Island Travel Vidoes

More From Atlanta

OK .. EAST OWNS the West. The East beat the West tonight 8 to 7, and even though Carolina Hurricanes only sent one player to the game (Eric Staal), he WON MVP of the Game. ITS STAAL GOOD !!! Way to go Eric and way to go East, winning both nights. Next year, the NHL All-Stars game in Montreal. Think snow and cold and Canadian hospitality.

So has the hotel improved? No way. Noise all night. No sleep. This Marriott is the PITS .. avoid it. The room service wait time is 45 minutes to an hour for a salad, and there is a 20% service charge added. Not worth the $144 per night. Oh well …

Walked to Underground Atlanta this afternoon. Atlanta is a real ghost town in the business district, and Underground continues to suffer because of that. I have been visting underground since my early teens, and it should be such a great entertainment magnet for the city. How bad has it gotten. Let’s put it this way … they now have a Dollar Store in Underground Atlanta. Enough said.

I learned something … Atlanta was originally called Thrasherville. I didn’t know that. I mistakeningly thought that might be where the local hockey team - the “Atlanta Thrashers” - got there name. I was wrong. The team chose their name from one of the indigenous birds. In fact, the three native sports team all chose the names of local birds … the Atlanta Hawks (NBA); the Atlanta Falcons (NFL) and the Atlanta Thrashers (NFL). Again, I never thought about that.

So what was special about the Phlips Arena. Well, being terribly transparent … the “Blue Crew” … these girls are AWESOME. And even better … there are the Ice Girls. The Hurricanes (my home team) has the Storm Squad - and they rock - but we have the regular RBC maintenance guys cleaning the ice. In Atlanta, they have the Ice Girls … six girls from the Blue crew that rotate the job. WAY TO GO. Almost enough to make you a Thrasher Fan (well, almost 

So that is about it. Visiting Atlanta. Stay away from the Atlanta Marriott. Use Marta - it is the best way of getting around. Each ride costs $1.75. Beware … you HAVE to buy a reuseable fare card. That card costs you .50 cents. That is a one time charge, and its rechargeable. But still, no where have I ever seen a transit system charge separately for the fare card. What to see: 1) CNN Center; 2) World of Coca-cola; 3) Georgia Aquarium; 4) Centennial Park; 5) Underground; 6) Stone Mountain. Worth a trip. And oh yes … Delta Airlines has a wonderful museum at Hartsfield. Call ahead and let them know you are coming as they need to pre-clear you for security (you will be on the tarmac at some point). Its back to Raleigh tomorrow morning. Cheers.

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drew — January 26, 2008, 11:39 pm

Greetings from Atlanta

Wow … 14 years ago I lived in Atlanta. Today I am returning for a weekend at the NHL All-Stars game. We are staying at the Marriott Atlanta on Spring street (not the larger Marquis). This is newly renovated … and I strongly believe they forgot to put back the sound proofing back in the walls. This is absolutely one of the noisest up-scale hotels I have ever stayed in. I would expect this from a Super8, but not from a full price hotel. Bummer. And oh yes, the room smells of paint. Lucky me. On the other hand, the games are at Philips arena, which is very nice, especially when compared to our rather utilitarian RBC center. My son thought the escallator at Peachtree Center Marta station was cool; it is reported to be the longest escalator in the southeast; according to the web, the longest in the United States is at the Wheaton Station of the Washington Metro. We rode that a number of years ago. The problem with downtown Atlanta always has been … what to do. There are only so many times you can walk through the CNN Center or the World of Coca-Cola. Amazingly, we have been pan-handled more times in Atlanta in one day that an entire week in New York. No wonder no one wants to go downtown. In any case … the East beat the West in the Skills Competition. That is a good thing. We’ll see how the actual game goes tomorrow.

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drew — , 11:25 pm

Fire at the Monte Carlo

I was saddened to see the fire at the Monte Carlo hotel in Las Vegas yesterday. While there were no serious injuries, and the damage looks largely cosmetic, nonetheless it saddened me to see the dark smoke and the dark charring on the exterior. The Monte Carlo was the very first hotel I stayed in on my very first trip to Las Vegas. It’s a nice, well maintained hotel with no particular theme. It was built in the late nineties (1996) just before the mega-theme hotels went up. I have never gone back to stay there, as it just never really had a compelling value proposition over other hotels on the strip, but I always visit the Buffet - which is one of the best buffet values on the strip, and I enjoy Lance Burton’s show. The casino is very pleasant as well - on the quiet side which is not always a bad thing. But whether I choose to stay there or not, I hated to see the fire. I hope the damage can be repaired quickly, and the hotel reopens soon. The last I saw was the hotel would need extensive work on the roofline before being permitted to reopen. I haven’t seen any estimates on how long that might take.

