CDM NOTICES

EUROPE   Counting the carbon costs of EU's wood The woody core of EU climate strategy, biomass, has won its place because the bloc deems it carbon neutral, an assumption that hides fatal flaws in its credentials, critics say. Increasingly, the EU relies on biomass - covering anything from olive stones to old blackcurrant bushes - to generate heat and power. For the purposes of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, biomass used as fuel is counted as carbon neutral. The underlying assumption is its emissions are offset by the planting of a new tree. Felled wood, until burnt, is a carbon store. The reality is much more complicated, say environmentalists, who are concerned creative accounting is belying the true state of the world's forests, while EU climate goals slip from grasp. Reuters

 

LATIN AMERICA   Deforestation Accelerated in Belize Deforestation in Belize has accelerated since late 2010, reports a new satellite-based assessment of the tiny Central American country's forest cover by CATHALAC (the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean). The analysis used NASA Landsat-7 imagery to compare forest cover between early 2010 and early 2012. It concludes that Belize's forest cover fell from 62.7 percent to 61.6 percent during the period, a decline of 25,264 hectares.  Mongabay

REDD+ opens up new opportunities for forest product management in the Amazon The emergence of subnational REDD+ projects in southwestern Amazonia is showing potential for multiple-use management of non-timber forest products, particularly Brazil nuts, and forest carbon. Multiple-use forestry, which includes NTFPs, timber and environmental services, has gained momentum among researchers, practitioners and policy-makers as a way to promote forest conservation and livelihood development in the tropics. While there have been a multitude of initiatives towards integrated management of NTFPs and timber, there has been less of a focus on environmental services in these multiple use systems. REDD+ has opened up new opportunities for integrated management of NTFPs and environmental services. CIFOR

Reclaiming the forests and the right to feel safe The woman's exhausted eyes reflected the flames dancing in front of her. A 38-year-old grandmother, she is also a leader of the civilian insurgency that has taken over this mountain town in the state of Michoacán, 310 miles west of Mexico City. Sixteen months of cold and sleepless nights at Bonfire No. 17, one of a number of permanent burning barricades set up here, have taken their toll. But like the rest of the residents, she cannot afford to let her guard down. New York Times

 

NORTH AMERICA   Western US wildfire forces evacuations, firefighter killed  Hundreds of firefighters battled a pair of wildfires that burned out of control in Northern California for a second day on Monday, threatening a clothing-optional resort and forcing the evacuation of some 500 homes. Meanwhile, authorities said a U.S. Forest Service firefighter was killed in Idaho while battling a blaze there. In California, the Wye Fire and the Walker Fire had charred a total of 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) by Monday evening in Lake County, a tourist area some two hours north of San Francisco, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Reuters

 

Long Beach to study possibility of selling carbon credits to industry to offset tree costs A proposal to be introduced Tuesday to the City Council asks to determine the feasibility of selling carbon credits potentially produced by Long Beach's 393,000-tree urban forest to help defray the multimillion dollar annual cost of tree trimming. The possible source of revenue - at a time when Long Beach leaders are faced with balancing another deficit in 2013 - would come from businesses such as utility companies and industrial plants buying carbon credits to offset their yearly obligations under AB 32, California's 2006 global warming law. SGV Tribune

 

Science and Technology

Forest Monitoring Breakthrough in Colombia Using new, highly efficient techniques, Carnegie and Colombian scientists have developed accurate high-resolution maps of the carbon stocks locked in tropical vegetation for 40% of the Colombian Amazon (165,000 square kilometers/64,000 square miles), an area about four times the size of Switzerland. Until now, the inability to accurately quantify carbon stocks at high spatial resolution over large areas has hindered the United Nations' Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) program, which is aimed at creating financial value for storing carbon in the forests of tropical countries.  Phys.org