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<title><![CDATA[logging news from mongabay.com]]></title>
<link>http://www.mongabay.com</link>
<description><![CDATA[logging news.]]></description>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>Copyright 2006 mongabay.com</copyright>
<pubDate>Tue, 17 Oct 2006 12:58:39 -0800</pubDate>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Tropical deforestation is 'one of the worst crises since we came out of our caves']]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Forestry Week in Vietnam, keystone speaker Dr. Norman Myers stated: "I'm going to give you my bottom-line message right now, up front, this is a super crisis that we are facing, it's an appalling crisis, it's one of the worst crises since we came out of our caves 10,000 years ago.  I'm referring of course to elimination of tropical forests and of their millions of species."]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0515-hance_myers.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0515-hance_myers.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[No sacrifices to ending deforestation in the Amazon, only gains]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Regular columnist and co-creator of Brazil's environmental news website, O Eco, Sergio Abranches has great credibility in Brazil's eco-awakening.  A professor of political science, Abranches uses his unique talents to reach a widening audience in Brazil for environmental, energy, and climate change news and discussion.  He speaks expertly on any number of topics: from Amazonian deforestation to the current food crises to economic and political transformations for a warming world.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0429-hance_abranches_interview.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0429-hance_abranches_interview.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Fast-food industry destroying forests in the Southern U.S]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Southern forests of North America supply 60% of US and 15% of global paper demands. Deforestation for wood and paper products, along with urban sprawl, has resulted in a total decline from 356 million acres in colonial times to 182 million acres today. The South contains more threatened forest ecosystems than anywhere else in the US. A major perpetuator of deforestation in the South is the fast food industry. With nearly 100 paper packaging mills in the South and thousands of restaurants worldwide, major fast food retailers such as KFC and Taco Bell are leaders in paper consumption and subsequent waste. The Dogwood Alliance, a nonprofit organization formed to increase awarness of the importance of Southern forests and the threats their survival, has launched a new campaign at nofreerefills.org which specifically targets the paper packaging practices of the fast food industry.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0428-davis_nofreerefills.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0428-davis_nofreerefills.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Peru fails to investigate murder of Amazon environmental leader]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Peruvian authorities failed to respond to requests for protection from Julio Garcia Agapito, the environmental leader who was gunned down in southeastern Peru in late February, according to a new petition which calls for an investigation into his murder.  Julio Garcia's killing at the hands of an illegal logger set off international outcry and highlighted rising tensions over the paving of a highway in the Amazon rainforest.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0422-julio_garcia.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0422-julio_garcia.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Borneo's pygmy elephants are an alien species]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A new study suggests that the Borneo pygmy elephant -- one of Borneo's best known and charismatic animals -- is actually an invasive species introduced from a neighboring island by a former sultan.  The finding offers hope that in Borneo, the elephant can avoid the fate that befell it in its native Java: extinction.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0418-borneo_elephants.html</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0418-borneo_elephants.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[The FSC is the 'Enron of forestry' says rainforest activist]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On April 7th, Mongabay printed an interview with FSC International Communications Manager, Nina Haase, in which she defended the FSC against criticism leveled at it by various environmental organizations, such as The World Rainforest Movement and Ecological Internet.  The interview drew strong reactions on both sides, and Simon Counsell, director of the Rainforest Foundation UK, requested a chance to respond to the FSC's interview in-depth.  In his response, he states that the FSC has created a "'race to the bottom' of certification standards", alleging that the "FSC really has become the 'Enron of forestry'".]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0417-hance_interview_counsell.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0417-hance_interview_counsell.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Saving the world's most recently discovered cat species in Borneo]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Last year two teams of scientists announced the discovery of a new species of clouded leopard in Borneo.  The news came as conservationists launched a major initiative to conserve a large area of forest on an island where logging and oil palm plantations have consumed vast expanses of highly biodiverse tropical rainforest over the past thirty years. Now a pair of researchers are racing against the clock to better understand the behavior of these rare cats to see how well they adapt to these changes in and around Danum Valley in Malaysia's Sabah state. Andrew Hearn and Joanna Ross run the Bornean Wild Cat and Clouded Leopard Project, an effort that aims to understand and protect Borneo's threatened wild cats, which include the flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps), marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) the endemic bay cat (Catopuma badia) and the Bornean clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa).]