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drew — , 11:11 pm

And they actually Paid someone to figure this out

The irrational never ceases to amaze me … flew a Delta MD80 from Raleigh to Atlanta today. I kid you not, the row numbers of the left side of the aircraft are different from the opposite one on the right hand side. We were sitting in 20D & 20E. I looked across the aisle, and it was 21A, B and C. These rows are not offset; they are absolutely aligned. I can’t wait for someone to explain to me who came up with this idea. As the flight attendant noted … only a “man” could have come up with such a thing 

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drew — January 20, 2008, 5:38 pm

Vegas … April 2008

The next few posts are all about Vegas in April 2008. As you will see, things change. Some better, some just sad … others for the worst.

Some properties remain hot - Belaggio was hopping on a Thursday night - and some are dead, like the Monte Carlo (all signs of the recent fire are gone, at least from the facade.) The buffet at the Monte Carlo remains one of my favorites - I hit it twice this week. Monte Carlo is a nice, quiet property - but does little to really distingush itself. Oh well, enjoy the posts that follow. More from Vegas in July when I am back again. Cheers.

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Russia: Initiatives

    


The Russian Forest News, in English, offers an insider's view on the current debates on the new Russian Forest Code, the conditions of the Russian forests, and perspectives for investment in the wood processing sector. Updated several times a week.

Multi-stakeholder Partnership in Karelia to Support CertificationIn Russia, WRI has partnered with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and a regional environmental NGO, SPOK, to convene a multi-stakeholder partnership to map areas at risk for poor and illegal practices.

Beginning in the Republic of Karelia, in northern European Russia, the partnership has set out to initiate a process that aims to help forest industry and investors manage risk all across Russia and leverage market incentives for improvement of forestry practices.

The kick-off meeting for the pilot project took place in Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Republic of Karelia, on April 19, 2007. A Working Group was formed which includes the forest industry (Segezha, Swedwood, IKEA, Stora Enso, UPM Kymmene, Metsäliitto, VAPO, and others), certifiers (NEPCon), environmental groups (SPOK, Greenpeace Russia, WWF Russia, Transparent World, and others), regional authorities (Ministry for Industry and Natural Resources, State Forest Committee of Karelia, Karelian State Forest Inventory Enterprise), and scientists (Karelian Forest Research Institute, University of Petrozavodsk).

In the meeting resolution, all participants agreed that

1) the absence of accurate information about risks for illegal and controversial logging has a negative effect on the forest sector; and that
2) decisions made by purchasers, producers, and investors that are not based on accurate information may have negative social and economic consequences for forest-dependent regions, such as Karelia.

Based on these shared principles, the partnership set out to achieve two goals: to make a risk map for Karelia, and to develop a method that can be replicated in other regions of Russia and, possibly, abroad.

The project's strategy is to develop and test indicators of the risk of encountering illegal/controversial wood; and to create a map of low-risk and high-risk areas in Karelia. The project will be led by a multi-stakeholder Project Council which has been elected by the Working Group, with WRI as an ex officio member. The local secretariat in Karelia is led by Dr. Alexander Markovskiy, who is also the director of SPOK.

Draft maps, which will be endorsed by FSC Russia, are scheduled for review by the end of 2007. The maps will help FSC and other certification systems, such as PEFC, protect their labels from irresponsibly harvested wood, and consumers from buying illegally logged products.

Carbon assessment for RussiaThis report represents the culmination of a joint effort by Russian and American scientists, nongovernmental organizations, and U.S. organizations to assess the forest carbon situation in Russia and to make the data available to researchers and policy makers. It was drafted in English on the basis of a longer technical report tentatively titled "Carbon Budget and Climate Mitigation Potential for the Russian Forest and Land Use Sector," which was translated from Russian. Both reports will be published in English and Russian versions - this report as a WRI report and the longer technical report by the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The importance of the Russian forest estate to the global carbon cycle is widely recognized. Russian forests are estimated to contain 776 million hectares of forestland, or nearly 23% of the total forestland in the world, providing one of the largest land-based carbon storage.

Historically, policy makers and scientists outside of Russia have had little access to data and information on the forest resources of Russia. The State Forest Fund Account (SFFA) collects and assembles forestry data since the 1960s and makes it available to the Russian speaking community from the Ministry of Natural Resources.

In light of discussions to adopt carbon credits and trading systems, it is important to verify the credibility of the Russian national forestry data. The report compares SFFA data to independent information from the Nothern Eurasia Ecosystem map based on data from the VEGETATION system on-board the French Satellite, SPOT. Then, bottom-up and top-down analyses are used to assess the current size of the Russian carbon sink, potential sequestration in the future, and options for mitigation projects in Russia to contribute to solving the global warming problem.

The estimates in this report indicate that above-ground forest biomass contains approximately 35.1 Billion Tones Carbon Equivalents.

Global Forest Watch is currently working with its Russian colleagues to write a carbon assessment of land use and land use change in Russian and English. The goal is to make information available on the carbon budget of the Russian land-use sector. This report will be presented in an easy-to-understand format for anyone not intimately acquainted with the Russian land-use sector and the way that data is produced. 

