Deforestation increases in the Congo rainforest. Deforestation in the Congo Basin. Click image to enlarge. Deforestation in the Congo Basin has increased sharply since the 1990s, reports an extensive new assessment of forests in the six-nation region. Released by the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) and members of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, The State of the Forest finds that the region's annual gross deforestation rate doubled from 0.13 percent to 0.26 percent between the 1990s and the 2000-2005 period.
Gross degradation caused by logging, fire, and other impacts increased from 0.07 percent to 0.14 percent on an annual basis. Despite the jump, rates in the Congo Basin remain well below those in Latin America and Southeast Asia, but the region is seen as a prime target for future agroindustrial expansion. Degradation in the Congo Basin, 1990-2000 and 2000-2005. The data is based on advanced satellite mapping as well as field studies. Deforestation by forest type/classification in DRC, 2000-2005 and 2005-2010. Indonesia green news: 70% of Indonesia’s coral reefs damaged; Authorities exploring corruption charges in Tripa. Strangler fig in Java 70% of Indonesia’s coral reefs damaged 70 percent of Indonesia’s coral reefs have some degree of damage found an assessment by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia or LIPI).
Coral reef monitoring carried out in 77 regions across Indonesia found only 30 percent of the archipelago’s coral reefs are in good condition. 37 percent have low levels of damage, while a third are severely damaged. Reef damage is caused by a variety of factors including explosive fishing, mining waste, and bleaching driven by global warming. Authorities exploring corruption charges in Tripa peat swamp case Authorities are looking into possible corruption around the issuing of a oil palm development permit in a contested area of the Tripa peat swamp in Aceh Province on the island of Sumatra. East Aceh residents seize oil palm plantation in land dispute A land dispute between villagers and a palm oil plantation escalated in East Aceh last week.
Deforestation: A major threat to the destruction of our planet | Earth Reform. By KARUN BADWAL Published April 21, 2012 Deforestation – a process by which forest areas are removed and the land is utilized for other uses including agriculture, industrialization, resources, or settlements – has stark implications on our environment in the near future. Despite the rising awareness of the destructive threat to forests and its implications for the planet, the rich abundance of resources in the forest and the short-term monetary benefit of acquiring these resources have created corruption that has pervaded government institutions, corporations, and local communities.
Some of the reasons for the practice of deforestation include extracting lumber for commercial materials, farming and grazing cattle for today’s growing population, extracting charcoal as fuel for cooking and heating, extracting oil, mining, and building roads and settlements. Unfortunately, the damage does not end there. Corruption continues to stifle African governments and their need for self-sustenance. Haiti: a long descent to hell | World news. Geography and bad luck are only partly to blame for Haiti's tragedy. There are, plainly, more propitious places for a country and its capital city to find themselves than straddling the major fault line between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates. It's more than unfortunate to be positioned plumb on the region's principal hurricane track, meaning you would be hit, in the 2008 season alone, by a quartet of storms as deadly and destructive as Fay, Gustav, Hannah and Ike (between them, they killed 800 people, and devastated more than 70% of Haiti's agricultural land).
Wretched, also, to have fallen victim to calamitous flooding in 2002, 2003 (twice), 2006 and 2007. But what has really left Haiti in such a state today, what makes the country a constant and heart-rending site of recurring catastrophe, is its history. It needn't, though, have been like this. Economically, French occupation was a runaway success. It is hardly surprising then that Haiti isn't Switzerland. Climate change, Deforestation and Corruption Combine to Drown Pakistan. TARBELA RESERVOIR, Pakistan -- "I think, after terrorism, the biggest threat we have is the environmental decay. " Tariq Yousafzai, a water and environmental engineer with detailed knowledge of his country's water infrastructure, sees evidence of climate change in the flood disaster that inundated one-fifth of his country.
But a more immediate concern of his is the massive deforestation that has silted up the waterways and left Pakistan more vulnerable to storms than ever. The scene at this reservoir created by the Tarbela Dam and in areas to its north vividly shows what he's talking about. Long after the rains ended, the water level is still almost even with the rim of the dam, seemingly ready to spill over at any moment. The color you see while flying over this man-made lake, nearly 100 square miles in area, isn't the azure blue more typical of rivers like the Indus, fed early by snowmelt and glacial runoff in high altitudes. The downpour was historic. Nepal deforestation highlights clashing interests. Worst deforestation in three decades! Ramesh Prasad Bhushal KATHMANDU: Money does grow on trees...That’s what a House committee report has surmised after conducting a field study on deforestation and rampant corruption in the forest sector.
The parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Means report claims that last year country saw the worst deforestation in 30 years. The committee today endorsed a detailed study report on deforestation in last one year — comparing the depletion of forests in the lower plains and Churia range to that in 1979, widely believed to be the worst year in terms of deforestation — and forwarded it to the parliament for deliberations. “I felt like crying after reading the report prepared by the committee. I strongly urge the authorities concerned to bring the wrong-doers to book,” said Constituent Assembly Chairman Subas Nembang.
