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/ Agence France-Presse: Indonesian palm oil giant Sinar Mas rejected claims of environmental vandalism Thursday after Nestle, the world's biggest food company, dropped it as a supplier following protests by Greenpeace. It was the second embarrassing blow to Sinar Mas in three months after Anglo-Dutch company Unilever severed ties with it in response to Greenpeace claims it is destroying rainforests. Greenpeace activists held protests Wednesday at Nestle?s headquarters and factories in Britain, Germany ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100318/sc_afp/indonesiaswitzerlandfoodcompanynestleenvironment http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155699 18 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST oil palm Nestle | East/South-East Asia | Indonesia info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo) Reuters: Nestle, the world's biggest food group, said it had stopped buying palm oil from Indonesia's Sinar Mas due to concerns about rainforest destruction, following a similar move by consumer goods firm Unilever. Nestle's announcement came after Greenpeace released a report on Wednesday which looked into how the company was sourcing palm oil. Switzerland's Nestle, which uses the edible oil in its food products such as KitKat bars, said it had replaced Sinar Mas with another supplier ... http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62G3PM20100317?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=155534 17 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST rainforest palm oil Nestle | East/South-East Asia | Indonesia info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: Catherine Hornby) Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Australian scientists say they have uncovered a "causal link" between the early emergence of a common butterfly and human-induced global warming. Dr Michael Kearney of the University of Melbourne and colleagues report their study on the butterfly Heteronympha merope in this week's issue of Royal Society journal Biology Letters. "It's now coming out about 10 days earlier than it was 60 years ago," says Kearney. "When you look at the air temperatures over that time, it's ... http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/03/17/2846005.htm http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155481 17 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST butterflies warming global | Pacific/Oceania | Australia info@ecologicalinternet.org (Australian Broadcasting Corporation: none given) Reuters: U.S. environmental groups are trying to expand a climate change bill being written in the Senate to help foreign countries pay for enforcing laws they already have in place for protecting forests as one way of reducing carbon pollution. Global warming legislation passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last year would set up financial incentives encouraging new steps in the United States and abroad for reducing greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming. But there ... http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62F27720100316 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155404 17 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate forestry law enforcement | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: Richard Cowan) Agence France-Presse: After running at loggerheads with the West over climate change, human rights and nuclear proliferation, China is now on a collision course with the international community on the value of its currency. Emboldened by its growing power and prosperity, China is striking a more defiant pose on the world stage and becoming less inclined to bow to the demands of the West, analysts say. "Clearly a faction within the Communist leadership believes... it's time for Beijing to impose its ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100318/wl_asia_afp/chinadiplomacy http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155504 17 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST tiger power | East/South-East Asia | China info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: Pascale Trouillaud) Jamaica Observer: A United Nations environmental expert is predicting that several beaches on the western end of Jamaica could be totally wiped out in the next five to 10 years if local authorities and citizens do not act now to protect the environment. Pascal Peduzzi, head of the Early Warning Unit, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/Division of Early Warning and Assessment/GRID-Europe, based his prediction on data coming out of a UNEP study on the role of the ecosystem in disaster risk ... http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Beach-erosion-danger_7485263 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155464 17 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST beach danger | South/Central America/Caribbean | Jamaica info@ecologicalinternet.org (Jamaica Observer: Kimmo Matthews) Mongabay: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued new regulations, which will allow underground mining in protected areas, according to the Jakarta Post. The new rules will also allow power plants, renewable energy, and transportation such as toll roads in protected forests. "We are now waiting for a presidential decree to bring the regulations into force. A number of firms have applied for mining permits in protected forest areas," a senior official at the Forestry Ministry, ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0316-hance_indonesia_mining.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155448 16 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST rainforest protected mining development | East/South-East Asia | Indonesia info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Jeremy Hance) ScienceDaily: For decades, farmers have been trying to find ways to get more energy out of the sun. In natural photosynthesis, plants take in solar energy and carbon dioxide and then convert it to oxygen and sugars. The oxygen is released to the air and the sugars are dispersed throughout the plant -- like that sweet corn we look for in the summer. Unfortunately, the allocation of light energy into products we use is not as efficient as we would like. Now engineering researchers at the University of ... