Metro Green Issue 2011 Forest by mwnteam MWN

METRO WORLD NEWS Monday, November 28, 2011 www.metroworldnews.com Min 00° Max 00°

BRANSON “MY SATELLITES WILL MONITOR DEFORESTATION” {page 5}

AMAZON HERO THIS MAN WAS READY TO DIE FOR THE RAINFOREST {pages 8-9}

A TRIP FOR THE TREES GO AND PLANT FORESTS {page 11}

The state of our forests Deforestation has plummeted in recent years but situation is still bad.

GR E ISS EN UE

{pages 2-3}

Sherlock Holmes of the wood

THE RISE OF THE URBAN FOREST More and more people now live in cities, officially making us humans “urban beings” As a result we have to build nature in our metropolitan world Milan is building the world’s first vertical forest, a skyscraper featuring trees on every floor In the future vertical forests could beautify cities around the world – and clean the air and provide food, too. {page 6-7}

The coolest job on the planet. {page 15}

How green are you? Are you Lisa Simpson or Eric Cartman? Test yourself in Metro Tree Quiz. {page 16}

IMAGE: MIA KORAB

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Welcome to Metro!

Metro: Greener than you think Who in the world can say they are using renewable resources? Metro can! For every tree that’s harvested to make the paper that your Metro is printed on, THREE trees are planted in their place, and are allowed to mature for at least 80 years. During that time, it absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide, so read on eco-warriors.

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www.metroworldnews.com MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

CHOP, CHOP: GREEN GOLD DROPS Deforestation worldwide has plummeted in recent years But trouble is on the horizon: chopping for ‘green gold’ expand into new territories Metro looks at the effects of deforestation.

TIME TO GET SERIOUS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

EIA

You can’t see the forest for the trees – as the old saying goes. These days, if you can’t see the forest, it’s because the trees are no longer there. Deforestation is decimating the world’s green gold. “Thirteen million hectares of forest are lost every year because of deforestation,” explains Sharene Marshall, Global Climate Director at The Nature Conservancy. “That’s an area the size of Greece.” Perhaps surprisingly, that’s an improvement. In the 1990s 16 million hectares were lost to deforestation each year. “Deforestation and climate change are the big issues for forests today,” Eduardo Rojas, Assistant Director-General of the FAO and Head of its Forestry Department, tells Metro. “In the past decade Europe has reversed deforestation, and Asian countries have launched large deforestation programs. But on a global scale, deforestation is continuing, primarily because of the rate of deforestation in Latin America and Africa. In Brazil alone, deforestation has increased by almost 30% since last year, according to government figures. Companies clear primary forests, which contain various flora and fauna, for use in the paper and furniture industry. But just as often trees are cut down by local

he global climate change talks in Durban are an important opportunity for world governments to take concrete steps to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are putting our world in so much danger. WWF’s mission is to create a healthy and prosperous future in which people live in harmony with nature. Solving the climate crisis is fundamental to this cause. Many plants and animals that have adapted to their environment over millions of years are vulnerable to even the slightest changes in temperature. And people are no more immune to the

Opinion

JIM LEAPE

DIRECTOR GENERAL WWF INTERNATIONAL

Harvesting green gold: in Brazil alone, deforestation surged by almost 30 per cent over the past 12 months, ﬁgures says.

residents and agricultural companies – not because they need the wood, but because they want the space for agriculture. “In Africa deforestation is often the result of subsistence farming,” Marshall says. “In the Amazon lots of forest is cleared to make space for cattle-farming. The other factor driving deforestation is soy, which is often used in animal feed.” Until recently China was widely deforested. Why it has sunk large sums into putting the trees back is no surprise. “When forests are cut down, the soil is lost, wa-

“Forests capture carbon. Without them carbon stays in the atmosphere, and the ﬂood risk rises as well.” EDUARDO ROJAS, FAO FORESTRY HEAD

ter sources are affected and people lose their livelihoods,” Rojas explains. “Forests capture carbon, so when they’re gone carbon is simply released into the atmosphere. And without forests, the risk of floods increases. Deforestation in Pakistan contributed to the

country’s disastrous floods last year.” Even so, deforestation continues. “If Asia, with its high population density, can reverse deforestation, it must be possible in Latin America, too,” Rojas says. However, Indonesia retains its spot as a top deforester.

“Things were really bad during the 1990s,” says Wahjudi Wardojo, an Indonesian forest expert. “Deforestation has decreased a bit since then, but demand for Indonesian wood remains high.” But even if the world recreates all its cleared forests – at great expense -the damage can’t be completely undone. Marshall says, “Species that have disappeared won’t come back.”

consequences of a changing climate. Heat waves, droughts, and devastating storms threaten food production, and may make some regions wholly uninhabitable. The solution lies in building an economy that relies on clean, renewable sources of energy. When the countries of the world gather in Durban, they can put us on that path – by securing strong commitments to move away from fossil fuels, and the financing needed to create a clean path for growth in developing countries and help them adapt to the impacts of climate change that are already upon them. GETTY IMAGES

ELISABETH BRAW

Yes, you can tackle climate change.

METRO WORLD NEWS

MAGGIE SAMWAYS

A new study shows

8 thin things ngs y you ou need tto o kno know w ab about out fforests oressts 3 FFOREST OREEST HER HEROES OES

1 YE YEAR AR

Iceland

33 kkgg of ccarbon arbon is sequestered sequest ered

Tunisia

Honduras

Filters 100,000 Filters cubic met ers meters of air air.r.

Absorbs 20 kkgg of dust

Togo Burundi

Only 31% remains as healthy as primary forest

Lowers the temperature temperature Lowers surroundings sur rroundings in the s summer by up ttoo 4 degr degrees. ees.

2 FUNCTIONS OF FFORESTS ORESTS

Primary Forests Today

Current Secondary Forests

Lost Primary Forest

Primary Forests Today

Uruguay Lesotho

--35.7 35..7%

--46.7 46.7%

--47.4 47.44% 47

--58.3 558.33%

O REDUCE R AMOUNT OF CARBON 4 TTO IN THE T AIR AIR,, WE CAN:

Plant Pl ant new w fforest orest

30% PRODUCTION PR ODUCTION timber,r, used mainly mainly ffor or logging timber burning wood, gr azing lland and for for grazing production animals, pr oduction of wild mushr ooms and berr ies mushrooms berries

112% 2%

4 4%

% 7%

224% 4%

PR OTECTION PROTECTION

CONSERVATION CONSERVATTION

SERVICES SOCIAL SERVICES

MULTIPLE USE MULTIPLE

and water of soil an nd w ater – used mainl otect mountain mountain mainlyy ttoo pr protect slopes fr rom er osion and from erosion cconserve, onserve, e trap trap or ﬁlt ﬁlter er water water

of biodiversity biodiversity – used mainly as a habita or mainly habitatt ffor indigenous species, often endangered often endanger ed

mainly ffor or used mainly recreation – campsites, campsites, recreation green belts around around cities, green walking and biking tr ails walking trails

forests that that don ’t have h ve one ha forests don’t primary function – e.g. e.g. used primary for both production productionn and for protection protection of soil and and water water

16 6% OTHER OTHER

UNKNOWN UNKNOWN

6.5 6. 5

Save Sa ve eexisting xistting fforest orest

22.25 .25

Manage the the forest forest better bettter

tonness of carbon tonnes carbon per he hectare ctare

--37.1 37.1%

+60%

+100%

+66.4 +66 6.4%

ORESTS REDUCE 5 FFORESTS

GLOBAL GL OBAL WARMING WARMING

Forests are Forests are the world’s world’s great great ‘carbon ‘carbon sinks’ sink s’ – natural natural rreservoirs eservoirs of carbon, carbon, which remove remove carbon carbon dio dioxide xide (C (CO₂) O₂) from fr om the atmosphere. atmosphere. They convert convert CO₂ CO₂ into in to or organic ganic ccarbon arbon and rrelease elease ooxygen. xygen. Forests Forests contain contain more more carbon carbon than the entire entire atmosphere atmosphere –

650 billion billion tonnes. tonnes.

