No to Copenhagen 'Carbon Logging'

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No to Copenhagen 'Carbon Logging'
GOOD REDD Fully Protects and Restores Old Forests as a Global Climatic Imperative

By ClimateArk Climate Change Portal http://www.climateark.org/

a project of Ecological Internet
November 5, 2009

Copenhagen climate talks must not provide 'Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation' (REDD) carbon market funds for old, natural forest logging, or for conversion of natural or semi-natural forests and other ecosystems to plantations. Ending deforestation and degradation of old and relatively ecologically intact primary and old growth forest ecosystems, and the ecological restoration of late-successional old growth forests, are keystone responses to maintaining global climate, biodiversity, water and ecosystems.

TAKE ACTION HERE NOW:
http://www.climateark.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=protect_old_forests

Indications are that UN Copenhagen climate talks will allow selective logging and plantation establishment in primary and old-growth forests as a means to "fight" climate change. In draft texts, European and African negotiators have removed safeguards against the conversion of natural forests to forest plantations, and language ensuring first time industrial logging of primary rainforests are excluded from carbon finance has still not been included. This despite the fact no single international ecological policy initiative would protect global climate (and biodiversity and ecosystems) more effectively than protecting and restoring old forests wherever possible.

Old forest logging must end -- to maintain climatic stability and achieve global ecological sustainability. This requires a rejection of the myth of "Sustainable Forest Management" in old forests, acknowledging that fully-intact, natural old forests both remove and store long-term, far more carbon than natural forests that are selectively logged or replaced by plantations. Timber industry propaganda -- claiming logging ancient forests somehow saves them -- has been greatly aided by large NGOs like Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace, who continuously greenwash unknown amounts of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) "certification" of old forest logging as desirable and even sustainable.

MORE INFORMATION AND TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.climateark.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=protect_old_forests


DISCUSS THIS ALERT:
http://www.climateark.org/blog/2009/11/by-ecological-internets-climat.asp

Madagascar's Protected Rainforest Hardwoods Continue to be Selectively Logged

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By Rainforest Rescue - http://www.rainforestrescue.org/

with Rainforest Portal http://www.rainforestportal.org/
- a project of Ecological Internet
October 28, 2009

Post-coup illegal log and wildlife trade continue to threaten Madagacar's biodiversity rich rainforest remnants, ecological sustainability and future potential for national advancement. This great nation's precious hardwoods deserve CITES protections, to ensure selective logging of any sort in its primary old forests ends.

TAKE ACTION HERE NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=madagascar_landgrab

Loggers and wildlife traders continue to violate Madagascar's biodiversity rich rainforests including protected areas. In March of this year controversy surrounding leasing of agricultural land resulted in a military coup. In the chaos that ensued, armed gangs funded by Chinese traders entered Madagascar’s Marojejy and Masoala National Parks, two world-renowned World Heritage Sites, and logged rosewood, ebonies, and other valuable hardwoods. NGOs operating in Madagascar report continued armed, open and organized plundering of precious wood from several natural forests, including these parks.

MORE INFORMATION AND TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=madagascar_landgrab


DISCUSS THIS ALERT:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2009/10/madagascars_endangered_rainfor.asp

New York City Activists Unfurl 35-foot Banner on High Line to Protest Park's Use of FSC-Certified Amazon Wood

September 24, 2009
From Earth's Newsdesk, a project of Ecological Internet (EI)
http://www.ecoearth.info/newsdesk/


Contact:
Tim Doody: rainforestsny@gmail.com

Simon Counsell: info@fsc-watch.org

Dr. Glen Barry: glenbarry@ecologicalinternet.org


PHOTOS AND VIDEO OF BANNER: http://RFNY.org

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32461153@N08/


September 24th, New York: This morning, environmental activists unfurled a 35-foot banner blocking the iconic view of 10th Avenue from the High Line park to protest the Amazon wood used in the park for bleachers, benches and decking. The banner read, "High Crime on the High Line! FSC Lies: Amazon Wood Is Not Sustainable!"

Two New York City-based groups, Rainforest Relief and New York Climate Action Group, coordinated the banner action to confront the "First International FSC Friday," an event held on September 25th by the Forest Stewardship Council to promote their certification scheme.

According to Friends of the High Line's website, the tropical hardwood used throughout the High Line was certified by FSC-accredited agencies. The wood, called ipê, originates from primary Amazon forests in Brazil and Peru. Ipê trees are typically 250 to 1,000 years old and grow an average of one or two trees per acre.

