News AS FORUM ON FORESTS MEETS AT HEADQUARTERS 16 - 27 MAY More than 300 government officials, including 40 ministers responsible for forests will meet at United Nations Headquarters for the fifth session of the United Nations Forum on Forests from 16-27 May, in order to review the effectiveness of the International Arrangement on Forests (IAF) and to consider future action on forest issues.
News BUCHAREST - The UN called on Friday on southeast European countries to take urgent steps to reduce the environmental threat from hundreds of old and abandoned mines from the communist era. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said studies had shown old sites and also operational mines might be contaminating water supplies and the air. "There are tens of such sites in each country, so it could add up to hundreds in the region," Philip Peck, an UNEP consultant, told Reuters from the Romanian city of Cluj where UNEP is holding a seminar on mining and the environment.
News Hungarian Forestry Association will have its 136th Itinerary Meeting 20 to 21 May 2005, organised by Szombathely Forestry Rt. in Western Hungary. The very first meeting of this kind was held in Budapest in 1866. It has developed into the most expanded meeting of those involved in foresty, where nearly one thousand specialists are meeting this year.
News The proportion of women among Finnish forest owners is increasing. Statistics indicate that one third of forest owners are women. However, their real number is much higher when deceased persons' estates and their co-owners are included. Women show increased interest in tending their forests.
News Festival in the forest, July 16- 24, 2005 In recent years collaboration has developed between artists and forest specialists joined by people supporting culture and concerned for the forest, said Lajos Szabó, forestry engineer, the father of the idea “The Woods Sound Music” to Forestpress. The Mátra Days of Arts aim to provide useful recreation activities to the public (living in the region, and tourists), linked to music and the forest. The programs will begin on July 16th , 3 p.m. with the opening ceremony in the park of Kisterenye Palace, where László Pallagi, general director of Egererdő Rt. and Gábor Vanya mayor of Bátorterenye address the gathering. Most programs will have open air sites (at the western part of the Mátra hills, in 9 communities.).
News Caterpillar control in Hungary continues Frigyes Nagy Veszprém county department leader at Hungarian Forest Service says systematic spaying has been started as a move of protection against gypsy moth in the area. The target spots may slightly change due to weather conditions and leaf–growth. No protection can be done, however, in some areas where for the continual caterpillar chew trees are unable to bring shoots.
News Tim Radford, science editor British-based scientists are aiming to occupy the high ground of biology. Five giant cranes - each carrying an observation post and scientific laboratory - will tower over the treetops of rainforests in Brazil, Ghana, Madagascar, India and Malaysia in a $17m (?9m) attempt to explore one of life's most mysterious frontiers, the canopy. The forest treetops are where the sun, rain and living things first meet. An estimated 40% of all terrestrial species are to be found more than 70 feet up, where the first wispy leaves and twigs compete for solar energy.
News German expert urges better water conservation A German water expert says not enough is being done to conserve the resource in Australia. Ralph Otterpohl has addressed the Ozwater convention in Brisbane, which is being attended by over 2,500 international delegates. Professor Otterpohl says Australia lags behind Europe in conservation technology, especially in the home.
News From Forest Policy Education Network Building Momentum 2005 is a historical year for the forests and the education agenda of the United Nations. The UNESCO as lead agency launches the “United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014” and the International Agreement on Forests (IAF) will decide at the fifth session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) on its future framework and structure.
By Jonathan Amos Britain has made good progress in trying to preserve some of its rarest wild plants, but it has largely failed to halt widespread species decline. That is one key message to come out of the new Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain, published by a coalition of botanists. The report represents the most comprehensive assessment to date of the state of the UK's flora.
News The European Investment Bank (EIB), in line with the Baltic Sea environmental objectives of its first lending mandate for Russia, lends EUR 40 million to the Russian Federation for the completion of the St Petersburg Flood Protection Barrier. This project will serve to protect the city of St Petersburg against the risk of flooding resulting from storm surges in the Gulf of Finland.
By John Heilprin WASHINGTON — The last 58.5 million acres of untouched national forests, which President Clinton had set aside for protection, were opened to possible logging, mining and other commercial uses by the Bush administration today. New rules from the U.S. Forest Service cover some of the most pristine federal land in 38 states and Puerto Rico. Ninety-seven percent of it is in 12 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
News European farming is being threatened by declining soil quality, particularly in eastern states, according to a report. More than 16% of EU land is affected by soil degradation but more than a third is affected in eastern countries. Costly measures to boost soil fertility put pressure on the Common Agricultural Policy, the EU's farming subsidy system, says the Soil Atlas of Europe.
News North Lawn Arbor Day 2005 President Bush, Secretary Johanns and Marshal Case, CEO of the American Chestnut Foundation, plant an American Chestnut tree on the White House lawn in celebration of Arbor Day. The American Chestnut dominated eastern woodlands before being virtually wiped-out by blight. As President Bush noted, this disease-resistant brings new hope.
News By Elliott Gotkine At the end of the world, a sky-blue stream sweeps down from an ice-glazed mountain on its way to the Beagle Channel. Wild horses chomp nonchalantly on lush, green bushes. Tourists gawp at a submerged forest as a beaver glides gracefully among the trees. This is the Argentine part of the island of Tierra del Fuego, which is shared with Chile. It looks like an ecological paradise.
News by Brian Fitzgerald Here's the obituary from the our main website of Bob Hunter, one of the great inspirations of Greenpeace, who died today of cancer. Everyone who met Bob has a story about him, and we hope to see some of them posted here: just hit the reply button at the bottom of the page. Stories are the best memorial to a great storyteller, and Bob's will be around for a long, long time.
News 09/05/05 - 13/05/05 Celje & Ljubljana, Slovenia The forest and the city are two extremes: the forest on one side as highly developed natural ecosystem, and the city on the other as the most perfect man made (eco)system. They are both integrated in an urban forest.
News Hunting is one of many options for using natural resources in forests. In many forests, too large cloven-hoofed game populations are still hampering the development of structurally diverse forests and their selective browsing of plants is causing a depletion of species. Hunting in forests must aim at a sustainable use of game populations. This can also minimize the burden placed on tax-payers (e.g. for costly measures to protect plantations against wild game).
