NATIONAL GREEN SCHOOLS CONFERENCE- DENVER, CO.

Here we are at the Green Schools Conference in Colorado

We were able to visit the Denver Zoo before the conference.

The official Conference starts this evening.

Posted by the Grade 6, 7, 8 students of St-Laurent Academy- Ottawa, Canada

  

China wanna help to save biodiversity in Nepal

The Chinese Forest Minister Jia Zhibang today said that China wants to support Nepal on biodiversity conservation and livelihood promotion through the forestbased products.

“We have been supporting Nepal on Bamboo plantation and its economic benefit, where as China is interested in sustainable forest management issues,” said Zhibang, while talking to the media persons at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

The high level meeting between the two countries to be held, on Thursday, will share the knowledge of biodiversity conservation and discuss the challenges for better cooperation to fight against the illegal trade of wildlife body parts and endangered plant species.

China is the largest market for the wildlife body parts as well as the illegal trade of red sandalwood and other medicinal plants that has become a headache for Nepal. “There is the need of better cooperation between two countries and China has been supportive on enhancing conservation efforts,” added the minister.

The Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation has prepared for the meeting of first Nepal-China Joint Forestry Working Group meeting which will be addressed by both countries.

“The six-member Chinese delegation will be discussing with the Nepalis participants on the issues of forestry sector.” Both sides will share on how the forest conservation efforts are going on both countries,” said Ram Prasad Lamsal, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson, MoFSC.

What a difference a day makes!

On Tuesday morning, we released our report Amazon.com’s Unpalatable Profits and launched our campaign to urge internet giant Amazon to remove all whale products from its wholly owned subsidiary Amazon Japan.
To say the response was overwhelming is to put it mildly. Tens of thousands of people around the world took action via Twitter, Facebook, an online petition and sending protest emails to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
By the end of the day, Amazon had quietly removed all whale products from Amazon Japan.
A key aspect of EIA’s campaign was the attention-grabbing 50-second campaign film [http://www.eia-international.org.php5-20.dfw1-1.websitetestlink.com/media-resources/videos?id=31427376] we distributed to help raise awareness of the issue and spur action.
The film was viewed thousands of times and shared widely around the internet via Facebook, Twitter, blogs and news sites.
EIA Visuals Specialist Paul Redman directed and edited the campaign film, and has prepared a special video blog in which Senior Campaigner Clare Perry and Press Officer Paul Newman talk about the creation of the film, the Amazon campaign, and where it goes next.

Check out http://www.eia-international.org/amazon-whale-meat-campaign-behind-the-scenes

GOVERNMENT HUSH-HUSH APPROACH OVER TRANSFER OF FOREST FACES PUBLIC STIR- PAKISTAN

The decision made by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government over leasing of around 81,000 hectares (58 percent owned by locals, 35 percent disputed area and 7 percent owned by government) of forest area for 40 years to a UK based company has attracted public outrage. Locals claim that the deal has been kept secret and has urged government to cancel the agreement.  As per the agreement, government would receive £12 million and 20 percent share from carbon trading.
8 February
bit.ly/z17m6C

VALUE OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IS TEN FOLD OF GDP IN BHUTAN

As per the initial estimate of value of ecosystem, Bhutan’s ecosystem is worth over Nu 700 billion per year which is ten times more than its GDP. The largest contributor is forest (93.8%) followed by cropland (3.7%), rivers, lakes and wetlands. Of the total benefits it is estimated that 53% were enjoyed by people outside Bhutan in the form of climate regulation and tourism and remaining 47% accrued within the country in the form of clean air, healthy soil, recreation and other values.

11 February

bit.ly/wEZIoj

2011: A YEAR OF GREEN- CHINA

In a bid to construct national ecological garden city, Lhasa afforested a total area of 16,667 hectares in 2011. Similarly, Chamdo city in eastern Tibet carried out several ecological construction projects in 2011 which includes management and protection of 1.2 million hectares of natural forest, forest construction over 3000 hectares, vegetation recovery in key areas, water conservation and soil conservation and construction of nature reserves.

