Prince Charles-Again: “Preserve the Rainforests!”

Page last updated at 15:31 GMT, Thursday, 15 May 2008 16:31 UK

Charles urges forest logging halt

Prince Charles said there needed to be rewards for preserving the rainforest

The halting of logging in the world’s rainforests is the single greatest solution to climate change, Prince Charles has said.

He called for a mechanism to be devised to pay poor countries to prevent them felling their rainforests.

The prince told the BBC that the forests provided the earth’s “air conditioning system”.

He said it was “crazy” the rainforests were worth more “dead than alive” to some of the world’s poorest people.

The world’s forests store carbon in their wood and in their soils.

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US Using Food Crisis To Boost Bio-Engineered Crops

Published on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 by The Chicago Tribune
US Using Food Crisis To Boost Bio-Engineered Crops
by Stephen J. Hedges

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration has slipped a controversial ingredient into the $770 million aid package it recently proposed to ease the world food crisis, adding language that would promote the use of genetically modified crops in food-deprived countries.0514 03 1

The value of genetically modified, or bio-engineered, food is an intensely disputed issue in the U.S. and in Europe, where many countries have banned foods made from genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

Proponents say that GMO crops can result in higher yields from plants that are hardier in harsh climates, like those found in hungry African nations.

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Southeast Asian Rainforests, Black-Market Timber, U.S. Consumption

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“Mekong forests are also home to a range of endangered animals,
including the clouded leopard, tiger, and Malayan sun bear.”
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NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/NEWS

U.S. Major Importer of Illegal Asian Timber, Study Says
Stefan Lovgren for National Geographic News
May 13, 2008

Vietnam has become a hub for processing Asia’s
illegally logged timber, much of which is sold in
the United States as outdoor furniture,
conservationists say.

In a report released in March, the U.K.-based
nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency
(EIA) and its Indonesian partner Telapak warned
that the illegal timber trade is threatening some
of the last intact forests in Southeast Asia,
especially in Laos.

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Wildfires: Cost of Building Homes in Harm’s Way

As the climate warms, there will be more, larger, hotter forest fires…&
they won’t distinguish between public & private lands…

ASW

—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: Cost of building homes in harm’s way
From: “Lance Olsen” <lance@wildrockies.org>
Date: Wed, May 14, 2008 10:26 am
To: “cmcr-outreach” <cmcr-outreach@vortex.wildrockies.org>
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“Big price to protect homes

“Suppressing wildfires in the wilderness-urban
interface accounts for 85 percent of firefighting
costs in the United States, according to the
report.”
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The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 05/14/2008 12:16:43 AM MDT

Growing focus on fires leaves other
Forest Service programs withering
By Steve Lipsher

The U.S. Forest Service plans to spend $1.9
billion – nearly half of its annual budget – to
prevent and fight wildfires this summer.

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