100302?sp=true http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153661 02 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST forest carbon Indonesia Australia | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: David Fogarty and Sunanda Creagh) Mongabay: Mass extinction, ocean acidification, deforestation, pollution, desertification, and climate change: the environmental issues facing the world are numerous and increasingly global in nature. To respond more effectively, the United Nations is considering forming a World Environmental Organization or WEO, similar to the World Trade Organization. The idea was first seriously considered at Copenhagen in December, but has taken a step forward at an annual meeting of the United Nation ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0302-hance_weo.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153619 02 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST global environment organization | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Jeremy Hance) Mongabay: Oil palm plantations support substantially less biodiversity than natural forests when it comes to ant species, reports new research published in Basic and Applied Ecology. Tom Fayle, a University of Cambridge biologist, and colleagues sampled ant populations in Danum Valley Conservation Area, a rainforest, and nearby oil palm plantations in Sabah, a state Malaysian Borneo. The researchers counted 16,000 worker ants from 309 species in the natural forest but only in 110 species at the ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0302-ants_palm_oil.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153581 02 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST rainforest biodiversity oil palm plantations | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Rhett Butler) Agence France-Presse: Indonesia and Australia announced on Tuesday a multi-million dollar initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Sumatra Forest Carbon Partnership worth 30 million Australian dollars (27 million dollars) will address immediate threats to forest on mineral soils in Jambi province. The announcement in a statement by Australian Climate Change Penny Wong and Indonesian Forestry Minister Zulkifli ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100302/wl_asia_afp/indonesiaaustraliaclimatewarmingenvironment http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153536 02 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST rainforest carbon project Australia | East/South-East Asia | Indonesia info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: none given) Telegraph: Published: 6:30AM GMT 02 Mar 2010 Fruit, salad and vegetables are the most wasted items in the weekly shopping basket with the banana in top place, closely followed by fresh milk, according to the latest research. People living in cities generally waste the most food but the worst culprits are city-dwelling single men, aged between 25 and 35, who waste food worth an average of £17.43 a month, the data found. The countrywide survey by business intelligence company, Retail ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/7344752/Banana-is-most-wasted-food.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153554 02 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST food waste | Europe | United Kingdom info@ecologicalinternet.org (Telegraph: none given) Agence France-Presse: It is blamed for everything from deforestation to threatening the extinction of the orangutan, but palm oil is a vital source of income for many developing countries, the crop's producers say. In Indonesia, the world's largest palm oil producer, where the plant provides work for three million people, the government is keen to promote the benefits of the crop. Gatot Irianto, research director at Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture, pleaded with producers, scientists and NGOs ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100302/wl_asia_afp/environmentindonesiaenergyforests http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153549 01 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST palm oil environmental curse | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: Jerome Rivet) MSN: Anacondas, giant otters and the world's largest bird of prey proved to be worth more than their weight in gold when dredging for the metal was banned in their forest home, conservationists have said. The ban on gold dredging in the unspoilt region of Guyana follows a campaign by Amerindian villagers, backed by scientists from the Zoological Society of London. PhD students Rob Pickles and Niall McCann travelled to the Rewa Head in the South American country to study giant otters ... http://news.uk.msn.com/environment/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=152366860 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153470 01 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST rainforest mining ban | South/Central America/Caribbean | Guyana info@ecologicalinternet.org (MSN: none given) Mongabay: Guyana has banned gold dredging in the Rewa Head region after an expedition turned up unspoiled wilderness and mind-boggling biodiversity. The researchers, in just six weeks, stumbled on the world's largest snake (anaconda), spider (the aptly named goliath bird-eating spider), armadillo (the giant armadillo), anteater (the giant anteater), and otter (the giant otter), leading them to dub the area 'the Land of the Giants'. "During our brief survey we had encounters with wildlife that ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0228-hance_giants.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=153436 01 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST rainforest gold mining ban | South/Central America/Caribbean | Guyana info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Jeremy Hance)