NWFP-Digest-L
No. 3/11
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: www.fao.org/forestry/site/12980/en.
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 NWFP-Digest-L@mailserv.fao.org: We also appreciate any comments or feedback.
A special thank you to all those who have sent me links to information and to Giulia Muir for her help with this issue.
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2011 International Year of Forests
The United Nations General Assembly declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.
www.un.org/en/events/iyof2011/ or www.fao.org/forestry/en
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PRODUCTS
1. Bamboo: Ending the debate in India
2. Bushmeat: Chimpanzee meat found on sale in UK
3. Chestnuts: American chestnut tree grows ready for a comeback
4. Edible insects: The buzz around eating insects
5. Edible insects: Speaking out for insect cuisine
6. Fungi that make fuel discovered
7. Honey in the USA: Nebraska lawmakers advance bill to define honey
8. Honey in Australia: Study produces sweet result for medicine
9. Maple syrup: US Maple sugaring season kicks off amid thaw
10. Medicinal plants: Special programme for inter-generational knowledge exchange in Sri Lanka
11. Moringa to empower farmers in Benin
12. Moringa, "the miracle tree," is launched in Sierra Leone
13. Seabuckthorn may combat cancer
14. Wildlife: Africa's vanishing wild: mammal populations cut in half
COUNTRY INFORMATION
15. Brazil: Amazon deforestation up 1000 percent from last year
16. Brazil approves construction of the Belo Monte Dam Project
17. Ecuador's remarkable diversity and potential for ecotourism
18. Ghana: Calls for body to test quality of Shea butter
19. Indonesia: Call to revamp trade and export of rattan
20. Kenya: The unexploited herbal pharmacy
21. Madagascar: New hope for world's rarest lemur
22. Malaysia: Scientists use tropical fruits to make batteries
23. Philippines: Bamboo production as alternative watershed protection tool
24. Philippines: Versatile bamboo to be widely propagated in Pampanga
25. Tanzania: Bushmeat hunting "threat to wildlife"
26. UK: Disease fells avenue of horse chestnuts
27. UK: Forest sell-off: the questions we still need answering
NEWS
28. Biopiracy leaves native groups out in the cold
29. CITES Secretary General emphasizes CITES' contribution to IYF goals
30. South-south exchange of ideas for food security
31. UN recognizes threatened world forests and calls for more citizen attention
32. UN forest protection plans linked to "land grabbing"
33. UNEP's 2011 Sasakawa prize winners focus on forest conservation
EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
34. FAO Vacancy: Forest Officer (Statistics)
35. FAO Vacancy: Forest Officer (Global Forest Resources Assessment)
EVENTS
36. Forest-Europe Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe
37. CIFOR workshop
39. International Conference on the Art and Joy of Wood
LITERATURE REVIEW AND WEBSITES
40. IUCN marks IYF with Report on the Value of Investing in Locally-controlled Forestry
41. State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet
42. OHCHR Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section Newsletter
43. BioSoc returns
44. Other publications of interest
MISCELLANEOUS
46. Aboriginal community focuses on the young to keep language alive
47. Changes in wildlife migration could alter disease risk
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1. Bamboo: Ending the debate in India
Source: World Bamboo Organization Press Release, 5 February 2011
The World Bamboo Organization (WBO), a NGO based in Boston (USA), supports the position of Indian Union Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, to put an end to "the false Indian bamboo debate."
In Paris (France), the new WBO President, Michel Abadie, said: "It is very strange to see a government debating on the classification of a plant like bamboo. Since the work of Carl von Linné, the father of modern taxonomy and modern ecology, everybody accepts that bamboo is not a tree. It is a giant graminoid (grass), of a family known now as Poaceae. Why do we need such debate? "
The debate over positioning bamboo started again in India just a few days ago when Nitin Sethi, journalist of The Indian Times published an article, "Bamboo puzzle stumps government" saying that: "The Union Forest and Environment Ministry has so far stuck to its guns and decided to call it a tree, in order to keep a tight control on the lucrative multi-crore business. Other ministries and departments have asked to define bamboo as a NTFP — allowing tribal and forest-dwelling people to secure better profits from selling it. By simply putting bamboo on a list in the Forest Rights Act, the Forest Department has been able to control its use and trade, earning revenue for itself in return. Scientifically, bamboo has always been classified as grass and historically it was also treated as weed in the country when the colonial regulators wanted to clear it on a large scale.