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100316142527.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155387 16 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST solar technology sugars photosynthesize | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (ScienceDaily: none given) ScienceDaily: A new study involving scientists from 13 different organizations, universities and research institutions states that forest protection offers one of the most effective, practical, and immediate strategies to combat climate change. The study was published in PLoS Biology and makes specific recommendations for incorporating protected areas into overall strategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses from deforestation and degradation (nicknamed REDD). "Deforestation leads to about ... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100316083719.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155319 16 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate forest protected area | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (ScienceDaily: none given) Agence France-Presse: Demand in China is stoking a black market in neighbouring Myanmar in tiger-bone wine, leopard skins, bear bile and other products made from endangered species, a report released on Tuesday said. "China's border areas have long been considered a hotbed for illegal trade, with remote locations often making surveillance difficult in sparsely populated areas," Xu Hongfa, top China investigator for environmental group TRAFFIC, said in the report. Enforcement efforts within China ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100316/wl_asia_afp/speciescitesunchinamyanmartigerleopard http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155275 16 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST wildlife trade Myanmar | East/South-East Asia | China info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: none given) Mongabay: Everyone knows the tiger, the panda, the blue whale, but what about the other five to thirty million species estimated to inhabit our Earth? Many of these marvelous, stunning, and rare species have received little attention from the media, conservation groups, and the public. This series is an attempt to give these 'forgotten species' some well-deserved attention. Many people consider tropical islands as mini-paradises: sanctuaries cut-off from the rest of the world. Some species ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0316-hance_fs_pygmythree.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155380 16 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST rainforest wildlife pygmy three-toed sloth | South/Central America/Caribbean | Brazil info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Jeremy Hance) Monitor: The parliamentary Committee on Commissions and Statutory Authorities has given a go ahead to the National Forestry Authority to evict the over 100 encroachers in Lutoboka Forest Reserve in Kalangala District. The members led by their chairperson, Mr Reagan Okumu, who were on Friday in the district to inspect the status of the forest reserves, observed that encroachment on the forest reserve, which acts as a water catchment for Lake Victoria, has not only degraded the reserve but also ... http://allafrica.com/stories/201002160350.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155139 16 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST forest encroach eviction | Africa | Uganda info@ecologicalinternet.org (Monitor: Fred Muzaale) Philippine Daily Inquirer: Lack of food due to the drought has forced monkeys to leave their sanctuary in the village of New Israel here and seek refuge in nearby forested areas. "It all started when severe heat due to effect of El Niño phenomenon wilted some crops in the village including some banana plants that serve as food for these animals," Darwin Paraiso, a village councilman, said. Paraiso said the monkeys started to form groups and fight each other every time food, particularly bananas donated ... http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20100315-258858/Drought-drives-Cotabato-monkeys-deeper-into-forests http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155366 15 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate drought rainforest wildlife | East/South-East Asia | Philippines info@ecologicalinternet.org (Philippine Daily Inquirer: Williamor Magbanua) Mongabay: Pressure is building on the French shipping company Delmas to cancel large shipments of rosewood, which was illegally logged in Madagascar during the nation's recent coup. Today two environmental groups, Global Witness and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) called on Delmas to cancel the shipment, which is currently being loaded onto the Delmas operated ship named 'Kiara' in the Madagascar port of Vohemar. Global Witness and EIA have composed an open letter to Delmas' CEO, ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0315-hance_ngos_madagascar.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155236 15 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST illegal rosewood Delmas | Africa | Madagascar info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Jeremy Hance) Mongabay: A drought that happens once in a hundred years had little negative or positive effect on the Amazon rainforest according to a NASA funded study in Geophysical Research Letters. "We found no big differences in the greenness level of these forests between drought and non-drought years, which suggests that these forests may be more tolerant of droughts than we previously thought," said Arindam Samanta, the study's lead author from Boston University. Employing NASA MODIS satellite ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0315-hance_amazon_drought.