Conservation

European timber buyers are demanding that Ghana's timber industry get third party certification for legal logging to meet new European standards. The UK Timber Trade Federation informed a meeting of Ghanaian timber producers that certification for legality would be a minimal requirement and certification for sustainability would be desirable. Similar meetings are to be held across Africa's tropical timber producing countries. Ghana's Forestry Commission is developing a log-tracking system to allow verification of legality.

It is clear that this kind of external pressure, supported by aid programs, is essential if illegal logging is to be halted. Europe, Japan, Australia and others will have to take the lead, since the US government is hostile to any moves to control illegal logging.

The Forestry Commission has announced plans to replace non-native trees in England's forests with native species. The intent is to restore the forests to something resembling the forests of 100 years ago, and to make forests more attractive for wildife and recreation. Up to 20 million trees will be removed over a 20 year period. Reduction of conifer shade should allow native species to reproduce, though enrichment planting will also be funded.  Up to 30% of England's forests consist of ancient woodlands, stands over 400 years old, but which include lots of non-native conifers. The government had encouraged establishment of conifer plantations which today account for 15% of England's forests. Ironically, the government had paid for establishment of the conifer plantations that it is now paying to remove.

A Hawaiian company is making wood products from trees cut as part of safety programs in Hawaii's Polipoli State Park and Kula Forest Reserve. The company, South Pacific Lumber Co. is providing wood for furniture, millwork and timber framing. The trees are being felled because they pose a risk to cabins and other facilities in the park, but they present a fire hazard if left on the ground. The company has paid $2000 to $3000 to the state to mill 20 pine and cypress trees and will return to mill about 25 more. The fire danger in these forests is very high. Milling the trees prevents fuelwood buildup and provides useful products in a state that lacks available wood resources.

Malaysia's Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry (KPPK, Kementerian Perusahaan Perladangan dan Komoditi) has announced plans to build up the capacity for timber plantations to remove pressure from native forests. Most of Peninsular Malaysia's lowland tropical forests were converted to other uses during the colonial era, and today there are vast areas of former tin mines, as well as current plantations of oil palm and rubber. Collectively, these lands could produce large amounts of wood products that could be certified as originating from sustainable forest management (plantations can obtain sustainability certificates provided they are not created by felling existing forests). Malaysian growers have long experience with plantations of oil palm, rubber and fruit trees, and should be able to adapt to new species with careful planning.

KPPK Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui announced the plan, saying that private funds would be sought from the wood industries for the approximately RM2 billion needed. The Ministry would like to see 1.5 million hectares of timber plantation set up in the next 10 years. Much of the money would be for federal support for states to develop plantation management methods. In Malaysia, land management is a state responsiblity in which the federal government plays an advisory role.

The world has an insatiable demand for timber, and today that demand is being met to a large extent with illegally harvested tropical timber. The US, New Zealand, Australia, Chile and other nations have had considerable success establishing major forest industries based on plantation-grown timber. In Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, rubberwood has become a major export commodity. Conservation of remaining tropical rainforests requires that alternative sources of raw materials be found, and Malaysia is taking appropriate steps in that direction.

One important challenge will be species selection. Many valuable forest species, such as meranti (Shorea spp. and other dipterocarps), may be difficult or impossible to adapt to plantation conditions. Forest scientists, including geneticists, physiologists and silviculturists, will need to carefully research and test appropriate species. Initial plantation projects should be small, so that large investments are not made in projects that fail.

Without this kind of science-based approach, the entire RM2 billion could be wasted on failed attempts at large-scale plantations. This happened in the Jari project in Brazil where Daniel Ludwig, an American entrepreneur, started large-scale plantations of Gmelina for pulp production. The project denuded 6475 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest and was a complete disaster. The disaster was due to bad planning, excess expenditure of funds, and, perhaps most importantly, the lack of results from any pilot projects prior to scaling up.

A national symbol of Chile, the alerce, Fitzroya cuppresoides, is threatened by logging. Cutting of live trees is prohibited, but illicit loggers have found a way around the ban: make sure plenty of dead trees are available by killing them. From the UBC Botanical Garden Weblog.

The latest Tangled Bank is up at Geomblog. Tangled Bank is a blog carnival for science writers. The current offering has lots of great articles and is worth a visit.

Rare and native plant species are more likely than abundant or invasive species to be lost from an ecosystem when nitrogen is made more available. Nitrogen increases plant growth, but appears to give a competitive edge to some plants, and a disadvantage to plants that are not adapted to take advantage of more nutrition. This is the conclusion of a wide-ranging nitrogen fertilization experiment by Katherine Suding and her colleagues at UC Irvine. The study was published in PNAS.

Nitrogen in soil comes from nitrogen fixation by certain plants and microorganisms, by lightning-fixation in rainfall, and from manmade sources. The most important manmade sources include fertilizer and acid rain. While fertilizer is not applied intentionally to natural ecosystems, it can arrive in the wind from agricultural sources. Acid rain contains sulfuric and nitric acids from industrial pollution, and is adding considerable amounts of nitrogen to natural ecosystems.

The ecological consequences of nitrogen addition are made clear by this study. Increased nitrogen from anthropogenic sources will reduce biodiversity, eliminate rare species and favor aggressive, fast-growing species including invasives.

As landscaping in urban areas moves toward native plants, it is important to recognize that excess nitrogen fertilization will promote the growth of weeds and non-natives, which have been selected to do well in high-nitrogen environments.