7 February

bit.ly/zZBLLe

bit.ly/xQzGOM

ELEPHANT KILLED- INDIA

The carcass of an elephant was recovered near Kaziranga National Park. Poachers have been linked behind the killing as the trunk was missing. Meanwhile, in Himachal Pradesh state two forest guards fighting corruption charges for 31 years have been released on bail. They were accused of allowing illegal export of 44 pieces of timber logs.
11 February

THE PLASTIC ROAD- INDIA

Himachal Pradesh has built a 112 km long road by using plastic waste, the only state in North India to use plastic for road construction. During the construction, plastic was used in rain fed and damp areas to increase the resistance to water. However, state ban over usage of poly bags has affected the supply of plastic waste.
8 February
bit.ly/yDtVyo

DEFORESTATION IN LALITPUR- NEPAL

Deforestation is at its peak in community, private and national forests in southern area of Lalitpur District, central Nepal, but the forest authorities are taking no action despite of local complaints. Smuggled woods are thus transported to the capital without any intervention by security personal. Meanwhile, ban on tree felling has hit hard the lives of Raute community, the nomadic group, in Dang District, west Nepal, as they make their living by selling wooden utensils.
11, 12 February
Kantipur

KILLING OF ANIMALS- NEPAL

In Bajura District, west Nepal, illegal killing of birds and animals has increased and they are sold in local eateries by the poachers but the authorities have paid no heed to the situation. Similarly, over the last year wildlife poaching has intensified in Khotang District, east Nepal, as more than four dozen of porcupine and over 100 deer were reported to have been killed.
10, 13 February
Kantipur, The Himalayan Times

AMAZON.COM REMOVES WHALE PRODUCTS FROM JAPAN WEBSITE

LONDON, UK / WASHINGTON, DC: Internet giant Amazon.com appears to have removed all whale products from its wholly owned Japanese website overnight, following worldwide publicity that scores of whale products were offered for sale.

A new campaign launched yesterday by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Humane Society International (HSI) revealed that Amazon Japan not only sells products from endangered and protected whale species, but also products containing dangerous levels of mercury.

Worldwide publicity followed the release of the EIA report Amazon.com’s Unpalatable Profits and tens of thousands of people have taken action via Twitter, Facebook, HSI’s online petition, and sending protest emails to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

EIA Senior Campaigner Clare Perry said: “We welcome Amazon’s action to remove whale products from its Japanese website but urge Amazon to confirm it will enact a company-wide ban on the sale of all products derived from whales, dolphins or porpoises.”

Mark Jones, veterinarian and Executive Director of Humane Society International UK, said: “In just 24 hours, more than 35,000 HSI supporters have appealed to Amazon for a total ban on the sale of whale, dolphin and porpoise products. The public wants these animals protected rather than killed and sold for profit.”

AMAZON.COM PROFITS FROM SLAUGHTER OF WHALES

Internet giant urged to clean house and ban all cetacean products

LONDON: Internet marketplace giant Amazon.com is today called on to stop supporting commercial whaling by immediately and permanently banning the sale of all products from whales, dolphins and porpoises (collectively known as ’cetaceans’).

Amazon.com’s Unpalatable Profits, a new report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), launched in co-operation with Humane Society International, reveals that Amazon Japan, the wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon Inc, sells hundreds of cetacean food products.

In December 2011, 147 whale products were found for sale on Amazon Japan. The listed products included fin, sei, minke and Bryde’s whales, all protected by the International Whaling Commission’s moratorium on commercial whaling and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which forbids international trade. Despite this, several companies were selling endangered fin whale imported from Iceland.

Amazon Japan was also selling pilot whale and other whale or dolphin species from the infamous Taiji drive hunts, highlighted in the Oscar-winning film The Cove. (Image above)

EIA has released a hard-hitting 50-second campaign film – http://vimeo.com/31427376– urging consumers to tell Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to stop selling whales.

Amazon is selling threatened and endangered cetacean species that are protected by two international treaties,” said EIA Senior Campaigner Clare Perry. “By allowing vendors to sell whale products on its sites, it is effectively helping to prop up an unsustainable trade that should have been consigned to the history books long ago.”

EIA investigators purchased eight whale products from Amazon Japan in 2011, including canned whale meat, whale jerky, whale bacon and whale stew. Analysis revealed six of them to have mercury levels exceeding the Japanese national limit for mercury in seafood of 0.4 parts per million (ppm) and one had a staggering mercury level of 20ppm, about 50 times the safe limit.

“Amazon says ‘we're constantly looking for ways to further reduce our environmental impact’ – banning these harmful products is an easy way for Amazon to show genuine commitment to this principle, while protecting its customers,” added Perry.

