TIMBER SMUGGLERS WON’T HEED CHINA’S VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES

LONDON: Massive flows of illegal timber stolen from forests around the world will not be stemmed by voluntary industry guidelines currently being developed by the Chinese Government, environmentalists have warned.

 

In formal comments recently submitted to the Chinese Government and published today, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has recommended the guidelines be replaced with a principled and legally enforceable ban on illegal timber trade into and within China.

 

EIA’s comments were made in response to draft “Guidelines for Overseas Sustainable Forest Products Trade and Investment by Chinese Enterprises”, issued by China’s State Forestry Administration (SFA).

 

In recent years, EIA has published a series of damning investigative reports exposing the methods and scale of illegal logging and timber smuggling driven by Chinese timber companies around the world.

 

Jago Wadley, EIA Forest Campaigner, said: “As the world’s biggest importer of illegal wood, and in light of extensive irrefutable evidence that Chinese companies are complicit in driving destructive illegal logging and timber smuggling, China needs to move beyond unenforceable voluntary guidelines and take unequivocal actions to prohibit illegal timber.”

 

The EIA report First Class Crisis – published in July – shows how timber smuggling for the Chinese market has led to Mozambique suffering a 93 per cent illegal logging rate and tax losses of US$146 million in what is the world’s second least-developed nation. It is now China’s biggest African timber supplier.

In June, the EIA briefing Myanmar’s Rosewood Crisis revealed how rampant demand for luxury furniture had transformed Myanmar into China’s biggest rosewood supplier worldwide, with the likely consequence of two species becoming commercially, if not actually, extinct in the very near future.

 

And May’s EIA report Routes of Extinction documented how Chinese demand for illegal luxury Siamese rosewood has sparked a violent crime wave resulting in the deaths of hundreds of forest rangers and loggers while pushing the species to the brink extinction throughout the Mekong.

 

The December 2012 EIA report Appetite for Destruction estimated that China imported at least 18.5 million cubic metres (m³) of illegal timber in 2011 – enough to fill the Beijing Olympics’ Bird’s Nest stadium more than six times over. 

 

In January 2013, China’s biggest timber trade federation, the CTWPDA, urged the Chinese Government to ignore EIA’s calls for principled legal reforms. EIA is concerned the association has promoted the adoption of the voluntary guidelines.

 

“With Chinese Government officials having already indicated that a prohibition on illegal timber will eventually be instituted, any delay for more voluntary measures would merely perpetuate forest crime and undermine legitimate traders”, added Wadley.

 

Depending on your point of view, zoos are either sanctuaries of education and conservation or unnecessary prisons for our entertainment.

Mongoose lemur (Eulemur mongoz) with an itchy nose!

 Most wild animals require specific habitats and diets, and even the best zoos will find it near impossible to replicate the conditions of the wild. How do we replicate the open sky for a bald eagle?

Many animals have been seen to have developed ‘Zoochosis:’ a term which refers to stress behaviour exhibited by zoo animals. This can include obsessive grooming by big cats, or repetitive pacing movements. This stress is believed to be caused by the presence of the public, lack of freedom, and inadequate cages.

 

Zoos enable endangered animals to be protected from predators, and humans who hunt animals for commodities such as fur and medicines. 

 With the recent extinction of the Pinta giant tortoise, conservationists need to be creative to protect all life. Some species are so rare that they are only seen every few years. The Asian unicorn or saola has only been seen 4 times since it was discovered in 1992. (Image taken at the Darwin Station- Galapagos 2013)

Zoos have an important role in educating the public; helping them to appreciate wild animals up close.  What are your thoughts? 

Discover how Dayna Noltie, Meds 2017, is engaging young people with biodiversity preservation

I’ve been working on raising awareness about biodiversity among young people since I was in high school – preserving biodiversity is crucial for the future because it maintains healthy ecosystems, provides goods and services, is of cultural importance to indigenous peoples, and for many other reasons.