Supporting Russian Forestry Education

With generous support of IKEA, GFW is working with a local Siberian NGO Siberian Environmental Center (SEC) to establish forestry education in Russian high schools. There are three main directions of this work: 1) Creating a network of tree nurseries associated with high schools in deforested regions in Russia; 2) Producing educational materials for forestry education in Russian high schools; 3) Establishing forestry education in schools in Southern Siberia and Northern European Russia – regions that have extensive forests.

In the spring of 2006, SEC conducted a three-day workshop that involved 70 school children and 10 teachers. The workshop gave an opportunity for children from various schools to present their activities on forest fire prevention and tree planting. A youth movement called "The Forest Keeper" has been established. Another tree planting camp was organized in the summer of 2006, bringing over 60 students from different regions in Siberia. Children attended classes in forest ecology, forest and nature protection, etc. participated in games to develop communication and leadership skills.

For more information on these projects, please contact:

Dr. Lars Laestadius	Volha Roshchanka
larsl@wri.org	volha@wri.org
1-202-729-7633	1-202-729-7734

Indonesia: Ongoing Initiatives

   

WRI/GFW's goal in Indonesia is to support legal and sustainable forest use through multi-stakeholder processes involving government, timber producers, timber exporters, national and international NGOs and the research community. Our databases and monitoring projects support forest policies in the following areas:

Forestry Sector DatabaseSince 2002, GFW is partnering with Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) to compile data on forest industries. We have collected ownership and location data for all of Indonesia's concessions, and have made it available in Bahasa Indonesia (English version to come) in a web-based, interactive database on the FWI website, www.fwi.or.id. The database covers the entire archipelago and includes interactive maps, and allows users to view lists all logging companies, plantation companies and mills with their investors, owners, output volume, annual management plans, allowable cut and other characteristics. This project is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Monitoring Compliance in the forestry sectorUsing satellite images, we are detecting illegal activities carried out by legal concessions. In a pilot area in the province of Central-Kalimantan, we (in collaboration with FWI) are monitoring concessionaire compliance with their annual management plans. This type of work has been used successfully by GFW in Central Africa. Funding has been provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Funding permitting, this work will be extended to other provinces in Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia.

Monitoring Forest-cover Change in IndonesiaFigures on forest extent and deforestation in Indonesia vary widely depending on the year reported and the group reporting, and accurate information that quantifies and locates deforestation is not available. Several large scale mapping projects on forests have been carried out in the last decade to fill this information gap. Unfortunately, these were one time projects so results from different projects and time periods, cannot be compared to develop accurate analyses of actual forest change. Some small scale deforestation figures (e.g. national parks) have been well documented, but cannot be applied to the entire archipelago. GFW, with World Bank support and in partnership with the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), is setting up a system that can detect forest-cover change over the entire archipelago of Indonesia. GFW is partnering with several universities to compare and work with different methods and satellite systems. We expect to make a decision on appropriate methodologies by the end of 2004. We envision updates in specific regions every six months to one year, with results published in data briefs available in a variety of hard copy and web-based formats.

Developing a Forest Information System for the Indonesian forest sectorGFW will combine the forestry sector data, compliance monitoring data, forest cover change data produced by the three initiatives described above with additional environmental and socio-economic data into a Forest Information System. The system will be useful for guiding forest development and investment and forest law enforcement and forest policy making. The World Bank will use the system to inform the implementation of their strategy for Indonesia, and has invited us to present it at their strategy rollout meeting in the Fall of 2004, that will be attended by the Ministry of Forestry and other important stakeholders. We hope to build support for a multi-stakeholder process that will collaborate to sustain the system and produce: 1) a yearly update of reliable and spatially explicit de- and reforestation statistics with maps of forest cover and forest cover change; 2) a yearly update of actual forest land allocation with maps of logging concessions, mining concessions and protected areas and maps of probable areas of illegal logging; 3) analyses that identify good management practices by verifying voluntarily provided information on forest operations.

Initiatives in Development

Oil palmGFW, in collaboration with Conservation International, would like to increase the ability of the oil palm sector to contribute positively to regional development plans that balance needs of the private sector, government, local communities, and environmental interests. Land use decisions could be guided by social, environmental and economic data that will help industry members identify the true costs and benefits of plantation development and facilitate participation in integrated regional development plans led by government and non-governmental organizations. GFW proposes to create an interactive online tool that will enable users to access existing environmental, economic, and social data for specific geographic areas, analyze the risks of developing in these areas, and identify actions that should be considered to generate the greatest environmental, economic and social benefits. This project is not intended to be a substitute for environmental or social impact assessments already in use, but will provide maps and data that facilitate improved resource-use and land-management decision making. GFW is exploring partnership and funding opportunities to implement this work.