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155231 15 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST Amazon drought rainforest climate tolerance | South/Central America/Caribbean | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Jeremy Hance) BBC: Governments need to crack down on illegal tiger trading if the big cats are to be saved, the UN has warned. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Doha, Qatar heard that tiger numbers are continuing to fall. Organised crime rings are playing an increasing part in illegal trading of tiger parts, CITES says, as they are with bears, rhinos and elephants. Interpol is working with CITES to track and curb the international ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8568035.stm http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155214 15 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST tiger decline failure | East/South-East Asia | Indonesia info@ecologicalinternet.org (BBC: none given) Inter Press Service: Seemingly unstoppable development has made a mockery of the protected status of this southern Indian region, which houses vast biodiversity and some of the finest examples of moist deciduous and tropical forests. In the last decade alone, the urban sprawl has reached these mountains, which have seen forests give way to more and more human settlements, as well as to a wide range of commercial activities. But a newly resurrected people's movement may yet reverse that trend. Just ... http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50662 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155090 15 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST forest protection body | South Asia | India info@ecologicalinternet.org (Inter Press Service: Keya Acharya) Honolulu Advertiser: Hawai'i's native birds are among the most likely of any U.S. region to be harmed by ongoing climate change, a new report on the "State of the Birds" shows. A stunning 93 percent of native Hawaiian birds have medium or high vulnerability to climate change, according to the sweeping 2010 report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with government and private conservation groups. It's the second time in as many years that the coalition of bird conservation agencies ... http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100315/NEWS11/3150364/LOCALNEWSFRONT/New+climate+report+details+extreme+risk+to+Isle+birds http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155370 15 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate birds extreme risk | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Honolulu Advertiser: Diana Leone) Carbon Positive: The first steps to kick start a global REDD scheme to halt deforestation and build on progress in Copenhagen have been taken at a meeting in Paris. A further $1 billion has been promised and a ten-nation steering group established to drive the implementation of a global avoided deforestation and forest carbon enhancement mechanism over the next three years. French President Nicola Sarkozy hosted the closed-door International Conference on the Major Forest Basins last Thursday, the ... http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1921 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155089 15 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST REDD Sarkozy | Europe | France info@ecologicalinternet.org (Carbon Positive: none given) Brazzil Mag: An area of 247 square kilometers (95 square miles) of Brazilian rainforest was cut down in the months of October and November 2009, which may seem like a lot, but it was a significant drop in Amazon deforestation. In fact, it was 72.5% less than in October and November 2008. For the minister of Environment, Carlos Minc, the numbers were good news. And they were based on satellite images from the National Space Research Institute's (Inpe) Real Time Deforestation Detection System ... http://www.brazzilmag.com/component/content/article/82-february-2010/11820-brazil-celebrates-72-drop-in-deforestation-credits-it-to-green-arch.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155146 14 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST deforestation drop | South/Central America/Caribbean | Brazil info@ecologicalinternet.org (Brazzil Mag: Luana Lourenço) Antara: Greenpeace activists scaled the Ministry of Forestry building in South Jakarta and unfurled a giant banner reading "Plantations are not forests". Greenpeace feared that the inclusion of `plantations in the definition of forests, would lead to massive concealment of the ongoing emissions from peatland and forest destruction that has made Indonesia the world`s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, according to information on the Greeanpeace Southeast Asia`s official website, ... http://www.antara.co.id/en/news/1268462133/greenpeace-demands-immediate-end-to-forest-destruction http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155103 13 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST forest plantation destruction Greenpeace | East/South-East Asia | Indonesia info@ecologicalinternet.org (Antara: none given) Mongabay: As the President of France, Nicholas Sarkozy, argues in Paris that more funding is needed to stop deforestation and mitigate climate change, a shipment of illegal rosewood is being readied for export in Madagascar by a French company with the tacit approval of the French government. The shipment of some 4,000-5,000 tons of rosewood will be shipped under the auspices of the French company, Delmas, according to Derek Schuurman, who has published papers on the illegal logging crisis for ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0313-hance_mad.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155036 13 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST illegal timber shipping France | Africa | Madagascar info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Jeremy Hance) Telegraph: A new study, funded by Nasa, has found that the most serious drought in the Amazon for more than a century had little impact on the rainforest's vegetation. The findings appear to disprove claims by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that up to 40% of the Amazon rainforest could react drastically to even a small reduction in rainfall and could see the trees replaced by tropical grassland. The IPCC has already faced intense criticism for using a report by ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/7437016/UN-climate-change-claims-on-rainforests-were-wrong-study-suggests.