One-third of the 147 products were not listed with a species name, contrary to the requirements of Japan’s labelling laws. Since many of these products originate from Taiji, where 10 times more dolphins are killed than whales, it is likely Amazon Japan is selling dolphin products mislabelled as ‘whale’.

Mark Jones, veterinarian and Executive Director of Humane Society International UK, said: “There is no humane way to kill whales, so the creatures slaughtered to produce the food products being sold by Amazon will have endured a bloody and painful death. Killing these remarkable giants of the sea for commercial gain is condemned by the majority of the world’s nations. As a global brand, Amazon must now act to protect both consumers from environmentally polluted products and cetaceans from the cruel exploitation of commercial whaling.”

Images from the EIA

Atlantic seamount becomes the first case added to international repository of ecologically or biologically significant marine areas

Montreal, 17 February 2012 – The Josephine Seamount, located in the Horse-shoe Seamount Group of the Atlantic Ocean has been added to the prototype online repository that scientifically describes ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs) (available at http://ebsa.cbd.int).

At the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, held in Nagoya, Japan in 2010, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) sets out a process to identify EBSAs based upon agreed scientific criteria.

The North-East Atlantic is a leading region for pro-active deep-sea marine conservation. In 2010 Ministers of OSPAR Commission Contracting Parties designated the world’s first network of High Seas Marine Protected Areas in the Wider Atlantic. In September 2011, the OSPAR Commission, together with the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission, organized the first regional EBSAs workshop, in collaboration with Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Josephine Seamount is the westernmost seamount of the Horse-shoe Seamount Group and is a possible stepping-stone for species travelling between European slopes and the slopes of oceanic islands such as Madeira and the Azores. Highly rated for its biological productivity the Josephine Seamount is part of the Atlantic deep-sea sub-region, where warm temperate waters support dense gorgonian corals and habitat-forming sponge aggregations which, whilst present in high densities are highly vulnerable and have slow recovery rates. Professor Ricardo Santos, of the University of the Azores, who was instrumental in ensuring that scientific information for the Josephine Seamount was available to the OSPAR Commission, explained that: “This is the first seamount discovered as a result of oceanic explorations in 1869, so it is extremely fitting that it becomes the first case of scientifically describing EBSAs.”

The online repository has been developed under a process managed by the Convention on Biological Diversity with the assistance of partners such as Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (IOC/UNESCO) and the Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative. 

The Josephine Seamount is one of six sites that are fully protected by the OSPAR Marine Protected Area designation, but such protection is not a prerequisite for describing EBSAs. Professor David Johnson, Executive Secretary of the OSPAR Commission explained that: “The scientific description of EBSAs represents a starting point for planning where conservation and sustainable use should be more risk-averse than in other areas.”

The majority of those areas identified as candidate EBSAs (areas meeting EBSA criteria based on scientific assessment by the workshop) for the North-East Atlantic are large areas within which States and competent intergovernmental organisations may take enhanced conservation and management measures in accordance with international law.

This scientific description of EBSAs by the workshop, as well as the prototype repository, will be considered by CBD Subsidiary Body on Scientific Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), at sixteenth meeting, to be held from 30 April to 5 May 2012, and at the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, in October 2012.

Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, the Executive Secretary to the Convention on Biological Diversity, said: “When fully developed, the EBSA Repository will allow scientific and technical information on areas and features of the marine environment, as well as the experience of applying EBSA criteria, to be shared. We welcome this important contribution by OSPAR to test the prototype system.”

Meeting this week the OSPAR Commission Biodiversity Committee welcomed the development of the CBD Prototype EBSAs Repository, as called for by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at its tenth meeting, and noted that scientific details of the five other OSPAR High Seas Marine Protected Areas would also be entered in the next weeks.

Macoun Marsh in Ottawa, Canada- Species seen this morning!

Chickadee friend

Goldfinches were common this morning.

About 20 juncos visited our feeders.

 Two male downy woodpeckers fought over a female.  This one is a male.

A robin stayed all winter with us!

Rosewood Robbery: The Case for Thailand to List Rosewood on CITES.

A briefing on illegal and unsustainable rosewood logging, the major threat to Thailand’s limited remaining forests, which calls on the Thai Government to unilaterally list domestic rosewood species on CITES Appendix III in 2012 with a zero quota, and to work with rosewood range states to list key Asian rosewood species on CITES Appendix II at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) to CITES in Bangkok, in March 2013.

