<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Forwarding the latest NWFP Digest...</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.<br>
Botanist - Division of Scientific Authority<br>
Chair - Plant Conservation Alliance - Medicinal Plant Working Group<br>
US Fish & Wildlife Service<br>
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 110<br>
Arlington, VA 22203<br>
703-358-1708 x1753<br>
FAX: 703-358-2276<br>
Working for the conservation and sustainable use of our green natural resources.<br>
<www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal><br>
</font>
<br><font size=1 color=#800080 face="sans-serif">----- Forwarded by Patricia
De Angelis/ARL/R9/FWS/DOI on 03/09/2009 01:03 PM -----</font>
<br>
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<td width=40%><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><b>"Etherington, Tina
(FOIP)" <Tina.Etherington@fao.org></b> </font>
<p><font size=1 face="sans-serif">03/04/2009 12:04 PM</font>
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<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">To</font></div>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">nwfp-digest-L@mailserv.fao.org</font>
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<td>
<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">cc</font></div>
<td>
<tr valign=top>
<td>
<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Subject</font></div>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">NWFP-Digest-L No. 1/09</font></table>
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<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">NWFP-Digest-L</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">No. 1/09</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Welcome to FAO’s NWFP-Digest-L, a free e-mail
journal that covers all aspects of non-wood forest products. Back issues
of the Digest may be found on FAO's NWFP home page: </font><a href=http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/12980/en target=_blank><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.fao.org/forestry/site/12980/en</u></font></a><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial">.
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">You can take part in contributing to the
continued success of this newsletter by sharing with the NWFP community
any news that you may have regarding research, events, publications and
projects. Kindly send such information to </font><a href="mailto:NWFP-Digest-L@mailserv.fao.org"><font size=2 color=#3366ff face="Arial"><u>NWFP-Digest-L@mailserv.fao.org</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">.
We also appreciate any comments or feedback.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">A special thank you to all those who have
sent me links to information and also to Adam DeHeer for his help with
this issue.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">==============================================================</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>IN THIS ISSUE</b>:</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><a href=#product><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><b><u>PRODUCTS</u></b></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">1.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#one><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Balsam
boughs: NTFPs of the Midwest USA</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">2.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#two><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Bamboo:
Indian artisans weave dreams</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">3.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#three><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Bamboo:
Indian floor tiles, handicrafts</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">4.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#four><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Bamboo
planting boosted in Mexico</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">5.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#five><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Berry-based
natural sweetener "brazzein" to hit the market in 2009</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">6.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#six><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Chambira
Palm: Baskets bring a new way of life to Peruvians</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">7.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#seven><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Cork
Flooring, A Sustainable Choice</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">8.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#adam4><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Frankincense:
Sustainable harvesting by Siddhi Tribe of India</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">9.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#nine><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Maple
Syrup: Tapping trees for that classic Canadian flavour</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">10.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#ten><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Medicinal
Plants in danger of dying out, according to conservationists</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">11.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#eleven><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Pandan
prop roots found suitable for handicrafts in the Philippines</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">12.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#twelve><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><i><u>Pinus
sylvestris</u></i><u> cones: First FSC Labelled Gin from Belgium</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">13.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#adam5><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Stevia:
The Natural Sweetener</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">14.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#fourteen><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Rattan:
Conserving Forests</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><a href=#COUNTRYINFO><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><b><u>COUNTRY
INFORMATION</u></b></font></a><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">15.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#fifteen><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Bolivia:
The Importance of plant knowledge</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">16.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#sixteen><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Ethiopia:
EU Grants 251 Million Euros to Support Development Programs</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">17.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#seventeen><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>India:
Forest health restored by managing for NTFPs</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">18.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#eighteen><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Indonesia:
Government team to bolster protection for the country’s TK</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">19.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#nineteen><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Mozambique:
Hidden Forest</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">20.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#twenty><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Nepal:
Forest Museum in Pokhara</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">21.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#twentyone><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Nigeria:
Desert Encroaches on Nation at 600 Meters per Annum</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">22.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#twentytwo><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Peru:
Revised laws 'could promote biopiracy'</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">23.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#twentythree><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Peru:
Region outlaws biopiracy</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">24.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#twentyfour><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Tunisia:
Jendouba region provides 90% of Tunisia’s cork production</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">25.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#twentyfive><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>USA:
USDA Issues final rule governing NTFPs</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><a href=#NEWS><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><b><u>NEWS</u></b></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">26.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#twentysix><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Ecosystem
services reveal relations between humans and nature</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">27.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#twentyseven><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><i><u>Non-wood
News</u></i></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">28.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#twentyeight><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>SEED
awards 2009: Call for submissions</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><a href=#RECENTEVENTS><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><b><u>EVENTS</u></b></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">29.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#twenine><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>19th
session of the Committee on Forestry</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">30.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#thirty><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Fourth
International Conference on Sustainable Development and Planning</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">31.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#thityone><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>International
Expert Workshop on Indigenous Peoples' Rights, Corporate Accountability
and the Extractive Industries</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">32.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#thirytwo><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Shea
2009: Optimizing the Global Value Chain</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">33.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#thritythree><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>WFC2009-XIII
World Forestry Congress</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><a href=#literature><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><b><u>LITERATURE
REVIEW AND WEB SITES</u></b></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">34.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#thiryfour><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><i><u>Environment
Outlook in the Amazonia: GEO Amazonia</u></i></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">35.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#otherpubs><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Other
publications of interest</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">36.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#websites><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Web
sites and e-zines</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><a href=#miscell><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><b><u>MISCELLANEOUS</u></b></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">37.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#adam><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Illegal
clearing behind human and tiger deaths in Sumatra</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">38.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#adam2><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>Mexico:
Tree biodiversity improved through traditional coffee farming</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">39.</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><a href=#adam3><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>New
edition of UNESCO’s Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<div align=center>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">BACK TO </font><a href=#top><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>TOP</u></font></a></div>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>PRODUCTS</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b> </b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>1.
</b></font><a href="http://myminnesotawoods.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/ntfp-overview/"><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Balsam</b></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>
boughs: NTFPs of the Midwest USA</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: University of Minnesota, USA,
8 December, 2008</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Nontimber forest products (NTFPs) are most
everything you find in the woods that is not timber. Mostly, the term refers
to the many products that enhance and contribute to our lifestyles and
our livelihoods. These products often have strong connections to our respective
cultures and shared history and economy.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
NTFPs are the berries and mushrooms we pick to eat; they are the game that
sustains our families. They are the medicines that we gather and the barks
we collect for baskets and crafts. NTFPs are the balsam boughs and princess
pine that, when worked by Minnesota hands, become the wreaths upon our
holiday doors. For some, NTFPs provide affordable outdoor recreation. For
others, they generate a much-needed paycheck. For many of us, they do both.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Winter months offer prime opportunities for exploring forests and discovering
NTFPs. Frozen soil conditions allow us to stray ‘off the beaten path’
in the woods. Winter excursions are memorable and invigorating but most
of all will inspire greater appreciation of forests and NTFPs.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Each fall, Minnesotans take to the woods to gather boughs to be clipped
and woven into decorative wreaths, swags and garlands. What used to be
a family activity has grown into a multimillion dollar industry. Minnesota
– in the Midwest USA – is a national leader in the seasonal greens industry,
shipping wreaths to every state in the nation and across the globe.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Wreath making provides seasonal employment to people all over Minnesota
and there are many non-profit organizations that use wreath and garlands
sales as a fund raising event. This short and intense seasonal industry
employs thousands of people in Minnesota, and allows many ‘home based
businesses’ to earn a substantial amount of income.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Approximately 98% of the boughs harvested for wreaths are from the balsam
fir tree, <i>Abies balsamea</i>. In Minnesota, bough harvesting season
begins after hard frosts have “set” the needles on the branches. Other
species, including northern white cedar (pictured at right) and white pine,
are also gathered to create mixed wreaths.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Boughs harvested properly cause minimal harm to the tree and, in fact,
can lead to more prolific branching for future harvests. Careless harvesting
can quickly deplete and degrade the resource.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
To help protect the resource, members of the wreath making industry, harvesters
and land managers formed the Balsam Bough Partnership in 1996. The partnership
promotes sustainable harvesting practices of the bough resources and strategies
that complement other forest management practices. The partnership meets
periodically to review seasonal needs, compliance on legislation and review
permits. The Balsam Bough Partnership has also developed educational materials
for harvesters and advocates sustainable harvesting practices.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://myminnesotawoods.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/ntfp-overview/"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>http://myminnesotawoods.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/ntfp-overview/</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>2.
Bamboo: Indian artisans weave dreams</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: The Telegraph, Calcutta, India,
6 January, 2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Jamshedpur. A career in bamboo craft would
help several artisans realise their dreams. Take Ban Bihari Mahali for
instance. He is a bamboo artisan who earns between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500
per month if he works everyday but now he hopes to turn this figure to
Rs 3,000. His dreams have taken shape after the state government decided
to open 25 bamboo processing training centres this month. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The project aims to help the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe get professional
training in the art. “The three-month long training would give an opportunity
to the artisans and help them develop their skill. It will also teach them
how to market their products. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The project is estimated to cost Rs 3 crore in the first year. Initially,
450 artisans in groups of 20 would be allotted a shed for the training
programme. The artisans would be taught measurement, free-hand drawing,
treatment and preservation of bamboo, mat weaving and furniture making
for export. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Ichagarh, Chandil and Dumaria will house these training
centres in collaboration with Guwahati-based Cane and Bamboo Technology
Centre. “We have selected these districts after the Institute of Forest
Productivity, Ranchi, claimed that raw material (bamboo) was easily available
in these places. Bamboo artisans, who earn between Rs 40 and Rs 50 per
day, will now be able to earn more,” said Dhirendra Kumar, the special
secretary with state department of industries. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The artisans will also be provided a platform through Jharcraft, a corporation
for development of handlooms, handicraft, under the department of industries,
in the initial months. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090106/jsp/jharkhand/story_10349232.jsp><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.telegraphindia.com/1090106/jsp/jharkhand/story_10349232.jsp</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>3.