+64.2%

+84%

500

HOW W MUCH CARBON FFORESTS OR RESTS 8 HO CCONTAIN ONTTA AIN PER HE HECTARE CTTA ARE

400

300

HOW W MUCH FFOREST OREST DO 6 HO WE HA HAVE? AV VE?

200

FForest orest

xx%

LOCALL D LOCAL DATA ATA (list onn the the side)) xxxxx m m22

100 TTONNES ONNES

hectares of forest are devastated annually by swarms of insects – an area about the same size as Germany. Canada’s mountain pine beetle alone has ruined 11m hectares of forest since the late 1990s. MWN

FORESTS ARE VANISHING

72% of Asia’s original forest has been lost

REFORESTATION REFORESTATTION TOP TOP 5

35m

Over 90% of West Africa’s original forest has been lost

DEFORESTATION DEF ORESTATION T W WORST ORST 5

Comoros

1 OUR ANCIENT, PRIMARY Primary Forests 8000 years ago

Captures 80 kg Captures kg of pollutan pollutants ts

Kuwait

Mauritania

Pine beetle, Darth Vader of the forest.

Produces Pr oduces 700 70 00 kg kg of ooxygen xygen

7 1 TREE IN

Every year, we have ave a net neet loss llo of 5.2 million hectares ess off forest, larger than the size of Slovakia

AND D VILLAINS (1990-2005) (199 0-2005)

emperate TTundra undra TTemperate forest forest

Tropical Tropical fforest orest

Bor Boreal eal fforest orest

TEXT:: D TEXT DANIEL ANIEL DENISIUK DENISIUK; K; GRAPHIC: GRAPHIC: MIA KKORAB ORAB SOUR CES: EP PA; A FFAO’s AO’s Global FForest orest RResources esources Assessmen ‘Carbon Sequ uestration in FForests’ orests’’, 2009 rreport eport fr om CCongressional ongressional RResearch e esear ch Ser vice; KKL-JNF. KKL-JNFF. SOURCES: EPA; Assessmentt 2010; ‘Carbon Sequestration from Service;

news

Welcome to Metro!

green

www.metroworldnews.com MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

TIME TO GET SERIOUS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

EIA

Opinion

JIM LEAPE

DIRECTOR GENERAL WWF INTERNATIONAL

Harvesting green gold: in Brazil alone, deforestation surged by almost 30 per cent over the past 12 months, ﬁgures says.

“Forests capture carbon. Without them carbon stays in the atmosphere, and the ﬂood risk rises as well.” EDUARDO ROJAS, FAO FORESTRY HEAD

ELISABETH BRAW

Yes, you can tackle climate change.

METRO WORLD NEWS

MAGGIE SAMWAYS

A new study shows

8 thin things ngs y you ou need tto o kno know w ab about out fforests oressts 3 FFOREST OREEST HER HEROES OES

1 YE YEAR AR

Iceland

33 kkgg of ccarbon arbon is sequestered sequest ered

Tunisia

Honduras

Filters 100,000 Filters cubic met ers meters of air air.r.

Absorbs 20 kkgg of dust

Togo Burundi

Only 31% remains as healthy as primary forest

Lowers the temperature temperature Lowers surroundings sur rroundings in the s summer by up ttoo 4 degr degrees. ees.

2 FUNCTIONS OF FFORESTS ORESTS

Primary Forests Today

Current Secondary Forests

Lost Primary Forest

Primary Forests Today

Uruguay Lesotho

--35.7 35..7%

--46.7 46.7%

--47.4 47.44% 47

--58.3 558.33%

O REDUCE R AMOUNT OF CARBON 4 TTO IN THE T AIR AIR,, WE CAN:

Plant Pl ant new w fforest orest

112% 2%

4 4%

% 7%

224% 4%

PR OTECTION PROTECTION

CONSERVATION CONSERVATTION

SERVICES SOCIAL SERVICES

MULTIPLE USE MULTIPLE

and water of soil an nd w ater – used mainl otect mountain mountain mainlyy ttoo pr protect slopes fr rom er osion and from erosion cconserve, onserve, e trap trap or ﬁlt ﬁlter er water water

of biodiversity biodiversity – used mainly as a habita or mainly habitatt ffor indigenous species, often endangered often endanger ed

mainly ffor or used mainly recreation – campsites, campsites, recreation green belts around around cities, green walking and biking tr ails walking trails

forests that that don ’t have h ve one ha forests don’t primary function – e.g. e.g. used primary for both production productionn and for protection protection of soil and and water water

16 6% OTHER OTHER

UNKNOWN UNKNOWN

6.5 6. 5

Save Sa ve eexisting xistting fforest orest

22.25 .25

Manage the the forest forest better bettter

tonness of carbon tonnes carbon per he hectare ctare

--37.1 37.1%

+60%

+100%

+66.4 +66 6.4%

ORESTS REDUCE 5 FFORESTS

GLOBAL GL OBAL WARMING WARMING

650 billion billion tonnes. tonnes.

+64.2%

+84%

500

HOW W MUCH CARBON FFORESTS OR RESTS 8 HO CCONTAIN ONTTA AIN PER HE HECTARE CTTA ARE

400

300

HOW W MUCH FFOREST OREST DO 6 HO WE HA HAVE? AV VE?

200

FForest orest

xx%

LOCALL D LOCAL DATA ATA (list onn the the side)) xxxxx m m22

100 TTONNES ONNES

FORESTS ARE VANISHING

72% of Asia’s original forest has been lost

REFORESTATION REFORESTATTION TOP TOP 5

35m

Over 90% of West Africa’s original forest has been lost

DEFORESTATION DEF ORESTATION T W WORST ORST 5

Comoros

1 OUR ANCIENT, PRIMARY Primary Forests 8000 years ago

Captures 80 kg Captures kg of pollutan pollutants ts

Kuwait

Mauritania

Pine beetle, Darth Vader of the forest.

Produces Pr oduces 700 70 00 kg kg of ooxygen xygen

7 1 TREE IN

Every year, we have ave a net neet loss llo of 5.2 million hectares ess off forest, larger than the size of Slovakia

AND D VILLAINS (1990-2005) (199 0-2005)

emperate TTundra undra TTemperate forest forest

Tropical Tropical fforest orest

Bor Boreal eal fforest orest

www.metroworldnews.com

green

MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

COP17: Call to action? GETTY IMAGES

No breakthroughs between world powers expected at climate change conference, experts say But China could yet be a “ray of hope” in going green, Metro learns GETTY IMAGES

At COP16, world icons cutouts were ‘sinking’ but little was done to shore up big climate issues.

More boxes means fewer trees

COPs of climate

chance of keeping temperatures below a two-degree COP15 in Copenhagen increase. resulted in no major breakCOP16 also left the future of throughs after much talk. the Kyoto Protocol At COP16 in Cancun unresolved. In the Kyoto countries agreed to reduce protocol countries agreed to greenhouse gas emissions. individually cut greenhouse Richer countries gas emissions. agreed to give The USA, poorer countries Russia, Canada money to finance and Japan have the transition. announced they’ll But the combined not extend their cuts only reach a Kyoto pledge. The total of 60% of the EU, however, will emission reductions ...but little action, continue its Kyoto needed for a 50% commitments. protesters said.