You can read and download the full briefing at http://www.eia-international.org/rosewood-robbery-report

We Canada

We Canada serves as a voice for Canadians who believe sustainable development should be a priority for their country and for the international community. We want the government of Canada to commit to creating a sustainable future and green economy, and to be a leader on the global stage at the upcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Earth Summit 2012, Rio+20).

We Canada is an initiative of the Canadian Earth Summit Coalition, a self-organized, independent and informal civil society network of non-government, non-profit, academic and research organizations, international leaders in sustainability thinking, activists, cultural workers and individuals, working towards Canadian leadership at the Earth Summit 2012.The Coalition serves as a platform for sharing ideas and building strength for sustainability. We support a diversity of viewpoints and ideas. Partners maintain their independent programs, projects and political stances while promoting Canadian leadership at the Earth Summit 2012 and beyond. See our list of partners. Our not-for-profit group "bioidversitymatters" is an official partner of We Canada. 

Cyclone Thane in Auroville, India

The location of the 3rd International Youth Symposium for Biodiversity this October in Auroville, India was hit by a terrible cyclone.  Because of this sad event, the Third International Youth Symposium for Biodiversity will be cancelled at this time.  We wish the very best to those affected by this storm. 

Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias assumes helm at Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity

Montreal, 15 February 2012

Mr. Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias today began his tenure as the Executive Secretary to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the Secretariat’s offices in Montreal, Canada. 

Mr. Dias, a Brazilian national, brings many years of experience in policy-making and in coordinating the implementation of biodiversity policies, programmes and projects at the national and international level.  Deeply involved with the negotiations and implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity since its beginnings, he participated as a member of the Brazilian delegation in the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the Convention.

Previously the National Secretary for Biodiversity and Forests at the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, Mr. Dias was directly responsible for overseeing several multi-institution programmes and the work of four institutions attached to the Ministry.

Mr. Dias was previously a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility, Vice-President of the International Union of Biological Sciences, and Coordinator of the Steering Committee of the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network.

Trained as a scientist, he holds a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences from the University of Brasilia, with a Doctor of Philosophy in zoology from the University of Edinburgh. Born in 1953, Mr. Dias is married and has one child.

Mr. Dias succeeds Ahmed Djoghlaf, who had served as Executive Secretary since January 2006.

On assuming his post, Mr. Dias stated: “It gives me great pleasure to succeed those that have successfully led the Convention Secretariat since the beginning – Angela Cropper, Calestous Juma, Hamdallah Zedan and Ahmed Djoghlaf. If you ask what my three priorities are for the Convention, my answer is implementation, implementation and implementation.”

Mr. Dias begins his tenure following the strong success of the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, held in Nagoya, Japan, in October 2010. At that historic meeting, Governments approved a new Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 with its twenty Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Governments also agreed on the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya – Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

DECLINE IN MALARIA CASES- BHUTAN

According to Vector borne Disease Control Programme (VDCP) report, there has been a tremendous decrease in the cases of malaria infection in last 17 years from 40,000 in 1994 to 194 in 2011. Malaria is endemic in 7 districts of southern Bhutan which has 42 percent of the country’s total population.
5 February

http://www.kuenselonline.com/2011/?p=26441

WATCH OUT! POACHERS ON THE PROWL- INDIA

In Kaziranga National Park, a sub-adult Royal Bengal tigress carcass was found in the drain with its legs tied with rope. Post mortem report suggested that the beef found in the tigress stomach was poisoned with organophosphorus chemical which poachers used to kill the tigress. In another report, it has been revealed that poachers are moving out of national parks and targeting stray rhinos from Kaziranga.
5, 7 February

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=feb0512/at08

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120207/jsp/northeast/story_15102184.jsp

24,000 TREES TO BE AXED- NEPAL

The forest ministry has given a green signal to fell over 24,000 trees belonging to 42 community forests of Chitwan and Makwanpur districts, central Nepal. The deforestation drive is for the upcoming 220 KV transmission line project of Nepal Electricity Authority. 
5 February
Kantipur

GOVERNMENT EFFORT TO CURB TIMBER SMUGGLING PAYS OFF- NEPAL

Deforestation rate in a community forest near Nepal-China border in Rasuwa District, central Nepal, has eased off with timely intervention of Ministry of Home and Ministry of Foreign affairs as the authorities has asked their Chinese counterpart to check on the smuggled woods crossing the border.
2 February

Kantipur

After ivory, a legal rhino horn trade will only cause harm

(c) Environmental Investigation Agency

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is an international agreement signed by 175 governments, including one of the world’s major markets for illegal wildlife products – China.