Just consider that India, with 11 360 000 ha covered in bamboo, has by far a larger surface area than Brazil (with 9 300 000 ha) or China (with 5 444 000 ha). The world market for bamboo and bamboo products is fast growing with an amount of US$7 billion in 2010 and an expectation of US$15 -20 billion by 2017. One can easily see the perspectives of this very old but changing market, that the debate is more on development, economy and innovation. This is one reason why the WBO is coordinating the 9th World Bamboo Congress in 2012 on the future use of bamboo in Europe. The two-part event will take place 10-13 April 2012 in Antwerp (Belgium) and 17-21 September 2012 in Toulouse (France), focusing on innovations in bamboo development.
In India, many estimates put the annual trade in bamboo from Rs 10 000 crore to Rs 15 000 crore annually and suggest more than 15 percent annual growth in the business over the next five years with the paper pulp and construction industries being the lead buyers.
In a call to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Minister of Agriculture, Shri Sharad Pawar and Minister of State of Environment and Forest, Shri Jairam Ramesh, a group of people from the Centre for Civil Society in New Delhi declared, "We believe that the tribal communities need to be given better rights, control and revenue from the forests they live in or depend upon. And with declaration of bamboo as grass, we hope that the bamboo industry can flourish appropriately, helping save our forests and providing employment and livelihood to crores of people in the country."
"Delisting bamboo from the 'timber list' is only the first step the government could take towards altering this regime in favour of people — the Environment Ministry is yet to do so formally. It is also not such a huge step, considering the Forest Rights Act already defines bamboo as a NTFP. So the government is merely acknowledging that it will adhere to the laws", concludes Nitin Sethi.
For more information, please see: www.worldbamboo.net/
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2. Bushmeat: Chimpanzee meat found on sale in UK
Source: United Press International, 28 February 2011
Chimpanzee meat is for sale in restaurants and market stalls in Britain in a lucrative black market, authorities said.
Officials uncovered the illegal bushmeat from the endangered species while testing samples seized from vendors in the Midlands, the Daily Mail reported Monday.
"It is well known this practice is under way in the region but I was shocked to discover the meat that was tested was once a chimpanzee," a government source told the newspaper.
"Dubious meat is often tested, and has turned out to be things like rats and vermin in the past — but chimpanzee is unbelievable," the source said.
The word bushmeat is used to describe the flesh of wild animals hunted in places such as West and Central Africa, but also in Asia and the Americas. The meat, which can sell for more than US$15/pound, is part of a lucrative black market trade that experts say is "rife" in Europe.
At least five tons of bushmeat arrives in Europe every week to be distributed across the continent, said Marcus Rowcliffe, a research fellow at the Zoological Society of London. "I am not at all surprised that bushmeat is on sale in the Midlands because we know the trade is going on in the United Kingdom and that there is a regular flow of smuggled meat into the country," he said.
For full story, please see: www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/02/28/Chimpanzee-meat-found-on-sale-in-UK/UPI-50641298916048/
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3. Chestnuts: American chestnut tree grows ready for a comeback
Source: Worcester Telegram in www.boston.com (USA), 30 January 2011
For decades the American chestnut — an icon of American and a vital component of Eastern U.S. forest ecology and economy — seemed lost for all time.
Even the combined resources of the Federal Government, state environmental agencies and plant scientists had failed to eradicate or slow the airborne pathogen that had killed billions of chestnut trees since first being identified in New York City in 1904.
But in 1983, a cadre of prominent plant scientists took another look at the American chestnut and its remorseless foe. Founding "The American Chestnut Foundation," their goal was to develop a seed or nut that would produce a healthy chestnut tree with fully American chestnut characteristics, but above all: built into the chestnut's genetic makeup would be the blight resistance that allowed its cousin, the Chinese chestnut, to thrive throughout Asia, where the blight fungus originated.