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0410-interview_hearn_ross.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0410-interview_hearn_ross.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[The FSC responds to its critics]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Last month, Mongabay.com reported on recent and various criticisms of the FSC (the Forest Stewardship Council).  The FSC is an international organization that certifies forest products which, according to their standards, have been harvested in an environmentally-sustainable and socially-responsible manner. Response to the article was significant.  It was picked up by the Ecological Internet's email campaign and was mentioned on numerous environmental web sites and blogs. At the time of the publication, the FSC had not responded to requests for comments.  But in the following interview, FSC International Communications Manager Nina Haase answers each criticism separately and addresses several other issues, such as the FSC and climate change, the organization's monitoring capabilities, and its adaptation to new environmental concerns.  Ultimately she responds to the big question raised by critics: is the FSC stamp still credible?]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0407-hance_fsc_interview.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0407-hance_fsc_interview.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Investing to save rainforests]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Last week London-based Canopy Capital, a private equity firm, announced a historic deal to preserve the rainforest of Iwokrama, a 371,000-hectare reserve in the South American country of Guyana.  In exchange for funding a "significant" part of Iwokrama's $1.2 million research and conservation program on an ongoing basis, Canopy Capital secured the right to develop value for environmental services provided by the reserve. Essentially the financial firm has bet that the services generated by a living rainforest &#8212; including rainfall generation, climate regulation, biodiversity maintenance and carbon storage &#8212; will eventually be valuable in international markets. Hylton Murray-Philipson, director of Canopy Capital, says the agreement &#8212; which returns 80 percent of the proceeds to the people of Guyana &#8212; could set the stage for an era where forest conservation is driven by the pursuit of profit rather than overt altruistic concerns.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0402-hylton_interview.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0402-hylton_interview.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Asia Pulp & Paper destroying rare Sumatra forest]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Companies linked to timber giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) are illegally building a road that runs through highly endangered peatland forest on the island of Sumatra, according to an investigative report published by Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of NGOs in Indonesia. The road would allow APP and its affiliates to log forests for timber and drain peat soil for the establishment of oil palm plantations.  The action would release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from one of the world's largest contiguous tropical peat swamp forests.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0327-sumatra_road.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0327-sumatra_road.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Private equity firm buys rights to ecosystem services of Guyana rainforest]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A private equity firm has purchased the rights to environmental services generated by 371,000 hectare rainforest reserve in Guyana.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the agreement is precedent-setting in that a financial firm is betting that the services generated by a living rainforest &#8212; including rainfall generation, climate regulation, biodiversity maintenance and water storage &#8212; will eventually see compensation in international markets.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0327-iwokrama.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0327-iwokrama.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[FSC has 'failed the world's forests' say critics]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has come under increasingly harsh criticisms from a variety of environmental organizations.  The FSC is an international not-for-profit organization that certifies wood products: its stamp of approval is meant to create confidence that the wood was harvested in an environmentally-sustainable and socially-responsible manner.  For years the FSC stamp has been imperative for concerned consumers in purchasing wood products.  Yet amid growing troubles for the FSC, recent attacks from environmental organizations like World Rainforest Movement and Ecological Internet are putting the organization's credibility into question.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0325-hance_fsc.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0325-hance_fsc.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Fire monitoring by satellite becomes key conservation tool]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Remote sensing is increasingly used as a tool for conservation management.  Beyond traditional satellite imagery popularized by Google Earth, new sensing applications are allowing researchers located anywhere in the world to track fires, illegal logging and mining, and deforestation in some of Earth's most isolated regions using a computer or handheld device. The Fire Alert System is one example of an application that is harnessing the power of satellites to deliver key data to conservation managers. Developed by Madagascar's ministry of Environment, the International Resources Group, Conservation International using data from the University of Maryland and NASA, the Fire Alert System enables near real-time monitoring of fires anywhere on the island of Madagascar, a hotspot of biological diversity.  The system, which sends subscribers regular email alerts on newly-detected burning, will eventually be expanded to include all the world's protected areas, allowing managers to detect not only fires but potentially related activities like road building, logging, and even hunting.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0327-interview_fire_alerts.