"We targeted the High Line because it's one of the highest profile parks in the world," said Tim Doody, a spokesperson for Rainforest Relief. "We think there are well-intentioned designers and architects who have no idea that the FSC certifies wood from ancient primary forests, including the Amazon. That kind of logging destroys vital carbon sinks and opens the forest to land speculators, cattle ranchers and plantation farmers."

Formed in 1993, the FSC accredits agencies that in turn certify logging operations according to a set of principles that the FSC claims will protect forests and local people. However, a growing number of environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth UK, Rainforest Foundation, Ecological Internet and World Rainforest Movement, are accusing the FSC of violating their own principles.

"Instead of launching vacuous marketing ploys such as 'FSC Friday,' the FSC would be better off trying to address some of their underlying issues," said Simon Counsell. Counsell, a founding member of the FSC, now monitors the agency on FSC-Watch.org.

Citing a study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, Counsell stated, "Research in the Amazon has shown that, over a period of years, commercial logging greatly increases the overall propensity of the forest to dry out, burn and disappear. This happens regardless of whether the logged areas are certified or not."

On July 12, 2009, the Brazilian government announced that federal police had broken up a timber-laundering ring in the Amazon involving 3,000 "eco-certified" companies that had been receiving illegal wood for years. FSC-certified companies are among the implicated.

Dr. Glen Barry, founder of Ecological Internet, said "It has become evident to environmentalists in the know that FSC has become an obstacle to ending ancient-forest destruction and addressing climate change and biodiversity loss." EI is demanding that FSC stop certifying wood from ancient primary forests around the world -- and has been carrying out high-profile protests against groups such as Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace who are leading the greenwashing of FSC logging. Further actions are planned soon.

The government of Norway has turned criticism of "eco-certification" schemes into policy. In 2007, officials there banned the use of all tropical timber in public buildings. "The government wants to stop all trade with unsustainably or illegally logged tropical forest products," stated Norway's Directorate of Public Construction and Property (Statsbyyg). "Today, there is no international or national certification that can guarantee in a reliable manner that imported wood is legally and sustainably logged."

"What's missing in the certification debate is the broader issue of simply reducing the consumption of wood products," said Tim Keating, Executive Director of Rainforest Relief. "All the world's forests cannot be industrially logged, and there are so many alternatives—like post-consumer plastics—that should be considered first."

###ENDS###

DISCUSS RELEASE:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2009/09/new_york_city_activists_unfurl.asp


LINKS:
High Crime on the High Line: Why Is NYC's Highest-Profile Park Using Amazon Wood?
http://www.alternet.org/environment/142327/high_crime_on_the_high_line:_why_is_nyc's_highest-profile_park_using_amazon_wood/?page=entire


Report from The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States: Condition and Fate of Logged Forests in the Brazilian Amazon
http://www.pnas.org/content/103/34/12947.full?sid=0fbcc483-fde9-4c7d-96a6-cdd6bfb4e1d2


http://RainforestsOfNewYork.org


http://www.RainforestRelief.org


http://www.FSC-Watch.org


http://www.EcologicalInternet.org/campaigns/


http://www.fsc.org/fscfriday.html


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Liberia's Plans to Resume Industrial Primary Rainforest Logging Already Plagued by Corruption as Samling Poised to Pounce

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Liberia's Plans to Resume Industrial Primary Rainforest Logging Already Plagued by Corruption as Samling Poised to Pounce

By Rainforest Rescue, http://www.rainforest-rescue.org/
with
Ecological Internet's Rainforest Portal, http://www.rainforestportal.org/

August 18, 2009

TAKE ACTION HERE NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=liberia_logging_resume


The fact notorious illegal loggers Samling of Malaysia; who have devastated rainforests globally including those of the Penan, are surreptitiously in contention for Liberian logging contracts illustrates, despite decades of failed reform efforts locally and internationally, that the global industrial tropical timber logging industry remains irredeemably corrupt. There is no evidence first time industrial logging of primary forests is ever ecologically sustainable or reduces poverty. Please call upon Liberian President to pursue development based upon standing rainforests, and reject entirely the resumption of industrial logging.

NOTE: After sending this protest you are forwarded to several crucial ongoing alerts, which we ask you to please send as well.

MORE INFORMATION AND TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=liberia_logging_resume


DISCUSS THIS ALERT:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2009/08/alert_liberias_plans_to_resume.asp