It now appears that the foundation was successful.
The Foundation's path to success was predicated on breeding blight resistance from the Chinese chestnut tree into the American chestnut tree, while maintaining the American chestnut's characteristics.
Before the blight, wildlife species from birds to bears had come to rely on the productive chestnut's annual nut harvest. Humans competed for the same harvest, gathering chestnuts in bushel baskets to use or sell as inexpensive food for livestock, or for their own consumption.
In rural communities, the chestnut lumber industry flourished with the straight-grained and easily worked, lightweight and rot-resistant wood an ideal material for fashioning into fence posts, rail ties, barn beams, home construction and fine furniture.
For full story, please see: www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/01/30/american_chestnut_tree_grows_ready_for_a_comeback/?page=2
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4. Edible Insects: The buzz around eating insects
Source: Boston University News, 1 February 2011
James Traniello not only studies bugs, but he has eaten them, too. A researcher at Boston University, Traniello's tastes might seem dangerously adventurous to many, but he is not alone. No less a body than the United Nations is among a growing crowd of experts endorsing the nutritional, environmental, and gustatory joys of Entomology.
Last fall, FAO created a website devoted to the bug. The UN says 2.5 billion people worldwide consume insects, which are dietary staples in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The consensus among Boston University (BU) experts: nutritionally and environmentally, eating insects is a home run. But convincing bug-averse Americans to dig in is another story.
"The protein content is comparable to that of conventional meat," says the UN site. "The essential amino acids are often present, but the protein quality of each insect should be considered. The fibre content (chitin from the exoskeleton) is higher than in conventional meat but comparable to that of cereal grains." More than 1 000 species are eaten around the world, providing "a significant source of short-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, a good source of iron, calcium, and B vitamins."
The body processes insect protein more efficiently than it does plant protein, says Caroline Apovian, a BU School of Medicine Associate Professor; for example, eating protein-rich legumes by themselves will not necessarily give you needed proteins. "You have got to have beans with your rice to get the complement of amino acids," she says. "It is helpful to have a protein source with the full complement of amino acids, which bugs do."
There is another benefit: in our era of global warming worries, bug-growing is more environmentally benign than raising livestock, an industry that contributes almost one-fifth of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, according to Time magazine. It takes 869 gallons of water to produce one-third of a pound of beef, versus much less for the same amount of grasshoppers.
But how do you breed enough to produce appreciable volumes of food? Countries like Thailand have commercial insect farms; a 1992 paper by a University of Wisconsin Entomologist put the harvest of mopane worms (a caterpillar and key food source in Africa) in southern Africa at US$85 million and 10 billion bugs a year, although he acknowledged that insects would be a "small-farm production" industry. The New York Times, however, notes that most countries where insects are a staple still suffer from hunger.
For full story, please see:
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5. Edible Insects: Speaking out for insect cuisine
Source: America Online News, 22 February 2011
"It was 10 years ago when I was getting my anthropology degree and studying pre-Columbian food in the Yucatan region of Mexico that I ate my first insect," reminisced Daniella Martin to AOL News.
Back before Christopher Columbus' arrival, the amount of big game in that area was very small, so the locals relied on insects for their protein in bugged-out dishes like "chapulines," a tasty treat from the Mexican state of Oaxaca that combines dry-roasted grasshoppers with lime and chili.
Edible insect advocate Daniella Martin loves creating insect treats, such as a scorpion cupcake made with a flour of ground-up crickets. "I actually was in Oaxaca and, as a lark, I purchased a small bag of chapulines," she said. "I started eating them and was immediately surrounded by street kids eating off my table." Martin found it to be a wonderful form of cultural immersion.
"There is no shortage of good logical science behind the idea of insects as food," she said. "They are a good source for animal protein and can be easily implemented in regions where it is hard to grow crops.
"However, insects need rebranding!" Martin is hoping to do just that by becoming "an edible insect advocate." One of her projects is "Girl Meets Bug," a web site where she offers cooking tips on the proper way to prepare larva tacos. She is also part of a loose-knit cricket-eating collective of women who are trying show that bug eating is not exclusive to 8-year-old boys daring each other on the playground.
