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Indonesia to be recognized in Guinness Book of World Records for deforestation rate mongabay.com May 4, 2007
According to Greenpeace, the text will read: "Of the 44 countries which collectively account for 90% of the world's forests, the country which pursues the world's highest annual rate of deforestation is Indonesia with 1.8 million ha (4,447,896 acres) per year between 2000-2005 - a rate of 2 per cent annually or 51 square km (20 square miles) every day." Hapsoro, an Indonesian Greenpeace forest campaigner, said "It is a national shame for Indonesia to own this distinction in the record books. These record rates of destruction make Indonesia not only the fastest forest destroyer but also the world's number one greenhouse gas polluter from deforestation."
Greenpeace has used the "award" tactic in the past, notably with the "Golden Chainsaw" prize, which was awarded in 2005 to Blairo Maggi, Governor of the State of Mato Grosso. At the time Maggi, known as the "King of Soy", was one of the largest destroyers of the Amazon rainforest. Indonesia will be officially be awarded its "highest deforestation" title in the 2008 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records. Greenpeace made the announcement as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was meeting in Bangkok to discuss ways to cut carbon dioxide emissions. One of the proposals on the table considers compensating tropical countries, like Indonesia, for conserving their forests. Tropical forests lock up large amounts of carbon, helping to mitigate global warming. Related articles
(11/19/2008) Scientists have rediscovered a long-lost species of primate on a remote island in Indonesia. Conducting a survey of Mount Rore Katimbo in Lore Lindu National Park on the island of Sulawesi, a team led by Sharon Gursky-Doyen of Texas A&M University captured three pygmy tarsiers, a tiny species of primate that was last collected in 1921 and was assumed to be extinct until 2000 when two scientists studying rats accidently trapped and killed an individual. Gursky-Doyen's team spent two months using 276 mist nets to capture the gremlin-like creatures so they could be fitted with radio collars and tracked. One other individual was spotted but eluded capture. California joins effort to fight global warming by saving rainforests (11/19/2008) California has joined the battle to fight global warming through rainforest conservation. In an agreement signed yesterday at a climate change conference in Beverly Hills, California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pledged financial assistance and technical support to help reduce deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia. The Memorandum of Understanding commits the California, Illinois and Wisconsin to work with the governors of six states and provinces within Indonesia and Brazil to help slow and stop tropical deforestation, a source of roughly 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Biodiversity of rainforests should not be compared with oil palm plantations says palm oil council chief (11/11/2008) Scientists should compare the biodiversity oil palm plantations to other industrial monocultures, not the rainforests they replace, said Dr. Yusof Basiron, CEO of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), in a post on his blog. Basiron's comments are noteworthy because until now he has maintained that oil palm plantations are "planted forests" rather than an industrial crop. Greenpeace activists block palm oil shipment from departing Indonesia for Europe (11/11/2008) Greenpeace activists blocked a palm oil shipment from departing Dumai, Indonesia's main palm oil export port, for Europe to protest against the ongoing destruction of Indonesia's forests. First RSPO-certified ("eco-friendly") palm oil shipment to arrive in Europe (11/10/2008) The first shipment of palm oil certified under the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is expected to arrive in Europe Tuesday, but an environmental group is already criticizing the initiative's credentials. Comments? News options News index | RSS | Add to MyYahoo! |
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