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Online knowledge resource for national forest assessments (ForestPress)

An on-line Knowledge Reference on National Forest Assessment has been developed by FAO Forestry Department together with the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). The reference is intended to serve as a worldwide knowledge resource for national forest assessments among foresters, scientists, teachers and other stakeholders, particular aiming at needs of developing countries. Since informed decisions about forest resources at national level have to be based on systematic inventory and monitoring, the reference will be a useful tool to support sustainable management of forest resources in the countries.

2004. December 17.

Scientists find new Indian monkey (BBC News)

By Alex Kirby environment correspondent A species of monkey unknown to science has been photographed in India by an international team of researchers. The monkey, a member of the macaque family, was sighted in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, which lies in the country's remote north-eastern region. Named the Arunachal macaque, the new monkey is a comparatively large brown primate with a relatively short tail. The scientists say they are surprised to have found a hitherto unknown large mammal in such a populous country.

2004. December 17.

Archives

Kyoto protocol

Brussels, 23 July 2003 What is the Kyoto Protocol? The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol provide the only international framework for combating climate change.1 The UNFCCC, the first international measure to address the problem, was adopted in May 1992 and came into force in March 1994. It obliges all its signatories to establish national programmes for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to submit regular reports, and demands that the industrialised signatory countries2, as opposed to developing countries, stabilise their greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by the year 2000. This goal, however, is non-binding. By differentiating between industrialised and developing countries, the UNFCCC recognises that industrialised countries are responsible for most of the global greenhouse gas emissions and also have the institutional and financial capacities for reducing them. The Parties meet annually to review progress and discuss further measures, and a number of global monitoring and reporting mechanisms are in place to keep track of greenhouse gas emissions.

2004. December 16.

Mutual respect will help solve divisive forest issues, says Council Chair (ForestPress)

YOKOHAMA, JAPAN, 13 December 2004:Mutual respect will help solve divisive forest issues, says Council Chair. Potentially divisive issues to be debated this week at the 37th session of the International Tropical Timber Council will be dealt with constructively because of the prevailing atmosphere of mutual respect among its member countries, according to the Council’s Chairperson. The Council is the governing body of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the conservation and sustainable management, use and trade of tropical forest resources. Items on the Council’s agenda this week include analysis of issues relating to forest law enforcement, forest certification and the expansion of trade in tropical timber; in the past, these issues have sparked controversy between countries of the north and south. Reports will also be presented on ITTO missions to Fiji, Cambodia and Panama, which were mandated to identify those factors most limiting progress towards sustainable forest management in each country and to formulate action plans to help overcome such obstacles.

2004. December 15.

German forests in worse state than ever before (New Scientist/AFP)

BERLIN (AFP) - German forests are starting to show the drastic effects of the 2003 heatwave and have never been in such a poor state, a government report warned. Agriculture Minister Renate Kuenast said at least a third of trees in German forests were shedding their leaves and pine needles prematurely.

2004. December 14.

Denmark to grant Kenya 17.3m dollars to manage environment (Science News/(AFP)

NAIROBI – Denmark has agreed to grant Kenya 1.4 billion shillings (about 17.3 million dollars) to support environmental programmes, Environment Minister Kalonzo Musyoka said. The funds will be disbursed from January 2006 over a period of four years, Musyoka said in a statement.

2004. December 11.

Kenyan collects Nobel peace prize (ForestPress/BBC News)

Professor Maathai is also vocal on women's rights Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai has been presented with the Nobel Peace Prize for 2004 at a ceremony in Oslo. Professor Maathai, also Kenya's deputy environment minister, is the first African woman and environmentalist to win the prestigious award. The 64-year-old was honoured for her campaign to save Africa's trees and for promoting social, economic and cultural reforms that are ecologically viable.

2004. December 11.

Kenyan ecologist wins Nobel prize (ForestPress/BBC News )

Kenyan environmentalist and human rights campaigner Wangari Maathai has won the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the first African woman to be awarded the peace prize since it was created in 1901. A surprised Mrs Maathai broke the news to reporters minutes before the official announcement. The prize committee says Mrs Maathai, Kenya's Deputy Environment Minister, is an example for all Africans fighting for democracy and peace.