Designer Rosanna Yau is another woman who has plans on getting Americans —especially American women — to eat more bugs and did a thesis on whether elements such as branding or packaging would make the concept more palatable.
Rosanna Yau is studying ways that design might help influence Americans to be more open to eating insects such as mealworms.
"The biggest challenge is identifying a cultural identity with a product," she said. "Do people identify with insects? How do the people likely to eat insects see themselves? As foodies? As adventurous?"
Right now, the biggest markets for boosting bug-eating are "first adopting foodies," the folks most likely to jump on something that seems new or different, and people who are familiar with ethnic cultures where insects are eaten.
Yau has theorized about creating brands for foods, such as "Opoda," which is an offshoot of the word "arthropod," the word for creatures with crunchy exoskeletons, and experimenting with transparent packaging that would let people the product, but admits that we may be a few decades from converting the populous into insectivores.
"The question is now, how do you sell something that people are not sure they want?"
Dianne Guilfoyle may have the answer: by having it provide a solution for problems presented by other products on the market. Guilfoyle is working on Bug Muscle, a nutritional supplement for bodybuilders made from the phylum of various bugs.
"The exact amount of bugs can differ, but it is 80 percent crickets and grasshoppers," she said. The product's patent is still pending, but Guilfoyle is confident that Bug Muscle will make its way onto the market by the end of the year, mainly because her target market —bodybuilders and cage fighters — is looking for something different than what is on the market."
Moreover, "Look at the impact farms have on ecosystems," she said. "Insects have much less. As the population increases, we will have to rely on insects for our diet."
For full story, please see: www.aolnews.com/2011/02/22/bug-eating-ladies-speak-out-for-insect-cuisine/
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6. Fungi that make fuel discovered
Source: Montana State University in www.livescience.com, 25 February 2011
"Mycodiesel" is a novel name applied to the volatile organic products made by fungi that have fuel potential. The latest discovery is that of an endophytic Hypoxylon/Nodulosporium species, or one that lives within a plant, that makes the compound cineole along with a number of other cyclohexanes (colourless, flammable liquids found in petroleum crude oil and volcanic gases) and compounds with enormous fuel potential.
Cineole is of special interest since it has been shown that it can be added to gasoline. Cineole, having an odour of a eucalyptus tree, had in fact been previously known only from higher plant sources. Now it seems that it can be made by fermentation. Its placement in the market will have to await fungal strain improvement, and other developmental factors needed to optimize its production. In addition, engine testing will be necessary to learn if modifications in design will be needed to handle the new Mycodiesels.
Finally, a close examination of the volatile organic products of a number of endophytic fungi reveals that these products and their related substances are the principal ingredients of regular diesel fuel. Such compounds are the cyclic and straight-chained hydrocarbons such as octane, heptane and cyclohexane followed by the benzene and naphthalene derivatives.
It turns out that many of the compounds found in diesel fuel are either directly found as fungal products or other products that are closely related. This along with a number of other arguments suggests that some or all of the world's crude oil may have originated from microbial sources. Therefore, as the vast amount of organic matter in the world began the processes of decay, the reduced organic products resulting from these processes may have been trapped in the numerous shales of the Earth. It is from these sources that crude oil is mostly recovered.
www.livescience.com/12977-micodiesel-future-fungus-fuel-ria.html
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7. Honey in the USA: Lawmakers in Nebraska advance bill to define honey
Source: The Associated Press in www.bloomberg.com, 24 February 2011
Nebraska lawmakers have given second-round approval to a bill that would give the state an official definition of pure honey.
The bill by state Senator Annette Dubas would establish a formal definition for honey.
Dubas has said the measure is meant to ensure there would be a way to resolve disputes over whether a product being sold as pure honey is truly pure.
If the measure is enacted, products will not be labelled as honey unless they meet the standard trade groups suggested.
The bill must go through a final round of consideration to be passed.
For full story, please see:
www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-24/nebraska-lawmakers-advance-bill-to-define-honey.html
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8. Honey in Australia: Study produces sweet result for medicine
Source: www.abc.net.au (Australia), 1 March 2011
Honey from an Australian native myrtle (from the genus Lagerstroemia) has been found to contain the most powerful anti-bacterial properties of any medicinal honey in the world.