The international trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn is forbidden under CITES and, after a brief respite from poaching during the 1980s and ’90s, populations of both species started to recover (some would say because of the international ban).

However, poaching has begun to steadily escalate once more across Africa. In 2002, over six tonnes of illegal ivory – the single largest haul since the 1989 ban was put in place – was seized in Singapore and marked the beginning of the continuing, and increasing, numbers of large seizures of illegal ivory, most of them destined for China and the Far East. South Africa, in particular, has seen an uncontrollable wave of poaching of rhino for their horns, believed to be the panacea for all manner of ailments (but without a shred scientific proof) in the Far East. In 2011, South Africa lost more than 440 rhino and the slaughter continues. This year, to date, we’re looking at one being taken every day.

Staggeringly, in some quarters, the argument is still being made that creating a legal trade in rhino horn is the answer to this appalling situation.

After several years of polarized discussion and debate, CITES in 2008 granted China approved buyer status in the controversial sale of stockpiled ivory from Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Proponents of sustainable utilization argue that a legalized, controlled trade in specimens of naturally deceased, managed and culled elephants can be used to flood a market and thereby lower demand, so reducing illegal trade and easing pressure on wild populations of endangered species.

Setting aside for a moment considerations that a ‘legal’ stream of ivory and rhino horn serves only to confuse consumers while also stimulating demand, for such a mechanism to work there must be stringent controls in place to regulate the trade, such as validating the source of any products, strong enforcement against illegal trade making poaching a high risk / low return activity, and transparent corruption-free management of market prices for legal products. China claimed it could implement “rigorous” regulations and controls against illegal trade and ensure no illegal ivory could enter the market.

Two years after the stockpile sale took place, EIA investigations in 2010 and 2011 revealed that, far from flooding the market with legal ivory to reduce demand, up to 90 per cent of ivory on sale came from illegal sources and prices of legal ivory had increased to as much as $7,000 per kilo. In effect, the results of EIA’s investigations show that instead of stemming the poaching by satisfying the demand, the sale of the stockpiles has simply fuelled the demand for illegal ivory. These findings have subsequently been supported by research and investigations conducted by independent consultant Esmond Martin and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

So, in a nutshell, the sale has only made matters worse: the demand in China remains high and growing, spurring massive increases in the poaching of elephants. The illegal ivory simply gets laundered onto the market under cover of the ‘legal’ ivory.

Turning to rhinos, the species that has already teetered on the brink of extinction once in the past 30 years. and is now in the throes of a new onslaught

The last serious rhino poaching crisis, in the 1980s and early ’90s, had a devastating effect on rhino populations in Africa and Asia but the current crisis has an added dimension not seen before – the involvement of organised criminal syndicates in countries which are neither range states nor major consumer markets. This suggests the demand for rhino horn is currently at an all-time high.

All manner of talks are underway to address this situation, but the killing continues and a country that prides itself on its wildlife resources, enforcement and anti-poaching is at a loss. So the solution being advanced to stop the poaching is … that’s right, to legalize trade. Unbelievable.

With China’s success in gaining approved ivory buyer status at CITES, talks are now taking place to discuss the possibility of introducing a similar mechanism for legalized trade in rhino horn along the line of the ‘successful’ ivory model.

Because the legalized ivory trade has, after all, been such a roaring success – but only for the illegal traders.

China again seems to be the principal market yet it has spectacularly failed to fulfill its promises and commitments; implementation of its ivory regulation and control system is, at best, dismal. If China cannot implement a control system designed specifically to address the problem (while at the same time satisfying demand), how on Earth can it even be considered as a suitable candidate for introducing a similar system for rhinos?

One area in which China has undoubtedly excelled is in winning agreement at CITES, convincing the parties it has the capacity and will to regulate legal wildlife trade, in particular of ivory, bears and farmed tigers, without detriment to wild populations.

(c) Environmental Investigation Agency

And yet the evidence speaks to the contrary. China has not remotely demonstrated adequate commitment or investment in the kind of enforcement required to end illegal trade, something which requires an intelligence-led, and inter-agency approach to tackling organised, international criminal syndicates.

