Ensuring the future survival of the endangered pygmy elephant, orang utan and rhinoceros in the state of Sabah hinges on these steps: stop further fragmentation and conversion of forests; establish wildlife corridors, such as along riparian reserves to connect forest fragments; and stringent enforcement against poaching.

These are the key strategies highlighted in the five-year action plans to conserve the three species drafted by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and launched early this month at the two-day Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium in Kota Kinabalu.

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Tree Aid, in collaboration with the Bongo Traditional Authority and the Bongo District Assembly, has started a project to restore and maintain vegetation around the major rivers in Bongo, Upper East Region.

Mr Philip Goodwin, Chief Executive officer of Tree Aid, said the major concern of his outfit was to create an opportunity for individuals particularly the poor to generate income to create forest enterprises and manage the resources more securely and ultimately protect the environment.

“Poverty creates greater problems for the environment but a degraded environment creates more poverty”, he said, noting that Tree Aid had made effective interventions to break that cycle of environmental decline.

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Sulawesi is the 11th largest island in the world and an Indonesian region blessed with unique biodiversity which inhabit its pristine terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems. The region also has an incredible amount of mineral deposits underneath its 12.5 million hectares of forest, according to Forestry Ministry data from 2009.

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Record gold prices are claiming an unlikely victim: the lush, spectacularly biodiverse rainforests of the Peruvian Amazon.

Since the global economy fell off the edge of a cliff in 2008, sending investors scrambling to put their money into the ultimate safe haven, gold, thousands of illegal miners have flooded into the Madre de Dios region of central Peru.

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http://www.tucsonsentinel.com

TONY EASTLEY: A new study says that pristine tropical forests once cleared never fully regenerates.

The study in the latest issue of Nature found that South East Asia has suffered the greatest loss of biodiversity of any tropical region in the world.

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The Aquino administration’s National Greening Program in the countryside was formally launched here with over 2,000 people joining hands in planting about 5,000 seedlings of high-value forest and fruit trees along the roads of this municipality.

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INDIGENOUS peoples of Indonesian Borneo have demanded a halt to an Australian-backed forest conservation scheme, saying they are trampling their rights and robbing their lands.

The Central Kalimantan chapter of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance issued a statement condemning the projects, including those being implemented under a $947.91 million deal with Norway to cut carbon emissions from deforestation.

The projects, which involve the Australian government, CARE International and WWF environmental group, fall under a UN-backed conservation drive known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD).

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The Herald Sun

BHUBANESWAR, India (AlertNet) - India faces a tough choice between preserving its forests and digging up the valuable minerals that lie beneath them. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Orissa State - home to 35 percent of India’s iron ore resources, which it is exploiting fast.

Orissa’s production of iron ore alone increased seven times in the decade to 2009, topping 77 million tonnes as global demand, particularly from China, drove export prices higher. The state is also rich in bauxite, chromites and coal, holding 55 percent, 95 percent and 24 percent of India's total deposits respectively.

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AlertNet

A forest in Oddar Meanchey province is facing environmental “disaster” after thousands of people destroyed up to 1,000 hectares of natural habitat, putting revenues from a carbon credit scheme worth tens of millions of dollars at risk.

Proceeds from a United Nations-backed Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation scheme are said to be in danger after waves of settlers destroyed parts of the forest in Samroang district, chief of the Romdoul Veasna community forest programme, Malis Hoeuth, said yesterday.

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Phnom Penh Post

The government issued a new version of a forest map, revising down the size of primary forests and conservation areas in the forest moratorium to 55 million hectares.

The new map, posted on the Forestry Ministry website Monday, highlights 55 million hectares of primary forests and conservation areas and 17 million hectares of peatland estimated to store 1 billion tons of carbon.

Previously, presidential aide on climate change Agus Purnomo and several officials said a moratorium would cover 64 million hectares of primary forests and conservation areas.

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The Jakarta Post