Medicinal honeys contain an anti-bacterial agent that can be used to treat wounds and viruses. A team including researchers from the University of Queensland (Australia) and the State Government found native myrtle honey has very high levels of the ingredient known as MGO (Methylglyoxal).
The chief executive of a company involved in the research, Carolyn MacGill, says the honey could prove useful in treating infections resistant to antibiotics.
"Recently there was a conference in New South Wales based on the overuse of penicillin and penicillin derivatives, and this hopefully will pose an option for them to look at this type of honey for MRSA and staph-type infections," she said.
Ms MacGill says the honey will also be beneficial in wound care. "It will have a huge impact, particularly in the wound care market as these patients become more resilient to the penicillin products," she said.
"They need to look for alternatives and fortunately this is a natural alternative that has been available for some time, but unknown," she said.
www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/01/3152286.htm?section=justin
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9. Maple syrup: U.S. maple sugaring season kicks off amid thaw
Source: Reuters, 18 February 2011
The sugar maple trees are tapped and their rich sap is starting to drain into buckets across New England (USA), as a midwinter thaw heralds the start of the fleeting syrup production season.
But challenges loom for local harvesters, racing against time and the elements to gather enough sap to boil into the sweet delicacy, first cultivated centuries ago by Native American communities.
Despite the thaw, snow piles of 3 ft in the northern woods and high snowbanks along back roads after the stormy January have complicated the start of sugaring season. The need to strap on bulky snowshoes or fire up snowmobiles to set taps and haul away sap in the widespread maple groves has slowed them down a bit, producers say. And if setting-up is delayed for what is a mere four-to six-week season, and temperatures become too warm, too fast, sugaring can seem like it is ending before it begins, experts say.
Harvesters need an extended pattern of mild days and chilly nights for the sap to run.
"It means getting started earlier than you normally would, because it is going to take a lot of time in the woods," said Brian Stowe, head of sugaring operations at the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Centre, in Underhill Centre.
Snowfall hit its highest since 2001 in Vermont, the biggest U.S. maple syrup producer, Stowe said this week. "I have heard a lot of people say that they are a little bit behind this year on tapping," he said.
Vermont produced a whopping 890 000 gallons of maple syrup last year, nearly half of the nation's total haul of 1.96 million gallons. Further south in Massachusetts, hopes are high for a major turnaround after a dismal 2010 season, figured as the worst on record in many counties. Temperatures warmed too quickly last year, slashing the sap run to just three weeks.
Aside from weather, the Asian longhorned beetle, brought to North America from China, has plagued native U.S. hardwood trees, including sugar maples, in Massachusetts and New York, the nation's second-largest syrup producer. The insects are remarkably destructive to trees as they bore holes in the bark to deposit their eggs.
In Maine, the third-largest syrup producer, experts fret less about the snow and the beetles than they do about the unpredictability of February-to-April temperatures.
"Larger producers get started early, because with a big sugarbush (maple orchard), you have to get at it early on," said Kathy Hopkins with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Skowhegan. "So a lot of places are tapped and ready to go."
There are pluses to snow, too. If temperatures warm overly fast, snow helps trees stay cool at night, keeping the sap flowing longer into early spring. It also provides much-needed moisture to the maples.
Ideally, in the previous summer, trees will get abundant sunshine and some rain to help produce necessary carbohydrates internally, much of which maples store over wintertime.
To produce syrup, the purest sap is boiled until it concentrates into an amber nectar. Forty gallons of sap make about one gallon of syrup.
For full story, please see: www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/18/us-food-maplesyrup-idUSTRE71H5LN20110218
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10. Medicinal plants: Special programme for inter-generational knowledge exchange in Sri Lanka
Source: Sri Lanka Daily News, 27 January 2011
A special program to transmit the medical healing methods and knowledge about medicinal plants to the children of the Aboriginal Community has been launched.
Under this program the Elders of the Aboriginal Community world are encouraged to impart their knowledge to their young ones. Action will also be taken to record data about medicinal plants and the biodiversity, a press release by the Ayurveda Department said.
