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FORESTS |
Amazon
Forest Loss |
A report by UNEP and the Amazon Corporation Treaty
Organization (ACTO) says Amazonia is changing at an
accelerated rate with very profound modifications
in its ecosystems. Despite the development of national
programmes to manage the region’s ecosystems,
economic activities, infrastructure construction,
and human settlements are still decimating the great
rain forest, vital to keeping atmospheric carbon down.
It says that by 2005, 857,666 square kilometres of
the forest had been transformed, reducing vegetation
cover by approximately 17 percent, equal to two-thirds
of Peru or 94 percent of Venezuela.
It recommends that the countries of the area, ie,
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru,
Suriname and Venezuela to harmonize their efforts
for sustainable utilization of the Amazonian ecosystems.
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(UNEP Release, Feb 19, 2009) |
US
Urged to Save Forests
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The Bush
administration earlier was of the view that the Kyoto Protocol
would put the United States at an economic disadvantage. However,
hopes are being pinned on Barack Obama, who is considered
more environmentally friendly. The US Congress is expected
to take up legislation this year to tackle climate change,
aiming to come up with policies that will help the United
States and other countries forge a new international agreement
to succeed the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol.
A coalition
of law makers, corporate chiefs and environmentalists said
on Feb 9, 2009 that the United States needed to take the
lead in preserving tropical forests in the fight against
climate change. Accounting to the members of the Avoided
Deforestation Parteners, deforestation accounts for 20 percent
of the carbon emissions that spur global warming. Wangari
Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate says that without
the leadership of the United States of America, everybody
else will take it not as serious as it seems. If America
is not concerned, then it cannot be a serious issue.
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(Environmental
News Network, Feb 7, 2009) |
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