“They’re already past the point of no return,” explains Huq. “The recent floods in Pakistan and Thailand are linked to climate change. Because of climate change we’re seeing weather phenomena that we’ve never seen before.” That, observers hope, will create a sense of urgency among COP17 negotiators. “China is a ray of hope right now,” notes Ward. “It probably won’t sign a treaty

in Durban, but it’s cutting emissions. And the Chinese realize they’ll gain a competitive advantage by investing in green technology.” Developing nations, meanwhile, will meet to discuss climate change in Bangladesh before COP17.

ELISABETH BRAW METRO WORLD NEWS

In the United States alone, wrapping paper and bags account for about 4 MILLION TONS of trash annually. The problem is that in most cases it is non-recyclable!

Average Dane

Average European

11 kg

Exchanging gifts in fancy wrapping paper sets the tone for a joyous holiday. But there’s no joy in learning the cost it has on our planet.

Wrapping paper is a single use paper because it: Has very few good quality ﬁbers (very thin).

HOW MUCH PAPER AND CARDBOARD PACKAGING DO WE USE? (in kgs)

Contains gold and silver coloring or plastics.

of a tree 0.15

only 100 gift bags

93 kg

53 kg Average Bulgarian

At COP15, world leaders spent time brainstorming...

Gift wrapping: uncovering the waste

Europeans use 31 million tonnes of paper and cardboard packaging annually. Although recovery rate is high, around 82%, it still means 95 million trees are cut down every year to satisfy the ever box-hungry Europeans. Despite strict regulations, the amount of paper packaging put on the European market keeps increasing by around 0.5 kg per person per year.

Twenty thousand delegates are expected at COP17 in Durban, which begins on November 28. As at previous COP (Conferences of the Parties) conferences, their task is to halt climate change. But because last year’s conference was largely a failure, the task this year is even bigger. “Greenhouse gas emissions have to stop increasing during the next decade, or otherwise the Earth will warm more than two degrees (centigrade),” explains Bob Ward, Policy Director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. “But they’re still rising. Because COP16 didn’t result in an agreement, we lost a year.” Scientists predict catastrophic consequences if temperatures rise by more than two degrees. But the odds that COP17 will yield an agreement are small. “There will probably be progress on smaller issues like technical adaptation,” says Dr. Saleemul Huq, a Bangladesh-based climate change expert at the International Institute for Environment and Development. “But the political situation in the world right now prevents major breakthroughs. Even if the Obama administration signed a treaty it wouldn’t be passed in Congress. And if the Americans don’t sign a treaty, the Chinese won’t.” Developing countries are already seeing the results of global inaction on climate change.

USA annually uses 4 million

tons of wrapping paper and bags, which is:

Is dyed and laminated. Contains traces of glue and adhesive tape.

Hungary Czech Rep.

Finland

Netherlands

France

Portugal

Sweden

Italy

Denmark

TEXT: DANIEL DENISIUK; GRAPHIC: MIA KORAB

204,466 hectares of forest gone SþÑĮȱĨ Įþå åģıÿĺÑČåĒĮ ėî ėĺåĤ ɵɻɳȦɳɳɳ îėėĮÜÑČČ ġÿĮÝþåĨȩ

WHAT YOU CAN DO Ʉ ėĒȱĮ ÜıĽ ĨÿĒûČå ıĨå ġÑÝĊÑûÿĒûȢ Ʉ ıĽ ĮĤååȿîĤåå ĻĤÑġġÿĒû ġÑġåĤȩ Ʉ ıĽ ĤåÝĽÝČÑÜČå ĻĤÑġġÿĒû ġÑġåĤ

61.34 million d

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www.metroworldnews.com MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

GETTY IMAGES

Sir Richard Branson has a message: we can save our Earth from nuclear Amageddon and environmental meltdown alike. With Cutnukes.org, Branson pushes for fewer atomic bombs. His airliners use waste as fuel, and he has created a sanctuary for Malagasy lemurs displaced by deforestation. Now he plans to monitor global deforestation with satellites, he tells Metro. You’re about to open a reserve for ringtailed lemurs that have been displaced by deforestation in Madagascar. Are you planning to help other species that have been displaced by deforestation?

The lemur is such a beautiful species. We simply have to save the lemurs, and I’m trying to help other species as well. For the past several months I’ve travelled around the world to save sharks, and soon I’ll be travelling to India to try to save the blue tiger. When it comes to deforestation, of course huGETTY IMAGES

Hug a lemur!

RICHARD BRANSON The billionaire founder of Virgin is on a one-man mission to save the Earth. He wants to cut nuclear weapons. He has created Carbon War Room to solve green problems with business ideas. He has even turned an island into a refuge for animals displaced by deforestation.

“MY SATELLITES WILL MONITOR DEFORESTATION” mans who have been displaced are very important, but animal species are equally important. More important, actually. Deforestation is often caused by local subsistence farmers. What’s the solution?

One thing we can do about illegal logging is discover it before it’s too late. That’s why I’ve just launched a new initiative based at my space-

port. We’ll run have satellites that will monitor forests to see where forests are being cut down. You’re in favor of eliminating nuclear weapons. Why should good countries get rid of their nuclear weapons when bad countries still have them?

They shouldn’t completely eliminate them. What we’re suggesting is that nuclear weapons states get rid of

their nuclear weapons in steps. From a deterrent point of view, a country only needs 300 nuclear weapons. Getting rid of nuclear weapons would save a lot of money and would solve many of the world’s current deficit problems. In other words, is the global recession a good thing for nuclear disarmament?

Definitely. For example, one

of the easiest things President Obama could do to solve the US budget crisis is getting rid of 1,000 nuclear warheads. Is your interest in nuclear weapons an extension of your green involvement?

Yes. I’ve been visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki to see the effects of nuclear weapons. And it’s an extension of my interest in solving global

Saving lemurs displaced by deforestation With its black-and-white tail, the ring-tailed lemur is instantly recognizable. But soon it may be nowhere to be seen. Madagascar, the African island where they live, is being deforested. The

ring-tailed lemurs are losing their habitat. They’re are now listed as an Appendix 1 species – the most endangered -- by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Now Richard Branson has decided to rescue the charming primates. On his Caribbean Moskito Island, the billionaire is creating a sanctuary for ring-tailed lemurs. Even though the

Caribbean climate differs from Madagascar’s, experts brought in by Branson have given their approval. 30 ringtailed lemurs are currently being introduced to Moskito Island. ELISABETH BRAW

conflicts. That’s why I fund The Elders, an organization founded by Nelson Mandela that works to solve global conflicts. The world has been talking about environmental problems for so long. Do you see any reasons for optimism?

Absolutely. We have to deal with environmental problems in an entrepreneurial spirit. For example, Virgin’s new aviation fuel uses waste from steel mills. Millions of jobs could be created worldwide by greening our cities. The environment would benefit, the cities would benefit, regular people would benefit, and it would stop money pouring out to the Middle East. Even if we solve all the world’s environmental problems, the world might be wiped out if Iran drops a nuclear bomb….

If Iran dropped a nuclear bomb nuclear weapon states would quickly obliterate Tehran, so I don’t think it will. The bigger risk is terrorists using nuclear weapons, but we have to set a moral example so terrorists don’t feel the need to use nuclear weapons against us.