Opening up trade has demonstrably not worked for elephants. Who could be so naïve or so willfully blind as to imagine it will work for rhinos?

Mary Rice
Executive Director
Environmental Investigation Agency

Wetlands are important

Wetlands are important to me because they allow you to learn about different animals and wildlife. They also get you to see nature in a way you can’t see when you look out the window. Wetlands  let you explore nature. you can have a lot of fun enjoying time finding species and observing wildlife.  

 by: Bianca (Ottawa, Canada)

Beauty and Magic of Biodiversity

A few years back (year of biodiversity), the Canadian Commission for UNESCO collaborated with a Montreal-based Circus (l’Arsenal) to involve students, particularly from disadvantaged schools, in a creative approach to biodiversity which culminated in their viewing of l’Arche, a circus show on the beauty and magic of biodiversity. http://www.arsenal.ca/en/news/busy-autumn-for-arsenal/

The circus troup is now confirmed to tour in the UK from Sept 20- Nov 4 and they are looking for an individual to accompany them in the tour to speak to the audience (youth target) before the show about environmental issues in order to help the audience maximize their experience and to internalize the issues presented.

We are looking for British citizens who may be interested to take part in this adventure.   I can assure that it would be an unforgettable experience.

World Wetlands Day- Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

Here are some wetland birds at Durrell:

Grey crowned crane

 

Blue crane chick

 

Black-winged stilt

Images by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

RETURN OF SNOW LEOPARD- PAKISTAN

A snow leopard has been spotted in Chitral forests after two years. According to the wildlife department, the big cat descended to the lower altitude due to heavy snowfall in high mountains and in search of food. Earlier, the villagers had installed bulbs around the village to ward off snow leopard. Also leopard killing was banned in the area but fearing its attack on livestock, the ban was lifted.
27 January
http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/snow-leopard-reemerges-in-chitral-forests.html

PADDY FIELDS TO TURN INTO BIRD SANCTUARY- INDIA

For almost a decade, farmers in South Sikkim have not been able to benefit from paddy cultivation due to crop depredation by peacock and wild boar from Kitam bird sanctuary. Considering this, the state forest department is all set to acquire about 1 hectare of paddy fields and convert it into bird sanctuary for which the acquired land will act as a buffer zone. Farmers have appreciated the move as they will be duly compensated.
30 January
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120130/jsp/siliguri/story_15067014.jsp

RAILWAY TRACK THROUGH ELEPHANT CORRIDOR- INDIA

Construction of new railway track is in full swing between New Mal and New Maynaguri. The track (4 km) passes through forestlands in Apalchand, Kathambari and the buffer zone of Gorumara National Park, the major elephant corridors for more than 150 elephants.
24 January
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-24/kolkata/30658586_1_gauge-conversion-elephants-forest-official

AWARENESS PROGRAMS TOP THE PRIORITY LIST FOR NGOs- NEPAL

According to Social Welfare Council (SWC), major chunk of donation funds are being spent on studies, workshops, seminars, trainings and campaigns. For various developmental projects in 2011 and 2010, the nation received NRS 3.062 billion and NRS 5.21 billion respectively but only NRS 582 million and NRS 1.1 billion were spent for physical developments. Interestingly, as per the SWC guidelines at least 60% of the total budget should be spent on physical development.
28 January

Republica

DEFORESTATION: POLITICS TAKES CENTRE STAGE, FOREST LOSING OUT- NEPAL

Excessive felling of trees by Community forest user groups in Dang District, West Nepal, and involvement of user groups in Chure denudation in Udaypur District, East Nepal, remains unchecked by District forest offices as the communities are backed by political parties. Meanwhile, user committees after receiving hush money from contractors, have allowed cutting of thousands of trees in Pyuthan District, West Nepal.  Amidst all these, Government of Nepal received NRS 4.45 billion for multi stakeholder forestry program, the first multi stakeholder project undertaken in Nepal’s forestry sector.
25, 26, 27 January
The Kathmandu Post, The Himalayan Times,
http://www.nepalnews.com/home/index.php/news/19/16185-switzerland-finland-uk-provide-rs-445-billion-to-support-nepals-forestry-sector.html

LOCAL HAMMERS CHURE CONSERVATION PROGRAM IN NEPAL

The President Chure Conservation Program has come to a standstill for past four months. Despite massive deforestation in Chure forest range, conservation program is of less interest to the locals and as a result, this years’ budget of NRS 6.2 million has been left unspent. Following the arrest of the chairman of the community forest, the locals have refused to support the program, whereas some locals themselves are involved in the smuggling of timber.

