Our planting partner RIPPLE Africa presents the Kandoli Forest Conservation Project in Malawi

Our friends at RIPPLE Africa, an organization that is working in Malawi and is also a planting partner of Eco-Libris have just released a very interesting video on their efforts to conserve 130 square kilometers of forest in the Kandoli Hills in northern Nkhata Bay District, Malawi.

We invite you to watch the video and learn about the important work RIPPLE Africa is doing in Malawi in collaboration with local communities, generating substantial environmental and social benefits.

To learn more about RIPPLE Africa please visit their website - http://www.rippleafrica.org/



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant trees for your books!

Green book review week - part 3: A Conservationist Manifesto

Our third book on the green book review week is a very unique book that reminds us of the thing we tend to forget so easily such as the responsibilities we bear for the well-being of future generations. Actually as you'll find out, it's a manifesto.

Our book today is:

A Conservationist Manifesto

Author: Scott Russel Sanders
Scott Russell Sanders, Distinguished Professor of English at Indiana University Bloomington, is the author of 20 books of fiction and nonfiction, including Writing from the Center (IUP, 1995), Hunting for Hope, and A Private History of Awe. Sanders is winner of the Lannan Literary Award, John Burroughs Essay Award for Natural History, AWP Award in Creative Nonfiction, and the 2009 Mark Twain Award. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana.
Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published on: February 2009

What this book is about? (from the the author's website)

A Conservationist Manifesto was published on Earth Day, April 22, by Indiana University Press. The book addresses what I take to be the greatest challenge facing our society, which is to shift from a culture based on consumption to a culture based on caretaking.

What would a truly sustainable economy look like? What responsibilities do we bear for the well-being of future generations? What responsibilities do we bear toward Earth’s millions of other species? In a time of ecological calamity and widespread human suffering, how should we imagine a good life? A Conservationist Manifesto seeks answers to these pressing questions, and more, in writing that’s impelled by a sense of place and a sense of hope.

What we think about it?
This is a warning call, but unlike many others (for example "An Inconvenient Truth"), it's a very poetic one. The call is very much the same call about over-using natural resources and our destructive culture of consumption, but Sanders' writing is unique in the way he is corresponding with traditional American nature world writing of authors such as Henry Thoreau and John Muir, hence providing us with a powerful and unique message that stands out in what the author calls "our cultural cacophony".

His vision of harmony with nature, living more lightly, putting more focus on community and people and less on consumption is not a new recipe for happiness and better life, but his stories and his personal experience provide a fresh and interesting perspective to this belief.

This book is also in many ways the story of the home state of the author - Indiana, where he lives for almost 40 years. It's interesting not only to Indiana natives and residents, but also to anyone who is interested to better understand present conservation efforts, and not only in Indiana but everywhere, as this is a local story but there are many similar stories elsewhere where the lessons here can apply.

Bottom Line: If you're interested in human-nature relationship and/or the future of this planet, this small book that fit nicely into any bag, can be a good company to your next hiking trip or camping vacation.

If you're looking for other interesting green-themed books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green reading

Did you remember to pay your rainforest bill?

Prince Charles has a great idea - rich countries should pay an annual "utility bill" for the benefits given to the world by its rainforests. The Prince of Wales was presenting this idea in Indonesia while talking with the Indonesian President and his cabinet last week.

The BBC News reported that "the prince called rainforests the "world's greatest public utility". They act as an air conditioner, store fresh water and provide work, he said."

The idea is that Indonesia and the other nations with significant rainforests are stewards of the world's greatest public utility and that rich countries should pay them for their service.

The prince compares the payment for the eco-services of rainforests to paying regular utility bills for gas, water and electricity. He added that "As developed nations were the driving force behind their destruction, through a demand for products like beef, palm oil, soya and logs, they should be billed for their protection."

How exactly these payments will be made? the prince hopes that that a large part of the funds would come from bonds issued by a international body that will be funded directly by governments of developed countries. Prince Charles is very involved with efforts to save forests. Earlier this year we reported on his offer to Norwegian Prime Minister to work together on saving forests in developing countries. The offer came after Norway's announcement last December that it aimed to provide about 3 billion crowns ($541.2 million) per year to prevent deforestation in developing countries.







Also, last October he launched a new organization called Reforestation Project that calls for a new green economics that recognizes the world's rainforests are worth more alive than dead.

We definitely think the concept is right and the sooner it will be implemented the better. The only question is how realistic it is especially in the current economic environment to expect governments to voluntarily pay rainforests bills.

I am afraid that it won't work, unless it's part of a wider framework that will demand developed countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. Only then there is going to be a greater economic incentive to act and not just a good will which is important but not sufficient to generate action these days.