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155024 13 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST rainforest climate drought long-term carbon loss | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Telegraph: Richard Gray) Agence France-Presse: Around 60 countries pushed ahead on Thursday with a multi-billion-dollar scheme to reduce climate-changing emissions from deforestation, to which Germany added its support, British minister Joan Ruddock said on Thursday. "There was a tremendous mood of determination to get things done. I regard this as quite a breakthrough, actually," Ruddock, who is secretary of state for energy and climate change, told AFP in a phone interview. Around 60 countries, gathering donor economies ... http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=215897 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155009 13 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST forest carbon international | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: none given) BBC: Sales of ivory and a possible ban on trading bluefin tuna top the agenda for the two-week CITES meeting that opens this weekend in Doha, Qatar. CITES - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - will set a precedent if it votes to ban trading in a lucrative fish such as bluefin. The US and EU back the proposal, but Japan is set against. Conservation groups are also hoping for increased protection on sharks, coral, polar bears, lizards and ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8565480.stm http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154973 13 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST endangered ivory tuna | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (BBC: Richard Black) Living on Earth: YOUNG: Thirteen years ago, the negotiators of the Kyoto Climate Accord decided there should be some way for rich countries to pay for clean, low-carbon development in poor countries. The CDM or Clean Development Mechanism was born. Now the World Bank helps polluters in wealthy countries purchase things like clean furnaces in Vietnam and pollution control equipment in Brazil. The CDM also pays people in poor countries to plant and protect forests. Reporter Beth Hoffman visited the first place ... http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00011&segmentID=4 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154999 12 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST carbon tree planting | Africa | Uganda info@ecologicalinternet.org (Living on Earth: none given) National Public Radio: Wildlife experts convene next week in the city of Doha in Qatar to consider how to control the trade in rare animals and plants. Their means to that end is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), a treaty that most of the world's government have signed onto, though not always happily. Trade in elephant ivory continues to be a contentious issue. And this year sees a brand new effort to move offshore and protect some of the ocean's most charismatic -- and ... http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124592439&ft=1&f=1025 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154931 12 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST wildlife ivory tuna | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (National Public Radio: Christopher Joyce) New York Times: Marathon negotiations on protecting the planet's endangered species open on Saturday in Qatar with tensions bubbling over efforts to ban trade in bluefin tuna and to reopen exports of elephant ivory from Africa. Kenyan officials confiscated tusks in Nairobi last year and are fighting a request by some nations to sell their ivory stockpiles. About 40 proposals are on the agenda for the 12-day meeting of the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/science/earth/12species.html?partner=rss&emc=rss http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154934 12 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST wildlife trade tuna ivory | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (New York Times: Neil MacFARQUHAR) Agence France-Presse: Barely two years after it opened, a unique Arctic "doomsday" stockpile of all the world's crop seeds has reached the half-million species mark, the foundation that oversees it said Thursday. A mold-resistant wild bean from Costa Rica, a vulnerable strawberry from a bear-infested part of Russia's Kuril islands and a host of American soybeans are among the latest additions to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. "Reaching the half-million mark brings mixed emotions," said Cary Fowler, ... http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/arctic-seed-vault-hits-halfmillion-mark-1920307.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154910 12 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST seed Arctic vaul | Europe | Norway info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: none given) Huffington Post: A new study by University of Missouri Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (PDF) reveals that the current corn ethanol tax credit is effectively costing tax payers $4.18 per gallon and is driving up grain prices. The study estimates that the tax credit, which would cost about $5.85 billion next year if extended, will lead to 1.4 billion gallons above the 12.6 billion gallons required by law through the Renewable Fuel Standard (see page 64). In other words, next year the oil ... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathanael-greene/study-shows-tax-payers-su_b_494877.