The Aboriginal Community will also be educated about the medicinal plants of economic value so as to encourage them to cultivate them and earn an income by arranging marketing facilities.
For full story, please see:
www.dailynews.lk/2011/01/27/news52.asp
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11. Moringa to empower farmers in Benin
Source: Media Global, 10 February 2011
In the fields of Benin, a green revolution has placed local farmers at the forefront of the battle against malnutrition. With the establishment of Association Béninoise du Moringa (ABM), Beninese farmers have expanded the production and promotion of moringa to nourish the ailing West African nation.
Widely acclaimed as a "miracle tree," Moringa oleifera is fast-growing and possesses multiple benefits, from nutritional leaves, flowers, and seeds, to drought-resistant roots and bark. Moringa leaves are usually consumed fresh in green salads, or sautéed. In health programs, leaves are dried and ground into powder, then sprinkled on any dish for instant nutritional boost.
It has been traditionally used in South and Central Asia, India, and the Middle East as livestock feed, biofuel, medicine, water purifying agent, and soil fertilizer, among many other uses.
In the mid-1990s, the US Peace Corps initiated moringa promotion in the country in keeping with nutritional campaigns all over West Africa. Despite such assistance, however, Benin has long lagged behind in the region, as compared to Niger, which has been producing moringa as a cash crop, and Senegal, which integrated moringa into HIV and AIDS treatment in the late 1990s.
In 2008, a pilot project in the town of Goumori drew closer attention to moringa. The first batch of moringa powder produced was sold out in one week, encouraging farmers to share their knowledge so others could grow the plant. As communities increasingly grasped the nutritional and economic benefits of moringa, volunteers and farmers saw the need for a mechanism to manage the future of moringa in Benin. Thus, ABM was born.
"We envisioned an organization that would promote moringa on a national scale and facilitate a market for moringa thereby taking the responsibility of promoting moringa and creating a market off the farmers themselves," former US Peace Corps volunteer Christoph Herby told MediaGlobal.
Last August, the vision came to fruition at the widely participated launch of ABM.
The moringa industry in Benin has flourished notably as ABM facilitates more farmers growing moringa alongside other crops as an additional source of income, and as an affordable supplement for malnutrition.
Through ABM, efforts of farmers, which were usually confined in their own fields and villages, are stretched out to markets and other moringa producers across the country. "Ultimately the goal is to create nationwide demand for moringa powder, satisfied by a network of well-supervised moringa plantations," said Herby.
http://mediaglobal.org/article/2011-02-10/empowered_farmers_cultivate_a_new_hope_for_benin
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12. Moringa, the "miracle tree" is launched in Sierra Leone
Source: ReliefWeb, 15 February 2011
For centuries, the people of northern India and many parts of Africa have known of the many benefits of Moringa oleifera. Its uses are as unique as the names by which it is known: Califer, Horseradish, and Drumstick, for instance, and, in East and West Africa, "Mother's Best Friend."
Native only to the foothills of the Himalayas, Moringa is now widely cultivated in Africa, Central America, South America, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, and the Philippines. This tree is nutritional dynamite. Virtually every part of it can be used, and there are hundreds of uses for it.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has played a pioneering role in the promotion of Moringa as a food supplement source in Africa for a decade. Its Sustainable Agriculture and Development unit (UMCOR SA&D) supports widespread cultivation and production of the plant in Ghana and Liberia.
UMCOR SA&D officially introduced Moringa into Sierra Leone in 2001. UMCOR SA&D provided formal training in Moringa cultivation to 150 farmers. They then taught other farmers about the plant and its uses. Afterward, the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone (CCSL) coordinated the efforts in the country to promote the use of moringa in for Africa.
These efforts culminated in the decision for a nationwide launch of the Moringa in Sierra Leone. Last October, a national conference was held in Freetown. It brought together interested and high-level participants from church and government.
Moringa leaves contain all of the amino acids that are essential to the human body, including two that are especially important for children. They also are the richest single natural source of vitamins and minerals on the face of the earth.