ELISABETH BRAW METRO WORLD NEWS

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green

MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

VERTICAL FORESTS, SAVIOR OF CITIES More people than ever live in cities. But it doesn’t have to be life in a concrete jungle.

PHOTOS

Vertical forests around the world

1. PATRICK BLANC 2. MARC JEANSON 4. PAUL RAFTERY

Milan is building the world’s first vertical forest, a skyscraper featuring trees on every floor. In the future vertical forests could beautify cities around the world – and clean the air and provide food, too.

Maas

USE PINE, JUNIPER

1 Cities: a grey jungle, distant from the fresh breezes of lush forests, right? Not so fast. In Milan the world’s first vertical forest is being built. In the future such green meccas may beautify cities around the world. They’ll capture carbon in the atmosphere and give animals a home, too. Milan’s new Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) towers 27 floors of apartments, each surrounded by miniforest that includes a variety of trees and bushes. In total, the buildings house the equivalent of a 10,000 square-meter forest. Bosco Verticale is still the only one in the works. But it’s part of a global trend. “Living walls and green roofs are being built in cities around the world”, notes Dr. Stephan Barthel, a specialist in urban ecosystem services at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. “The trend goes hand in hand with the urbanization of the world. Within 40 year the world has to build cities for three billion people. For the first in history humans are urban beings, and as a result we have to build nature in cities.” Vertical forests will benefit not just the residents of the building, who have a mini-park at their doorstep. “The trees improve air quality by absorbing fumes and carbon dioxide”, explains Barthel. “This will lower rotes of illnesses like asth-

ma. The trees also reduce noise and reduce the temperature. And, depending on the type of trees, they’ll also help the local flora and fauna.” By providing fruits, nuts and berries, even medicinal substances, vertical forests could give cities with greater food security. Wastewater could be used to fertilize the forests. The wood could even be used to power hyper-efficient stoves. Of course, not every tree and animal can exist in a high-rise. “There will be mushrooms, plants and insects, but not the full range of plants and insects that exist in natural forests”, says Michel Pimbert, head of agricultural research at the International Institute for Environment and Development. “And the range of trees is limited, as some form too long roots and would ruin the building.” Still, city planners eye the green towers with keen interest. Notes Pimbert: “On the 27th floor trees are likely to snap when it’s windy, but not on the fourth floor. Vertical forests, gardens and allotments could be the future. They regenerate environments that have become void of life and could heal the rift between city and countryside.”

ELISABETH BRAW

60 seconds

3. PATRICK BLANC

Willy Maas, architect at Dutch ﬁrm MVRDV, which specializes in living walls and vertical gardens Why do cities need living walls and vertical forests?

1 2 3 4

4 Patrick Blanc's vertical garden at CapitaLand in Singapore: Blanc, a French garden designer, specializes in living walls. This wall decorates the offices of Asian real estate giant CapitaLand. Patrick Blanc's roof garden at Phyto Universe in New York: Phyto Universe, a “natural beauty oasis” in Manhattan, features a 280 square-meter vertical garden with some 9,000 plants throughout the store. Each plant in the garden symbolizes Phyto’s botanics-based formula. Living wall on Caixa Forum in Madrid: The postmodern art gallery is located next to Madrid’s botanical garden. When it was rebuilt in 2008, Patrick Blanc was commissioned to make a living wall. Edouard Francois Tower Flower in Paris: Tower Flower’s 30 apartments feature a “jungle of vegetation”, as one critic put it. Francois is also working on a vertical forest, to be completed in 2014. ELISABETH BRAW

Future cities may look just like this, with buildings surrounded by vertical forests. Residents will even be able to pick nuts and blueberries.

METRO WORLD NEWS

GRAPHIC: GR APHIC: MIA K KORAB, ORAB, SOUR SOURCE: CE: EXPO 20 2015 015

Beneﬁts of vertical vertical fforests orests The world’s world’s ﬁrst vertical vertical fforest orest is currently currently under cconstruction onstruction in the Garibaldi Gar ibaldi Repubblica Repubblica ar area ea in Mil Milan: an: it will comprise comprise two high-rise high-rise apartment apartment buildings – 80 and 112 meters met ers tall, respectively respectively – with balc balconies onies housing 480 big and mediummedium-sized sized trees, tr ees, 250 small small-sized -sized trees, tr ees, 11,000 gr ground ound ccover over pl ants and 5,000 scrubs plants (the equivalent equivalent of a hectaree of forest). hectar forest).

Protects fr Protects from om direct direct sunlightt sunligh

30°C 30 °CC

RReleases eleases humidity

21°C 221 °CC

If each apar apartment tment had been built side by side on the ground, ground, the entire entire project pr oject would require require 50,000 square square met ers of lland. and. One ‘‘tower’ tower ’ requires requires meters just 200 squar ers of ground ground ar ea ea. squaree met meters area. 50,000 m² m²

Protects Pr otects fr from om nois noisee

Produces Pr o es ooxygen oduc xygen CO₂₂ CO

Protects Pr otects fr from om th the he w wind ind

Captures Captur es small dust particles particles

O₂₂ O

200 m m²²

By creating forests and gardens and parks on balconies and roofs, we use city space more efficiently, and we give birds and animals a place to live in the city again. Trees are also good since cities face an increasing responsibility for global warming. What are the beneﬁts for people?

We want to live in the city but also in nature. A vertical forest or garden is an easy and sueful way of helping the environment. Balconies are cheap, so it’s easy to add a garden or forest in a new building. Ideally it should be long so that people have the feeling of strolling in a park or forest. Which trees are best suited to vertical forests?

The drier, the better. Juniper trees and pine trees are good, and most varieties don’t snap when it’s windy.

Green roofs, living walls FedEx, the courier giant, is repenting for its carbondioxide sins with a new “living roof” on its Chicago sorting center. Buildings around the world – even Greece’s Finance Ministry – now feature living roofs with trees and plants. Holland, in turn, is leading the development of living walls, which feature bushes, beehives, and birdhouses. The “vertical village”, by Dutch architecture firm MVRDV, has a garden

outside every high-rise apartment. There are even birdhouses for falcons, who keep the ground free from rats. “But building a living wall is a huge challenge”, says Stephan Barthel at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. “And there’s still a lot of prejudice; people think that trees and bushes will ruin walls and roofs. But many ancient walls have been covered in greenery for centuries.” ELISABETH BRAW

FedEx’s “living roof” on its Chicago sorting center.

www.metroworldnews.com

green

MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

VERTICAL FORESTS, SAVIOR OF CITIES More people than ever live in cities. But it doesn’t have to be life in a concrete jungle.

PHOTOS

Vertical forests around the world

1. PATRICK BLANC 2. MARC JEANSON 4. PAUL RAFTERY

Maas

USE PINE, JUNIPER

ELISABETH BRAW

60 seconds

3. PATRICK BLANC

Willy Maas, architect at Dutch ﬁrm MVRDV, which specializes in living walls and vertical gardens Why do cities need living walls and vertical forests?

1 2 3 4

Future cities may look just like this, with buildings surrounded by vertical forests. Residents will even be able to pick nuts and blueberries.

METRO WORLD NEWS

GRAPHIC: GR APHIC: MIA K KORAB, ORAB, SOUR SOURCE: CE: EXPO 20 2015 015

Protects fr Protects from om direct direct sunlightt sunligh

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200 m m²²

The drier, the better. Juniper trees and pine trees are good, and most varieties don’t snap when it’s windy.