Bamboo: Indian floor tiles, handicrafts</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: Press Trust of India in Business
Standard, India, 20 February 2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Bamboo, which grows in abundance in Tripura,
is now ready for value addition and commercial utilization with technology
provided by China's Nanjing Forestry University.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The Bamboo Engineering Research Centre (BERC)
at the Nanjing University has concluded after extensive research that the
bamboo varieties found in the state could be used in making floor tiles,
building materials and handicraft.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The state's Forest Minister Jitendra Chowdhury said the government had
signed a memorandum of understanding with the BERC through the Tripura
Forest Development and Plantation Corporation (TFDPC) in 2007 for transfer
of technology. The TFDPC had last year sent a consignment of two varieties
of bamboo available only in Tripura -- Muli and Mirtinga -- to the university
for research.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The minister said that the BERC had recently sent some samples of finished
building materials with recommendations that the bamboo types available
in Tripura had huge opportunity of export. Chowdhury, who had led an Indian
delegation in 2007 to seek technical assistance from the BERC, said efforts
were being made to use the grass in making organic fertilizer and bamboo
fibres for manufacturing pulp.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The TFDPC has already decided to establish a bamboo-based factory at Nagicherra
industrial estate here, with the Japan Bank of International Cooperation
providing financial assistance. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
"The initiative has been taken to exploit the potential of bamboos
in the state," deputy manager of TFDPC Madhumita Som said adding the
JBIC would provide a financial assistance of Rs one crore to promote NTFPs.
She said the factory would produce handicraft items and material for decorating
houses. The TFDPC has initiated a training programme for artisans to run
the proposed factory. There is a growing demand for bamboo-made products
as people have shown interest in different commercial exhibitions in the
country.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Abdul Matlub Ahmed, president of Indo-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and
Industries and an industrialist himself, announced that he would relocate
his Rs 200 crore pulp and paper mill from Sylhat to Tripura as bamboo is
available here in plenty. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bamboo-floor-tiles-handicraft-in-offing/12/29/55409/on"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.business-standard.com/india/news/bamboo-floor-tiles-handicraft-in-offing/12/29/55409/on</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>4.
Bamboo planting boosted in Mexico</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: Xinhua, China, 5 January 2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">MEXICO CITY. The Mexican government and the
United Nations have signed an agreement to boost bamboo planting in the
country, its National Forest Commission (Conafor) said Sunday. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Some US$715,000 will be used to establish the Center of Bamboo Technology
Development in the east state of Veracruz in part of the country's productive
reforestation strategy. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The Center will be the fourth largest in the world, after China, India
and Cuba, it said. Bamboo produced in Veracruz will be sent to the United
States, Latin America, Europe and Asia through the Panama Canal. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The project will improve the livelihood of the peasants in the mountainous
area of the Huatusco municipality in Veracruz and help them recover the
lost forest land.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/05/content_10605146.htm"><font size=2 color=#3366ff face="Arial"><u>http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/05/content_10605146.htm</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>5.
Berry-based natural sweetener "brazzein" to hit the market in
2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source:</b></font><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial"><b>
Natural News, USA, 22 December 2008</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">We've all heard about stevia, agave nectar,
brown rice syrup and other natural sweeteners, but now a new sweetener
derived from a West African berry has been successfully synthesized in
a form compatible with mass production, and the company Natur Research
Ingredients expects to make it commercially available between late 2008
and mid-2009.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The sweetener <i>brazzein</i>, to be marketed under the brand name Cweet,
is a protein derived from the berry of the west African plant oubli (<i>Pentadiplandra
brazzeana Baillon</i>). It has long been used as a </font><a href=http://www.naturalnews.com/food.html><font size=2 face="Arial">food</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">
source by both humans and animals (particularly apes) in the region, and
was first synthesized into a </font><a href=http://www.naturalnews.com/sugar.html><font size=2 face="Arial">sugar</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">
alternative in 1994 by researchers from the University of Wisconsin at
Madison (USA).</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Because brazzein is anywhere from 500 to 2,000 times as sweet as sugar
by weight, the small amounts needed to sweeten food do not add any significant
caloric content (</font><a href=http://www.naturalnews.com/stevia.html><font size=2 face="Arial">stevia</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">,
by comparison, is approximately 300 times as sweet as sugar). Unlike many
sugar alternatives, brazzein is said to have no aftertaste, and can even
reduce the aftertaste of other non-sugar </font><a href=http://www.naturalnews.com/sweeteners.html><font size=2 face="Arial">sweeteners</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">
such as aspartame or stevia when mixed with them. Brazzein's sweet flavour
also sets in slower and lasts longer than other sweeteners.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Brazzein is also soluble in water and stable at high temperatures and a
wide range of acidities. For example, it can persist at 98<sup>0</sup>C
(208<sup>0</sup>F) for up to two hours. According to Natur, this makes
the products suitable for all forms of cooking, including baking, and as
a beverage sweetener. Because brazzein is a protein and not a carbohydrate,
it does not affect blood sugar and is safe for diabetics.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Natur acquired the sole rights to manufacture and distribute brazzein from
the University of Wisconsin at Madison, which holds a number of </font><a href=http://www.naturalnews.com/patents.html><font size=2 face="Arial">patents</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">
on the sweetener and the processes used to manufacture it. Although the
university has sought ways to commercialize the sweetener since the 1990s,
all such prior attempts have failed. According to Natur, a researcher from
the university recently discovered an entirely new process that is suitable
for mass production.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Because the University of Wisconsin used an artificial process to extract
the brazzein sweetener from oubli berries, it was able to obtain patents
over the sweetener itself. No credit was given or payment made to the indigenous
Africans who had used the sweetener for centuries, drawing accusations
that the university had engaged in "biopiracy," stealing ancestral
knowledge for private profit. The university retains several patents over
the ingredient brazzein.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
In a reversal of the university's claim that brazzein is an invented ingredient,
Natur says that its sweetener is natural. It has not yet disclosed information
regarding the process used to extract the sweetener or any synthetic ingredients
that might be used.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
"We are using the fruit as a source material for this ingredient,"
said Loren Miles, Natur's chief executive officer. "Within three to
six months we should be ready to publicly announce further details, but
we can disclose this information now to interested parties through a confidentiality
agreement."</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The next step for Natur is to scale-up production and submit an application
to </font><a href=http://www.naturalnews.com/the_FDA.html><font size=2 face="Arial">the
FDA</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"> for "generally recognized
as safe" status. Natur says that it expects to receive approval at
about the same time it is carrying out consumer tests. But the FDA's GRAS
approval is not guaranteed: The FDA is known for denying GRAS status to
natural sweeteners (like stevia, which was finally approved only days ago)
in order to protect the profits of artificial chemical sweeteners like
</font><a href=http://www.naturalnews.com/aspartame.html><font size=2 face="Arial">aspartame</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">.
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href=http://www.naturalnews.com/025140.html><font size=2 color=#3366ff face="Arial"><u>www.naturalnews.com/025140.html</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>6.
Chambira Palm: Baskets bring a new way of life to Peruvians</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: The New York Times, USA, 19 January,
2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">San Antonio de Pintuyacu, Peru. Women in
this remote Amazon village can weave fibers from the branch of the chambira
palm tree into practically anything they need — fishing nets, hammocks,
purses, skirts and dental floss.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
But for the last year they have put their hopes in baskets, weaving hundreds
to build inventory for export to the United States. Their first international
buyers are the San Diego Natural History Museum and San Diego Zoo, and
they plan to sell to other museums and home décor purveyors.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The circuitous route these baskets have taken from the jungle to American
store shelves started with a bird watcher’s passion for natural habitats,
passed through a regional government whose policies have become increasingly
more conservationist, and, supporters say, should end with better lives
for the weavers and their communities.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The enterprise is one of many ventures here in the Amazon aimed at “productive
conservation,” which advocates say will save the rain forest by transforming
it into a renewable economic resource for local people — just as some
ecotourism lodges and other ventures in places like Africa and Southeast
Asia have tried to do.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The greatest challenge has been convincing residents of the communities
along the river, who until now largely supported themselves by chopping
down palm branches and fishing, that conservation is in their best interest.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The government of Loreto, Peru’s densely forested and least populous region,
organized the basket project, which is financed by grants from two nonprofit
groups, Nature and Culture International and the Moore Foundation.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
“Having the government take such a role in a market-based approach is
quite novel,” Amy Rosenthal, deputy director for projects at the Amazon
Conservation Association, a nonprofit group that works in southern Peru
and northern Bolivia, said when told of the program. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
But the program in Peru is not without challengers. Iván Vásquez, president
of the Loreto region, said he had made some enemies for supporting conservation
in a region where fishing and logging have been the primary sources of
revenue for decades and where oil and gas are seen as the next frontiers.
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The changes in Loreto may correspond to a broader shift in Peru’s attitude
toward conservation. Last spring, motivated by the signing of a free-trade
agreement with the United States, the country set up an environment ministry,
which has already started to focus on deforestation. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/business/worldbusiness/20peru.html?scp=4&sq=deforestation&st=cse"><font size=2 color=#3366ff face="Arial"><u>www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/business/worldbusiness/20peru.html?scp=4&sq=deforestation&st=cse</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>7.
Cork Flooring, A Sustainable Choice</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: Mother Earth News, USA, 9 December
2008</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Soft like suede, cork has the insulating
qualities and resiliency of carpet; the easy-to-clean surface of wood or
tile; plus luxurious appeal from its earthy colours and rich visual texture.
Made from tree bark, it’s also a natural and renewable resource, so it’s
environmentally friendly, right?</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The answer is yes, but with a footnote.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Cork has a multitude of green characteristics. The material is acquired
by stripping most of the outer bark from the cork oak tree. This regular
harvesting does the tree no harm, and the bark grows back, to be stripped
again every nine years. The trees live for 200 years or so, and the forests,
called<i> Montados</i>, are highly prized and passed down through generations
of families in the cork-producing business.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Even cork processing is relatively straightforward: The cork sheets or
pieces are cured, boiled and pressed. Scraps are collected for reuse, so
almost nothing is wasted.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Yet for those of us in North America trying to be more eco-friendly, cork
has a notable drawback: It comes from Europe. Forests of <i>Quercus suber,</i>
the one oak species that produces cork, grow in the Mediterranean, primarily
in Portugal. Fuel consumption from shipping cork adds to the embodied energy
in every cork flooring product. Although the trees have been successfully
grown in California, they haven’t produced the corky bark, likely from
a subtle difference in the ecosystem.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The dilemma of long-distance shipping, however, is counter-balanced by
the truly urgent need to preserve cork oak forests. Nora Berrahmouni, Mediterranean
forest unit director at the environmental nonprofit </font><a href=http://www.panda.org/ target=_blank><font size=2 face="Arial">World
Wildlife Federation</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"> (WWF), says that
cork forest ecosystems are endangered by increasing population growth and
forest clearing. With the loss of viable <i>Montados</i>, “there could
be intensification in forest fires, a loss of irreplaceable biodiversity
and an accelerated desertification process,” she says.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
“The cork forest loss is coming from the decline of the global cork market,”
Berrahmouni says, explaining that conventional wine corks are being replaced
by aluminium screw tops and petroleum-dependent plastic stoppers. The decreased
demand for cork has devalued the forests, leading to sales — even abandonment
— of the once-priceless land.
Cork products such as flooring, on the other hand, will keep <i>Montados</i>
intact and support a sustainable form of agri-forestry, Berrahmouni says.
