The Guardian, London, UK — 10 December, 2010 As ministers discuss the technicalities of carbon emissions at the Cancún climate change conference, 1.5 billion people in poorer countries still have no access to electricity. We need to address this injustice While the discussions on strategies to reduce global emissions rage on in Cancún, too many of the world’s poorest people continue to live without adequate access to energy. It’s clear that for people living in poverty, energy access is absolutely essential for a better life. The services provided by energy are needed in so many ways: cooking meals, lighting, refrigeration Continue reading
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KENYA: Demand for food and fuel endangers forests
A report by the Kenya Forest Services (KFS) and environmental lobby groups says that most parts of the country are likely to suffer desertification if measures to control indiscriminate cutting of trees are not taken.
“Water volume in at least eight rivers in the North Rift have drastically declined while springs that feed River Kerio and Sosiani River are on the verge of drying up,” said Mr John Chumo of Friends of Nandi Environmentalists, a local lobby group.
Agriculture: the new fuel for the global economy?
The world’s biggest corporations are rushing to grab and convert living plant matter – called “biomass” — into fuel, chemicals, and other profitable products. (…) “Plants, trees and forests are the new oil fields. They’re above the ground, and they’re easy to grab”
Charcoal & timber producer ravage Vietnamese forest
Officials stand by as forest burned to charcoal Nov. 2nd, 2010. Planted forests in the south central province of Phu Yen are being ravaged by charcoal and timber sellers. Due to a grave deriliction of duty on the part of the proper authorities, the trees’ planters say they have resorted to begging the wood prospectors to stop. On Wednesday, Thanh Nien witnessed charcoal makers proudly carrying their products from Deo Ca forest as the people who planted the forest stood by aghast. Felled trees lay strewn about on the ground –the victims of loggers who cut down more than they Continue reading
INDIA: “Impending catastrophe” resonates within the basins of India’s Meghalaya forests
Reported by Jessica Schoonover, Intern Reporter at The Charcoal Project More than half a million tons of charcoal have been produced and shipped over the past 8 years from the once dense but now denuded forests of Meghalaya, a small Indian state located north of Bangladesh. With one-third of the state covered by biologically diverse woodlands, the balance and preservation of this region’s ecosystem has been a major concern for members of Mait Shaphrang Movement, local conservation group, for over a decade. An article recently featured in The Telegraph, based in Calcutta, India, notes that the group sought the intervention Continue reading