For more information on these projects, please contact:
Dr. Fred Stolle
Global Forest Watch
10 G Street NE, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20002

Chile: Overview

Chile is a long, narrow country located in the southwestern part of South America that possesses a wide variety of ecosystems, ranging from deserts in the north to temperate rainforests in the south.  Chile's forests are some of the most impressive of the world, ranging from Chilean palm forests andSclerophyllous forests (composed of tree species adapted to drier climates), in north-central Chile, to prehistoric araucaria forests, temperate rainforests, and alerce forests— the “redwoods of the Andes”—to the South.  Almost every type of temperate forest native to the Southern Hemisphere can be found in Chile.  These forests are of great ecological and conservation value.  They store vast quantities of carbon that contribute to global climate regulation, control flooding, purify water, cycle nutrients and soil, and are home to numerous plant and animal species, many of which can only be found there.  At the local level, native forests are important not only for biodiversity but also as a source of timber, non-timber forest products, and fuel wood for many rural communities. Unfortunately, it is not guaranteed that these forests will be conserved in the long term.  To maintain their natural levels of biodiversity, large tracts of 'frontier forests' (tracts of mature forests or dense timberline forests of at least 5,000 hectares, which are intact or only slightly altered) must be conserved.  In its latest study, Chile's Frontier Forests: Conserving a Global Treasure, GFW Chile found that of the roughly 30% of forests classified as frontier forests, only a small area (27%) is protected.  Most of these frontier forests are in areas with steep slopes or located at high attitude.  About 7% of protected areas are private, and the government manages the rest within parks, reserves, and as national monuments. Chile's frontier forests today face several urgent threats, such as illegal logging, conversion to plantations of exotic species, and unsustainable management practices.  Given these facts, current protection plans in Chile are not sufficient to safeguard these valuable forests.  In the state's protected areas system, the SNASPE, forest types are poorly represented, and reserve size in many regions is inadequate.  For example, 84% of these protected areas are concentrated in Regions XI and XII, regions with low human population densities and few forest-related industrial developments.  Aside from these areas, only a small fraction of forest in the rest of the country is protected. In its study, GFW Chile has found that Regions VI and VII have lost all of their frontier forests and contain mere fragments of undisturbed or minimally altered native (non-plantation) forests, ranging in size from 6.25 to 5,000 hectares.  Of these forests, only 1% is protected in Region VI and only 15% in Region VII.  This points to an urgent need to increase protection of these remnants, as they represent unique areas of original forest that are invaluable for the maintenance of biodiversity and ecological processes, while serving as a genetic reservoir for future restoration of these ecosystem types.  We must act quickly— once these areas are gone, they cannot be restored. In Region VIII, 17,000 hectares of frontier forest remain in a region with the highest level of forestry plantation activities.  With such obvious threats, this region must be closely watched, given that, as in Regions VI and VII, it holds the only remaining examples of forests that once covered the central parts of the country.  Region X has the greatest proportion (43%) of frontier forests relative to its total native forest area.  This region almost exclusively houses the extremely unique and vulnerable coastal mountain range forests.  These forests, which account for 7% of Chile's total frontier forest, are among the most threatened, but are the least represented in the protected areas systems.  Unfortunately, plans for a new government-sponsored coastal highway, which will increase fragmentation of these forests, poses an additional threat. The report, Chile's Frontier Forests: Conserving a Global Treasure, is a product of the GFW Chile team.  GFW Chile developed a methodology for delineating frontier forests in Chile based on the most up-to-date available data from Chile’s forest management agency.  GFW Chile will continue to monitor changes in forest cover and development activities occurring in and around frontier forests, in order to detect their impacts on forest ecosystems and biodiversity.  Global Forest Watch was launched in 1998 by the World Resources Institute (WRI) to work in alliance with nongovernmental organizations and local leaders from forested countries around the world.

Total Area (2000): 756,630 km²

Neighboring countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Peru

Capital: Santiago

Official language: Spanish

Number of regions: 12

Total population (2000): 15.2 million

Average Annual Population Growth (2000): 1.3%

Urban population (% of total):85.7%

Annual GDP growth: 5.38%

GDP per capita (1997, in US dollars): 5,271

Forest Facts

Percent of Land Area Forested

South America: 50.5%

Chile: 20.7%

Average Annual Percent  Change in Forest Area (1990 - 2000)

South America: -0.4%

Chile: -0.1%

Biodiversity

Mammals: 91 species

Number of endemic species: 16

Estimated number of species per 10,000 km²: 22

Plants: 5,292 species

Number of Endemic species: 5,125

Estimated number of species per 10,000 km²: 2,698

Birds: 296 species

Number of Endemic species: 16

Estimated number of species per 10,000 km²: 71

Reptiles: 82 species

Number of Endemic species: 43

Estimated number of species per 10,000 km²: 20

Amphibians: 49 species

Number of Endemic species: 34

Estimated number of species per 10,000 km²: 12

Initiatives

Regional

Establishing Central Africa's first voluntary and independent forest concession monitoring systemMajor timber markets are demanding evidence of legal and sustainable forest management in Central Africa. WRI-GFW is working with leading forest companies in the region to help them communicate commitments and progress made toward legal and sustainable forest management. WRI-GFW and industry, NGO, and governmental partners have designed and begun to promote a voluntary and independent forest concession monitoring system for Central Africa, that will document companies' efforts toward legal and sustainable forest management.