FedEx’s “living roof” on its Chicago sorting center.

www.metroworldnews.com

green

He bled green: A man and his Amazon love

SENGO PÉREZ/PUBLIMETRO PERU

Tambopata How to get to the nature reserve from Peru’s capital city Lima. ECUADOR

PERU

Great life goals have roots in childhood memories This is true for Victor Zambrano, activist in the Peruvian Amazon Metro met the man who returned to his past life to save the trees Nestled in the Peruvian Amazon basin lies the nature reserve of Tambopata, arguably one of Earth’s most biodiverse places. Its pristine virgin forests are protected by the state, but encircling the reserve is Amazonian rainforest threatened by human activity. Forests are vanishing because of illegal logging, small-time miners who cut trees and scour rivers for gold, as well as some farmers that use forest land to grow their crops. But against the faceless forces maiming the Amazon stands one man who literally bleeds for the trees – Victor Zambrano. Born near the city of Puerto Maldonado on the edge of Tambopata 65 years ago, Victor grew up on a farm by the reserve;

“With help, nature can recover by itself. The land where cattle had grazed is jungle again.” VICTOR ZAMBRANO, ACTIVIST IN PERUVIAN AMAZON

a respect towards plant and animal life was sown in him from an early age. But he left to study in Lima and went on to join the navy, far away from the jungle, as fate would have it. But destiny took another twist and in 1987, Victor returned to Tambopata in search of the green paradise of his childhood. He wanted a quiet life but he found a huge problem: the paradise of his memories was no longer there, nor did it belong to his family. “I was a foreigner in my own land. My family’s farm, because of legal trickery, be-

MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

came property of an agricultural cooperative of new settlers,” Victor recalls. “I found a bleak picture. Instead of the forest of my childhood, I discovered a scorched land and just a few trees and animals fighting for survival.” Victor decided to fight to get back his land and give it back to the jungle. He knew it wouldn’t be easy. He moved back to Puerto Maldonado, and started to live in a small wooden house. His legal battle lasted for years, and he had to confront the settlers, who continued to plunder the forest.

He received death threats, but he kept going, and continued to plant new trees. One day, the settlers tried to violently evict him. Victor faced them, but they were too many. Seeing them, Victor decided to selfinflict a knife wound on his chest, to demonstrate that they would have to kill him in order to take him out of his land. The men saw him bleeding, became frightened and left. Other neighbors began to respect him as a leader, a mad one perhaps, but one who was willing to die for his jungle. When he retrieved his land, there was an important task to be done: reforestation. “With a little help, nature can recover by itself. The arid land I found where cattle once grazed is jungle

METRO WORLD NEWS IN PERU

BRAZIL

MADRE DE DIOS LIMA PACIFIC OCEAN

again,” Victor proudly says. Now he has 120 species of plants and over 19,000 trees. The revived flora brought in fauna: deer, jaguars, boa constrictors, mallards, among other animals. The first tree he planted was a chestnut, which now measures 20 meters. Nowadays, the K’erenda Homet shelter, (“Shine”, the name of her daughter in Ese’eja, the local natives’ language) with an area of 36 hectares, has been declared a private conservation area. Victor has regained his house and his jungle... and he has regained his childhood’s paradise.

SENGO PÉREZ

COLOMBIA

TAMBOPATA

Standing tall: trees have regrown thanks to Victor’s eﬀorts. There are daily flights from Lima to Puerto Maldonado, capital of Madre de Dios region. The K’erenda Hotel is 30 minutes away from the airport (it’s located in the 3.7 km of Puerto MadonadoIsuyama highway). In the K’erenda Homet, Victor has two double huts for visitors, a camping area and a small port next to the river. You can learn about environmental protection and medicinal plants during an array of entertaining hikes.

Right at home in the jungle: Victor Zambrano with his wife Rosa and his daughter K’erenda outside their house.

For more information check out www.kerenda.com

Reserve facts

The Tambopata is a natural reserve of 275,000 hectares located in the south of Peruvian Amazon rainforest and it is protected by the state since 1990. You can walk a mile among

trees and you won’t be able to find two of the same kind. So far, there are over 700 recorded bird species, 1200 butterflies, 90 mammals and 120 reptiles.

www.metroworldnews.com

green

He bled green: A man and his Amazon love

SENGO PÉREZ/PUBLIMETRO PERU

Tambopata How to get to the nature reserve from Peru’s capital city Lima. ECUADOR

PERU

“With help, nature can recover by itself. The land where cattle had grazed is jungle again.” VICTOR ZAMBRANO, ACTIVIST IN PERUVIAN AMAZON

MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

METRO WORLD NEWS IN PERU

BRAZIL

MADRE DE DIOS LIMA PACIFIC OCEAN

SENGO PÉREZ

COLOMBIA

TAMBOPATA

Right at home in the jungle: Victor Zambrano with his wife Rosa and his daughter K’erenda outside their house.

For more information check out www.kerenda.com

Reserve facts

The Tambopata is a natural reserve of 275,000 hectares located in the south of Peruvian Amazon rainforest and it is protected by the state since 1990. You can walk a mile among

trees and you won’t be able to find two of the same kind. So far, there are over 700 recorded bird species, 1200 butterflies, 90 mammals and 120 reptiles.

green

www.metroworldnews.com MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

PER ANGELSTAM / WWF-CANON

60 seconds

Onuchin

Siberia’s taiga — the carbon ‘ticking time bomb’ It rivals the Amazon as the world’s top natural eco weapon but its landscape is changing Russia’s taiga forest is losing its planet-preserving vegetation, meaning the land could release vast qualities of CO2 It's a carbon ‘ticking time bomb’ waiting to happen... Russia’s melting permafrost and could release vast quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – all because of dramatic changes in types of planet-preserving trees growing there, a group of US experts has warned. Russia’s legendary taiga – the largest continuous expanse of forest on Earth – is becoming more and more tolerant of warmer weather and as a result, tree species that play a vital role in regulating climate change are in decline, a new study published in the scientific journal Global Change Biology. “We’ve identified that the Siberian boreal forest is converting from predominantly needle-shedding larch trees to evergreen conifers in response to warming climate,” said the study’s lead author, Jacquelyn Shuman, re-

searcher at University of Virginia. “This will promote additional warming and vegetation change, particularly in areas with low species diversity.” Larch trees lose their needles in the autumn, allowing the huge snow-covered ground surface of winter to act as a shield and reflect sunlight and heat back into space. All this helps keep the climate in the region very

Fires and insects — the biggest threat to Russia’s forests

For Elena Kulikova, head director of forestry at WWF Russia, the potential changes in the taiga's vegetation are not something for immediate worry. “Threats to Russia’s boreal forests are not hugely visible now. Any changes of this sort would not be noticeable even fifty years from now,” Kulikova told

Scale of Siberia’s forest region Siberia's taiga region is about 22 times the area of France. ARCTIC OCEAN

RUSSIA KAZAKHSTAN

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cold. But with evergreens, the trees absorb the sunlight, causing heat retention on the ground. This could cause the soil to decompose at a fast rate,

releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. “This is not the scenario one would want to see,” the study’s co-author Hank Shugart said. “It potentially would increase warming on a global scale.” The Siberian Taiga is the world’s most important forest in terms of ‘stocking atmospheric carbon’ – Russia holds nearly half of the Northern Hemisphere’s entire terrestrial carbon. Harsh climatic conditions help to slow down the degradation process of dead organic matter in the soil and thus reduces carbon emissions into the atmosphere. About 60 per cent of this carbon is locked in the ground that’s currently permafrost.