A family that has Moringa available for its use can virtually "grow multivitamins at their doorstep." This is because Moringa contains vitamins A,B1, B2, B3, C, calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, protein, and zinc. Moringa contains some 46 antioxidants, which promote heart health and control the aging process. Moringa leaves and fruit are loaded with phytonutrients, which flush toxins from the body, purify the liver, bolster the immune system, help rebuild red blood cells, and rejuvenate the body at the cellular level.
For full story, please see: www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/JARD-8E54EG?OpenDocument
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13. Seabuckthorn may combat cancer
Source: Natural Products Insider, 23 February 2011
Sea buckthorn is a possible remedy for cancer, diabetes, thrombosis and inflammation, according to a recent study from the University of Manitoba (Canada). Researchers also noted the super fruit, a natural source of vitamins, carotenoids and flavonoids, is also potentially a natural medicine for cardiovascular disease (CVD). They suggested clinical studies are needed to evaluate efficacy and safety in patients with CVD.
Lead by Yan-Jun Xua, researchers conducted what they termed a "mini review" of research conducted on sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides). They concluded the vitamins, carotenoids and flavonoids that have been found in sea buckthorn have been linked to lower cholesterol, platelet aggregation, blood pressure and blood sugar. In addition, sea buckthorn is considered to be useful in treating tumours, stomach ulcers, skin diseases and arsenic poisoning. They added that accumulating evidence suggests sea buckthorn is a promising plant that could serve as a natural remedy for the reduction of CVD risk and other health-related problems such as diabetes, inflammatory diseases, thrombosis and cancer.
However, they concluded double blind clinical trials need to be conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of sea buckthorn products in the prevention and therapy of CVD as well as other medical conditions.
Sea buckthorn grows naturally in the mountainous regions of China and Russia, though it can be cultivated at lower altitudes. The fruit are golden-orange and are rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, and other nutrients, flavonoids, oils rich in essential fatty acids (EFAs).
For full story, please see: www.naturalproductsinsider.com/news/2011/02/sea-buckthorn-may-combat-cancer.aspx
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14. Wildlife: Africa's vanishing wild: mammal populations cut in half
Source: www.mongabay.com, 27 January 2011
The big mammals for which Africa is so famous are vanishing in staggering numbers. According to a study published last year: Africa's large mammal populations have dropped by 59 percent in just 40 years. But what is even more alarming was that the study only looked at mammal populations residing in parks and wildlife areas, i.e. lands that are, at least on paper, under governmental protection. Surveying 78 protected areas for 69 species, the study included flagship species such as the African elephant, giraffes, zebra, wildebeest, and even Africa's feline king, the lion.
"We were not surprised that populations had dropped but we were surprised by how large the drops had been," lead author Ian Craigie told mongabay.com in an interview.
Craigie says that there are a number of causes behind the observed declines, including agriculture, hunting, and the bushmeat trade. But all of them are due to human actions. In fact, he points to Africa's population explosion as one of the underlying factors.
In Africa man has successfully lived alongside large populations of wild animals for millennia but the advent of advanced technology and agriculture has lead to a 5-fold increase in African human populations since World War Two. All these extra humans are using and moving into previously natural habitats and squeezing out the wildlife," he says.
The study looked at three general regions across Africa: Southern African, East Africa, and West Africa. Wildlife in Southern African parks fared the best according to Craigie because "the level of funding for parks in Southern Africa is much greater than other regions" and the region has lower population densities. West Africa's parks came in last due to a culture of bushmeat hunting, poverty, and booming human populations.
The overall decline of African mammals is likely to be worse than even the study portrays for two reasons: mammal populations have almost certainly suffered worse outside of parks than inside, and Craigie and his team were not able to include parks that did not regularly survey their wildlife populations.
"The parks left out of this study, where animals were not counted, are likely to be those which are financially poorer or less well managed. So the large declines we found were from the best parks, if we were able to include the other parks the results may have been even worse," Craigie explains.
For full interview, please see:
http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0127-hance_craigie.html
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15. Brazil: Amazon deforestation up 1000 percent from last year
Source: Amazon News, 24 February 2011
Over the last several years, the rate of forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon had been in steady decline, but the latest data is yet again proving that the problem is far from over. According to figures released today, deforestation in the world's largest rainforest has increased nearly 1 000 percent from the same period the year before, marking the first rise in over two years —though only time will tell if it is merely a disappointing uptick, or a troubling reverse of trends.