“We encourage consumers to buy cork flooring materials.”</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
According to </font><a href=http://www.recorkamerica.com/ target=_blank><font size=2 face="Arial">ReCORK</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">
America, a cork stopper recycling project sponsored by Amorim, the world’s
largest producer of cork bottle stoppers, there are approximately 13 billion
corks sold into the market each year. Almost all of them end up in the
trash — a sad fact because corks can easily be recycled into flooring
and other commercial products.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/Benefits-Cork-Flooring.aspx"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/Benefits-Cork-Flooring.aspx</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>8.
Frankincense: Sustainable harvesting by Siddhi Tribe of India</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: Deccan Herald, India, 30 December,
2008</b></font>
<br><font size=2 color=#003322 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The people of Malenad have to constantly
keep in touch with nature for their livelihood. And they are heavily dependent
on forest produce rather than agriculture.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Five-year-old Krishna Siddhi can extract frankincense with dexterity but
has no clue about the alphabet. And typically so because those living in
the Malnad region have to constantly keep in touch with nature for their
livelihood. Though illiterate, they are accomplished in other ways.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The siddhis are a tribe that live in Shirasgaon village, situated 40 kms
away from Sirsi taluk in Uttara Kannada district. Out of the 30 families
living in the village, as many as 16 families belong to the siddhi tribe.
People here rely more on forest produce for their livelihood, because there
is not much scope for agriculture here. The village itself is situated
in the midst of thick forests. Shirasgaon residents rely on NTFPs such
as <i>Canarium strictum</i> (raladoopa), <i>Ailanthus triphysa</i> (halamaddi
doopa or frankincense), apiary, <i>Garcinia gummi-gutta </i>(uppage), <i>Garcinia
indica</i> (murugalu), <i>Myristica dactyloides</i> (rampatre), cinnamon
and the like.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
This is that time of the year (between November and January) when frankincense
is collected. However, because of indiscriminate collection across the
Malenad region, many rare species are on the verge of extinction. <i>Canarium
strictum</i> is one of them. According to experts, <i>Canarium strictum</i>
is found only in the forests of Shirasgaon in Sirsi taluk and in the forests
of Siddapur taluk. Germination is the key problem for the species.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
But residents of Shirasgaon are different from other pickers of minor forest
products as they know the significance of each tree and they look after
trees as one would protect one’s own child.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
They collect frankincense without causing any damage to trees. <i>Canarium
strictum</i> is a product in greater demand in the market than <i>Ailanthus
triphysa</i>, thanks to its fragrance. Each family of Shirasgaon collects
nearly 10kgs of frankincense every season. But marketing is a crucial problem.
People here face similar problems when it comes to other forest products,
such as kokum and cinnamon. But, kokum juice has seen some profits in the
market.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Janaki, a member of Shridevi Self-Help Group, says the SHG made a profit
of Rs4,000 for collecting nearly one quintal of kokum juice during the
previous year. The SHG members have also been trained in mat knitting.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Shirasgaon residents have also developed a nursery of rare plants such
as <i>Artocarpus hirsitus</i> (hebbalasu), <i>Artocarpus lakoocha</i> (vate),
<i>Ochrocarpus longifolius</i> (surige) and 15 other species.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Prakruti Association, an NGO, has been encouraging their activity by providing
good price to their products and by providing dryers for drying the peels
of <i>Garcinia gummi-gutta </i>and the like. The dryer has helped them
save much wood for drying. Prabhakar Gouda, one of the NTFP collectors,
says that contractors who had got the tenders collect the NTFP from people.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
But some of the collectors do not have knowledge of proper collection and
tend to damage the tree while collecting frankincense. Thanks to their
lack of knowledge, the tree dies before two-three periods of collection
are completed.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Can Shirasgaon villagers be eye-openers to those who destroy forests indiscriminately?
The answer is yes, indeed. Residents of Shirasgaon village have set an
example to the world on the importance of protecting forests.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href=http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Dec302008/spectrum20081229109470.asp><font size=2 color=#3366ff face="Arial"><u>www.deccanherald.com/Content/Dec302008/spectrum20081229109470.asp</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>9.
Maple Syrup: Tapping trees for that classic Canadian flavour </b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: Canada.com, Canada 23 February
2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">It has been sweet success for a new breed
of sapsuckers who introduced the maple syrup industry to Vancouver Island
seven years ago.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Ladysmith's Gary Backlund and five others in the Master Woodland Manager
program at Vancouver Island University decided to create a West Coast maple
syrup industry in 2002. More than 85% of the world's maple syrup is produced
in Canada and is most commonly made in the eastern provinces of Quebec,
Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. In 2007, more than 40,600 tonnes
of Canadian syrup, valued at $231 million, was sold to 45 different countries.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
While the Vancouver Island production is a drop in the bucket compared
to the Eastern industry. Backlund and his fellow sapsuckers produced 3,000
litres of sap in their first season. Last year, more than 60,000 litres
of sap was collected from bigleaf maples all over Vancouver Island.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Backlund and his daughter Katherine don't measure their success in how
much money they make from their maple syrup hobby. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
While the production is low-cost, it is time consuming. "We get about
$1 for every litre of sap or $75 for every litre of syrup, which when you
take in consideration the amount of labour it takes to get that, it's not
very much," said Katherine. "For us it's really a hobby more
than a business." The family enjoys sharing their knowledge, but don't
expect to pursue commercial success.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Commercial success was on the mind of Bram Lucieer of Campbell River, one
of the original six island sap seekers. He didn't make syrup. Instead,
he produced a rare maple wine. Lucieer's ambition to sell his award-winning
maple wine in the national and international market was corked when he
ran into the arduous commercial regulations.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
It is a huge disappointment since he is confident that he tapped into something
that has the potential to make a large profit with hardly any overhead.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
"The raw material is virtually free for the taking. The commercial
profit would be huge. It's not like maple syrup where the reduction rate
is about 40 (litres of sap) to one (litre of syrup). One litre of sap makes
one litre of wine," said Lucieer from his Campbell River home.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Lucieer says would be willing to share his trade secrets to help others
take West Coast maple wine to the next level.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
A plantation of bigleaf maples would be the first step in making a profitable
maple wine or maple syrup company.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.canada.com/Sweet+maple+syrup+success/1319629/story.html"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.canada.com/Sweet+maple+syrup+success/1319629/story.html</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>10.
Medicinal plants in danger of dying out, according to conservationists</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: T</b></font><a href=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>elegraph.co.uk</b></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>,
UK, 7 January 2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Plantlife, the conservation charity, point
out that traditional medicine is the primary source of health care for
more people worldwide than western medicine – often because it is the
only affordable treatment available. For example plants in east Africa
are used to treat malaria and opportunistic infections caused by HIV Aids.
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
However around 15,000 species are under threat from pollution, over-harvesting
and habitat loss, including Himalayan Yew, known as a source of anti-cancer
drugs. The decimation of the plants is not only leading to a loss of traditional
knowledge but could prevent a breakthrough in treating conditions like
migraines, fever and even cancer. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Plantlife have compiled a report on the best way to protect plants for
the future, following a three-year study of projects around the world involving
medicinal plants. Projects included developing medicinal first aid kits
in Uganda, establishing China's first ever community nature reserve for
wild medicinal plants and promoting the cultivation of medicinal plants
by local farmers in Nepal. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Alan Hamilton, the author of the report, said protecting medicinal plants
is not only important for human health but for the surrounding ecosystem.
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
He said: "Focusing on medicinal plants has the potential to be a major
motivating force behind nature conservation. Improving health, earning
an income and maintaining cultural traditions are important to us all –
wherever we live – and all three are involved in motivating people to
conserve medicinal plants, and thus the habitats where they grow."
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font>
<br><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/4162311/Medicinal-plants-in-danger-of-dying-out-according-to-conservationists.html"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/4162311/Medicinal-plants-in-danger-of-dying-out-according-to-conservationists.html</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>11.
Pandan prop roots found suitable for handicrafts in the Philippines</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: Philippine Information Agency,
Philippines, 4 December 2008</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Tacloban City. Gone are the days when pandan’s
use is limited to giving distinct aroma to rice, curry dishes and desserts
and sweet beverages.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Pandan prop roots may now be used by handicraft producers, a result of
a study of the DOST-Forest Products Research and Development Institute.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
A report from FPRDI research specialist Arlene G. Torres showed that researcher
Simplicia B. Katigbak found of the 40 pandanus species in the Philippines,
those with specialized prop roots can be tapped as an alternative material
for handicrafts. These species are sabotan, <i>Pandanus alasas </i>and
<i>Pandanus pangdan </i>which are widely distributed in the country. Ms.
Katigbak said that the material was also pliable and could be easily woven.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
This is good news considering that the Philippines is one of the world’s
leaders in the handicraft production, with exports averaging US$ 676,832,244M
in 2001-2002. Philippine handicrafts are chiefly made from non-timber raw
materials such as rattan, bamboo abaca, buri, woody vines and pandan.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Pandan is popular due to its varied uses. Its leaves are woven into mats,
hats and bags and baskets. Its prominent aerial or prop roots are made
into thread, rope for fishing lines, and tying and plating material for
chairs. If moderately harvested, the use of prop roots for handicrafts
will not affect the plant’s growth, Ms. Katigbak assured.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Pandan is a tropical erect green plant with fan-shaped sprays of long narrow
bladelike leaves and woody aerial roots. The leaves are used in Asian cooking
to add a distinct aroma to rice, curry dishes and desserts and sweet beverages.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Pandan trees provide materials for housing, clothing and textiles, food,
medication, decorations, fishing, religious uses and manufacture of handicrafts,
among which are the mats which are handwoven from the dried leaves.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
It is also said to have flavonoids which are believed to have a variety
of healthy properties including antiviral, anti-allergen, antiplatelet,
anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Interestingly, the leaves of the plant have been known to repel cockroaches.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p081204.htm&no=47"><font size=2 face="Arial">www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p081204.htm&no=47</font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>12.<i>
Pinus sylvestris</i> cones: </b></font><a href="http://www.precisedtk.com/2009/01/23/first-fsc-labeled-gin-from-belgium/"><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>First
FSC Labelled Gin from Belgium</b></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: Forest Stewardship Council, 19
January 2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The first FSC labelled gin was launched in
the Belgium market in December 2008. Made from the green pine cones of
<i>Pinus sylvestris</i>, a common tree in the Flemish region, the launch
of this gin also marks the first FSC certified NTFP originating from Belgium.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Known as Dennenknopje, ‘little pine cone’ in Dutch, the gin is made from
cones that are collected from the FSC certified Domeinbos Pijnven forest.