To initiate the system WRI-GFW, in collaboration with Interafrican Forest Industries Association (IFIA), World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), brought together the key forest stakeholders for a two day, multi-stakeholder workshop in Douala, Cameroon in March 2004. The workshop assembled key stakeholders to discuss the system concept and agree on indicators of legality and sustainable forest management and a means for their verification. The workshop was a success due, in part, to the support from the German government (BMZ), World Bank, U.S. Forest Service, and USAID-CARPE.

Since the workshop, key stakeholders worked together to refine the indicators and discuss possible governance and organizational structures and financing for implementation. WRI-GFW and core partners proposed to test this Forest Concession Monitoring System (FORCOMS) by monitoring three companies in three different countries in Central Africa and received approval by USAID-CARPE. The results will be used to refine and finalize FORCOMS structure and operational plan for implementation throughout the sub-region.

What is clear from ongoing multistakeholder consultation is that FORCOMS is uniquely positioned as a preparatory tool for the realization of key aspects the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan and for certification and therefore does not to compete with related initiatives and schemes. Moreover, FORCOMS is to be a tool for progressive forest companies in Central Africa to demonstrate and communicate their commitments and efforts regarding legal forest operations and progress towards sustainable forest management to the international marketplace, implicated governments, and civil society.

Please contact Karl Morrison, kmorrison@wri.org, for more information on this project.

Congo Basin State of the Forest ReportUSAID-CARPE launched a multi-stakeholder initiative to prepare The Forests of the Congo Basin: a preliminary assessment, a report presented at the Summit of the Heads of States of Central Africa in 2005. In 2006 the French government took over the facilitation of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, and with that, the need for an expanded Congo Basin State of the Forest Report was recognized.  WRI-GFW considers this a very important and useful effort and is participating actively by producing a series of maps to illustrate the best spatial information relevant to the region. Funding for this project to WRI-GFW comes from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

Gabon

Gabon Pilot Interactive Forestry AtlasBased on the successes WRI-GFW has had working with partners to create these useful CDRom atlases, it is completing a pilot atlas in Gabon.  This was agreed in a July 2006 memorandum of understanding with the government (Ministère de l’Economie Forestière, des Eaux, de la Pêche, et des Parcs Nationaux) (PDFs in English and French) in order to gather together available datasets and package them into an interactive atlas. Gabon is home to some of the most culturally, biologically, and economically important forest resources in Central Africa. However, the extent of actual forest cover and depletion is not accurately known. This new partnership demonstrates a significant attempt to curtail further forest degradation in Central Africa by incorporating on-the-ground knowledge with systematic satellite technology, to provide an accurate base of forest information. This initiative follows a similar process initiated in 2002 with the Cameroonian government, as well as in the Republic of the Congo earlier this year, which has led to a much greater understanding of the causes and effects of logging in multiple African countries, and also helped the forest industry to plan future activities.  This pilot atlas, supported by USAID-CARPE, will be complete in September.

Cameroon

Collaboration with the government of Cameroon to improve forest governanceA memorandum of understanding (PDF) (Word) was signed between WRI-GFW and the Cameroon government at a ceremony held in Yaoundé, Cameroon in June 2005. This agreement ensures the continuation of a landmark technical partnership between the Ministère des Forêts et de la Faune (MINFOF), formerly the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MINEF), and WRI-GFW for another three years. The government of Cameroon used the occasion to reinforce its commitment to combat illegal logging, highlighting the MINFOF-WRI partnership as an important contribution to achieving this commitment. Likewise, WRI-GFW committed to continue and expand its technical support to the government of Cameroon to improve forest monitoring and governance, combat illegal logging and promote more sustainable management of forest resources.  In addition to the Interactive Forestry Atlases mentioned below, the collaboration is also producing a yearly “Situation de l’exploitation forestière au Cameroun”. This map will be updated according to the new land attributions and protected areas. View maps from 2003, 2004and 2005.

In June 2002, a collaboration agreement (PDF) was forged between the Ministry of Environment and Forests of Cameroon (MINEF) and WRI-GFW to improve the quality and availability of geographic information relevant to the forest sector. This cooperation created and compiled data necessary to produce map-based tools that allowed MINEF to improve its forest governance activities and promoted transparency and access to information among the diverse stakeholders. Critical support has been provided by USAID-CARPE, the World Bank, EU, GTZ, the MacArthur Foundation, ESRI, and ERDAS.

The Interactive Forestry Atlas of CameroonWRI-GFW and MINFOF, with the participation of local partners Cameroon Environmental Watch and Limbe Botanical and Zoological Gardens, have collected data on forest titles and zoning (FMU, forest concessions, ventes de coupe, community forests, protected areas, etc.) and on the status of forest management plans for each FMU.

WRI-GFW has trained MINFOF staff and partners to use remote sensing and satellite images to analyze forest condition and detect logging roads. The datasets and resulting analysis were released at the Central African Heads of State Summit on Conservation and Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Brazzaville, Congo in February 2005. The Interactive Forestry Atlas of Cameroon is available on the WRI-GFW website (Interactive map server) (PDFs in English and French).  A follow up report and CDRom are expected out in September 2006 with updated datasets.