ANTHONY JOHNSTON Global warming threatens Siberian tiger's habitat

Metro. “What we need to be more attentive to are the outbreaks of insect infestations and forest fires in the region.” Russia’s boreal forests are experiencing rejuvenation, too, Kulikova added, thanks to changes in the country’s socio-political landscape. “After the Soviet Union

METRO WORLD NEWS

collapses, many state agricultural collectives were left untended but as a result became conducive to growing forests. Birch trees can naturally sprout up in these territories, creating an intermediary stage for coniferous trees associated with the taiga to grow.” ANTHONY JOHNSTON

Russian taiga

15%

The region absorbs 15 per cent of the world’s CO2 emissions — 500 million tons.

12 mil km2 The largest continuous expanse of forest on Earth.

1,672 bn tons The region stores 1,672 billion tons of organic carbon – roughly 50 per cent of the estimated global below-ground organic carbon, researchers say.

Kulikova

“SIBERIA’S FORESTS RETAIN CARBON BETTER THAN AMAZON” Alexander Onuchin, director of the Sukachev Institute of Forest, Russia’s leading forest-biologic institution (headquartered in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia) How do Russia’s taiga compare with the Amazon rainforest in the role of protecting Earth’s ecosystem?

The virgin forests of the Amazon are known as the biggest ‘player’ in the global carbon cycle. These forests hold about 120 billion tons of carbon every year and lead the world in absorbing CO2 through photosynthesis. But in tropical climates the destruction processes of organic matter occur very rapidly, meaning carbon can easily return to the atmosphere. Meanwhile, the natural features of the taiga allow on a whole a positive balance between capture and storage of carbon and its counterflow back into the atmosphere – a better balance than the one in the Amazon. At best the Siberian forests are able to absorb no more than a quarter of carbon from the world’s manmade emissions. Can the taiga resist the impact of climate change?

We should separate the taiga’s role and ways to lessen negative effects of man-made pollution. Reducing greenhouse gases cannot be solved without reducing man’s use of fossil fuels. But severe global warming will disrupt taiga’s carbon balance, meaning carbon will be trapped less like in the Amazon, and stay in the atmosphere. ANTHONY JOHNSTON

www.metroworldnews.com

green

MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

GILBERT NJODZEKA/GREENCARE

trip for trees

Service with a smile. A tree volunteer at work in the Peruvian jungle.

Taking a volunteering holiday where you can help plant trees is good for the environment and good for you too Tree planting may be just a token gesture in restoring our great forests but there are other benefits Expect to learn about the science of trees and the local communities as well TIM WOODS

When you volunteer to plant trees in an exotic location, the impact is far-reaching. Not only are you contributing to the restoration or preservation of natural forests, but you’re bolstering the ecosystems on which flora, fauna and local people rely to survive. “Forest conservation isn't about tree-hugging hippies anymore: it's about taking care of ourselves and future generations by taking care of the plants and animals around us,” says Vicki Betts, who volunteered at a project run by NGO Green Care to plant trees in Cameroon. Volunteering in the forest is not a relaxing holiday: hours can be long, while accommodation and food are usually no-frills. Daily duties include collecting seeds, propagation, work in the nursery, digging, planting and weeding as well as visiting the local communities. In Shisong in the northwest Cameroonian highlands, Betts planted seedlings to restock areas of forest cut down for firewood and agriculture, and on communal land to help improve water resources. In truth, it would be naïve to think that these trips can dramatically trans-

form forests and fight climate change. But other benefits exist, including helping hosts change local attitudes to their environment, jobcreation, the sharing of ideas and skills and of course, tourist money. Even a short trip can help, confirms Green Care project leader Gilbert Njodzeka. “Local places are improved and local people are inspired. It’s an easy approach to take to change and educate grassroots communities about conservation.” For many volunteers, it’s an inspirational way to spend a holiday. “The trip really did change my life,” says Betts. She quit her office job in the city and did a masters degree in Conservation Management and is now studying a PhD. “Spending time with such good, dedicated people, both the project staff and the other volunteers, did so much to restore my faith in humanity. I hope to one day be able to return to Shisong and put my learning to practical use again.”

EMMA E. FORREST METRO WORLD NEWS

‘Too tiny a plaster’

How to volunteer Specialist travel companies: try Responsible Travel, which organizes ethical trips all over the world (responsibletravel.com, from £80 {$130; €95} for Scotland forest trip), Hands Up Holidays combines luxury eco-travel with a ‘taste of volunteering’ including planting seedlings in Belize, tree-planting in Kenya and India (handsupholidays.com) or volunteering break company i-to-i (i-to-i.com).

“Volunteer tourism of this kind is a sticking plaster,” says Dr Janet Cochrane, from Centre for Responsible Tourism at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK. “The scale of these projects is tiny when compared to the scale of destruction of the forests. The best thing to do is leave it alone. Rainforest regenerates itself.” MWN

Non-Governmental Organizations: including Global Service Corps (globalservicecorps.org), BTCV, UK’s largest eco-volunteering group (btcv.org.uk), and Greenpeace, which enlists volunteers to help with forest projects like restoring Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest (greenpeace.org). How much does it cost? This depends on which organization but usually includes food and accommodation. Green Care’s Shisong 14-day treeplanting trip costs €835 ($1,130) through btcv.org.uk, but tree-planting in Scotland’s breathtaking Highlands can cost as little as €93 ($130) with responsibletravel.com.

But it can help:

1 2 Volunteering in the forest is not a relaxing holiday. A vacationer planting trees at Greencare Shisong in Cameroon.

Bring money into a deprived area: Revenue generated by voluntourism can pay for essentials including sanitation and other infrastructures. Help change local people’s views: You can make them see value of their local environment. Help stop deforestation: Local people will discover the importance of forests in attracting tourism.

green

www.metroworldnews.com MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

GREENPEACE

Your shampoo is killing forests

Indonesia’s Kerumutan Peat Swamp Forest is logged for land, threatening tigers’ existence.

followed by Malaysia, remains the world’s top palm oil producer, Brazil is now trying to establish itself as a palm oil superpower. Major oil companies like Archer Daniel Midlands have already signed contracts. And because oil palms yield so much oil per hectare, it’s good news for the world’s growing population. But for residents of Indonesia, reality looks rather different. “There is about 8.5 million hectares of oil palm in Indonesia, which is 4% of the country, so palm oil isn’t the major driver of deforestation,” explains Dr. Meine van Noordwijk, a Dutch agriculturalist based in Indonesia. “But palm oil plantations on deeply drained peatsoils do cause high carbon emissions.” Van Nordwijk is Chief Science Advisor for the World Agroforestry Centre. The forests felled in favor of oil palms contained myriads of plants and animals.

“Wildlife has been wiped out and plantations worsen climate change because they stock less carbon than the original forests,” Poynton says. “Peat swamps also capture carbon but they have been drained to make way for plantations.” Almost half of Indonesia’s peatlands have now been deforested and drained. And demand for palm oil is climbing, partly due to rising demand for biofuels. Indonesia plans to allocate another four million hectares to palm oil plantations for biofuels. Greenpeace says by 2050 palm oil production will have risen by 300% from 2000 levels. And, in a move that alarms environmentalists, companies want to expand palm oil production in Africa.