Owned by the Flemish government, it is managed as part of a larger FSC
Group that has been certified since 2006. Certification to FSC’s Principles
and Criteria for responsible forest management ensures that the natural
forest complexity is maintained and social issues are considered, while
securing long term supplies of forest products.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Distilleerderij Leukenheide is the family owned company responsible for
producing the gin. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest traditional gin distillery
in the region. The company achieved FSC chain of custody certification
in May 2008, facilitating completion of the supply chain from Domeinbos
Pijnven forest by processing the gin and labelling the bottle with the
FSC label.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The eye-catching FSC labelled gin brings promotion of FSC in the country
and strengthened local identity to this relatively forest rich region.
It also demonstrates that responsible management of forests can bring new
and interesting opportunities, not only for recreational purposes, but
also within the economic perspective of responsible forest product harvesting.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.fsc.org/news.html?&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=88&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=84&cHash=041e1da5e1"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.fsc.org/news.html?&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=88&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=84&cHash=041e1da5e1</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>13.
Stevia: The Natural Sweetener</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: BCLocalNews.com, Canada, 21 February
2009 </b></font>
<br><font size=2 color=#444444 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><i>Stevia rebuadiana</i>, a natural herb
native to Paraguay and Brazil, has been used for centuries to sweeten drinks
and eaten as a simple sweet snack. Its common form, a white powder extracted
from the leaves of the plant, is rated to be 200 to 300 times sweeter than
sugar. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
At present, it can be found in natural health-food stores and in the natural-food
section of some grocery stores as a dietary supplement, in powder and liquid
form. It has a slight liquorice taste and an interesting after-taste for
those who aren’t used to sugar. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Stevia is delicious in almost any recipe using fruit or dairy products,
but does present a bit of a challenge when used for baking since it lacks
sugar’s abilities to add texture, caramelize, enhance the browning process
and feed the fermentation of yeast. On the other hand, high temperatures
do not affect its sweetening properties and can be used to sweeten coffee
or tea. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
There is a lot of talk about stevia right now, whether it’s safe and why
it can’t be easily found in every grocery store. While it’s true that
stevia makes up around 40 per cent of Japan’s sweetener consumption, used
in various products including soy sauce, sweet pickles and their diet pops,
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada have been
reluctant to approve it as a food additive or dietary sweetener due to
government policy and safety concerns. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
However, as of mid-December 2008, food industry leaders have convinced
the FDA that rebiana or reb A, which is extracted from stevia, is safe
to add to food and beverages and it will likely appear on store shelves
everywhere.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Arizona-based Wisdom Natural Brands was the first to start marketing packets
of its powdered SweetLeaf. Cargill, working with Coca-Cola, followed with
Truvia. And PepsiCo, with Whole Earth Sweetener Co., has developed a new
line of beverages sweetened with a stevia product called PureVia. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Soon, you will see stevia in pretty much every food product you can imagine.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
There are a number of published safety studies available that supports
the safety of stevia and claims it may improve health. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Research also indicates it can significantly lower blood pressure among
people with mild hypertension.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
However, not everyone is convinced of stevia’s safety. Normally the FDA
requires major food ingredients, like this one will be, to be tested over
the long term. There are also some studies on rats that suggest high doses
could potentially cause infertility and a possibility it may be a carcinogen.
Whether the FDA should have required more testing before approving stevia
products is a concern for many people.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The bottom line is, given the long history of safe use of stevia in other
countries, it is likely safe to use in moderation. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
However, know that research is limited and it is not recommended any woman
who is pregnant or breastfeeding use stevia, nor is it recommended for
children. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href=http://www.bclocalnews.com/lifestyles/40030353.html><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.bclocalnews.com/lifestyles/40030353.html</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><i> </i></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><i> </i></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>14.
Rattan: Conserving Forests</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: World Wildlife Fund, 20 February
2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Establishing a Sustainable Production System
of Rattan Products in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam will be launched on 5
March in Hanoi, Vietnam. This project forms the second phase of WWF’s
Sustainable Rattan Harvesting and Production Programme, which aims to give
communities, government and industry an economic reason to conserve forests.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
This Programme, funded by the European Commission, IKEA and DEG (German
Society for Development), aims to deliver measurable improvement in the
sectors environmental performance.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
By the project end, at least 40% of all targeted small and medium enterprises
in the supply chain will be actively engaged in a cleaner production of
rattan products. Meanwhile, 15% of targeted processing enterprises will
be providing sustainable products to Europe and other markets.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Implementation of this approach will optimize supply chain management through
less wastage. Cleaner production techniques and technologies at the pre-processing
village level will reduce pollution and mitigate negative impacts on workers
and the local environment.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Eco-related product standards and labelling will also be incorporated into
the supply chain, by introducing credible certification. This will provide
incentives for sustainable rattan primary production and will deliver increasing
socio-economic benefits to rattan harvesting communities.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Demand from international environmentally and socially responsible retailers
and end consumers will be used as a lever to create the necessary incentives
to successfully introduce these improvements.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/greatermekong/?157164/Conserving-Forests-with-Rattan"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/greatermekong/?157164/Conserving-Forests-with-Rattan</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>COUNTRY INFORMATION</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>15.
Bolivia: The Importance of plant knowledge</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: RedBolivia Internacional, Bolivia,
January 2009 </b></font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial">How important is traditional
plant knowledge in the Amazon? According to a recent study among the Tsimane'
in Amazonian Bolivia, each standard deviation of maternal ethnobotanical
knowledge increases the likelihood of good child health by more than fifty
percent. And the study raises the question: What will be the cost — to
the Tsimane' and other indigenous peoples — if such ethnobotanical knowledge
is lost?</font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial">
The Tsimane' number about 8,000 people who live in about 100 villages along
the Maniqui River and the interior of the Pilon Lajas region of the Bolivian
Amazon. Tsimane' villages are small, with an average of about 24 households
linked by kinship and marriage. At the time of the study, no household
had electricity or running water, and half the villages were inaccessible
by road. The Tsimane' have traditionally lived by slash-and-burn agriculture,
gathering, hunting, and fishing. However, since the 1970s, their territory
has been encroached on by colonist farmers, logging firms, cattle ranchers,
and oil companies. The Tsimane' now increasingly interact with the market
economy through the sale of goods and wage labour, primarily on cattle
ranches, logging camps, and farms.</font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial">
Such integration into the market economy brings about changes in occupation,
preferences, social organization, and health and nutritional status. The
Tsimane' are now starting to merge into a culture that places no value
on their indigenous knowledge, especially their ethnobotanical knowledge.
Under this pressure, traditional knowledge of medicinal plants is starting
to disappear, with little to take its place. Too often, as here, the global
market holds out the offer of western medicine without providing the means
to gain access to it.</font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial">
Thomas McDade and William Leonard from Northwestern University set out
to learn what impact the loss of traditional plant knowledge might have
on the health of children. To do this, they assessed the health of 330
Tsimane' children, aged from two to ten years old, and tested their mothers
and fathers on both their knowledge of local plants and their skills at
using them. Local ethnobotanical knowledge was quantified using five measures
— agreement with local experts on plant uses; botanical knowledge; skills
in using plants; total number of plants used; and diversity of plants used.
Child health was measured using three variables — concentration of C-reactive
protein, a marker of infectious burden; skinfold thickness, a measure of
fat stores; and stature, used to calculate height-for-age scores, an indicator
of nutritional and health status.</font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial">
The results were striking. For each measure of health, mothers with higher
levels of plant knowledge and use had healthier children, independent of
potentially confounding variables related to education, market participation,
and acculturation. </font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial">
The Tsimane' ethnomedical tradition may play a particularly important part
in protecting health because effective commercial medicines are expensive
and difficult for the Tsimane' to procure. If remedies derived from local
plants are effective in preventing or treating illness, this would contribute
not only to lower levels of inflammation but also to improved linear growth
and body fat stores by reducing allocations of energy to fuelling immunity
and fighting infection.</font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial">
Strikingly, although the authors infer a direct association between maternal
plant knowledge and child health, it may be that this association is mediated
by the children themselves. Tsimane' children spend much of their time
away from parental supervision, playing and foraging in small peer groups,
and the authors report seeing older children use medicinal plants both
for themselves and for younger children. It may be that plant knowledge
— like so much other cultural knowledge — is passed, not from adults
to children, but rather from older children to younger children. In the
preservation of plant knowledge lies the destiny of the people.</font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial">For full story, please see:</font><font size=2 face="Arial">
</font><a href="http://www.redbolivia.com/news-in-english/columnists/747-bolivia-singing-to-the-plants-shamanism-and-the-medicine-path.html"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.redbolivia.com/news-in-english/columnists/747-bolivia-singing-to-the-plants-shamanism-and-the-medicine-path.html</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>16.
Ethiopia: EU grants 251 Million Euros to Support Development Programs</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: The Africa Monitor in AllAfrica.com,
Ethiopia, 30 January 2009 </b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Addis Abeba. Ethiopia signed a multi sect
oral grant agreement on Thursday amounting to 251 million Euros(equivalent
to two billion 663 million Ethiopian Birr) with the European Commission
to assist its development endeavours in the road sector, productive safety
net programs and forest management, including a technical assistance to
support implementation of its development strategy.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The lion's share of the grant 200 hundred million Euros (2 billion birr)
to be disbursed over a three year period as of mid-2009 will support Ethiopia's
road sector development programs.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
A further 42 million Euros (546 million birr) will support the Productive
Safety Net Programme (PSNP) in Ethiopia. According to the commission, this
will be used to assist on a yearly basis more than eight million chronically
food insecure individuals which constitute some of the poorest and most
vulnerable members of the population living in 286 food insecure woredas
across the country.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The 6 million Euros (78 million birr) grant will be used for the sustainable
management of Ethiopia's forests in order to improve food security, strengthen
the rural economy and reduce environmental degradation. It will also be
used to improve forest condition and forest based Livelihoods through building
the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and community
to scale-up and mainstream Participatory Forest Management and NTFP development.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The remaining three million euro (39 million birr) in technical assistance
agreement will help the government implement its development strategy and
will be implemented through the support of sound development programs financed
from the European Development Fund and to foster a more coherent and informed
approach to development and trade issues.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href=http://allafrica.com/stories/200901300272.html><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>http://allafrica.com/stories/200901300272.html</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>17.
India: Forest health restored by managing for NTFPs</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: MeriNews.com, India, 8 January
2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">This is a success story of a small tribal
village called Karadakatha in Boudh district of Orissa, India. The village
has 24 Houses with around 200 people and all are involved in forest protection.
The entire village is inhabited by the Kondha Tribe.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Up to 2001 the entire village used to depend on their livelihood from selling
firewood collected from the forest and gradually they found that there
was an acute shortage of it and forest resources were severely depleted.
This drastic change in forest ecosystem forced the villagers to shift their
livelihood from firewood to NTFP and in a sustainable manner. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
In 2001 a group of 10 women formed a SHG in the name of the local deity
and named it Ghumura SHG. After they started protecting the forest, the
forest which was completely denuded is now again dense and filled with
various tree species and able to attract wildlife giving a complete shape
to the entire forest ecosystem. Their initiative has influenced the neighbouring
villages to protect the forest and save the forest from timber mafias.