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0327-interview_fire_alerts.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[U.S. furniture demand drives illegal logging in Laos]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In Vietnam the illegal timber trade continues unabated, in many ways due to the Southeast Asian country's growing economy and wealthy nations' insatiable demand for cheap furniture.  Since 2000 Vietnam has seem a ten-fold increase in their furniture industry, a rise that is leading to large-scale illegal deforestation in the Mekong region, according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Telapak Indonesia.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0324-hance_vietnam_laos.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0324-hance_vietnam_laos.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Papua New Guinea to ban log exports by 2010]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Papua New Guinea (PNG) will phase out log exports by 2010 said Forest Minister Belden Namah last month.  The move comes as the country seeks to gain greater control over illegal logging and promote expansion of oil palm cultivation.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0318-png.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0318-png.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Do parks worsen deforestation through 'leakage'?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The creation of protected reserves may be pushing development to neighboring areas, confounding overall conservation efforts in regions where development pressures are high. Such "leakage" -- as the displacement is called -- makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of protected areas strategies.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0317-ewers_rodrigues.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0317-ewers_rodrigues.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Amazon environmentalist gunned down in Peru]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[After reporting a truck loaded with mahogany illegally logged from the Amazon rainforest, Don Julio Garcia Agapito, a Peruvian environmentalist was gunned down by unknown assailants on February 26th, 2008.  He is survived by his family.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0314-don_julio.html</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0314-don_julio.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Brazil fails to implement deforestation plan - Amazon destruction jumps]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Faced with a spike in forest clearing due to high commodity prices, the Brazilian government has failed to enact reforms designed to slow deforestation in the Amazon rainforest says Greenpeace, an environmental group.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0306-amazon.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0306-amazon.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Fighting illegal logging to be a top G8 priority in 2008]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As it assumes the chair of the G8, Japan will make sustainable forest management a top priority, said a top Japanese government official.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0305-g8_timber.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 05 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0305-g8_timber.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Screaming elephant-cousin threatened by logging]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A small screaming mammal that may be the closest living relative of the elephant is threatened by logging and bushmeat hunting in East Africa, according to a study published in the inaugural issue of the open access e-journal Tropical Conservation Science.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0303-tcs_yopp-Jorgensen.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0303-tcs_yopp-Jorgensen.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Human impacts on primate conservation in central Amazonia]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Deforestation in the Amazon is a serious concern. In the Brazilian Amazon, forests are cleared for cattle ranches, soybean cultivation, and selective logging practices. A new plan to settle approximately 180 families north of Manaus, the capital city of the state of Amazonas, has created widespread controversy. The land plots would be located within the study site of the longest-running study of forest fragmentation, the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP). Therefore, the plan would threaten scientific research at the BDFFP and other nearby research sites operated by the Instituto Nacional da Pesquisas de Amaz&ocirc;nia (INPA) and Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA), as well as the future of the Central Amazonian Conservation Corridor.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0303-tcs_boyle.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0303-tcs_boyle.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[China's tropical rainforests decline 67% in 30 years]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Tropical rainforest cover in southern Yunnan decreased 67 percent in the past 30 years, mostly due to the establishment of rubber plantations, according to a new assessment of tropical forests in southwestern China.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0303-tcs_hua.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0303-tcs_hua.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[China's wood industry fueled by illegal log imports from rainforest countries]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[While China has improved management of its forestry sector, expanding forest plantation cover and banning harvesting of natural forests, China's recent growth as wood-products exporter is built on timber imports much of which are illegal argues a researcher from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in a letter to Science.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0229-laurance_china.html</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 29 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0229-laurance_china.