This video is called Carving Up the Congo:
International logging companies are causing social chaos and wreaking environmental havoc in the Democratic Republic of Congo, home of the world’s second largest rainforest.
Our film reveals how the World Bank, by far the largest donor to the DRC, is failing to stop this destruction whilst the rainforest is being sold off under the illusion that it will alleviate poverty in one of the poorest countries on Earth.
How the World Bank and HSBC are investing in deforestation in Congo: here.
From LiveScience:
Lost Forest in Africa Yields New Species
By Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience
posted: 07 August 2007 03:32 pm ET
In a once-lost forest in Africa, six animal species new to science have been discovered, members of a two-month expedition now reveal, including a bat, a rodent, two shrews and two frogs.
“If we can find six new species in such a short period, it makes you wonder what else is out there,” said Wildlife Conservation Society researcher Andrew Plumptre.
The bat appears to be a kind of horseshoe bat (genus Rhinolophus), known for the large horseshoe-shaped “nose leaves” used for directing their ultrasound.
These new species were discovered in an expedition from January and March 2007 into woods just west of Lake Tanganyika, which have been off limits to scientists for more than 50 years. The area is a remote corner of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been gripped by unrest and war for decades.
Spirits linked with this area include Kabogo, said to occasionally manifest itself as a ghostly boat on Lake Tanganyika at night said to guarantee good fishing if seen, as well as Misotshi, who has taboos against the killing of chimpanzees and the destruction of the forest. For this reason, local chiefs suggested naming the area the Misotshi-Kabogo Forest, the researchers said.
The scientists found that nearly 386 square miles (1,000 square kilometers) of forest, almost the size of all of Hong Kong, remained intact. The woods stretched from the shores of Lake Tanganyika up to elevations of 8,940 feet (2,725 meters) above sea level, or roughly seven times the height of the Empire State Building.
These woods have been isolated from much of the Congo rainforest, the second largest rainforest in the world, for at least 10,000 years, which explains why they held new species, said Wildlife Conservation Society researcher Deo Kujirakwinja. They proved extraordinarily rich, providing a home to chimpanzees, elephants, leopards, monkeys, birds, reptiles, frogs and other amphibians, hogs, jackals, mongooses, porcupines, and antelopes known as bongos.
The expedition collected additional material that may also yield a number of new plant species. Local botanists were unable to identify some 10 percent of the collected plants. Plumptre, Kujirakwinja and their colleagues will send these samples to specialists in the near future to assess their novelty.
The Wildlife Conservation Society notes that chiefs and elders at local villages are supportive of transforming the region into a protected park. Currently, human impacts on these forests are relatively low, with gold mining on a minor level being the most substantial threat.
See also here.
World’s largest protected freshwater Ramsar site declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo: here.
A New Population of De Brazza’s Monkey found in Kenya: here.
Fast Fact Attack: Endangered Species No. 89 – The Mountain Bongo: here.
July 2013. Scientists from the Universities of Stirling, Oxford, Queensland and the Wildlife Conservation Society warn that current hunting trends in Central African forests could result in complete ecological collapse: here.
Related articles
- Professor Shares Research from Fulbright Experience (ruprofstudies.wordpress.com)
- Study finds the forgotten ape threatened by human activity and forest loss (eurekalert.org)
- Congolese Forest Giraffe Added to List of Endangered Animals (inhabitat.com)
- Pre-harvest forestry and botanical inventories in ENRA logging concession in the Ituri Forest Landscape, northeastern Congo Basin Rainforest (Democratic Republic of Congo) (hbikumbu.wordpress.com)
- Red List reveals conservation successes, but extinctions continue apace (theguardian.com)
- African Countries Join Forces to Tackle Deforestation in Congo Basin (acenewsservices.com)
- Exclusive Video: World’s Biggest Pig Revealed (newswatch.nationalgeographic.com)
- Five new African bat species discovered (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
- Peccaries help to discover Brazilian prehistoric art (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
What? Where? When? Some animals may
know:
New findings may bear on debates over whether
animals are conscious.
http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/070812_what-when-where.htm
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ACTION ALERT PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!
Protest Failed World Bank Congo Rainforest Policy and
Proposed Ill-Conceived Forest Carbon Payments
Rainforest Portal & Climate Ark, projects of Ecological Internet
http://www.rainforestportal.org/ & http://www.climateark.org/
October 15, 2007
TAKE ACTION
Given revelations of misconduct in Democratic Republic of
Congo’s rainforests by the World Bank and UK aid agencies,
the World Bank’s desire to administer global carbon payments
for rainforest protection as a means to address climate
change is suspect
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=world_bank_forest_policy
The World Bank’s independent inspection panel has found
serious violations of the Bank’s own rules as foreign
companies were encouraged to destructively log the Democratic
Republic of Congo’s (DRC) rainforests, endangering the lives
of thousands of Congolese Pygmies. Along with the British
government, the Bank has since 2002 sought to “create a
favorable climate for industrial logging” in the Congo by
rushing through new forestry laws and dividing the country’s
massive rainforests into logging zones. This is the World
Bank’s most recent failure to promote “sustainable” ancient
rainforest logging, and comes as they position themselves to
administer international carbon market funds meant to protect
ancient rainforests for their climate benefits… The concept
of “avoided deforestation” — whereby countries are paid to
protect forests — has the potential to maintain standing
rainforests in an intact, fully functioning condition; while
meeting reasonable local development needs… Many crucial
details regarding how avoided deforestation payments would
work remain undefined… To be maximally effective, avoided
deforestation climate payments should only support strict
preservation of ancient forests; and not their “sustainable”
selective logging, certified or otherwise… Industrial
ancient forest logging must be rejected and replaced with an
emphasis upon community development based upon standing,
intact rainforests. This requires abandoning subsidizing of
DRC’s industrial forestry, fully protecting Pygmy rights,
and ensuring carbon payments are made only for strict
rainforest preservation.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=world_bank_forest_policy
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