ELISABETH BRAW METRO WORLD NEWS

Greenpeace’s Bustar Maitar. “Companies often set up plantations in areas with few jobs and poor infrastructure.” Boycotting products with palm oil isn’t beneficial, says Lex Hovani, Forest Carbon Advisor for The Nature Conservancy. The industry has

Palm oil isn’t just a curse. “It’s very important to the local economy,” notes

PALM P ALM OIL BOOM 8000 7000 6000

introduced “sustainable palm oil,” but Scott Poynton thinks there’s no true distinction. Instead, he says, companies should be quizzed about their deforestation policy. Last year Nestle became the first big company to introduce a zero-deforestation policy.

Oil Oil palm area area

5000

300000 3300 3000

721,172 11980 880 2 216,827 7 1970 70

20000 00 2000 1 1000 1970

1980 1990

2000

2 2010

Ice cream

foods

French fries

22,412,612 412 612 1990 99

1967

Biscuits

Oil Oil palm production pr oduuction (tons) (tons) 19,844,901 2010 7,000,508 2000

4000 00

Cake Chocolate

Indoonesia, the world's top In Indonesia, top palm oil producer, producerr, production production has incr eassed by over over 2000% in the past 30 ye ars. increased years. INDONESIA IN NDONESIA

Shampoo, skin lotion, mayonnaise: 50% of products in the average supermarket contain palm oil. The oil is cheap and versatile. But it’s bad news for the worlds’ forests. Twenty years ago, palm oil was one of many oil types produced at a relatively modest scale. Today it’s the world’s most produced oil; this year’s production is expected to be over 50 million metric tons, compared to 43 million metric tons of soybean oil, which ranks second. “Palm oil is cheap,” says Scott Poynton, Executive Director of TFT, an NGO. “World demand for vegetable oil is huge, and vegetable oils are interchangeable. Because palm oil is cheaper and more productive, it’s pushing other oils out.” That’s good news for the makers of everything from chocolate to cosmetics, who’re able to lower production costs. While Indonesia,

What’s cooking for palm oil?

thousand a off hectar e ess hectares

Palm oil, used in everyday products, is in hot demand But our thrist for oil leads to deforestation, experts say

Thailand Th Thail and 3% of p oduction pr u production

that contain palm oil (cheaper than soy, rapeseed or sunflower oil)

Soup Frying oil

Malaysia Mal aysia si Colombiaa Colombia 2% of pr oduction production

Nigeria N Niger ia 22% of production production i

TOP PALM TOP PALM OIL PRODUCERS PRODUCERS TEXT: ELISABETH BRAW; GRAPH: MIA KORAB

Indonesia In ndonesia o 50% of pr oduction d production

377 of 37% p odu pr odd ion oduction production Muesli

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www.metroworldnews.com MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

GREENPEACE

Your shampoo is killing forests

Indonesia’s Kerumutan Peat Swamp Forest is logged for land, threatening tigers’ existence.

ELISABETH BRAW METRO WORLD NEWS

Palm oil isn’t just a curse. “It’s very important to the local economy,” notes

PALM P ALM OIL BOOM 8000 7000 6000

Oil Oil palm area area

5000

300000 3300 3000

721,172 11980 880 2 216,827 7 1970 70

20000 00 2000 1 1000 1970

1980 1990

2000

2 2010

Ice cream

foods

French fries

22,412,612 412 612 1990 99

1967

Biscuits

Oil Oil palm production pr oduuction (tons) (tons) 19,844,901 2010 7,000,508 2000

4000 00

Cake Chocolate

Indoonesia, the world's top In Indonesia, top palm oil producer, producerr, production production has incr eassed by over over 2000% in the past 30 ye ars. increased years. INDONESIA IN NDONESIA

What’s cooking for palm oil?

thousand a off hectar e ess hectares

Palm oil, used in everyday products, is in hot demand But our thrist for oil leads to deforestation, experts say

Thailand Th Thail and 3% of p oduction pr u production

that contain palm oil (cheaper than soy, rapeseed or sunflower oil)

Soup Frying oil

Malaysia Mal aysia si Colombiaa Colombia 2% of pr oduction production

Nigeria N Niger ia 22% of production production i

TOP PALM TOP PALM OIL PRODUCERS PRODUCERS TEXT: ELISABETH BRAW; GRAPH: MIA KORAB

Indonesia In ndonesia o 50% of pr oduction d production

377 of 37% p odu pr odd ion oduction production Muesli

www.metroworldnews.com

green

MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

MYOO

This is my land! A new dam threatens to displace Indian tribes in Brazil.

“Brazil is destroying rain forest to satisfy people’s consumption” David de Rothschild is trying to stop new dam in Brazilian Amazon will destroy forest and unique species, says millionaire eco-warrior

MYOO

David de Rothschild could live in luxury. Instead he calls Metro on a satellite phone from a tent in the Amazon. Deforestation has brought him there. “Brazil is building a huge dam in the rain forest”, he explains. “If construction continues as planned the land where I’m sitting right now will no longer have any forest. And this is an area that has already seen incredible destruction in the past 20 years.” De Rothschild, the dashing scion of Britain’s de Rotschild banking dynasty, has already undertaken daredevil trips to save the environment. Now he aims to halt construction of the Belo Monte dam in the Brazilian state of Pará. When completed, the Belo Monte will be the world’s third largest hydraulic dam. “China’s Three Gorges dam, the world’s largest, has already caused immense damage to the nature”, he says. “The Amazon is a much more sensitive area.” The Belo Monte project in the Xingu River began 35 years ago but has been mired in controversy. Construction has repeatedly been halted by Brazilian courts. Last year

Don’t touch our forest!

“If construction continues the land where I’m now will no longer have any forest.” DAVID DE ROTHSCHILD

140 environmental organizations from Brazil around the world wrote to President Lula da Silva criticizing the project. According to the Brazilian government, the dam will provide clean, renewable energy and is essential to fuel

the country's growing economy. “But we’re already seeing a high rate of deforestation”, reports local activist Verena Glass. “And lots of new people have moved to the area to get jobs connected to deforestation. Prices are going up and locals are being displaced.” While talking with Metro, de Rothschild watched people canoeing across the Xingu River. “The jungle is very close, and you can hear many animals, but you can’t see them because the forest is so thick”, he says. “I’m spending every day with the children here. It’s unbelievable to think that we’ll destroy their future just to satisfy increasing consumption.” Despite the widespread criticism, the Brazilian government plans to complete the dam. “There will be bloodshed”, predicts de Rothschild. “People won’t leave their land quietly. It’s always the people with the least who suffer the most. But in the end we’ll all suffer if deforestation continues.”

ELISABETH BRAW METRO WORLD NEWS

Belo Monte dam The planned dam will generate power -- and harm the environment It will flood 400 square km of Amazon forest. Some 20,000 people will be displaced. 18% of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared in the past 50 years. In its first 10 years, the dam will emit 112 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent. It will threaten hundreds of local species. The dam is expected to supply the entire state of Pará with electricity. A study by WWF shows that Brazil could reduce energy use by 40% through energy efficiency. COLOMBIA VENEZUELA

GUYANA SURINAME FRENCH GUIANA

BELO MONTE DAM

BRAZIL

PERU BOLIVIA

PARAGUAY

ATLANTIC

OCEAN ARGENTINA URUGUAY

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www.metroworldnews.com

MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

MAGNUS GLANS

Sherlock Holmes of the forest

Stumps of trees chopped down, false logging reports and polluted earth... It’s all evidence for forest detectives trying to bust illegal logging rackets ARDILES RANTE/GREENPEACE