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Half the Amazon rainforest will be lost within 20 years]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[More than half the Amazon rainforest will be damaged or destroyed within 20 years if deforestation, forest fires, and climate trends continue apace, warns a study published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Reviewing recent trends in economic, ecological and climatic processes in Amazonia, Daniel Nepstad and colleagues forecast that 55 percent of Amazon forests will be "cleared, logged, damaged by drought, or burned" in the next 20 years.  The damage will release 15-26 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere, adding to a feedback cycle that will worsen both warming and forest degradation in the region. While the projections are bleak, the authors are hopeful that emerging trends could reduce the likelihood of a near-term die-back.  These include the growing concern in commodity markets on the environmental performance of ranchers and farmers; greater investment in fire control mechanisms among owners of fire-sensitive investments; emergence of a carbon market for forest-based offsets; and the establishment of protected areas in regions where development is fast-expanding.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0227-nepstad_amazon.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0227-nepstad_amazon.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[$100 billion worth of carbon released from deforestation in Riau, Sumatra]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A WWF study found that deforestation of nearly 10.5 million acres of tropical forests and peat swamp in central Sumatra's Riau Province over the past 25 years has generated 3.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide.  Based on today's $32 closing price for a ton of carbon dioxide for European Union Allowances, the emissions had a theoretical trading value of $118 billion, assuming they could have been traded at the full E.U. carbon price at the time (voluntary offsets would have been worth about $13 billion).]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0228-wwf_sumatra.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0228-wwf_sumatra.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Rainforest logging threatens endangered sea turtles]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Logging is having an unexpected impact on endangered sea turtles in Central Africa, reports a new study published in <i>Oryx</i>. Aerial surveys in Gabon reveal that logs lost during transport are clogging beaches, preventing critically endangered leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) from nesting.
]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0225-sea_turtles.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0225-sea_turtles.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Is Guyana's logging deal in its best interests?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In January Guyana awarded U.S. timber firm Simon & Shock International a 400,000-hectare (988,400-acre) logging concession near the Brazilian border. Final approval hinges on the completion of an environmental impact survey and a tree inventory.  While Simon & Shock International says it plans to conduct selective logging, the firm has not announced whether it will seek Forest Stewardship Council certification, a mark for responsibly-harvested timber. Is there an alternative that can improve the lot for the average Guyanese?  There may be.  Last fall Guyana's President, Bharrat Jagdeo, hinted at the potential of using the country's forests as a giant carbon offset to counter climate change.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0221-guyana.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0221-guyana.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Carbon traders, not conservationists, could save Cameroon rainforest]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The government of Cameroon is looking to lease 830,000 hectares of biodiverse tropical forest to conservationists for an annual sum of $1.6 million.  The problem?  No conservation groups are interested.  Apparently the asking price is too high, according to <a target=_blank href=http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=10688618&subjectID=348924&fsrc=nwl>The Economist</a>.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0215-cameroon.html</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0215-cameroon.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Steel production drives deforestation in Brazil's Pantanal]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A steel mill in Corumbá, in the heart of Brazil's Pantanal wetland, is fueling destruction of forests for charcoal and undermining the rights of Amazonian forest dwellers, reports the Inter Press Service.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0211-pantanal.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0211-pantanal.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Paper packaging devours south-eastern forests in the US]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Dogwood Alliance has released a report highlighting the damage done by paper pulp mills and their corporate customers to America's Mid-Atlantic Coastal Forests. The forests, which span from Delaware through the Carolinas to Georgia, are extremely rich in biodiversity; scientists have catalogued over two-thousand terrestrial species, including thirty-two endemic species. Probably the most famous endemic species is the Venus flytrap; this strange carnivorous plant is native to an area only 10 by 100 square miles in North Carolina. A study by WWF determined that both species richness and endemism is even higher for freshwater aquatic species.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0210-dogwood_hance.html</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0210-dogwood_hance.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[First rainforest-for-carbon-credits deal becomes a reality]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Villagers in Aceh, the Indonesian province that suffered through three decades of civil war and lost some 170,000 people to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, could soon see $26 million in carbon credits for protecting rainforests from logging under a deal announced today between conservationists, carbon traders, and the Aceh government.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0207-carbon_conservation.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0207-carbon_conservation.