They are not only protecting the forest but also the Sadal Ganda Nal a
stream passing through their forest. They prevent the contractor from collecting
sand and stone from the Nal. Presently around 375 acres of forest is now
directly protected by the group and because of this community monitoring
other adjoining forest areas are also being protected.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
They are now earning their livelihoods with NTFPs, by making Siali leaf
plate, collecting Mahula, Bidanga, Siali Lai (a type of rope) and Binding
Kendu leaf. Each member used to earn Rupees 1800 from Kendu leaf, Rupees
500 from Mahula per year. In addition to this they are getting Rupees 20
for a bundle of Siali Lai and making of Siali lai is preferred by male
members. They are able to earn their complete livelihood from forest and
some allied activities. In the last three years none of the villagers has
worked in NREGS programme which is designed to ensure 100 days work for
every adult in a village under different local developmental works.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The women’s will power and commitment are increasing tremendously after
various successful incidents in preventing the timber mafias and contractors
from collecting wood and sand. Now they are planning to make the forest
richer by planting other species that can enhance their livelihood and
want to set as an example for other villages. For their contribution they
have been awarded by the forest department with Prakruti Mitra along with
a cash prize of Rupees 10,000. The united effort in protecting the forest
has been extended to other areas like PanchatiRaj, Health, Education and
other governance issues and the people are able to raise their voice against
corruption and irregularities with appropriate authorities for necessary
action.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=155054"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=155054</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>18.
Indonesia: Government team to bolster protection for the country’s TK</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: The Jakarta Globe, Indonesia,
22 January, 2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">A team of officials from several ministries
has redoubled efforts to protect the country’s heritage and curb intellectual
property infringement. The group plans to strengthen four existing intellectual
property laws and draw up two new bills.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Andi Mattalatta said on Thursday that
existing laws covered copyrights, patents, brands and industrial design,
while the new bills were aimed at protecting traditional knowledge and
heritage, and local food products.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
“We plan to improve these laws in keeping with an international treaty
on intellectual property rights,” Mattalatta said, adding that the move
could encourage Indonesian inventors to develop more products.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Ragil Yoga Edi, a researcher on intellectual property from the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences. or LIPI, said on Thursday that 80 percent of applications
for Indonesian patents were from foreign companies.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href=http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/article/7223.html><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/article/7223.html</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>19.
Mozambique: Hidden Forest </b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: The Guardian Weekly, UK, 20 February,
2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Using Google Earth to create an ecological
map of the Mozambique highlands, conservationist Julian Bayliss accidentally
discovered what is now thought to be the largest piece of mid-altitude
rainforest in southern Africa. The canopies of Mount Mabu have so far yielded
five new species of butterfly and two species of snake. He describes how
it came about</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The discovery of 7,000 hectares of </font><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/21/mount-mabu-mozambique-jonathan-timberlake" target=_blank><font size=2 face="Arial">virgin
rainforest</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"> in northern </font><a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozambique target=_blank><font size=2 face="Arial">Mozambique</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">
has caused huge excitement in the scientific community. “It's extremely
rare in this day and age to make such discoveries, especially in Africa,
and to be the first biologist to enter such a huge area of untouched rainforest
– well, it's a dream come true for a field-based conservationist such
as myself, and to be the one who discovered it is incredible,” says Bayliss.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=958&catID=4"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=958&catID=4</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>20.
Nepal: Forest Museum in Pokhara</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: Kantipur Daily, Nepal, 6 December
2008</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The forest products museum has been established
in the premises of Institute of Forestry here.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The museum, which targets students, researchers and tourists, showcases
various timber and non-timber products. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The museum has included altogether 700 timber and non-timbers products,
including 85 species of plant, timber and bamboo, 150 herbs and wildlife
leather. According to Professor Dr. Abhaya Kumar Das of Institute of Forestry,
Pokhara, the inception of the museum will help undertake intensive study
and research about various species of tree, herbs, and plant grown in different
climates, altitudes and places.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=167133"><font size=2 face="Arial">www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=167133</font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>21.
Nigeria: Desert encroaches on nation at 600 meters per annum</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: ForestPolicyResearch.org, January
26, 2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Current statistics by the Federal Ministry
of Environment shows that Nigeria loses about 600m of its arable land mass
yearly to desert encroachment. A statement issued yesterday by Special
Assistant to the Minister of Environment, Mr Rotimi Ajayi, noted that the
Minister, Mr John Odey, was worried by the state of things and charged
the people to cultivate non-timber forest trees to combat desertification
in the Northern belt of Nigeria</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
He said that there was need to change Nigerian’s attitude towards the
forest, which could only be done by integrating the needs of the masses
into the forest development plans. “We need to work towards a policy on
alternative energy use by Nigerians. We need to emphasise on NTFPs. This
is the only way we can make our forest management sustainable.”</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
“We should also embark on campaigns for the people to start planting fuelwood
for their domestic use, in order to conserve our forest reserves. Once
this is done, we would be able to have sustainable forest management system
in place,” he said.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://forestpolicyresearch.org/2009/01/27/nigeria-desert-encroaches-on-nation-at-600-meters-per-annum/"><font size=2 color=#3366ff face="Arial"><u>http://forestpolicyresearch.org/2009/01/27/nigeria-desert-encroaches-on-nation-at-600-meters-per-annum/</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>22.
Peru: Revised laws 'could promote biopiracy'</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: SciDev.Net Weekly Update (16-22
February 2009)</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">[LIMA] Modifications to intellectual property
laws that the Peruvian government "rushed through" to enable
the go-ahead of a free trade agreement (FTA) between Peru and the United
States could facilitate biopiracy and hamper Peru's position as a protector
of traditional knowledge, say experts.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Changes to intellectual property rights, environment and labour laws were
sent to congress last month (8 January) and passed without debate before
their enactment on 14 January — giving George Bush time to finalise the
agreement before he left office.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The rush stemmed from fears that new US president Barack Obama would object
to the treaty, which entered into force on 1 February.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
But experts have warned that the changes have resulted in flexibility in
certain regulations, leaving them open to broad legal interpretation, which
could facilitate genetic resource patenting by other countries.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Decision 148 of the regulations of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN)
— of which Peru is a member — states that "biological material existing
in nature or those which can be isolated, including genome or germplasm
of any natural living being, cannot be the subject of a patent".</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The Peruvian amendment says biological material "in whole or in part"
cannot be considered an invention — but there is no explicit mention of
genes or germplasm.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
This ambiguity could benefit large corporations seeking to patent genes
for genetically modified organisms, Manuel Ruiz from the Peruvian Society
for Environmental Law, told SciDev.Net.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Rules protecting indigenous knowledge related to biological resources have
also been changed. CAN stipulates the presentation of a 'certificate of
origin' before patenting — proving access has been officially authorised.
But the amendment merely requires the filing of a licence — which can
be issued by lesser authorities. Additionally, failure to use the licence
will incur only a penalty, rather than cancellation of the patent as the
CAN mandate stipulates. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Ruiz says the changes are a "step back" in progress made so far.
"This measure will cause biopiracy … allowing any person or company
to patent our resources or knowledge only by filing a license contract."
Government officials accept that the modifications increase flexibility,
but say they do not facilitate biopiracy or violate the CAN regulations.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
"The changes of the law do not allow the patenting of genes, because
the amendment reiterates that the biological material existing in nature,
either in whole or in part, is not an invention," Manuel Sigüeñas,
from the governmental National Institute for Agrarian Innovation, told
SciDev.Net.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The amendments were enacted on the same day the regional government of
Cusco approved a law against biopiracy and protection of indigenous knowledge
(<i>see </i></font><a href="http://scidev.net/en/news/peruvian-region-outlaws-biopiracy.html"><font size=2 face="Arial"><i>below</i></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"><i>
article</i>). </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Other government officials admitted that the law "could pose a certain
threat to Peruvian biodiversity". Several officials said the National
Commission on Prevention of Biopiracy are due to meet to discuss concerns.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.scidev.net/en/news/revised-laws-could-promote-biopiracy-in-peru.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_news"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.scidev.net/en/news/revised-laws-could-promote-biopiracy-in-peru.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_news</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>23.
Peru: Region outlaws biopiracy</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: SciDev.Net Weekly Update (19-25
January 2009)</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">[LIMA] A region of Peru is claiming to be
the first in the world to enact a law outlawing biopiracy and protecting
indigenous knowledge at a regional level. Cusco — in the Peruvian Andes
— has outlawed the plundering of native species for commercial gain, including
patenting resources or the genes they contain.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Corporations or scientists must now seek permission from, and potentially
share benefits with, the local people whose traditions have protected the
species for centuries. Indigenous communities can now implement ways to
protect local resources, including creating registers of biodiversity and
protocols for granting access to it.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
"I know of no other local or regional laws similar to this one that
brings a legal framework for access to the genetic resources and traditional
knowledge and practices — I think this is a significant precedent,"
said Michel Pimbert of the London-based International Institute for Environment
and Development<b>.</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Local scientists and activists believe the law's value lies in the fact
that for the first time a regional government will be empowered to challenge
its national government on biopiracy. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
But while the law is an important precedent, it could come into conflict
with national laws regarding the recording of indigenous knowledge, said
María Scurrah, a Peruvian scientist specializing in farmer's rights. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The National Institute for the Protection of the Consumer and Intellectual
Property has created a National Register of Indigenous Knowledge. But the
Cusco law says that native communities of the region will make their own
records and share them only according to certain rules.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
"I believe that ancient knowledge should be kept by the community
and be brought to a national registry to ensure payment to each community
for each variety and species registered," said Scurrah. "That
is the only way to pay for each community to be the guardian of biodiversity."</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Pimbert said that the most significant aspect of the law is that it shows
progress can be made at a regional level, rather than working through "central
governments that have become increasingly distant and unaccountable to
citizens in many countries throughout the world".</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: www.scidev.net/en/news/peruvian-region-outlaws-biopiracy.html</font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>24.
Tunisia: Jendouba region provides 90% of Tunisia’s cork production</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: Tunisia Online News in AllAfrica.com,
Tunisia, 21 February 2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Tunis. With some 70,000 quintals produced
each year – about 90% of Tunisia's overall cork production – the governorate
of Jendouba is the country's main provider of cork. The region (Kroumiria
and Mogod heights) which is known for its vast expanses of cork oak forest
(45,000 hectares) also boasts one of the best ecosystem protection plans
in the Mediterranean region.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The cork sector in Jendouba employs some 4800 people and provides some
150,000 work days per year. Most of the harvested cork is processed at
the Tabarka cork factory in northern Tunisia.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
90 % of Tunisia's cork production is exported to several European countries,
and especially Portugal. Apart from being used in bottles, cork is also
used in shoe manufacturing, decoration, furniture, isolation and even in
the sector of airspace. It is also traditionally used in the making of
impact and sound insulation plates.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
It usually takes a cycle of ten years for a 35 old cork oak to regenerate
its precious skin, whence the need to set up an effective conservation
system.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Cork exports account for 50% Tunisia's total forestry production; the rest
is provided by wood, fodder, essential oils, as well as a wide variety
of mushrooms.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href=http://allafrica.com/stories/200902230788.html><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>http://allafrica.com/stories/200902230788.html</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>25.