The date palms of Judea are praised in the Bible and the Koran for their beauty, shade, food and medicinal qualities. Now we may get a chance to taste the famed fruit. A date seed found during archeological excavations of Masada, where Jewish Zealots killed themselves rather than fall to the Romans, has germinated and appears likely to survive.

Radiocarbon dating confirms the archeological evidence: the seed is about 2,000 years old. This is the oldest seed ever germinated. Lotus seeds of about 1200 years' age have been germinated in China, but none as old as this.

The seed was obtained by Dr. Sarah Sallon, a physician and scholar of medicinal plants of the Middle East. It was germinated by Dr. Elaine Soloway of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies.

At the time of the fall of Masada, when Israel ceased to exist for 1900 years, vast plantations of date palms were found throughout the region. Dates were an important food and medicine. The biblical land of "milk and honey" refers to date honey. The Koran describes the date as a symbol of goodness, and the date palm is associated with heaven. By the time of the Crusades, all the date palms had been destroyed. Modern Israel, for which dates are important symbolically and economically, grows date trees imported from California and originating elsewhere in the Middle East. So, the growth of this seedling could potentially resurrect a highly important plant, both economically and culturally.

There is an important unknown, that will not be revealed for at least 20 years: is the tree a male or female?  Dates are dioecious, bearing male flowers on one tree and female on another. If this tree is a male, it will only be a historical curiosity. If it is a female, there should be adequate pollen from males of other date palms to allow the tree to bear fruit.

If all goes well, we could once again taste the fruits of the land of milk and honey, thanks to the Zealots of Masada and the curiosity of a group of scientists.

Indonesia will not use imported wood for Aceh's reconstruction following the tsunami. The demand for wood is high, with about seven million cubic feet required. Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban announced the policy at a meeting of the House of Representatives in Jakarta. Legal wood harvest from Indonesia's forests is currently about 5.6 million cubic meters per year, so additional sources of wood will be needed. Minister Kaban did not reject the use of donated foreign wood, but said that no wood would be bought from other nations. The minister's statement appears to be a response to the World Wildlife Fund's concerns about the impact of Acehnese reconstruction on Indonesia's forest resources.

Menteri Kehutanan M.S. Kaban mengingatkan Badan Rekonstruksi Aceh untuk tidak mengimpor kayu tanpa ijin dari Departemen Kehutanan. Sebab, kebutuhan kayu di Aceh masih bisa dipenuhi dari pasokan dalam negeri.“Sejak awal diprioritaskan untuk memasok kebutuhan kayu di Aceh,” ujar Kaban. Selain itu, untuk kebutuhan rekonstruksi Aceh, bisa ditambahkan dari kayu temuan maupun kayu sitaan.

When I worked in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, lowland forests were being logged but were still extensive. The pictures show aerial views of these vast forests during the flight from Jakarta to Pontianak. At that time, Kalimantan still had over 80% of its lowland forests, but they were under substantial pressure from logging and from land clearance. The transmigrasi program, that moved large numbers of Javanese families to Kalimantan increased the rate of conversion of land from forest to agriculture. Forests were still extensive and unbelievably diverse. Home to orangutans and proboscis monkeys as well as a riot of plant species diversity, these forests are one of the great biological treasures of the world. In a new report, the World Wildlife Fund says that less than 50% of the original lowland forests remain, and could be largely eliminated within 10 years. Rampant illegal logging, much of it at the behest of Malaysian operators is stripping the forests. At the same time, development pressures of a growing population of poor farmers is accelerating land conversion. Populations of organgutans and proboscis monkeys may no longer be sustainable in the wild. Forest fires, once a rarity, are now an annual occurance, often blanketing Southeast Asia in haze. Efforts are underway to persuade Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei to set aside vast reserves of montane and upland forests in central Borneo, but preservation of significant amounts of lowland forests appears unlikely. Illegal logging can be stopped, with concerted action. Thanks to vigorous efforts by Indonesians like my friend Herujono Hadisuparto of Universitas Tanjungpura, illegal log routes from Indonesia into Malaysia have been closed. However, corruption and poverty continue to work against efforts to stop illegal logging. Indonesia is now a democracy, and the central government is working hard to control corruption. However, unless Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei cooperate to enforce existing laws against illegal logging, and unless the international community acts to stop consuming illegally obtained wood, the clearing of lowland forests will not stop until the last tree is gone. Borneo is one of the world centers of biodiversity. Over 210 mammal species are found in Borneo, at least 45 of them found only on the island. A new fox species was reported last month. Between 1994 and 2004, over 361 new species have been identified, including 260 insects, 50 ploants, 30 fish, 7 frogs, 6 lizards, 5 crabs, 2 snakes and a toad. The vast majority of these species have been poorly studied and little is known of thier life history and conservation needs. Borneo is also an important economic treasure for Indonesia. Huge, by far the largest Indonesian island, rich in natural resources, and with tremendous potential for ecotourism and sustainable forestry, Borneo will either deteriorate further or remain as one of Earth's treasures. The Heart of Borneo project to preserve 1/4 of the central part of Borneo is critical to the island's future.	Lowland forests of West Kalimantan in 1984.
	Plywood mills along Landak river surrounded by lowland forests in 1984.
	Young orangutan in lowland forest in West Kalimantan