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154866 12 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST ethanol subsidies | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Huffington Post: none given) Business Green: The US biodiesel industry was celebrating this week after the Senate approved the extension of the controversial $1 (66p) a gallon tax credit that had been allowed to expire at the end of last year. The one-year extension of the tax credit, which will retroactively cover biodiesel produce since the turn of the year, was passed as part of the new jobs bill. The bill will still need to be reconciled with a similar bill passed by the House of Representatives and there is no set ... http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2259444/senate-extends-controversial http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154864 12 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST biodiesel tax credit | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Business Green: none given) Associated Press: A judge ruled Thursday that Chevron can proceed with an international arbitration claim against Ecuador related to a 17-year-old court battle over rain forest contamination in that South American nation. U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand in Manhattan rejected an attempt by Ecuador to block the arbitration but also said his decision was limited in scope and left the arbitration panel to decide what, if anything, it will hear and when. His ruling does not directly affect the ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100311/ap_on_bi_ge/us_chevron_ecuador http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154839 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST rainforest oil Chevron | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Associated Press: Larry Neumeister) Reuters: Chevron Corp may pursue an international arbitration claim over environmental pollution allegations in Ecuador, a judge ruled on Thursday, part of a long-running case that carries a potential $27 billion liability for the second-largest U.S. oil company. The government of Ecuador had asked Manhattan federal court Judge Leonard Sand to prevent Chevron from taking the 17-year-old case to arbitration under the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty. U.S. courts had previously ... http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62A3RV20100311?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=154802 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST rainforest oil Chevron | South/Central America/Caribbean | Ecuador info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: Grant McCool) Yale Environment 360: In light of the strong evidence that growing corn, soybeans, and other food crops to produce ethanol takes a heavy toll on the environment and is hurting the world's poor through higher food prices, consider this astonishing fact: This year, more than a third of the U.S.'s record corn harvest of 335 million metric tons will be used to produce corn ethanol. What's more, within five years fully 50 percent of the U.S. corn crop is expected to wind up as biofuels. Here's another sobering ... http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2251&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154774 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST biofuel ethanol hidden costs | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Yale Environment 360: C. Ford Runge) 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) Agence France-Presse: Around 60 countries pushed ahead on Thursday with a multi-billion-dollar scheme to reduce climate-changing emissions from deforestation, to which Germany added its support, British minister Joan Ruddock said on Thursday. "There was a tremendous mood of determination to get things done. I regard this as quite a breakthrough, actually," Ruddock, who is secretary of state for energy and climate change, told AFP in a phone interview. Around 60 countries, gathering donor economies ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/unclimatewarmingforests http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154941 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate deforestation international agreement | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: Richard Ingham) Associated Press: A conference bringing together more than 60 nations Thursday added $1 billion to the fight against deforestation and boosted the morale of those hoping to save the world's forests - a key defense against global warming. Three months after a morose ending to climate change talks in Copenhagen, the one-day ministerial meeting in Paris attended by heavily forested countries such as Indonesia and those in the Amazon and Congo basins amounted to a confidence-builder for nations wondering ... http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_CLIMATE_FORESTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-03-11-10-25-38 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154936 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST deforestation budget | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Associated Press: Elaine Ganley) Stabroek News: The Office of Climate Change (OCC) last night described the objections by some indigenous leaders to the LCDS and REDD+ policies as "malicious misrepresentations and distortions" and a deliberate attempt to mislead the public on the two policies. The OCC referred to articles published in this newspaper and the Kaieteur News following a statement issued after a workshop on 'Indigenous Peoples Rights, Extractive Industries and National Development Policies in Guyana.' The statement had, ... http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/stories/03/11/indigenous-leaders%e2%80%99-objections-to-lcds-redd-%e2%80%98malicious-distortion%e2%80%99/ http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154853 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate rainforest REDD plus | South/Central America/Caribbean | Guyana info@ecologicalinternet.org (Stabroek News: none given) Associated Press: Two years after receiving its first deposits, a "doomsday" seed vault on an Arctic island has amassed half a million seed samples, making it the world's most diverse repository of crop seeds, the vault's operators announced Thursday. Cary Fowler - who heads the trust that oversees the seed collection, which is 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the North Pole, said the facility now houses at least one-third of the world's crop seeds. "In my lifetime, I don't think we'll go over ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/10/AR2010031003506.