25 January

Republica

The postponement of the Second meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Intergovernmental Committee for the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing

With reference to notification 2012-22 of 3 February 2012 concerning the postponement of the Second meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Intergovernmental Committee for the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing, I wish to inform you that the meeting will be held on 2 6 July 2012 at the Vigyan Bhawan Convention Center in New Delhi, India. The capacity-building workshop on access and benefit-sharing will be held on 30 June – 1 July 2012 at the same venue.

With respect to registration for these meetings, please note that participants already registered will be automatically registered for the new dates and therefore do not need to register again. Those who had not yet registered for the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee and the capacity-building workshop are invited to do so by 30 March 2012.

For more details on the procedure for designating representatives for the meetings, please refer to notifications 2011-233 (Parties) and 2011-232 (International organizations and relevant stakeholders), available on the Secretariat’s website: http://www.cbd.int/notifications/.

Good news for tigers shows we’re on the right path

February 4, 2012
It can be a long week/month/year/decade (delete as appropriate) when you’re constantly confronted with bad news and the terrible things that we are doing to life on this planet. It can often seem like a never-ending uphill battle. And, well, that’s what it is, but every now and again you get some news that gives you a glimmer of hope.

Since late December, there has been a flurry of positive news coming from different parts of India, home to the world’s largest remaining population of wild tigers. Where they are being well protected, where there is a good relationship between forest officials, scientists and NGOs, tigers are breeding and, because of limitations on carrying capacity, tigers are spilling out of protected areas, returning to the forests from which they once vanished and taking up residence rather than just being transient.

News of cubs in Kudremukh National Park, in Karnataka, which has historically been ravaged by iron ore mining, and of 25 tigers residing in the Sathyamangalam forests of Tamil Nadu is further testimony to the emergence of the southern states as tiger conservation champions.

That said, news of cubs galore in Kanha Tiger Reserve (21-23 cubs) and Pench Tiger Reserve (21 cubs) in Madhya Pradesh, and even in Panna Tiger Reserve where the translocated tigers have given birth to seven cubs, suggests the battle for the title of The Tiger State is not over yet.

Further north, tigers have returned to the Nandhor Valley of Uttarakhand, while Assam is home to 143 tigers, 118 in Kaziranga National Park alone – the highest tiger population density in the country.

To be sure, things are far from perfect. Dispersing and transient tigers leave the protected areas to face forests destroyed for coal, diamonds, sandstone, iron ore and bauxite. Roads, dams and river-linking projects carve up the forest corridors. With forest loss comes the decline in natural prey and the inevitable slide into conflict with people and livestock. Poaching in India the feed the illegal trade in China continues. So far this year, there have been four tiger and nine leopard poaching/trade incidents reported. None of us can take our foot off the gas when it comes to saving tigers.

But what the good news from India tells us is that the tiger’s decline is not an irreversible situation; that with the right set of circumstances, tiger populations can recover, and with them the watershed forests that all our futures depend on. Now is the time to invest in progressing the strategies that are paying dividends (cubs), to spread the word of what works and what doesn’t, to open up the system of governance so that independent scientists, NGOs and civil society can work with the government officials.

See http://www.eia-international.org/good-news-for-tigers-shows-were-on-the-right-path

INDONESIA- MASSIVE PLANTATION FIRM WILL COMBINE ASSETS

The Indonesian government plans to create a massive plantation firm next month when it will combine the assets of state-owned rubber and palm oil companies, reports Reuters.

BIODIVERSITY MENTORSHIP PROGRAM #3- OTTAWA, CANADA

THEME: POLITICS AND BIODIVERSITY

1. Pauline Thereot (Imagineaction, Canadian Teachers Federation)

2. Brigitte Champaigne-Klassen (Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots)

3. Fred Sherman (2011 PC Candidate for Ottawa, Vanier)

4.Katherine Hobbs (City Councillor - Kitchissippi Ward of Ottawa)

5. Elizabeth Kilvert (Environment Canada)

6. Guiliano Reis (Professor of Education, University of Ottawa)

We welcomed youth to discuss biodiversity issues with the participating community leaders.  To date, about 60 youth from 14 schools have been involved in this community program. 

