News from the world of forests

News

A Global Vision of Forestry in the 21st Century (ForestPress)

You will be happy to know that the Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, will be celebrating its100 years in 2007. We believe that the next 100 years will be quite different than the last 100 years. The 21st century will be probably known as the era of environmentalism, natural capitalism, scientific integration, globalization, and participatory governance. Naturally, in this new era, the conceptual framework of forest resource management will be different than its existing framework.

2006. August 9.

News

Satellites Spying on Loggers (moscowtimes.ru/ForestPress)

By Anatoly Medetsky Forestry officials have gone high-tech in an effort to stop illegal logging, deploying satellites to catch loggers red-handed, the Federal Forestry Agency said Wednesday.

2006. August 9.

Quarterly newsletter, ForLive Highlights (ForestPress)

This quarterly newsletter, ForLive Highlights, has been prepared to inform you about the ongoing activities and outcomes of the ForLive project “Forest management by small farmers in the Amazon: An opportunity to enhance forest ecosystem stability and rural livelihoods”.

2006. August 8.

Swiss Zoo Fights Heatwave With Meat Ice Cream (Reuters/ForestPress)

ZURICH - Zookeepers in the Swiss financial centre of Zurich are feeding animals a diet of frozen berries, meat and bones to help them stay cool in the sweltering summer heat.

2006. August 5.

Chileans fight proposed gold mine (The New York Times/ForestPress)

Alto del Carmen By Larry Rohter ALTO DEL CARMEN, Chile There is gold in these hills - at least $11.5 billion worth at last count, in a wind-swept area studded with glaciers, more than 15,000 feet up in the Andes. The world's biggest gold company wants to mine it, but is finding that a harsh terrain is not the only obstacle in its path. Though the Chilean government has tentatively approved the $1.5 billion mining project, called Pascua-Lama, opposition here in Huasco Province is intense and growing.

2006. August 4.

Global Illegal Wildlife Trade Worth US$10 Billion (Reuters)

BEIJING - The global illegal trade in wild animals and plants has exceeded US$10 billion a year, becoming the world's third-largest source of illicit income after drugs and guns, a wildlife conference heard on Friday.

2006. August 3.

Engineers to Build Everglades Reservoir (Associated Press)

Lake Okeechobee By Brian Skoloff IN THE EVERGLADES, Florida — Engineers next month will begin building one of the world's largest manmade reservoirs - the size of a small city - as efforts continue to restore natural water flow to the Everglades. The reservoir, roughly 25 square miles in area, is set for completion in 2010. It will hold 62 billion gallons of water, equivalent to about 5.1 million residential swimming pools, and will be seven miles across at its widest point.

2006. August 1.

Fire rages in Brazil’s Atlantic forest following dry spell (Associated Press/ForestPress)

A fire raged yesterday through a rain forest along Brazil’s eastern coastline, burning up to 25,000 acres of trees, firefighters said. The fire in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest remained out of control late yesterday, said firefighters from the municipality of Mage, 50 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro.

2006. July 31.

Lumber duties unlawful (ForestPress/ canada.com)

U.S. court Gordon Hamilton, CanWest News Service VANCOUVER - The United States Court of International Trade ruled lumber duties are unlawful Friday, handing Canadian lumber producers a victory in their battle with the United States over softwood lumber. But with an agreement already initialled by the two countries and ready to be introduced in Parliament this September, the deal already in hand is the one Canada intends to go ahead with, said a spokesman for International Trade Minister David Emerson.

2006. July 30.

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Professional Vacancy Announcement No: 1541-FOP Deadline For Application: 7 September 2006 Position Title Forestry Officer (Economic Analysis)

2006. July 28.

FAO photo contest

FAO photo contest The Forestry Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is launching a photo contest to recognize the beauty of forests and the people who use them.

2006. July 27.

Hard life may get harder for caribou (www.thestar.com/ForestPress)

By CAMERON SMITH Ontario's herds face many threats They are elusive and, well, gracious, which the dictionary defines as affable and, in a loose sense, elegant. The forest-dwelling woodland caribou, in turn, define the wilderness in Ontario's boreal forest. They are an indicator species — and they may be doomed. Already they are designated as threatened.

2006. July 26.

Powerpoints of UNEP's Atlas released for educational purposes (ForestPress)

One Planet, Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment provides a comprehensive, visual presentation of scientifically verifiable information about changes in the global environment, shown through state-of-the-art remote sensing technology.

2006. July 25.

News

World 'needs new wildlife body' (BBC News)

By Richard Black The world needs a new global organisation dedicated to stemming the loss of plant and animal species. That is the argument put forward by a group of eminent academics in this week's edition of the journal Nature. They call for the establishment of an Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity (IPB) to parallel the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

2006. July 24.

Haifa Zoo Locks Up Animals to Stop Them Escaping (Reuters)

HAIFA, Israel - Staff at Israel's Haifa zoo have locked the lions and tigers in bomb proof cages to stop them escaping if there is a hit from a Hizbollah missile. "If a rocket hits the open-air pen and one of the carnivores escapes into the city, it would not be a nice prospect," said head keeper Yoav Ratner. "Thankfully the night rooms are secure -- they are like bomb shelters."

2006. July 24.

Fine for bird poison gamekeeper (BBC/ForestPress)

An Aberdeenshire gamekeeper who poisoned wild birds and kept illegal pesticides has been fined 850. Hector McNeil, who worked on Glenbuchat estate for 30 years, had admitted killing a raven, of which there are only two breeding pairs in Grampian.

2006. July 21.

Welcome to Passport in Time! (ForestPress)

Passport in Time (PIT) is a volunteer archaeology and historic preservation program of the USDA Forest Service (FS). PIT volunteers work with professional FS archaeologists and historians on national forests throughout the U.S. on such diverse activities as archaeological survey and excavation, rock art restoration, survey, archival research, historic structure restoration, oral history gathering, and analysis and curation of artifacts. The FS professional staff of archaeologists and historians will be your hosts, guides, and co-workers.

2006. July 20.

Forest owners want to ensure socially sustainable rural areas (Nordic Family/ForestPress)

In their new programme for sustainable forestry Finnish private forest owners emphasize the importance of forestry for the viability of rural areas. They also underscore the importance of profitable forestry for maintaining biodiversity in nature. The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners, MTK, that is also the interest group of Finnish private forest owners, has published a programme for sustainable family forestry. This program is an update of the previous programme for forest biodiversity from the year 2000. The new program supplements the previous one by emphasizing that forestry must also be socially and financially sustainable.

2006. July 19.