The Atlas has been hailed by partners as a highly valuable decision support tool. To maximize its use, targeted training activities for government staff, parliamentarians, and NGOs are being conducted. Training focuses on using the Atlas and incorporating it into operational activities of both technicians and key decision makers.

By using this interactive atlas, key decision-makers and all stakeholders are able to easily access and manipulate the most current and critical information for forest monitoring in order to produce and view maps. Examples of potential uses of the atlas include: Supporting the prioritization of field missions for monitoring and enforcement of forest laws and regulations; Helping to determine whether road construction is taking place within the boundaries of legally attributed logging areas and/or in compliance with approved management plans; and Helping to resolve conflicts by providing a source of objective information on the boundaries of various forest zones.  Critical support has been provided by USAID-CARPE, the World Bank, EU, GTZ, the MacArthur Foundation, ESRI, and ERDAS.

Please contact Pierre Méthot, pmethot@wri.org, for more information on these Cameroon projects.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Forest title conversion process in the Democratic Republic of CongoWRI-GFW, in a joint venture with the Belgium consulting firm, AGRECO, is acting as an independent observer and providing technical advice to the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo in its process to conduct a legal review of existing forest titles and to convert old eligible forest titles to new concessions (as laid out in Presidential Decree PD 50/116). WRI is working to ensure transparency, build GIS capacity and identify opportunities to improve the process. This includes increasing the participation of local and indigenous peoples in the decision making process.

WRI-AGRECO has developed a French language website to provide information on the process and its results at http://www.rdc-conversiontitresforestiers.org.

WRI’s Question and Answer sheet
Presidential decree October 24, 2005 (français) (English-unofficial)

Republic of Congo

Collaboration with the government of the Republic of Congo to monitor forests and reduce illegal logging
In June 2003, WRI-GFW entered into an agreement (in French) with the Republic of Congo's Ministère de l'Economie Forestière et de l'Environnement (MEFE) to collaborate on a project that will help the government control illegal logging and enforce its forest laws. This project uses satellite images to map all Congo's logging roads, forest titles (forest concessions, community forests, etc.) and protected areas, and compare this data with existing forest legislation. The government is participating in data development and is building the institutional capacity to generate and use this data to more efficiently direct enforcement resources on problem areas.

WRI-GFW is collaborating with the governmental agency Centre National des Inventaires et Aménagements Forestiers et Fauniques (CNIAF) and a local NGO, Club des Amis de l'Environnement (CAE), to

• Establish the necessary technical infrastructure for the project in Brazzaville (a remote sensing and GIS laboratory);
• Establish institutional links and processes to ensure the supply of the data;
• Establish training programs for MEFE and CAE staff on the use of remote sensing and GIS for processing and analyzing data; and
• Publish and distribute project results.

WRI-GFW has worked with CNIAF to establish the lab in mid-2004 and provided the software and training for the staff to begin analyzing the data.
Results will be made publicly available on the GFW website and will be incorporated by MEFE into law enforcement efforts. This project is supported by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO).

Please contact Pierre Méthot, pmethot@wri.org, for more information on this project.

Interactive Forestry Atlas of the Republic of CongoGiven the success of the Interactive Forestry Atlas of Cameroon as a useful tool for good governance and stronger NGO and civil society participation in forest resource management, WRI-GFW and the government of Congo (Ministère de l’Économie Forestière et de l’Environnement), through a memorandum of understanding (PDFs in English and French) signed in May 2006 have agreed to produce a similar atlas for Congo. This work, supported by USAID-CARPE, will build on the illegal logging monitoring project funded by ITTO and will be complete in September 2006.

Reinforcing the Forest Statistics Cell in the Republic of CongoWRI-GFW is assisting MEFE to reinforce the Forest Statistics Cell in Congo.  This includes installing software and designing the database. This database, begun in 2006, will be linked to that of the monitoring project mentioned above (funded by ITTO) and fills an important gap to improve sustainable forest use.  This project is funded by USAID-CARPE.

Forest Taxation

Distributional Equity - Forest taxation distribution analysisWRI, in close collaboration with local partners and World Resources Institute’s Institutions and Governance Program, will seek to better understand the forest taxation systems in Cameroon and its implications on the distribution of public forest resource revenues. Research will focus on distributional equity of public forest resource revenues in Cameroon and will support the formulation and promotion of policies and actions aiming at improved/fairer allocation of these revenues for poverty reduction ends. Benefiting from the strengths of WRI-GFW, this project will focus on:

• Researching tracking forest resource generated public revenues (forest taxes);
• Building capacity and an informal network of interested stakeholders and champions;
• Formulating policy recommendations based on research finding and stakeholder consultation; and
• Initiating development of performance monitoring systems/tools.

In subsequent years WRI and partners, depending on securing sufficient funds, will focus on developing and establishing robust performance monitoring systems/tools to underpin pro poor environmental distributions (in this case from forest taxes). This monitoring system could track both how forest tax revenues are distributed and how they are ultimately spent (i.e. a monitoring system/tool that tracks not only the tax revenue coming from the forestry operations, but moreover what was done with this money on the ground). Ultimate distribution policy recommendations would be significantly bolstered by the integration of this information with poverty and “environmental management” data layers.

