Biochar proponents slammed over secret “land-grab” agenda

TOKYO ~ Nineteen groups concerned with climate change have  expressed their dismay at an article by leading biochar advocates.
The groups say the article, published in the science magazine Nature and posted online in the August edition of Nature Communications, proposes that an area larger than the land mass of India could be turned into charcoal [...]

Hope in a Changing Climate

HOPE in a Changing Climate – the groundbreaking BBC documentary that shows how ecological damage can be reversed – may provide one of the key solutions to global warming and climate change, but only if it is adopted as a matter of urgency.
The 22-minute film shows how farming and over-grazing led to soil erosion on [...]

UN’s forest carbon plan slammed: REDD won’t work says FOE

JAKARTA ~ International proposals to protect forests as a way of stopping climate change could displace 1.6 billion people and will also fail to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, campaigners warn. 
From today until 12 December, the Polish city of Poznań is hosting crucial United Nations climate talks amidst fears that forest carbon trading will [...]

Indonesia poses "catastrophic threat" to world climate: Greenpeace

JAKARTA ~ The rapid expansion of oil palm plantations for profit in Indonesia is having a “catastrophic effect” on global climate, Greenpeace said yesterday.
The campaign group accused Indonesia of allowing “rampant destruction” of ancient forest, for palm oil, logging and other industry expansion.

Indonesia, Papua NG, Vietnam ask UN for assistance to combat deforestation

HANOI ~ Three of Asia’s most rapidly deforesting countries - Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam - have asked the United Nations for assistance in combating deforestation.
Bolivia, Congo, Panama, Paraguay, Tanzania, and Zambia have also expressed formal interest in receiving assistance through a new initiative called the UN-Redd Programme.

PNG logging firms accused of theft, abuse: Greenpeace

JAKARTA ~ The government of Papua New Guinea is turning a blind eye on logging companies which are stealing resources from and abusing local people, says a Greenpeace report.
The report follows visits over a period of two weeks to villages in two provinces of Papua New Guinea (PNG) currently being logged by the notorious Turama [...]

Treeless paper will help environment, says US firm

AN AMERICAN company has started producing paper in commercial quantities without using tree pulp or water.
A spokesman for Gummed Paper of America (GPA), a Chicago-based firm established 70 years ago, told Green Assembly that their new product would make a “world of difference” in mitigating climate change and conserving water resources.

Forest loggers dismiss Greenpeace claims

CLAIMS made by Greenpeace that illegal logging is rife in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have been dismissed as untrue by the island’s forestry association.
In a local newspaper report the PNG Forest Industry Association said Greenpeace had made “a series of claims over the past week which perpetuate(s) untruths about the forestry industry in the country.”
According [...]

Malaysians to fund massive deforestation in PNG

KUALA LUMPUR ~ In a new move to boost Papua New Guinea’s contribution to global warming and climate change, the country’s Morobe provincial government has given Malaysian investors the green light for a major oil palm plantation development.
Morobe governor Luther Wenge and the country’s minister for health, Sasa Zibe, said on Thursday that they had [...]

Greenpeace calls for probe into US$67million logging scandal

SINGAPORE ~  Logging companies operating in Papua New Guinea allegedly paid US$67 million into a government minister’s private bank account in Singapore, says a statement from Greenpeace.
“The government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a very poor forest-management record, wrapped in accusations of corruption and misappropriation of funds,” said the statement.
“If PNG is seeking carbon [...]