A newly disclosed report from the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment (IMAZON) reveals that 175 km² of forest was cleared this past December, compared with just 16 km² reported last year for December 2009, a rise of 994 percent.
In addition to deforestation, areas of Amazon degradation have also increased at an alarming rate. IMAZON notes that 541 km² were degraded in December 2010. Throughout that month in 2009, only 11 km² were impacted — representing an astonishing increase of 4 818 percent.
Unfortunately, while last year ended poorly for the Amazon rainforest, the trend seems to be carrying into the new year. Just last month, 83 km² of forest were cleared and 376 km² degraded — representing increases over last year's rates of 22 and 637 percent, respectively.
The latest figures of devastation confirm concerns outlined by Brazil's Institute of Space Research (INP), which uses satellite imaging to monitor deforestation. Infrastructure projects, like the construction of new dams and highways, and the expansion of agricultural areas are considered the most probable culprits for the dramatic rise in the rates of forest loss. Recent figures released by INP indicate a 10 percent overall increase in deforestation for the period from August 2010 to January 2011.
These findings stand in stark contrast to the downward trend in deforestation over the last several years, and are the first indications of an increase in forest loss in more than two. It may be too soon to tell whether or not the latest reports are simply outliers, or if the tides have changed for the largest and most important forest on Earth.
For full story, please see: www.amazonia.org.br/english/noticias/noticia.cfm?id=378647
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16. Brazil approves construction of the Belo Monte Dam Project
Source: Environmental News Network, 2 February 2011
The proposed Belo Monte Dam in northern Brazil would be the third largest hydro-electric dam in the world in terms of electrical output. The dam would be 3.75 miles long and generate over 11 000 megawatts, which could power up to 23 million homes. Government officials say that the dam is an essential step in supplying energy to the nation's growing population. However, the project is rife with environmental conflicts. The project requires the clearing of 588 acres of Amazon jungle, the displacement of over 20 000 indigenous people, flooding an area of 193 miles², and drying up a 62-mile stretch of the Xingu River.
Last week, Brazil's environmental agency, IBAMA, approved the commencement of work to construct the US$17 billion Belo Monte Dam. They issued licenses to the consortium behind the dam project, Norte Energia, which is made up of local construction companies, the state-run utility company, Eletrobras, and a large state pension fund, Petros.
The concept of the Belo Monte Dam has been around for 30 years, but until now has been held up. Conservationists and indigenous tribes have fought vigorously against its approval. The advocacy group, Greenpeace have been on the scene.
The presence of foreign advocacy groups has been quite troublesome for Brazil's government officials. Last year, President Lula denounced the "gringos" and told them to stay out of Brazil's business. Many believe that the dam project's detractors are misinformed, claiming that the flooding would not affect indigenous areas and that the dam's effects have been widely studied.
Other government officials, however, have been critical. The former head of IBAMA, Abelardo Bayma Azevedo had resisted the Energy Ministry's demands that they give the go-ahead to the dam project. He claimed that IBAMA could not approve due to its ongoing environmental investigation. Two weeks ago, he resigned amid pressures from the Energy Ministry. His resignation paved the way for IBAMA's approval, which has allowed the dam project to move forward.
More obstacles remain for the dam project, because this approval is merely for clearing the 588 acres of rainforest, about the size of Monaco. Other approvals will be required as the project moves toward the actual construction phase. Officials are expecting the dam project's completion by 2015, at which point it will begin producing electricity.
Meanwhile, critics of the project are not giving up. The dam will affect the Xingu River, a major tributary of the Amazon River, and home to rich biodiversity and endemic species. It will also affect the towns of Altamira and Vitoria do Xingu, whose residents will be forced to move. Moreover, indigenous people living downstream will have their water access cut. Not to speak of the increased greenhouse gas emissions that will be generated from the construction of the Dam.
For full story, please see: www.enn.com/top_stories/article/42308
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