For more information, please contact Karl Morrison, at kmorrison@wri.org.

Bushmeat

The Bushmeat Information Management and Analysis Project (IMAP)The IMAP was a multi-year initiative begun in 2001 in response to an expressed need for a geographic view of the bushmeat crisis. The commercial hunting and trade in wildlife for consumption is increasingly threatening the existence of many forest dwelling species in Central Africa.

WRI-GFW collaborated with the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force (BCTF) to create a central repository of information to improve our ability to analyze available information, identify potential threats to wildlife and identify opportunities to stop or curb the bushmeat trade. The project makes existing BCTF databases available online, geo-referenced by country or coordinate, and combines this with WRI-GFW's data on Central Africa into an interactive portal with a searchable digital library and an interactive map of Central Africa. With IMAP, users create their own maps and analyses using data on logging concessions, protected areas, roads and other frequently changing features, and information on species ranges and human population growth. IMAP results can provide important information for policy design, law enforcement and public awareness. It is continually updated as new data become available to WRI-GFW and partners. This project is supported by the US Fish Wildlife Service and an Anonymous donation.

Please contact Susan Minnemeyer, susanm@wri.org, or BCTF, info@bushmeat.org, for more information on this project.

Initiatives in Development

Central Africa Forestry Data WarehouseMany national and regional initiatives in Central Africa are calling for the collection, harmonization, and distribution of data and information relevant to environmental decision-making. These include COMIFAC and the Congo Basin Forest Partnership. To address this need, GFW and the Observatoire satellital des forêts d'afrique centrale (OSFAC) are discussing the creation of a Central Africa Forestry Data Warehouse to hold the best updated forestry data that allows key stakeholders to improve environmental stewardship, forest management and governance. GFW will engage key stakeholders to determine how such a Central Africa Forestry Data Warehouse could be established.

Supporting the government's data management capacity in CameroonThe Ministry of Environment and Forests of Cameroon (MINEF), with the technical assistance of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), created a large database of non-spatial data and information on forest title allocations, company profiles, log and timber production and export levels, forest taxation, etc. Unfortunately, due to a lack of financial and human resources, this Système Informatisé de Gestion de l'Information Forestière (SIGIF) can no longer fulfill its original mandate and efficiently house the significant amount of information coming in regularly. It is also considered structurally cumbersome and generally difficult to manipulate, thus limiting its intended utility. With improvements, this system could be of great assistance to MINEF for law enforcement and the management of the substantial forest revenues generated by taxes on the forest sector.

GFW and MINEF have agreed in preliminary discussions that GFW's help would be useful to upgrade and extend the SIGIF and connect it with the MINEF-GFW database. GFW will conduct a technical assessment of work needed, will establish a potential action plan and related budget, and will initiate efforts to secure funding for the implementation of the action plan.

For more information on these projects, please contact:
Pierre Méthot
Global Forest Watch
10 G Street NE, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20002  USA
pmethot@wri.org
1-202-729-7779
fax: 1-202-729-7798

 

Brazil's Forests in Brief

  
Following three centuries under the rule of Portugal, Brazil became an independent nation in 1822. By far the largest and most populous country in South America, Brazil has overcome more than half a century of military intervention in the governance of the country to pursue industrial and agricultural growth and development of the interior. Exploiting vast natural resources and a large labor pool, Brazil became Latin America's leading economic power by the 1970s. Highly unequal income distribution remains a pressing problem.

Brazil’s Forest

Brazil is the largest country in South America. Approximately 2.3 million square kilometers -- 27 percent of Brazil’s total area of 8.5 million square kilometers -- can be considered "frontier" forest. Brazil's frontier forests comprise 17 percent of the world's remaining frontiers, making it the third highest ranked country in terms of remaining frontier forest. Brazil has the third largest block of remaining frontier forest in the world and ranks first in plant biodiversity among frontier forest nations.

Brazil has lost over 570,000 km² of its Amazonian forest - an area the size of France.  In 1994 and 1995 deforestation rates nearly reached a high of 29,000 km²/year, representing the greatest increase in the rate of deforestation ever recorded.  Since then Brazil has averaged 17,600 km²/year loss in Amazonian forest cover ⁽²⁾.

Deforestation means loss of Brazil’s tremendous biodiversity, and alters regional hydrology, climate and terrestrial carbon storage.  Much of the clearing is done for grazing cattle, cropland and commercial logging.  The rapid pace of deforestation can be attributed to a 10-fold increase in population since the 1960’s, industrial logging, mining and expansion of road networks – allowing colonists to move into frontier forests, increasing fires that occur with greater frequency after a forest has been altered by humans ⁽³⁾.

Logging in the Brazilian Amazon

Accidental fires account for nearly half of all area burned in the Amazon Basin.