I was incredibly excited to have the opportunity to attend the Working Group on the Review of Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity, held June 16-20 in Montreal this summer.

The Convention on Biological Diversity is a United Nations convention that aims to stop the loss of biodiversity and raise awareness about it. The Working Group on Review of Implementation is a weeklong meeting at which parties review their progress, propose text on how to implement the goals of the Convention better, and negotiate the text.

I participated through the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, which is the official platform for youth participation at the Convention, along with other young people from Germany, Brazil, India, and Ghana. I was a founding member of this network (officially started in August 2012), and working on its growth and progress has been both difficult at times and rewarding. This is the first time a youth delegation has participated at this working group, so it was a milestone for us!

A big aspect of our participation at the working group was making interventions. An intervention is basically a speech a stakeholder group (such as youth, women, or non-governmental organizations) can make, if invited to do so by the chair of the meeting, on the text being negotiated. It might include broad recommendations about what parties to the Convention (countries) should include in the text, or paragraphs the stakeholder group wants inserted in the text. I made interventions with my colleague from Germany during discussions on cooperation between environmental conventions and engagement of stakeholder groups.

We also met with the Executive Secretary of the Convention to discuss progress that has been made by the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, and received his recommendations on our future direction and how to continue growing the network.

We were excited to share that the Network now represents over 300,000 young people through both individual and organization members! We also held a side event (basically an hour long presentation held during the lunch time of the negotiations) about civil society participation in the Convention, which I facilitated.

Biodiversity is vital to the health of people because of the goods and services it provides through ecosystems, the potential for discovery of novel medicines, making beautiful spaces for exercising, purifying the air, and lots of other reasons!

As I progress through medical school, I hope to further integrate and grow my knowledge of biodiversity with my knowledge of medicine, and continue advocating both for young people to have a voice in international negotiations about biodiversity and for the loss of biodiversity to be stopped.

I believe through young people around the world working together, we can protect this vital aspect of our planet and create a healthy future for ourselves and generations to come.

-Dayna Noltie, Meds 2017

Rio Conventions Pavilion, COP 12

The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in consultation with the Secretariats of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), will convene the Rio Conventions Pavilion at the margins of the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD (COP 12) to be held from 6 to 17 October 2014 in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea.

With the kind support of the host Government, the Rio Conventions Pavilion will provide opportunities for Parties and organizations to highlight activities linking biodiversity conservation, sustainable land management and climate change mitigation and adaptation, especially at national and sub-national levels.

The Rio Conventions Pavilion contributes to enhancing awareness-raising, information-sharing and outreach in the framework of the Rio Conventions (CBD COP Decision IX/16) and to strengthening the collaboration between the Rio Conventions (UN General Assembly Resolution 64/203 of (14 December 2009).

The text of this notification is also available on the CBD website at: http://www.cbd.int/doc/notifications/2014/ntf-2014-104-RioPavilion-en.doc

Loggerhead Shrike- CANADA

The Loggerhead Shrike is well adapted to actively grazed pastures.  They were common during the early years of small farms between 1850 and 1940.  Since modern industrial farming began their numbers have fallen.  The future of this species remains uncertain.  Image taken at the Canadian Museum of Nature.

GYBN delegation to COP12

To all members of GYBN,

 We would like to remind you that the deadline for the submission of applications for the GYBN delegation to COP12 is going to expire on August 15. You still have nine days left to apply – don’t miss this opportunity!

GYBN Steering Committee

www.gybn.org

www.facebook.com/thegybn
https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/gybn

An amazing weird plant- Canada

An amazing weird plant seen today in Gatineau Park, Quebec! Indian Pipe, also known as “Corpse Plant,” is one of the easiest plants to recognize. Unlike most plants, Indian Pipe doesn’t have chlorophyll, the stuff that makes plants green. Indian Pipe subsists on a fungus that gains nutrients from a tree. It is a parasite of both the fungus and the tree. Now that is weird!