You can find more information on the prince efforts on the Prince's Rainforests Project: http://www.princesrainforestsproject.org

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

A new study: The destruction of forests costs much more than the financial crisis in Wall Street

Would you believe that annual loss from the disappearance of forests is greater than the current losses of Wall Street?

According to an EU commissioned study, the destruction of forests cost global economy $2-$5 trillion every year, whereas Wall Street by various calculations has to date lost, within the financial sector, $1-$1.5 trillion.

The BBC News reported (thanks to GreenLine Paper for the tip!) about this study, entitled "The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity" (Teeb) and headed by Pavan Sukhdev, an economist of Deutsche Bank. According to the article, the first phase of the study concluded in May when the team released its finding that forest decline could be costing about 7% of global GDP.

So what is exactly this economic loss that results out of the destruction of forests? well, the principle is quite simple - as forests decline, nature stops providing services which it used to provide us essentially for free, such as providing clean water and absorbing carbon dioxide. Then, the report explains, the human economy has to provide them instead, perhaps through building reservoirs, building facilities to sequester carbon dioxide, and so on, or we have to do without them. Either way, there is a financial cost.

If you ask yourself how come the Wall Street crisis gets so much attention and of course an immediate remedy, whereas the forests are left behind, think of relevance to your daily life. I think that's the main issue here. Of course we need more regulation and economic steps to be taken to support conservation and make sure living trees will have greater value than trees that are cut down, but in the bottom line it's mainly about relevance.

People were persuaded that the Wall Street crisis is relevant for each and every one of them due to its overall influence on the economy. But most people don't find the forests' crisis relevant to their daily life, and therefore it doesn't really matter what the price tag attached to this crisis is. And if it won't matter to people, governments and businesses (but especially governments) will find it much more difficult to act in the right direction.

How you make the forests' desctruction more personally relevant for people? I wish I had the right answer. My belief is that it is a combination of more education, more political awareness, more business action and more media attention. As you see there's a lot to be done but we need to stay optimistic and believe in our ability to achieve this goal even in time of financial difficulties.

At least Mr. Sukhdev, the study leader succeed to see the full half of the glass. "governments and businesses" he says, "are getting the point." And he further expalins: "times have changed. Almost three years ago, even two years ago, their eyes would glaze over. Today, when I say this, they listen. In fact I get questions asked - so how do you calculate this, how can we monetize it, what can we do about it, why don't you speak with so and so politician or such and such business."

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

More posts relevant to this issue:

Al Gore and Wangari Maathai calls the U.N. General Assemby to support protection of forests

Will the new international fund save the Amazon?

Green Options 2: The Nature Conservancy: 320,000 Acres of Forest Protected in Landmark Deal

Merrill Lynch is investing in forest protection


* Picture Courtesy of Sustainable Harvest international

Green Options: Want to Green Your Addiction to Books? Buy Ebooks

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg on October 27 on Sustainablog. Today's post talks about one of our favorite topics: ebooks.

OK, I admit it: I'm a book whore (hardly a shocking confession for a former English professor). I'm most vulnerable to impulse buying in a book store. When a publishing PR rep contacts me about a book for review, I jump on it like an addict desperate for that next fix.

But, of course, I also know that book publishing takes a fairly heavy environmental toll: as our friends at EcoLibris have pointed out, "more than 30 million trees are cut down annually for virgin paper used for the production of books sold in the U.S. alone." The WorldWatch Institute notes that the average American uses over 300 kilograms (or over 660 pounds) of paper annually. And Erika Engelhaupt, in Environmental Science & Technology, observes:

Reducing paper use does more than save trees. Pulp and paper mills are also a major source of pollution. They release into the air CO2, nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx), carbon monoxide, and particulates, which contribute to global warming, smog, acid rain, and respiratory problems. In addition, bleaching paper with chlorine can produce dioxin, which is known to cause cancer. Paper mills also produce large amounts of solid waste and require a lot of water. The industry is trying to clean up, but anyone who's driven past a paper mill has smelled the challenge.

Yep, that book addiction has quite the footprint. There are numerous approaches to dealing with this impact: "cradle to cradle" book design, Ecolibris-style offsets, used of recycled and non-toxic materials, and, of course, ebooks.

Green Options 2: The Nature Conservancy: 320,000 Acres of Forest Protected in Landmark Deal

Usually we republish every Tuesday one post from Green Options, but today we make an exception and republish two. The reason is a very important announcement of the Nature Conservancy on one of the most significant conservation sales in history. We wanted to bring you the full announcement with all the details, and we thank Jonathon D. Colman for approving to reprint his post that was originally posted on PlanetSave on June 30. Eco-Libris congratulate the Nature Conservancy for this remarkable deal and we hope to see many more acres of forestlands being preserved with their help!


