Suchergebnisse

[Extract] In the midst of its worst fire crisis in living memory, the Indonesian government is taking a leap backward on forest protection. The recently signed Council of Palm Oil Producing Nations between Indonesia and Malaysia, signed at the weekend in Kuala Lumpur, will attempt to wind back palm oil companies' pledges to end deforestation.

Research during the past decade in the wet tropics region of Queensland has
yielded important insights into the responses of rainforest mammals to habitat
fragmentation. These findings are synthesised by assessing key processes in
fragmented landscapes, such as nonrandom deforestation patterns, edge effects,
dramatic shifts in predator assemblages, and the kinetics of local extinction.
Studies aimed at identifying ecological traits that affect the vulnerability
of mammal populations in fragmented forests are also reviewed. Collectively,
these investigations suggest that the composition and dynamics of fragment
biotas are strongly influenced by edge effects and by the matrix of modified
habitats surrounding fragments. Some implications of these findings for the
management of fragmented landscapes are considered.

Almost overnight, Jokowi has transformed from an environmental good-guy — someone who's battled destructive wildfires and noxious haze, tried to slow palm oil expansion and promoted several other eco-smart measures — into a nationalistic mouthpiece for the oil palm industry. Let's hope this 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' transformation of Jokowi is temporary — a kind of fleeting election madness that overtakes many politicians in the heat of battle. If not, Indonesia's forests and the endangered species living in them will be at even more risk.

Brazil's environmental impact assessment system is not yet capable of coping with the challenge presented by the pluri-annual plans that have been the means of organizing government priorities since 1996. It is hoped that this challenge results in strengthening of the system. Generic problems with the licensing process include stimulation of a lobby in favor of construction before decisions are made on the advisability of the projects, the "dragging effect" of third parties whereby economic activity is attracted to the infrastructure but escapes the environmental impact assessment system, a tendency for consulting firms to produce favorable reports, a bureaucratic emphasis on the existence of steps such as the submission of reports and the holding of public hearings without regard to the content of what is said, and the inability to take account of the chain of events unleashed when a given project is undertaken. The example of the pluri-annual plans from Brazil in Action (1996-1999) up to the current PAC-2 [Program for the Acceleration of Growth-2] (2012-2015) makes clear the need to rethink how major development decisions are made, and to reconsider a number of the plan's component projects.

Data from 152 plots (0·8 ha) and 659 small quadrats (0·04 ha)
were used to assess rooting activity by feral pigs in forest communities in
north Queensland. Study sites spanned the rainforest–sclerophyll-forest
gradient along the western margin of the wet tropics region. Detailed
floristic, physiognomic and edaphic data were recorded for each plot and used
to develop a predictive model of pig activity in these habitats.
The most striking result was that rooting activity varied markedly among
different forest types. Wet sclerophyll forests consistently had the greatest
area disturbed, followed by mesic and dry sclerophyll forests. Both rainforest
and rainforest-invaded sclerophyll forests had relatively low activity levels.
There were some differences in rooting activity among different geographic
regions, but few effects of local topography, soil type or proximity to water.
A mathematical model was developed to predict the ecological associations of
pig rooting activity, using generalised linear modeling. Pig rooting was
associated with certain attributes of wet sclerophyll forests and with slopes
and ridge tops, but the model had limited effectiveness, with fitted values
explaining 16% of the actual variation in rooting activity. This may
have resulted because microhabitat preferences of pigs varied among different
forest types and seasons. We suggest that pigs could be consuming fungal
fruit-bodies in sclerophyll forests, and if so they may compete for food with
some native, mycophagous mammals.

The inexorable expansion of oil palm plantations has been a major driver of biodiversity loss in the tropics. This is particularly evident in Malaysia and Indonesia, where the majority of the world's oil palm is cultivated. In Latin America oil palm acreage has also been steadily increasing, especially in countries such as Colombia, the largest producer by far. However, information on the biological implications of rapid land conversion to oil palm in the region remains scarce. Here, we review the state of knowledge about the impacts of oil palm on biodiversity in Colombia. We also discuss the conservation strategies that have been implemented in the country, and propose research that we need to develop best management practices. The vast majority of research has focused on biotechnology, soils, biological pest control, carbon stock and reduction of greenhouse gases emission, but research on biodiversity is very scarce, or is not published yet. However, important investment and research on this topic are being developed. The most threatened ecosystems are the savannas in the Orinoquia region, where most of the expansion is predicted. The demands for green markets and certification are slowly encouraging oil palm corporations to mitigate their 'biological footprint'. However, applied research on the possible impacts of oil palm on biodiversity are urgently needed to support conservation efforts in the oil-palm-dominated landscapes of Colombia, along with commitments by the government and companies to adopt the resulting recommendations.

Road development in tropical forest landscapes is contentious. Local preferences are often subordinated to global economic and environmental concerns. Opportunities to seek solutions based on local context are rare. We examined local perspectives on road development within Cambodia's Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary to explore opportunities for optimizing conservation and development outcomes. We conducted household surveys to document the perceived benefits and risks of road development. We found that in the sanctuary, road rehabilitation may accelerate transitions to intensified agriculture and diversified, off-farm incomes. All households prefer good roads and poorer households prioritize road development over other village infrastructure. Households perceive the most prominent benefit of roads to be access to hospital. Local government authorities are responsible for controlling land use and conversion within village boundaries and are therefore highly influential in determining the social and environmental outcomes of roads. Strategies to mitigate environmental risks of roads without constraining development benefits must focus on improving local capacity for decision-making and transparency. Local institutions in tropical forest landscapes must have greater control over development benefits if they are to reinvest assets to achieve conservation success.

Since 1996 the planning of the Brazilian Government's investment has been organized into four-year plans: Brazil in Action (1996-1999), Advance Brazil (2000- 2003), PPA [Multi-Annual Plan] (2004-2007), PAC [Program for the Acceleration of Growth] (2008-2011), and PAC-2 (2012-2015). Each plan has included a long list of roads, dams and other large infrastructure projects in the Amazon. Several of these projects have been included in a number of plans because economic constraints have prevented the completion of the projects at the pace initially imagined. This is the case with projects such as the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam and the BR-163 (Cuiabá-Santarém) and BR- 319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) Highways. These delayed projects are now either under construction or about to start. Models have been developed by different groups to predict the future consequences if projects such as these are undertaken. Different models capture different aspects of the problem, and many of them indicate large increases in deforestation and degradation with serious environmental and social implications. One of the models takes as a point of departure the assumption that roads would have negligible or even beneficial effects on total deforestation, but this contradicts what is observed in the real world.