USA: USDA Issues final rule governing NTFPs</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: USDA, 9 January 2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The Department of Agriculture is issuing
a final rule governing the disposal of special forest products and forest
botanical products from National Forest System land. The final rule was
published in the </font><a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/fstoday/090109/02National%20News/FR-E8-30672.pdf" target=_parent><font size=2 face="Arial">Federal
Register</font></a><a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/fstoday/090109/02National%20News/FR-E8-30672.pdf"><font size=2 face="Arial">
on 29 December 2008</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">; the directives
will become effective 28 January 2009.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Special forest products are products collected from National Forest System
lands and include but are not limited to, mosses, fungi (including mushrooms),
bryophytes, liverworts, roots, bulbs, berries, seeds, wildflowers, forbs,
sedges, grasses, nuts, ferns, tree sap, boughs, bark cones, burls, transplants,
pine straw, Christmas trees, firewood, posts and poles, shingle and shake
bolts, mine props, rails, vegas, bow staves, and fence material.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Forest botanical products are naturally occurring and a subset of special
forest products but exclude timber products such as, but not limited to,
Christmas trees, firewood, and fence materials.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
These regulations will allow the Forest Service to better manage its special
forest products program:</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Symbol">·</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><font size=2 face="Arial">through
commercial harvest and sale </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Symbol">·</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><font size=2 face="Arial">through
free use, and </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Symbol">·</font><font size=1 face="Times New Roman">
</font><font size=2 face="Arial">implements
a pilot program to charge, collect, and retain fees for forest botanical
products, pursuant to the pilot program law under PL 108-108, Title III,
Section 335, 117 Stat. 1312 (16 U.S.C. 528 Note).</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The rule addresses fees, bidding, sustainability, and other issues with
commercial harvest and sale of special forest products and forest botanical
products. The new rule reflects existing procedures and practices.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
In the past, the Forest Service has used its timber sale regulations and
certain parts of the Forest Service Manual and Handbook to sell special
forest products. Public demand for both timber and non-timber special forest
products has increased. Current regulations do not adequately address selling
NTFPs. Given the growing demand and the need to ensure sustainability,
the Forest Service feels that it is impractical to continue to rely on
timber sale regulations for special forest products. Therefore, the agency
has developed regulations that specifically apply to special forest products.
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Historically, the Forest Service has granted limited free use of special
forest products to individuals and Tribes with treaty and other reserved
rights. In addition to honouring the treaty and reserved rights retained
by Tribes, the Forest Service is committed to meeting their trust responsibilities
with Tribes. This rule continues to recognize these rights and responsibilities.
It allows for and encourages the use of memorandums of understanding and
memorandums of agreement with regional and local Forest Service offices
to maintain traditional cultural practices and culturally important places.
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Traditional gatherers who may not be members of federally-recognized Tribes
will have full access to special forest products as they have in the past.
Permits will be required, however. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The rule establishes a pilot program for disposing of forest botanical
products from National Forest System lands. The Forest Service’s treatment
of forest botanical products and special forest products differ only in
the segregation of fees and different “personal use” and “free use”
practices. The pilot program allows limited free use of forest botanical
products and establishes a “personal use harvest level” for each product.
If an individual’s gathering is below the “personal harvest use levels,”
they don’t have to pay fees.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href=http://www.fs.fed.us/fstoday/090109/02National%20News/special.html><font size=2 color=#3366ff face="Arial"><u>www.fs.fed.us/fstoday/090109/02National%20News/special.html</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>NEWS</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>26.
Ecosystem Services Reveal Relations Between Humans and Nature</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: Forest.fi website, 30 January
2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Ecosystem service is a term that describes
the services provided by nature to humans. No blueberries without the pollination
service by bees, for example.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
“The term ecosystem service is a relative newcomer in the environmental
debate,” says Mr. Arto Naskali, researcher at the Finnish Forest Research
Institute. People are used to thinking about the natural resources produced
by ecosystems, such as timber, grain and fruit, but less about ecosystems
themselves.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Traditionally, environmental protection removes areas from use. However,
protection of this kind is not enough. Nowadays environmental protection
is discussed in relation to the sustainable use of natural resources, and
this creates new terms. Ecosystem service is one such.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The term ecosystem service is used to describe processes in nature which
humans benefit from in some way. Currently ecosystem services are divided
into production, regulation, cultural and maintenance services.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Scenery is an ecosystem service</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>
</b>Of the four categories, production services are the most familiar.
They are the products that often have markets: timber, maize, bananas and
cotton, for example. Cultural ecosystem services include scenery and sacred
places in nature, or the spiritual values associated with nature in general.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Maintenance and regulation services are somewhat similar to each other.
Photosynthesis is an example of a maintenance service: it produces oxygen
for breathing.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
All the services mentioned above are familiar to us. Naskali says that
it is the regulation services that bring about new thinking. When people
want to intensify some production service, they go out to create good conditions
for it. At the same time, however, the regulation services will be intervened
with. Here, as elsewhere, a gain in some aspect means a loss in another.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
A good example of regulation services is the pollinating insects: without
them there would not be many foodstuffs. In North America the bee populations
have collapsed, and people have ended up raising bees and freeing them
into nature.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Essential services, often for free</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>
</b>A good Finnish example of a regulation service involves the elk population.
Society wants to keep the elk population high, but must regulate its size,
as nature’s regulators, large carnivores, are rare in Finland.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Humans have chosen their own safety over the regulation service provided
by large carnivore populations. A free ecosystem service has been replaced
by a service provided by humans, against a payment.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
It is inherent to ecosystem services that they are often free, Naskali
says. Still, they also often function as inputs in processes important
to humans. This brings us to an important characteristic of the term ecosystem
service: the term is anthropocentric; in other words, it looks at nature
from a human viewpoint. This is why it does not please those who speak
of the absolute value of nature itself or see humans as actors separated
from the nature.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Recognition makes a service valuable</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
It is in the nature of ecosystem services that once they are recognised
by humans, they gain a value. It becomes possible to consider whether humans
could produce the service in question and what it would cost. At the same
time it can be seen whether the service is part of a production process.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Trading in recreational and natural values are good examples of recently
recognised services, markets for which are emerging. As a result, the landowner
is paid for maintaining a particular service. Again, the matter is looked
at from the human viewpoint. This can be a problem to some: people can
earn money for <i>conserving nature</i> as it is.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
A mechanism which guarantees general access to several ecosystem services
is already in use in Finland: everyman’s rights.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
For society, this is a free-of-charge method of maintaining people’s wellbeing
through ecosystem services. The sequestration of carbon in trees is also
an ecosystem service. It is a local service with a global significance.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Tool for policy discussions</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Naskali thinks it is important that ecosystem services are recognised.
After that, it is for the policy-makers to decide what to do with the information,
what choices and trade-offs to opt for, and what steering mechanisms to
create.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Should developing countries receive a compensation for maintaining their
forests for carbon sequestration to assist in mitigating the climate change?</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
When ecosystem services first became a topic of discussion, some opposed
using the term. Service is an economic term and some people felt it had
no use in ecological debate.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
On the other hand, at the same time that an ecosystem service is defined,
it is easy to define who benefits and who suffers from its being maintained.
This means that problems considered as having been solved might re-enter
the debate.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
”Still, criticism is necessary, for that’s how science progresses in
democratic societies. And you can’t say that there exists a consensus
on how the term should be defined.”</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href=http://www.forest.fi/smyforest/foresteng.nsf/fa89b3360d6db5b2c22573a6005059ec/149448ef8712c05ac225754e002c7357?OpenDocument><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.forest.fi/smyforest/foresteng.nsf/fa89b3360d6db5b2c22573a6005059ec/149448ef8712c05ac225754e002c7357?OpenDocument</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b><i> </i></b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b><i> </i></b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>27.
<i>Non-wood News</i></b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>From: FAO’s NWFP Programme</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">FAO's NWFP programme has just published the
latest issue of <i>Non-Wood News</i> (no. 18), our annual bulletin covering
all aspects of NWFP. Special Features in this issue cover “Boreal forests”
and “Wildlife”.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
This issue will shortly be available (in both html and pdf) from our NWFP
home page: </font><a href="http://www.fao.org/forestry/FOP/FOPW/NWFP/newsle-e.stm"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>http://www.fao.org/forestry/FOP/FOPW/NWFP/newsle-e.stm</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Copies are being sent to everybody on our mailing list. If you are not
on our list and would like to receive a hard copy, please send an Email
to: </font><a href="mailto:non-wood-news@fao.org"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>non-wood-news@fao.org</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>28.
SEED awards 2009: Call for submissions</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: Seed Initiative</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Do you have an entrepreneurial and innovative
idea that is locally-driven and has great potential to contribute to sustainable
development in countries with developing or transition economies?</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Do you need support to help grow your business or project?</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
If you meet SEED’s eligibility criteria, you could apply now for the 2009
SEED Awards for entrepreneurship in sustainable development. Award Winners
receive a comprehensive package of tailor-made support services, worth
up to $40,000, to help their venture to become established and to increase
their impact. This includes access to relevant expertise and technical
assistance, meeting new partners and building networks, developing business
plans and identifying sources of finance.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The deadline for applications is <b>16th March 2009</b>. Application forms
can be filled in online or downloaded from the SEED Initiative website
at </font><a href=http://www.seedinit.org/><font size=2 color=#3366ff face="Arial"><u>www.seedinit.org</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href=http://www.seedinit.org/mainpages2/awards/what/index.php><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.seedinit.org/mainpages2/awards/what/index.php</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>EVENTS</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b> </b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><u>19th session of the Committee on Forestry
– World Forest Week:</u></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">16–20 March, 2009,</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Rome, Italy</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For more information, please contact:</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Mr Doug Kneeland, </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Secretary COFO 2009</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Forestry Department</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Italy</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Fax +39 06 570 52151</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">e-mail </font><a href=mailto:COFO2009@fao.org><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>COFO2009@fao.org</u></font></a>
<br><a href=http://www.fao.org/forestry/cofo/en/><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.fao.org/forestry/cofo/en/</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><u>Fourth International Conference on Sustainable
Development and Planning </u></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">13-15 May 2009</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Cyprus</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Wessex Institute of Technology</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst, Southampton SO40
7AA, UK</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Contact email/website: </font><a href=mailto:wit@wessex.ac.uk><font size=2 color=#3366ff face="Arial"><u>wit@wessex.ac.uk</u></font></a>
<br><a href="http://www2.wessex.ac.uk/09-conferences/sustainable-development-2009.html"><font size=2 color=#3366ff face="Arial"><u>www2.wessex.ac.uk/09-conferences/sustainable-development-2009.html</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><u>International Expert Workshop on Indigenous
Peoples' Rights, Corporate Accountability and the Extractive Industries</u></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">27-29 March 2009</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Mandaluyong City, Metro-Manila, Philippines</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The International Expert Group Workshop will
be organized by Tebtebba Foundation in cooperation with the Secretariat
of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The workshop will provide
the opportunity for dialogue among participants with the aim of improving
the situation of indigenous peoples in relation to extractive industries.