Few places on Earth are as untouched as the "Crown of the Continent" — a 10-million-acre expanse of mountains, valleys and prairies in Montana and Canada. The area has sustained all the same species — including grizzlies, lynx, moose and bull trout — for at least 200 years.

Now — in one of the most significant conservation sales in history — The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land have preserved 320,000 acres of forestlands in western Montana that provide valuable habitat for species in the Crown of the Continent.

"There hasn't been an animal extinction here since Lewis and Clark encountered it in the early 19th century," explains Kat Imhoff, the Conservancy's state director in Montana. "It's the only such ecosystem in the Lower 48 states."

The deal is part of the Conservancy’s large-scale efforts to protect forestlands around the world — the majority of which are working forests supplying sustainably harvested timber.

Over the past five years, the Conservancy has protected 3.5 million acres of forestlands — at a time when nearly one-half of Earth’s original forest cover is gone and global deforestation rates continue to rise.

Condoms will help to conserve trees in the Brazilian Rain Forest

Good news from Brazil - the Brazilian government inaugurated a condom factory that will help both poor Brazilian rubber tappers to make a living and to preserve the Amazon rain forest. Sounds like a win-win deal to me!

And it's getting even better - Associated Press reported (and thanks to Grist for the update) that "the plant in the northwestern town of Xapuri will produce 100 million condoms a year, which the government will distribute for free as part of its massive anti-AIDS program, Brazil's Health Ministry said in a statement."

According to the article, the latex for the condoms will be drawn from towering jungle trees in the sprawling Chico Mendes forest reserve by small time rubber tappers who protect their trees and thus the rain forest to ensure their livelihood.

The idea is very simple - to make it more worthwhile to conserve the trees than to cut them down by making the live trees a source of income. It is also very helpful that the income will be generated by locals (according to the Health Ministry the factory will benefit at least 500 families of rubber tappers and will provide about 150 jobs for the town of 15,000), who have now better incentive to protect the trees.

I believe that this step is connected to the Brazilian government's new measures to protect the Amazon rain forest, following the data on growing deforestation, which I reported on three months ago. In any case, I'm very happy to hear about this news and I hope to see more initiatives like this that will help both the rain forest and the local communities.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!

Merrill Lynch is investing in forest protection

With all the gloomy news coming these days from Wall Street, it's great to see that when it comes to the environment, Wall-Street is still bullish. I'm talking about the news on Merrill Lynch new investment of $9 million to finance a project to protect 750,000 hectares of forest in Indonesia.

Dana Mattioli reported last week on the Environmental Capital blog of Wall Street Journal about the new green deal. Firstly, let's make one thing clear - this is not a donation or anything like that. It is an investment that according to the article is supposed to generate Merrill proceeds of $432 million over the next 30 years.

The expected income will come from in carbon financing, which means that someone will pay Merrill to offset polluting activities elsewhere with the amount of carbon dioxide that won't be emitted (3.4 million tons of carbon dioxide every year) because of the fact that the trees will be kept alive and won't be cut down.

Carbon financing based on forest protection wasn't permitted under the Kyoto Protocol, but as we reported in the past, it was discussed in the U.N.’s Bali meeting in December last year, and though it is not approved yet, there's a good chance it will be part of the post-Kyoto program that will replace in 2012.

Although carbon financing is far from being proven as an efficient and beneficial solution, I am very supportive of adding the forest protection into the program. Unfortunately, economic forces are the ones leading most of the deforestation and therefore it might be that economic forces may be the best realistic remedy.

I believe that Merrill will be followed by many other institutional financiers that will see an opportunity in protecting forests. For many forests this involvement will make the difference between deforestation and conservation.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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The Native Forest Law is being approved in Chile after 15 years of negotiations

It took them 15 years, but it was worth waiting - the Chilean parliament has approved a law to preserve the country's forests, promote their sustainable use and foster related scientific research.
SciDev.net reported (and thank you to Metafore for bringing it to my attention) about this happy ending for 15 years of negotiations, the longest any law has taken to pass in Chile.

Antonio Lara, dean of the forestry science faculty at the Austral University in Valdivia, Chile, who was involved in the negotiations since 1992, explained the essence of the new law, called 'The Native Forest Law': "This law introduces an ecosystemic vision that does not consider the forest just as a wood source, but as a benefit for the community, since it sets funds for forest recovery and for its non-lumber management."

Two important parts in the new law are the creation of a fund of US $8 million a year for forest conservation, recovery and sustainable management projects, and the protection of water sources by banning the felling of native forests located near springs, rivers, glaciers, wetlands, and lands with steep slopes.

This is great news from Chile and I hope that many other developing countries (and also developed countries) will follow Chile and adopt its vision. I just hope it just won't take them 15 years :-)

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!