They enter the forest undercover. Revealing their true identity would jeopardize not only their mission but also their lives. Sounds Sherlock Holmesesque? It is. The detectives’ task is to uncover forest crimes, a massive underground business. Now that spies don’t have a Cold War to fight, a forest detective may well be the world’s coolest job. “It’s very dangerous work,” says Bustar Maitar, who directs Greenpeace’s forest detectives in Indonesia. “Politicians, the police and the military have a strong interest in the forest industry.” Maitar’s investigators enter the country’s forests posing, for example, as snake scientists. Their task is to document forest crimes like illegal logging. “Only Indonesians can do this work,” says Maitar. “If forest companies spot a foreigner they’ll arrest

60 seconds

him.” Even more dangerously, forest detectives have to film and photograph everything they see. And if the task is too risky even for tough detectives, locals volunteer for the mission. They claim to be hunting. Perhaps more surprisingly, IKEA employs forest detectives, too – 17 in total. “I visit remote areas to trace the wood used in IKEA products, to ensure that the wood has not been illegally or irresponsibly logged,” Evgeny Zabubenin, IKEA’s forest detective in Russia, tells Metro. “I check for stolen wood, ensure that harvesting volumes have not been exceeded, and that the location of the logging sites are correct. I also check there’s no damage to young trees or soil pollution.” The Swedish furniture giant uses the equivalent of 325,000 fully loaded timber trucks per year. And some

suppliers try to hide dirty secrets. “We investigate every supplier, every sawmill and every forest,” says Anders Hildeman, IKEA’s Forestry Manager. Each year illegally harvested wood worth $25 million is sold worldwide. “Checking wood certificates once a year isn’t enough,” explains Scott Poynton, Executive Director of TFT, a forest NGO. “Logging companies make sure all is well when the auditors come. You have to check on logging while it’s happening.” When Maitar & Co. spot a crime, they don’t call the police – it’s often headed by the forest company. Instead, they take photos. “We have to give the world evidence that forest crimes are happening”, Maitar explains.

Jago Wadley, undercover forest expert, Environmental Investigation Agency

changes with demand. When Indonesia began enforcing its rules, Chinese buyers looked elsewhere – for example, Laos and Papua New Guinea. Vietnam is also a center for illegal logging.

The most common forest crime is illegal logging. How serious is the problem?

Undercover expert

Anders Hildeman

LOGGING MAFIA

It’s on the decline from an extremely high level. A new EU law comes into effect in 2013, prohibiting the sale of wood that has been illegally harvested. Companies must show they’ve done due diligence in investigating the wood sources. But illegal logging

ELISABETH BRAW METRO WORLD NEWS

Which countries buy illegal wood?

It used to be a Western problem, but now there are stricter laws. Today China is worrisome. Companies there would import illegal wood and export

Bustar Maitar

“We can’t just tell people that the forest crimes are happening. We have to show the evidence.” BUSTAR MAITAR, GREENPEACE

finished products made from it. As consumers get wealthier there, China will become a larger market for its own wood products. Who’s behind illegal logging?

It’s a very organized business. In Indonesia you can’t smuggle without a contact in the Navy whom you bribe to get into international waters. One company owned by Vietnam’s military is the biggest wood smuggler from Laos. ELISABETH BRAW

www.metroworldnews.com

MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

The tree quiz: How green are you? Do you care about forests? Or maybe you just think you do. Can you prove to yourself you’re truly green? THINKSTOCK.COM

1. After reading your copy of Metro, you: A Save it to share with fami-

ly, friends or colleagues. B Toss it in the first bin. C Leave it on the subway,

perhaps somebody else will read it. 2. Paper and cardboard recycling is a good idea, because: A Recycling 16 reams of of-

fice paper saves 1 tree. B It lowers the bill for

garbage removal. C My waste company no longer collects mixed rubbish. 3. That stroll in the urban wooded park was: A To soothe my raw nerves.

The trees make me relax! B To show my boyfriend

/girlfriend that I’m so green. C A shortcut to get to a bus stop faster.

If you were to plant a tree, what it would be?

4. If you were to plant a tree in your backyard, it would be: A A fruit tree, obviously.

6. Would you get a natural Christmas tree? A Maybe, it is just so

Why would I plant a useless tree? B Something that looks good and is easy to maintain. C A local species, i.e. a natural part of the ecosystem.

difficult to place in a dumpster afterwards. B It’s a great idea! I will plant it in my garden afterwards. C I don’t think so, I wouldn’t like to discard it later.

er air to better-looking environment. C Charcoal for BBQs.

1. A 10 (POINTS), B 0, C 5; 2. A 10, B 5, C 0; 3. A 10, B 5, C 0; 4. A 0, B 5, C 10; 5. A 5, B 10, C 0; 6. A 0, B 10, C 5

5. Trees provide us with: A Shade. B Many things – from clean-

DANIEL DENISIUK METRO WORLD NEWS

How to score If you scored 40-60: A natural-born tree hugger. If you were a TV character you would be: Lisa Simpson. If you scored 20-35: As green as it’s convenient. If you were a TV character you would be: Charlotte from “Sex and the City”. If you scored 0-15: Trees are good for paper and BBQs. If you were a TV character you would be: Eric Cartman

Mr.. Green Mr Green saves saves the forest forrest Mrr. Green Mr. Green takes takes care care of the en environment. nvironment. A After fter ﬁnding out tha tthatt urban tr trees ees alone abs absorb orb decided partt ttoo protect 9% of carbon carbon emissions, he de ecided todo todo his par protect the forests. forests. So what what did he achievee dur during achiev ing the last last year? year? He bought bought 1000 squar squaree met meters ers of rrainforest ainforest ffor or tr t ees. $$40, 40, saving saving i 30 trees.

donated 10% of his $100 eBay eBay He donated l to to a forest forest protection protection sales charityy, saving saving 7.5 trees. trees. charity, He used Vir Virgin gin Char Charity ity Cr Credit edit Car Cardd orest pr otection char ityy, and chose a fforest protection charity, saving 15 trees trees as a cash cash back ffor or hiss saving $20000 shopping. shopping.

He refused refused to to buy 5 kg kg of beef from from cattle cattle ees. in the Amazon, Amazon, saving saving 0.675 tr trees.

EEvery very day day he click clicked ed on the gr green eenn button at at ther ainforestsite.com, saving savingg button therainforestsite.com, 14 tr eess. trees.

recycled printing printing paper at at work (12 He used recycled 0 72 tr ees. reams),) saving saving 0.72 reams), trees. ecycled paper pack aging and He rrecycled packaging aste, 100 kilogr ams, paper w waste, kilograms, ees. saving 2.4 tr saving trees. He made a $5 ttext ext message donation protection donation ttoo a fforest orest pr otection ees. charity, trees. charityy, saving saving 3.75 tr He contacted contacted loc al urban fforestry orestry ttoo local plant free trees pl ant ffor or fr ee 2 tr ees in his backyard. backyard.

He donated donated e $10 ttoo pl plant ant 10 trees trees in Brazil’s Brazil’s Atlantic Atlantic FForest. orestt.

After A fter doing the sums Mr. Mr. Green Green smiles, smil les, knowing that that his cconscious onscious decisions saved saved

86 trees trees

TEXT:: DANIEL TEXT DANIEL DENISIUK; GRAPHIC: GRAPHIC: MIA KORAB KORAB B SOURCES: SOUR CES: CONSERVATREE; CONSERVATREE; W WORLD ORLD LAND TRUST; TRUST; INVENT INVENTORY ORY OF U U.S. .S. GREENHOUSE G GAS AS EMISSIONS AND SINK SINKS: S: 1990-2009; THE NA NATURE TURE CCONSERVANCY. ONSERVANCY.