The EGM will be attended by invited indigenous experts and UNPFII members,
and observers at expert level from the UN system and other-governmental
agencies, academic institutions, NGOs, States and extractive industries.
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For more information, please contact:</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Raymond de Chavez </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples International
Centre for Policy Research and Education)</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">1 Roman Ayson Road, Baguio City, Philippines,
2600</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Telephone: 63-74-4447703; </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Fax No.: 63-74-4439459</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Email: </font><a href=mailto:raymond@tebtebba.org><font size=2 color=#3366ff face="Arial"><u>raymond@tebtebba.org</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><u>Shea 2009: Optimizing the Global Value
Chain</u></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Second International Shea Conference</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">25-27 March 2009,</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Between 2004 and 2008 the shea industry has
effectively doubled. How will we continue that growth while addressing
key challenges?</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Firms from more than 12 African countries will join experts, international
buyers and regional service providers to explore fundamental and cutting-edge
issues in the shea industry.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Topics to be discussed include: Environmental and social issues; Production
sales; Product quality and management of shea parklands; Impact of cultivation
of biofuel crops; Consumer trends; Quality standards and regulation; and
Value of an industry alliance.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For more information, please contact:</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Vanessa Adams (Director) <i>or</i> Dr Peter
Lovett (Shea Butter Technical Advisor)</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">West Africa Trade Hub, 4th Street, Kuku Hill,
Osu, Accra, Ghana. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">E-mail: </font><a href=mailto:plovett@watradehub.com><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>plovett@watradehub.com</u></font></a>
<br><a href=http://www.watradehub.com/><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.watradehub.com</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">;
</font><a href=http://www.globalshea.org/ target="_BLANKtrࠉ-re"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.globalshea.org</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">/
</font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><u>WFC2009-XIII World Forestry Congress</u></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">18-25 October 2009</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Buenos Aires, Argentina</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The deadline for Side Events proposals submission
has been extended to 31 March 2009</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For more information, please contact:</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Mr Olman Serrano (Associate Secretary General)
<i>or</i> Francesca Felicani Robles (Legal Consultant-Assistant)</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">XIII World Forestry Congress</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">FAO Forestry Department,</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome,
Italy.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Fax: +39-0657055137; </font>
<br><a href=http://www.wfc2009.org/><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.wfc2009.org</u></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"><u>/</u></font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b> </b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>LITERATURE REVIEW AND WEB SITES</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>34.
<i>Environment Outlook in the Amazonia: GEO Amazonia</i> </b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: UNEP, 18 February, 2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The report, <i>Environment Outlook in the
Amazonia: GEO Amazonia</i>, uncovers a revealing panorama of accelerated
ecosystem transformation and a marked environmental degradation in this
vast region of the South American humid tropics - shared by Bolivia, Brazil,
Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela - which is also
the planet's most extensive forest zone. The study, prepared by the eight
Amazonian countries, with the support of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO),
is a new publication in UNEP's series of integrated environmental assessments,
also known as GEO (Global Environment Outlook) reports, and on which more
than 150 experts, researchers, academics and scientists in the countries
of the assessed region participated.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
During the preparation of this report, the principal stakeholders from
the eight Amazonian countries met to discuss the future outlook of the
regional environment. They reached a consensus, clearly expressed in the
text: "Our Amazonia is changing at an accelerated rate with very profound
modifications in its ecosystems".</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
After more than two years of analysis, the experts affirm that a joint
action of the Amazonian governments in the following areas could enable
the region to face the challenges ( of the changing environment ): construction
of an integrated environmental vision for Amazonia, and definition of a
role of the region in national development; harmonization of environmental
policies on regionally relevant themes; design and application of instruments
for integrated environmental management; regional strategies that allow
sustainable utilization of Amazonian ecosystems; insertion of risk management
in the public agenda; strengthening of Amazonian environmental institutions;
increased effort on environmental information production and dissemination
in the region; promotion of studies and the economic value of Amazonian
environmental services; and designing of a monitoring and evaluation system
of policies, programmes and projects.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
So far, the effort of the Amazonian countries concerning the management
of environmental problems has primarily been reflected in progress related
to the development of national instruments for planning and management
of Amazonia.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
In essence, the publication points out that the growing environmental degradation
in the Amazonia can be seen by the advance of deforestation, the loss of
biodiversity, and localized climate change impacts.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The way in which economic activities, infrastructure construction, and
the establishment of human settlements are changing Amazonian land use
has resulted in an accelerated transformation of the region's ecosystems.
By 2005, accumulated deforestation in Amazonia was 857,666 km2, reducing
the region's vegetation cover by approximately 17 per cent. This is equal
to two-thirds of Peruvian or 94% of Venezuelan territory.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The loss of biodiversity is expressed in an increased number of endangered
species. GEO Amazonia, however, points out that, while local information
is available on the different countries' biodiversity, there are no statistics
or any general cartography available showing the updated information about
this problem for the whole region.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The report has seven chapters covering: Amazonia: territory, society and
economy over time; Dynamics in Amazonia; Amazonia today; The footprints
of environmental degradation; Responses by stakeholders to the Amazonian
environmental situation; The future of Amazonia; and Conclusions and proposals
for action.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=562&ArticleID=6088&l=en"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=562&ArticleID=6088&l=en</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>35.
Other publications of interest</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>From: FAO’s NWFP Programme</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Ariyanti, N., Bos, M., Kartawinata, K.,
Tjitrosoedirdjo, S., Guhardja, E., and Gradstein, S</b>. 2008. Bryophytes
on tree trunks in natural forests, selectively logged forests and cacao
agroforests in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. <i>Biol. Conserv.</i> 141(10):2516-2527.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Aubin, I., Messier, C., and Bouchard,
A</b>. 2008. Can plantations develop understory biological and physical
attributes of naturally regenerated forests? <i>Biol. Conserv.</i> 141(10):2461-2476.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Blomley, T., Pfliegner, K, Isango, J.,
Zahabu, E., Ahrends, A. and Burgess, N.D</b>. 2008. Seeing the Wood for
the Trees: Towards an objective assessment of the Impact of Participatory
Forest Management on Forest Condition in Tanzania. <i>Oryx</i>. vol.
42, no. 3, pp 380-391. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Bryan Bachner</b>. 2008. </font><a href="http://www.elevenpub.com/Publications/ShowPublications.aspx?searchId=978-90-77596-62-3"><font size=2 face="Arial">Intellectual
Property Rights and China: The Modernization of Traditional Knowledge</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">.Eleven
Publications. ISBN 978-90-77596-62-3</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">This book examines the application of intellectual
property rights to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Conventional legal
thinking describes authentic TCM as a common heritage that is owned by
no one. Its genetic resources, therefore, should be freely available for
pharmaceutical research. According to the author this interpretation overlooks
any rights that could accrue to the authentic inventors of TCM and, by
classifying TCM as common property, disregards the value to be gained through
the conservation (and consequent sustainable use) of TCMs genetic resources.
The author claims that the recognition of custodial rights over traditional
knowledge will provide incentives to developing countries (including China)
to conserve, cultivate, and provide access, for the sake of pharmaceutical
research, to valuable genetic resources. The aim of this book is to analyze
the patent law that regulates TCM and suggest how it may be improved so
as, on the one hand, to ensure that pharmaceutical firms have sufficient
incentives to continue to research and develop TCM while, on the other
hand, to recognize the value of the authentic traditional contributions.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Chwedorzewska, K., Galera, H., and Kosinski,
I</b>. 2008. Plantations of <i>Convallaria majalis</i> L. as a threat to
the natural stands of the species: genetic variability of the cultivated
plants and natural populations. <i>Biol. Conserv.</i> 141(10):2619-2624.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Elliott, K.J., and Swank, W.T</b>. 2008.
Long-term changes in forest composition and diversity following early logging
(1919-1923) and the decline of American chestnut (<i>Castanea dentata</i>).
<i>Plant Ecol.</i> 197(2):155-172.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Hamilton, A.C. (editor). </b>2008. <i>Medicinal
plants in conservation and development: case studies and lessons learnt</i>.
Plantlife International, Salisbury, UK.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Holck, M.H</b>. 2008. Participatory forest
monitoring: an assessment of the accuracy of simple cost-effective methods.
<i>Biodivers. Conserv.</i> 17(8):2023-2036.</font>
<br><font size=2 color=#0a0905 face="Arial"><b> </b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Jha, Shalene and Christopher W. Dick</b>.
2008. Shade coffee farms promote genetic diversity of native trees. <i>Current
Biology</i>. </font><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=PublicationURL&_tockey=%23TOC%236243%232008%23999819975%23782176%23FLA%23&_cdi=6243&_pubType=J&view=c&_auth=y&_acct=C000055286&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=6718006&md5=0589f21f15ee738d30c31e69c2ff79b2"><font size=2 face="Arial">18(24</font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">),
R1126-R1128</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Kambewa, Patrick and Henry Utila</b>.
2008. Malawi’s green gold: Challenges and opportunities for small and
medium forest enterprises in reducing poverty. International Institute
for Environment and Development.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Newton, A. C., E. Marshall, K. Schreckenberg,
D. Golicher, D. W. te Velde, F. Edouard, and E. Arancibia</b>. 2006. Use
of a Bayesian belief network to predict the impacts of commercializing
non-timber forest products on livelihoods. <i>Ecology and Society</i> 11(2):
24. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss2/art24/</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Nhancale, </b></font><a href="http://www.iied.org/pubs/search.php?a=B.%20A.%20Nhancale"><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>B.
A.</b></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>, </b></font><a href="http://www.iied.org/pubs/search.php?a=S.%20E.%20Mananze"><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>S.
E. Mananze</b></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>, </b></font><a href="http://www.iied.org/pubs/search.php?a=N.%20F.%20Dista"><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>N.
F. Dista</b></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>, </b></font><a href="http://www.iied.org/pubs/search.php?a=I.%20Nhantumbo"><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>I.
