Tag Archives: rainforest
The value of Papua’s rainforest – 41p a hectare
A new report has just been published by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and their Indonesia partner Telapak makes dismal reading as palm oil companies rip off the tribal people of Papua. In one instance highlighted in the report - Clear-Cut Exploitation – a major palm oil company that is backed with funding by Norway’s sovereign fund paid [...]
APP to stop natural forest clearance on 1st June
One of the world’s leading pulp and paper producers Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) has announced that it is to suspend cutting down natural forests in it pulpwood plantations and concessions from 1st June. The announcement is only for a temporary ban on forest clearance of its own company subsidiaries and its own concessions. The ban starting from [...]
Is Indonesia about to get tough with loggers?
Could the Indonesian government be preparing to get tough with the forestry industry in the country? Recent news that the government is to sue 16 logging companies for USD225 Billion seems to indicate that muscles are being flexed. The law suit will be a first for the country and the government is going after a substantial level of compensation. [...]
Jump in jaguar numbers in Bolivia
A new camera trap survey and technique by the Wildlife Conservation Society has discovered record numbers of jaguars in the rainforests of Bolivia. Using the same technology and computer software used to identify tigers from their stripes researchers were able to identify individual jaguars from their spots. 19 individual jaguars recognised in new study. The new technique [...]
Birds return to forest fragments
One of the big questions that keep getting raised in relation to tropical forests is will species return when deforested areas are replanted. This so called secondary forest may not be as diverse as the original primary forest. With REDD programmes about to take off it’s an important question to answer. Latest research published in [...]
The wacky world of HIV and gecko spit
The poor old Tokay lizard has yet another problem to deal with. It would appear that the latest crazy wonder drug is an enzyme from it’s saliva that is reputed to be able to cure HIV. Such magical properties has seen the value of a Tokay gecko in the Asian countries go so high that [...]
Sinar Mas cleared of virgin rainforest destruction
An independent report in to the activities of Indonesian company Sinar Mas has cleared it of illegal destruction of primary rain forest and has shown that the amount of tropical peat land destroyed through it’s activities is less than that claimed by Greenpeace. The study did show that palm oil plantations of Sinar Mas did [...]
Aggressive mimicry seen in wild cats
When is a cat not a cat? When it’s pretending to be a baby monkey of course! Researchers have seen for the first time wild cats using aggressive mimicry to attract prey, it is the first time during a research project that cats have been seen doing this and confirms anecdotal evidence from local amazonian [...]
Profitability of biodiversity
Properly regulated, the potential economic value of Earth’s genetic resources could fuel viable, market-driven incentives to conserve biodiversity, according to Columbia Earth Institute and Business School economist Arthur Small. In a paper published in the Journal of Political Economy, Small and co-author Gordon Rausser of the University of California at Berkeley present a mathematical model [...]
The power of a tigers roar
When a tiger roars it has the power to bring other animals to a halt. The roar has powerful ultra low pitched sounds called infrasound that can be felt but not heard within the normal hearing range. This infrasound can temporarily paralyze other animals including humans. The roar though is not a weapon used by [...]
New life living on the edge
It’s often thought that the most powerful driver in the creation of new species is geographical isolation. This is thought to be one of the main reasons for diversity in a tropical rain forest. A natural barrier such as a river or mountain range can lead, over time, to the separation of a single species [...]