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Staples dumps Asia Pulp &amp; Paper over its destruction of virgin rainforests]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Office supply giant Staples Inc. dropped Asia Pulp &amp; Paper Co. Ltd. (APP), one of the world's largest paper companies, as a supplier due to concerns over its environmental performance, reports Tom Wright of the Wall Street Journal.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0208-staples.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0208-staples.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Copper mine triggers controversy in Armenia]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In Northern Armenia, a company has been given the go-ahead to establish a copper mine in Teghut Forest sparking off a struggle between industry and environmentalists.  Teghut Forest spans approximately 29,000 square kilometers--the size of the English channel--and supports a large number of Armenia's native species, including the Syrian Brown Bear and the Short-toed Eagle.  The mine will be operated by Armenian Copper Program (ACP). ACP is apart of the Valex group, located in Liechtenstein and co-owned by Russian citizen, Valeri Medzhloumyan. The project will be the largest mine in Armenia, and is estimated to make a hundred million annually for as long as the mining lasts (most likely, less than twenty-five years).  Environmentalists believe that the mine will cause large and lasting damage to the region, while government and industry state that the mine's environmental impact will be small while giving the region an economic boost.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0129-hance_armenia.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0129-hance_armenia.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[How much would it cost to end Amazon deforestation?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[With Brazil last week announcing a significant jump in Amazon deforestation during the second half of 2007, the question emerges, how much would it cost to  end the destruction of Earth's largest rainforest?]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0128-brazil.html</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 27 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0128-brazil.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[55% of the Amazon may be lost by 2030]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Cattle ranching, industrial soy farming, and logging are three of the leading drivers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.  As commodity prices continue to rise, driven by surging demand for biofuels and grain for meat production, the economic incentives for developing the Amazon increase.  Already the largest exporter of beef and the second largest producer of soy - with the largest expanse of "undeveloped" but arable land of any country - Brazil is well on its way to rivaling the U.S. as the world's agricultural superpower.  The trend towards turning the Amazon into a giant breadbasket seems unstoppable. Nevertheless the decision at the U.N. climate talks in Bali to include "Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Degradation" (REDD) in future climate treaty negotiations may preempt this fate, says Dr. Daniel Nepstad, a scientist at the Woods Hole Research Institute.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0124-nepstad.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0124-nepstad.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[New Jersey scraps plan to buy Amazon rainforest timber]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The city council of Ocean City in New Jersey voted 6-0 last Thursday to cancel a $1.1 million purchase of ipe timber originating in the Amazon rainforest.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0122-jersey.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0122-jersey.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Malaysian timber firm fined for illegal rainforest logging in Guyana]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Barama Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Samling Group, a Malaysian logging firm, has been fined for violating Guyana's forest laws, reports Staebroek News.  Barama operates the largest timber concession in Guyana.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0122-guyana.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0122-guyana.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Tropical islanders win battle against palm-oil]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Mongabay has confirmed that the Milne Bay government has pulled plans to allow Vitroplant to log 70% of Woodlark Island for palm oil plantations.  The Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Hon John Hickey, stated in a press release that "Vitroplant did do a feasibility study and were keen to invest on the island. However due to landowner objections on the development of the oil palm industry on the island, the company has decided to pull out."  Vitroplant has yet to comment.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0116-hance_woodlark.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0116-hance_woodlark.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Sierra Leone bans timber exports]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Sierra Leone has re-imposed a timber export ban after accusing foreign companies of illegally logging its forests, according to BBC News.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0115-sierra_leone.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0115-sierra_leone.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Palm oil developer abandons plan to log 70% of Woodlark Island]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Vitro Plant, a developer that planned to log 70 percent of Papua New Guinea's Woodlark Island for oil palm plantations, has pulled out of the project reports The National, a Papuan newspaper.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0114-woodlark.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0114-woodlark.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Paper giant illegally destroying orangutan habitat in Indonesia says WWF]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In a report released Monday, environmental group WWF has accused forestry giant Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) of illegally logging endangered orangutan habitat on the island of Sumatra.