The Brazilian Amazon provides more timber than any other tropical forest on our planet.  Over 28 million m³/year come principally from Pará, Mato Grosso and Rondônia states.  The majority of the wood stays in Brazil (86%), and 20% of that supplies the markets in São Paulo state ⁽¹⁾.  Experts estimate that up to 80% of the timber harvested in the Brazilian Amazon is done so illegally.

Currently 29% of the Brazilian Amazon is designated as protected, either as a national or state forest, biological reserve, national or state park, extractive reserve or indigenous land.  Twenty-five percent (25%) is privately owned and 46% is untitled public land (“terra devoluta”) ⁽²⁾.  Currently the bulk of timber comes off private land, with some coming from untitled public land and very little from protected and indigenous areas.

All logging in the Amazon requires a permit and a management plan, obtained through the Brazilian Environmental Institute (IBAMA).  In 1998 IBAMA received 2806 requests for management plans and authorized approx. 928.  Did those who did not receive authorization give up, or did they log without a permit?  Did those who did receive authorization follow the management guidelines?  Are the guidelines supportive of sustainable forest management?  See GFW-Vision to learn how Global Forest Watch- Amazônia will address these questions.

Among timber companies there is a growing understanding of good forestry practices and even what Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification means, although a mere 5% of timber volume in the Amazon is FSC certified to date. A recent survey indicates that 58% of the wood product industry in Sao Paulo state would prefer to buy certified wood for their use ⁽³⁾.

Brazilian institutions are working to improve – and curb illegal forest practices; establishment of national forests, increased monitoring of rural properties and certification of forest stewardship are three worth mention.

National Forests:  The Brazilian government has committed itself to establishing 50 million hectares of new national forest land, an area the size of Spain, by the year 2010.  Brazil already has 28% of its land in conservation areas and the federal government intends to fully protect an additional 10% of its Amazon territory ⁽⁴⁾.  Limiting land availability by placing unclaimed public lands under management should help increase land, and timber, values.

Monitoring of Rural Properties:  In the 1990’s the Brazilian Environmental Ministry (MMA), its Natural Resource Policy Program (SPRN) and the Pilot Program for Tropical Forest Protection (PPG7) supported the Mato Grosso State Environmental Foundation’s (FEMA) program for controlling deforestion on rural properties ⁽⁵⁾.  In 2000-2001 Mato Grosso reduced its forest loss by 20% ⁽⁶⁾. Through FEMA’s program the state has begun development of a spatial database of private land boundaries and ownership, a critical element in monitoring forest use.

Certification of Forest Stewardship:  Since the late 1980’s the major Brazil non-governmental groups have promoted certification through the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) system.  FSC promotes forest sustainability by evaluating the company’s forest management practices considering economic viability, ecological integrity and social justice. Forest products with the FSC logo come from forests that meet the internationally recognized FSC Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship. Forest inspections are carried out by FSC accredited certification bodies. Research in development at IMAZON will study methods for monitoring FSC certified company practice using satellite imagery.

¹ Acertando o Alvo 2:  consumo de madeira amazonica e certificacao florestal no estado de Sao Paulo. Available at www.imazon.org.br.
² Adalberto Verissimo, Pers. Comm.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Verissimo, A, M. Cochrane, C. Souza.  August 2002.  National Forests in the Amazon, Science, Vol 297 pp 1478.
⁵ Leite, P. 2000 Controlling Deforestion on Rural Properties
⁶ Fearnside, P.  2002.

Brazil: Ongoing Initiatives

   

Our overall objective:We seek to increase the effectiveness of forest management, land use practices and forest law enforcement in the Amazon Basin by ensuring that credible and reliable forest landscape information is publicly available in a user-friendly format. We are committed to finding practical and concrete ways to complement and strengthen the wide variety of important efforts underway in the region.

Human Pressure in the Brazilian Amazon Forests
GFW, in partnership with IMAZON, conducted an assessment of human impact in the forests of the Brazilian Amazon Biome. The first of its kind, the project combines a series of existing data layers such as roads, vegetations, urban centers and settlements to identify areas of human settlements and areas under pressure. Preliminary results show that the human impact is greater than previously estimated.
Project supporters: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, ABN AMRO Bank, and IKEA.

Mapping of un-official roads in ParáGFW, in partnership with IMAZON, sponsored a project to map un-official roads with satellite images. This project used Landsat images to examine forest openings, identify roadways and potential logging patios, and identify areas at risk for deforestation and logging in the Midlands of Pará State, an area with some of the greatest forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon. Principal project supporters included ABN AMRO Bank and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The results of this project were released by Imazon in the Summer of 2005. Imazon continues to map un-official roads in other states of the Brazilian Amazon.

Current operational partner: 
Imazon (www.imazon.org.br) is a non-profit research institution whose mission is to promote sustainable development in the Amazon region through studies, information dissemination and professional training. The institute was founded in 1990, and its head office is located in the metropolitan region of Belém, Pará, Brazil. In 15 years of operation, Imazon has published over 200 technical papers, of which 88 have appeared in international scientific journals or as chapters of books.

For more information on these projects, please contact:
Ruth Nogueron
Global Forest Watch
10 G Street NE, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20002
USA