2004. December 11.

San Francisco Rules Could Bar Elephants from Zoo (FoestPress/Reuters)

By Adam Tanner SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Elephants must receive hundreds of times more space to live at San Francisco's zoo or not be kept at the facility, city legislators said on Tuesday in legislation that could effectively bar pachyderms for good. Animal rights advocates had sought a permanent ban -- which would have been a first for an urban zoo -- but the city's Board of Supervisors came up with a compromise to require the zoo to provide elephants 15 acres.

2004. December 11.

Europeans push to move against global warming

Buenos Aires, Argentina - European participants at a UN global climate conference are leading discussions on ways to cut greenhouse emissions after 2012, looking beyond the timeframe laid out to curb global warming set by the Kyoto Protocol. Yvo de Boer, the chief European Union negotiator, said Russia's recent ratification of the Kyoto Protocol had inspired the nearly 200 nations at the conference to consider a post-Kyoto framework to curtail the gases blamed for Earth's warming.

2004. December 10.

U.N.hopeful as climate talks begin (ForestPress/Reuters)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- A U.N. conference on climate change opened on Monday with delegates looking for any change in U.S. opposition to the Kyoto protocol after President George W. Bush's re-election and Russian ratification of the agreement. Russia's ratification has created the most optimistic mood in years among environmentalists.

2004. December 9.

Wood carving industry hard on African forests (ForestPress/SABC News)

Southern Africa's booming industry in wood carvings may be coming at a high price: the destruction of the region's hardwood forests. Environmentalists say the largely unregulated activity has almost wiped out the African Blackwood in Malawi, a hardwood coveted by carvers for its colour and texture. Photos: ForestPress

2004. December 8.

News

US rejects climate policy attacks (BBC News )

By Tim Hirsch, Buenos Aires The US has been defending its decision not to take part in the Kyoto Protocol, just two months before the international agreement to cut greenhouse gases comes into force. Senior US negotiator Harlan Watson attacked the treaty as being politically motivated rather than based on science. Speaking to reporters at the UN climate change convention in Buenos Aires, he suggested European countries were in no position to lecture the Americans about cutting emissions.

2004. December 8.

US rules out joining Kyoto treaty (BBC News)

By Elizabeth Blunt (Buenos Aires) The US has told a UN conference on global warming that it has no intention of re-joining international efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The chief American negotiator at the conference in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires ruled out any move to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol for years. He told reporters that efforts to cut emissions were based on bad science.

2004. December 8.

World needs more than Kyoto: minister (ForestPress/The Age)

The world would require measures more far reaching than the Kyoto agreement to address climate change, federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell said today. Parties to the Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are meeting in Buenos Aires for the last time before it comes into effect in 2005.

2004. December 8.

News

Death of the environmental movement? (ForestPress/ UNION-TRIBUNE)

2004. December 8.

News

Argentina warns of climate crisis BBC News,

Poor countries should be given extra help to avoid the worsening effects of climate change, a UN conference on global warming has been told. Argentina's environment minister Ginés Gonzalez Garcia opened the conference in Buenos Aires by saying his country had already experienced major changes. High rainfall, violent storms and increased levels of disease were all blamed on climate change, he said. The meeting takes place a month after Russia ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

2004. December 7.

A Real Christmas Tree is the Natural Choice (ForestPress/ www.realchristmastrees.org)

Each holiday season, shoppers find themselves confronted with a difficult choice: celebrate with a real or plastic tree. What most people don't realize is that the best choice has always been the traditional and natural choice, a real Christmas tree. Real Christmas are a benefit to the environment from the time they are planted until after the holiday season when they can be recycled. While they're growing, real Christmas trees support life by absorbing carbon dioxide and other gases and emitting fresh oxygen. This helps prevent the earth-warming greenhouse effect.

2004. December 6.