“It took us three months to prepare the report and the corruption in the forestry sector has been found to be at its peak. Corruption And Deforestation Caused Oaxaca’s Mudslide Disaster. In digging out Tlahuitoltepec residents. Now, as more rescue crews are gaining access to the municipality, the government has toned down its assessment of the damage. Eleven people are reported missing, with no confirmed deaths. However, rescue crews have still not reached six communities in Tlahuitoltepec. Electricity and phone service are down in the majority of the municipality, and many roads are covered with debris or have washed away. Regardless of its final death toll, the disaster was foreseeable and highlights the deadly consequences of the state's notorious, rampant corruption in public works. Deforestation The 2010 hurricane season has caused record rainfall in southern Mexico, leading to flooding, mudslides, and deaths in several states, including Oaxaca.
The mudslide that shocked the world on September 28 didn't happen overnight. Oaxacan Roads Paved With Corruption Unfortunately, Gov. On September 8, Vásquez's warnings became reality. Deforestation, corruption and evictions: the Ogiek of the Mau… · News · Minority Voices Newsroom. The Ogiek indigenous community is a hunter gatherer group who depend on the forest for food, medicine, shelter and preservation of their culture. They are foresters and conservators of nature, and so live in places where trees, birds and wild animals provide them with psychological comfort. The Ogiek have a population of about 20,000 people throughout Kenya inhabiting mainly the Mau Forest Complex in the Great Rift Valley Province, and Mount Elgon. Approximately 15,000 Ogiek live in the Mau Forest Complex, which they have occupied for at least 150 years.
The Mau is divided into 22 areas, with Ogiek inhabiting 12 of these (Marishooni, Nesuit, Saino, Sururu, Kiptungo, Sogoo, Nkaroni, Tinet, Sasimwani, Oltpirik, Nkareta and Olmekenyu). However, in common with most indigenous people, the Ogiek have no title deeds evidencing their propery rights over the land. For more information contact MRG's Press Office in London E: emma.eastwood@mrgmail.org or The Ogiek Peoples Development Programme. Asia: Deforestation Symptomatic of Corrupt Regimes.
Chiang Mai, Thailand - When a global anti-graft watchdog surveys the Asian landscape for corruption indicators, the continent's forests depleted by illegal logging invariably enter the picture. And as the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) notes, in countries where excessive corruption prevails, the destruction of natural resources, such as local forests, for private gain is not far behind. ''Illegal logging is a symptom of the disease of corruption,'' says Lisa Elges, TI's senior programme coordinator for the Asia-Pacific region. ''In countries where deforestation is predominant, corruption is very high.'' What has fuelled such abuse is the political climate that shrouds the forestry sector in the region, she explained to IPS in this northern Thai city, where a conference on the future of forests in Asia and the Pacific was held last week. ''There is a great deal of lack of accountability and transparency in the forestry sector.
Corruption linked to Borneo deforestation - 15 Jul 09. Government corruption lets illegal deforestation go unchecked in India. Reports said that on Sunday evening many Deodar and Pine trees have been cut down in Compartments No’s 1 to 9 at some places Zila–di-Pani, Butt Pora and Malik Pora etc besides a part of the Green Forest has been set ablaze in Panchrove area of the Chiralla Forest Range. Relevant to mention here that the Chiralla Forest Range has become very sensitive range of Bhaderwah Forest Division as some volunteers have stood up against the deforestation for the last few months and Forest Mafia which include many with criminal background have started challenging the volunteers if they can stop the cutting of Green Gold in the area.
Some volunteers said that when the concerned Forester was informed about the anti nature crime, he instead of acting preferred to switch off his mobile which has become his style since deputed in the area. Indonesia’s Corruption Legacy Clouds a Forest Protection Plan by Rhett Butler. 27 Dec 2010: Analysis by rhett butler Flying over the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea, rainforest stretches like a sea of green, broken only by rugged mountain ranges and winding rivers.
The verdant canopy shows little sign of human influence. But as you near Jayapura, the provincial capital of Papua, the tree cover becomes patchier — a sign of logging — and red scars from mining appear before giving way to the monotonous dark green of oil palm plantations and, finally, grasslands and urban areas. The scene is not unique to Indonesian New Guinea; it has been repeated across the world’s largest archipelago for decades, partly a consequence of agricultural expansion by small farmers, but increasingly a product of the logging, oil palm, and mining industries. View photos Photo by Rhett Butler Embarking on the latter path would be a shock to anyone observing trends in Indonesia over the past 20 years. “That’s the problem with REDD,” said Marcus Colchester, who runs the. Is Indonesia’s Program to Stop Deforestation in Meltdown? Back in December, I wrote an article for Mother Jones about Indonesia's efforts to reduce its levels of deforestation and, by extension, its greenhouse gas emissions, which are the third highest in the world, trailing only the U.S. and China.
This endeavor is part of a U.N. scheme called REDD — Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation — that aims to funnel billions of dollars of rich country aid to developing ones, like Indonesia, Guyana, and Brazil, that cut down millions of acres of trees a year due to logging, oil palm and acacia plantations, and biofuels production.
In exchange for aid, these countries ween their economies away from forest resource extraction. By way of the small town of Sungai Tohor, which is located in Sumatra, I showed how Indonesia is at crossroads. Since December, Indonesia has clearly not turned the corner on deforestation. A new report by Greenpeace highlights an emerging area of dysfunction within Indonesia's REDD program.