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154770 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST seeds doomsday vault | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Associated Press: Ian MacDOUGALL) Reuters: A "doomsday" vault storing crop seeds in an Arctic deep freeze is surpassing 500,000 samples to become the most diverse collection of food seeds in history, managers said on Thursday. Set up on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard two years ago, the vault aims to store seeds of all food crops deep beneath permafrost to withstand threats ranging from a cataclysmic nuclear war to a mundane power cut. "New seeds ... are taking us over the milestone of half a million samples," ... http://news.stv.tv/environment/162821-arctic-seed-vault-sets-record-over-500000-samples/ http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154757 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST seed Arctic valut | Europe | Norway info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: Alister Doyle) CNA: Indigenous peoples worldwide contribute little to global warming but suffer the most from its impact, a local professor said Thursday at an international indigenous conference in Taiwan. "Most indigenous peoples around the world are not the major source of air pollution, energy overuse or carbon dioxide emissions," said Jolan Hsieh, an associate professor at the College of Indigenous Studies of Taiwan's National Dong Hwa University. "However, who sustains the most damage of all ... http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aSOC&ID=201003110020 http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154754 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate indigenous affect most | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (CNA: Alex Jiang) Associated Press: Wildlife officials lauded Washington's "holistic approach" to conservation in Hawaii after the Obama administration declared 48 species as endangered and announced plans to set aside more than 40 square miles on Kauai as critical habitat to allow the plants and animals to flourish. Two Honeycreeper birds, a fly and 45 ferns, trees and shrubs found only on the island of Kauai were among the species named Wednesday, boosting the number of such classifications by the Obama administration ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100311/ap_on_re_us/us_kauai_endangered_species http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154673 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST endangered species islands | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Associated Press: Audrey McAVOY) RFI: French President Nicolas Sarkozy opens an international conference on deforestation in Paris on Thursday. Ministers from 30 heavily forested countries and 12 potential donor countries are attending the conference. "Forests are in danger,' France's Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo told a press Deforestation - the facts and figures About 13 million hectares of forest are destroyed every year; Six of the ten countries which have lost the most forest over the last five ... http://www.english.rfi.fr/americas/20100311-sarkozy-opens-paris-deforestation-summit http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=155121 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST deforestation climate Sarkozy | Europe | France info@ecologicalinternet.org (RFI: none given) Associated Press: Rich nations must contribute more to a climate change fund and help fight deforestation, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at a conference Thursday on saving the world's forests - a key defense against global warming. Ministers from some 64 nations attended 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 bogged down along ... http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/10/380855/deforestation-conference-to-turn.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154889 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST climate forest funding | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Associated Press: Elaine Ganley) Deutsche-Presse Agentur: Drought-driven forest fires in Vietnam this year have already consumed an area greater than the entire area burned in 2008 or 2009, officials said Tuesday. Fires have destroyed 1,600 hectares of forest so far this year, said Do Thanh Hai, a senior official at Vietnam's Forest Protection Department. That area is more than 10 times the rate measured in the first two months of 2008 or 2009, which each saw just more than 140 hectares destroyed. Hai blamed the fires on a drought that has ... http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313125,vietnam-forest-fires-rise-sharply-in-drought.html http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154779 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST forest drought fire | East/South-East Asia | Vietnam info@ecologicalinternet.org (Deutsche-Presse Agentur: none given) National Geographic: A newfound frog species undergoes a "striking" change from a black, yellow-spotted youngster to a peach-colored, blue-eyed adult, scientists say. Oreophryne ezra was discovered in 2004 in a tiny, mountaintop cloud forest in southeastern Papua New Guinea. The forest has been long avoided by locals, who believe the misty jungle to be taboo, and perhaps guarded by spirits. Though a few other frogs are known to switch colors as they mature, "I don't think the difference in color ... http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100310-new-frog-changes-color/ http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=154687 10 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PST biodiversity new frog | Pacific/Oceania | Papua New Guinea info@ecologicalinternet.org (National Geographic: Christine Dell'Amore) 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)