Nhantumbo</b></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>, </b></font><a href="http://www.iied.org/pubs/search.php?a=D.%20J.%20Macqueen"><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>D.
J. Macqueen</b></font></a><font size=2 face="Arial">. 2009. Small and medium
forest enterprises in Mozambique. International Institute for Environment
and Development. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Philpott, S.M., Bichier, P., Rice, R.A.,
and Greenberg, R.</b> 2008. Biodiversity conservation, yield, and alternative
products in coffee agroecosystems in Sumatra, Indonesia. <i>Biodivers.
Conserv.</i> 17(8):1805-1820.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Robbins, Paul; Emery, Marla; Rice, Jennifer
L</b>. 2008. Gathering in Thoreau's backyard: nontimber forest product
harvesting as practice. <i>Area</i>. 40(2): 265-277.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Senthilkumar, N.; Barthakur, N. D.; Rao,
M. L.</b> 2008. Bioprospecting with reference to medicinal insects and
tribes in India: an overview. <i>Indian Forester</i>. 134: 12, 1575-1591.
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Tribes of North-East India have been using
several insect based traditional drugs to cure several diseases. Over 500
species of insects are used as medicine to cure common ailments to complicated
ailments in the North-East from time immemorial. Some valuable information
regarding traditional medicinal uses of common insects by folk doctors
has been summarized. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Sunderlin, William D.; Hatcher, Jeffrey
and Liddle, Megan</b>. 2008. <i>From Exclusion to Ownership? Challenges
and Opportunities in Advancing Forest Tenure Reform</i>. Rights and Resources
Initiative.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Who owns the world’s forests? When Andy
White and Alejandra Martin posed and answered this question in their 2002
report by the same name, they found that 77 percent of forests worldwide
were administered by governments. The good news was that the forested area
owned and designated for use by local communities and indigenous peoples
was rising. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
This year, William Sunderlin and colleagues updated the numbers in their
report, <i>From Exclusion to Ownership? Challenges and Opportunities in
Advancing Forest Tenure Reform</i>. Their findings are sobering for those
who hoped to see an upsurge in community control over forests. Sunderlin
found that only a few of the 30 most forested countries in the tropics
had made significant changes in forest tenure since the 2002 study. Most
are in Latin America.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Brazil alone is responsible for much of the global progress, with an increase
of 56 percent in the forest area designated for use or owned by communities
and indigenous peoples. Peru and Bolivia recorded significant increases.
Columbia also posted a small increase. In Africa, communities made small
gains in Tanzania, Sudan and Cameroon. But Zambia and the countries of
the Congo Basin registered virtually no change at all. In Asia, India added
more than five million hectares to the forested area designated for use
by communities and indigenous peoples. Indonesia recorded no gains. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Even in the few countries that have reformed forest tenure, the granting
of rights has not guaranteed their realization. In Peru, for example, the
government has allocated forested areas for oil, gas and mining exploration
in violation of indigenous land titles in the Amazon. In Brazil, the government
has failed to prevent illegal incursions into extractive reserves by loggers,
ranchers and miners. Even when there’s a will to recognize rights, there’s
not necessarily a way: meaningful tenure reform requires administrative
capacity, expertise and financial resources to demarcate and enforce community
rights.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Are there any reasons for optimism? Sunderlin says yes. Countries ranging
from Angola to Venezuela have made changes in law and policy to facilitate
recognition of indigenous, customary and community rights to forest lands.
These recent developments could set the stage for accelerated tenure transitions
in the near future. In addition, rising interest in Reduced Emissions from
Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) will put a new premium on clarifying
forest-related property rights.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
But unless the pace of change is quickened and extended to more countries,
it could take decades to shift the global balance of forest ownership from
governments to rural people. Translating rights on paper into control over
what happens on the ground is an equally daunting challenge, and one that
will depend on sustained commitment from potential beneficiaries, governments,
and the international community.</font>
<br><a href=http://www.rightsandresources.org/documents/files/doc_736.pdf><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.rightsandresources.org/documents/files/doc_736.pdf</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b> </b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Uezu, A., Beyer, D.D., and Metzger, J.P</b>.
2008. Can agroforest woodlots work as stepping stones for birds in the
Atlantic forest region? <i>Biodivers. Conserv.</i> 17(8):1907-1922.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b> </b></font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>36.
Web sites and e-zines</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>From: FAO’s NWFP Programme</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><u>New interactive database on indicators
of sustainable forest management in Europe</u></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">The Timber and Forestry programme of the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and FAO announced
the release of a new web-based resource tool designed by the international
community to enable researchers, policymakers, practitioners and the general
public to access data on Europe’s forests. The database is a comprehensive
research tool based on the report State of Europe’s Forests 2007, and
includes data which have so far not been published.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
These data are presented alongside other statistical data from different
parts of the UNECE work programme. The UNECE/FAO Timber Section encourages
the international community to take advantage of this resource, and to
make suggestions for further improvement. </font>
<br><a href=http://w3.unece.org/pxweb/Dialog/><font size=2 color=#3366ff face="Arial"><u>http://w3.unece.org/pxweb/Dialog/</u></font></a>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>MISCELLANEOUS</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>37.
Illegal clearing behind human and tiger deaths in Sumatra</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: WWF in ENN, 25 February 2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">Jakarta, Indonesia— In the wake of the deaths
of six people from tiger attacks in Sumatra’s Jambi Province in less than
a month, conservationists are calling for an urgent crackdown on the clearing
of natural forest in the province as a matter of public safety.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Tigers killed three illegal loggers over the weekend in Jambi, according
to government officials. Three people were killed earlier in the same central
Sumatran province. Three juvenile tigers were killed by villagers this
month in neighbouring Riau Province, apparently after straying into a village
in search of food. And in an unrelated incident, two Riau farmers were
hospitalized after being attacked by a tiger last weekend.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
There is rampant clearing of forests by individuals and corporations in
the region for palm oil plantations and pulpwood plantations. This forest
loss is one of the leading drivers of human-tiger conflict in the region.
About 12 million hectares of Sumatran forest has been cleared in the past
22 years, a loss of nearly 50 percent island-wide. The incidents in Riau
occurred in the Kerumutan forest block, a site where many forest fires
have been set in the last two months, as well as the location of many plantation
developments threatening tiger forests.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Jambi Province is the site of the only two “global priority”? tiger conservation
landscapes in Sumatra, as identified by a group of leading tiger scientists
in 2005. There are estimated to be fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left
in the wild.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
WWF is working with officials and communities in both provinces on ways
to reduce the conflict and has deployed field staff to the site of the
Riau killings to investigate the incidents.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href=http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/39375><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.enn.com/top_stories/article/39375</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>38.
Mexico: Tree biodiversity improved through traditional coffee farming</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: SciDev.Net Weekly Update (19-25
January 2009)</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">[MEXICO CITY] Traditional coffee farms are
hotspots for native trees and could be vital reservoirs for forest regeneration,
a study has found. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Small-scale farmers usually grow their coffee under tree canopies. Their
product —shade-grown coffee — is already promoted as ecological because
their farms harbour native birds, bats and other creatures.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
But new research conducted in southeast Mexico has revealed that the surrounding
trees themselves are unexpectedly genetically diverse — more so than clusters
of the same trees in neighbouring forest. The farms may therefore be important
corridors of genetic diversity as forests become increasingly fragmented.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Shalene Jha and Christopher Dick of the University of Michigan, United
States, studied genetic samples taken from <i>Miconia affinis</i> trees
growing in a network of coffee farms and forest fragments. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Typical of coffee farms in Chaipas state, the three farms in the study
were clear-cut and burned in the late 1930s and immediately replanted with
coffee bushes and canopy trees. Since then Miconia has been allowed to
invade because it protects against soil erosion.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
Jha found that the Miconia trees in the coffee plantations came from a
wider variety of parent trees than those in clusters in nearby forest.
</font>
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This could be explained by seed dispersal: in forests, seeds are spread
by small, forest-dwelling birds, whereas on farms they are spread by larger,
wider-ranging birds. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
"If seeds are not dispersed, they will remain clumped together under
the mother tree, and this will make them easy targets for predators,"
said Jha. "Without seed dispersal, gene flow will be limited, and
this can result in future plant inbreeding."</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
A concern in agricultural areas is that increasingly fragmented landscapes
isolate native plant populations, eventually leading to lower genetic diversity.
But this study shows that shade coffee farms, by being hospitable to birds,
support widespread dispersal of native trees, in effect connecting patches
of surrounding forest.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The research has implications for the recent trend of rustic coffee farms
moving from shade-grown to sun-intensive operations where farmers cut down
canopy trees and level out the fields so it is easier to get machines in,
said Jha. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
"It's more essential than ever to pay attention to the ecological
benefits shade coffee farms provide."</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">
The study was published in <i>Current Biology</i> last month (23 December).</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://www.scidev.net/en/news/traditional-coffee-farms-improve-tree-biodiversity.html"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>www.scidev.net/en/news/traditional-coffee-farms-improve-tree-biodiversity.html</u></font></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>39.
New edition of UNESCO’s Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger</b></font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial"><b>Source: portal.unesco.org, February 02,
2009</b></font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial"> </font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">UNESCO launched the electronic version of
the new edition of its Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger on 19 February.
This interactive digital tool provides updated data about approximately
2,500 endangered languages around the world and can be continually supplemented,
corrected and updated, thanks to contributions from its users.</font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial">
The Atlas enables searches according to several criteria, and ranks the
2,500 endangered languages that are listed according to five different
levels of vitality: unsafe, definitely endangered, severely endangered,
critically endangered and extinct.</font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial">
Some of the data are especially worrying: out of the approximately 6,000
existing languages in the world, more than 200 have become extinct during
the last three generations, 538 are critically endangered, 502 severely
endangered, 632 definitely endangered and 607 unsafe.</font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial">
For example, the Atlas states that 199 languages have fewer than ten speakers
and 178 others have 10 to 50. Among the languages that have recently become
extinct, it mentions Manx (Isle of Man), which died out in 1974 when Ned
Maddrell fell forever silent, Aasax (Tanzania), which disappeared in 1976,
Ubykh (Turkey) in 1992 with the demise of Tevfik Esenç, and Eyak (Alaska,
United States of America), in 2008 with the death of Marie Smith Jones.</font>
<br><font size=2 color=#333333 face="Arial">
As UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura stressed, “The death of a
language leads to the disappearance of many forms of intangible cultural
heritage, especially the invaluable heritage of traditions and oral expressions
of the community that spoke it – from poems and legends to proverbs and
jokes. The loss of languages is also detrimental to humanity’s grasp of
biodiversity, as they transmit much knowledge about the nature and the
universe.”</font>
<br><font size=2 face="Arial">For full story, please see: </font><a href="http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=44605&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=44605&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html</u></font></a>
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