INTERNATIONAL WETLANDS DAY

Grade 6 students from St-Laurent Academy in Ottawa, Canada enjoy some marsh time. 

I am very thankful that we have the Macoun Marsh as part of our class so we can see all the different wildlife and be outside.  Shaylyn 

A message from Mr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the CBD, on the occasion of the World Wetlands Day – 2 February 2012.

Today we celebrate World Wetlands Day to raise awareness of these extremely valuable ecosystems that continue to be among the most threatened. We now recognize that wetlands provide many benefits to people, including that wetlands and their wildlife are a key part of the global tourism and cultural travel experience. From the stark beauty of Arctic lakes to breath-taking experiences of coral reefs, wetlands provide magnificent landscapes that tourists can appreciate. Behind the beautiful vistas and scenes, wetlands also underpin many services that tourists need, such as the availability of clean water, the recycling of wastes and protection from extreme weather events.

Tourism represents both a threat and an opportunity to wetlands. Unsustainable tourism has been called a “devourer of landscapes” for the extensive changes it causes in land use and to local economies and cultures. At the same time, if planned and implemented according to best practices, it can provide political and financial support for conservation and sustainable (or wise) use of wetlands and related ecosystem services.

Sustainable tourism means putting the principles of sustainable development into practice by ensuring that tourism protects the environment, conserves biodiversity, respects local communities and their cultural heritage and values, and provides equitable socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders, including by contributing to poverty alleviation.

With the ambitious goal (defined through Aichi target 11) of achieving by 2020, through ecologically representative systems of protected areas, the effective conservation of 17 per cent of the world’s terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 per cent of marine and coastal areas (many of which are wetlands), and with tourism already being the largest global market-based contributor to park agencies’ budgets, tourism is slated to play a larger role in the implementation of both the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Ramsar Convention.

In the United States of America, for example, in 2006 more than 31 per cent of adults fed, photographed and observed wildlife, spending US$ 45 billion in the process; 1.5 million waterfowl hunters have funded conservation projects and generated a total of US$ 50 billion annually in economic activity; more than 35 million Americans take part in recreational fishing, almost all of it in wetlands, spending more than US $37 billion each year. The benefits of wetland tourism are not limited to rural or remote areas: some 200,000 visitors per year enjoy the 40-hectare London Wetland Centre alongside the River Thames, right in the heart of one of the world’s major cities. In developing countries, wetlands tourism is equally important: emblematic examples include the Okavango Delta in Botswana, the African Great Lakes, the Pantanal/Chaco region in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay (the world’s largest Ramsar site), the Tonle Sap in Cambodia – one of Asia's largest freshwater lakes, and most coral reefs. Tourism of some sort is invariably associated with most wetlands, large to small, and in most rural and urban areas throughout the world.

In 2010, the number of international tourists reached 940 million, and this is forecast to grow to around 1.6 billion by 2020. This economic activity generated by travel and tourism, also associated with wetlands, represents around 5 per cent of global GDP and up to one in every eight of the world’s jobs. International tourism expenditure linked to wetlands can be estimated at around US$ 925 billion each year, and this does not include the vast numbers of domestic tourists (thought to represent up to seven times the volume of international arrivals) or visitors who do not stay overnight. Economic values of wetlands for tourism are therefore huge.

Sustainable wetlands tourism is about effective partnerships at all levels. Efforts towards this will be enhanced through guidance to be discussed at the eleventh meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands to be held in Bucharest from 6 to 13 July 2012. The Convention on Biological Diversity, through our joint work programme with the Ramsar 3  Convention, is pleased to have contributed to this process through its own general guidance on biodiversity and tourism. The efforts of the Ramsar Convention will also be enhanced through its recent memorandum of understanding with the United Nations World Tourism Organization and both of these are among 27 international agencies, organizations and conventions that signed up to cooperate on the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, in November 2011 in Montreal.

Sustainable tourism can bring strong political attention and economic opportunities to securing wetland wise use and the maintenance of key socio-economic wetland values, both in Ramsar Sites and in other wetlands globally. We join the world community in celebrating today in recognition of the importance of wetlands and tourism and commit to continuing our partnership efforts to achieve sustainability and find the future we want.