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0109-app.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0109-app.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Guyana grants 1 million acres of Amazon rainforest to U.S. logging firm]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Guyana has awarded a 988,4000-acre logging concession to a U.S. forestry company, reports the Associated Press.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0109-guyana.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0109-guyana.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[New York City ends use of Amazon rainforest hardwoods in parks]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In a meeting with representatives of environmental groups Rainforest Relief and New York Climate Action Group, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe unveiled a plan to phase out the use of hardwoods logged from the rainforests of the Amazon, which the agency uses for benches, boardwalks and the decking of bridges in the thousands of parks and areas overseen by the department. Celia Peterson, director of the Specification Office of NYC Parks, stated that as of last month, Parks will no longer specify tropical hardwoods for benches.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0108-nyc.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0108-nyc.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Rainforest chief killed in Borneo for his opposition to logging]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Keleasu Naan, a Penan chieftain and longtime activist against logging, disappeared in October while checking animal traps.  His tribes' worst fears were confirmed when they found what they believed to be Naan's remains last month.  According to the Associated Press, the chieftain's nephew, Michael Ipa, has stated that the body had several broken bones, leading Ipa to believe that "he has been killed by people involved in logging".]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0103-borneo_hance.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0103-borneo_hance.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Peru to replant 10 million hectares of forest]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Peru plans to reforest more than 10 million hectares of logged and degraded forest over the next 10 years according to the country's National Institute of Natural Resources (INRENA).  The government hopes the moves will reduce pressure on native forests and bolster the plantation forest industry.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0102-peru.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0102-peru.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Uganda renews plans to log rainforest reserve for sugar cane]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Friday revived a controversial plan to grant a forest reserve to commercial sugar cane interests.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1221-uganda.html</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 21 Dec 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1221-uganda.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Rainforest destruction increasingly driven by corporate interests, not poverty]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Tropical deforestation is increasingly enterprise-driven rather than the result of subsistence agriculture, a trend that has critical implications for the future of the world's forests, says Dr. Thomas Rudel, a researcher from Rutgers University.  As urbanization and government-sponsored development programs dwindle in the tropics, industrial logging and conversion for large-scale agriculture -- including oil palm plantations, soy farms, and cattle ranches -- are ever more important causes of forest destruction.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1218-interview_rudel.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Dec 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1218-interview_rudel.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Rainforest destruction continues in tropical Asia]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Tropical forests in Asia have been rapidly and extensively destroyed over the past generation, with significant implications for the region's biodiversity and global climate. A new study, published in the December volume of Current Science, finds that Asian forest loss has occurred mostly in poor, corrupt countries that have high population density and robust population growth rates.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1209-asia.html</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 09 Dec 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1209-asia.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Aceh, Papua, Amazonas governors sign carbon-for-forests pact]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Three governors have signed the Forests Now Declaration to protect tropical forests for their carbon value. The Governors, Irwandi Yusuf (Aceh, Indonesia), Barnabas Suebu (Papua, Indonesia), and Eduardo Braga (Amazonas, Brazil), agreed to the declaration's action plan which calls for compensation for reduced greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and protection of standing forests. Deforestation and forest degradation account for roughly 20 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, but steps to reduce forest loss will help mitigate climate change.  The UK government's 2005 Stern Review said that forest protection could be one of the most cost-effective ways to address climate change.
]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1208-forests.html</link>
<pubDate>Sat, 08 Dec 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1208-forests.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Rainforest logging moratorium established in Indonesian provinces, Amazonas state]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Governors from the Brazilian state of Amazonas and the Indonesian provinces of Aceh, Papua and West Papua signed a historic agreement to protect threatened rainforests.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1207-governors.html</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1207-governors.html</guid>
</item>

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