Some Good News In Honor of Earth Day

WWF tells us that Brazil's latest analysis of deforestation in the Amazon from August 2008 to July 2009 shows the slowest rate of loss since record keeping began in 2000. While good news, the reduced rate must be seen in the context of a global loss of forest of just over 32 million acres per year.  Deforestation and degradation accounts for 15% of global CO₂ emissions.  Recent studies show that 40% of the reductions in deforestation achieved from 2004 to 2007 is the result of the creation of protected areas, including protecting indigenous lands. WWF is working with the Brazilian government on the Amazon Region Protected Areas initiative to create a network of protected forest areas 50% larger than the United State's park system. Preserving forest is the most cost effective way to keep us away from the zone of catastrophic climate change*. So go out and plant a tree for Earth!

US Person still recalls the thrill of riding a friendly, working elephant through the Thai rainforest. Using elephants to protect other species is a good idea, and is one being adopted by wildlife officials in Asia. In Sumatra's Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, the Elephant Patrol was out on the job when a baby elephant, confused and apparently abandoned, approached the group of four domesticated elephants with their rangers aboard. Despite their efforts to find his group and return the one year old to the forest, he came back each time to the patrol. Apparently he had decided to joint this slightly unusual herd. The rangers relented and took in the new recruit. The national park is 882,000 acres at the south end of Sumatra covering forests, hills, river beds and beach that provides a home to endangered rhinos, tigers and elephants. It shares a border with 127 native villages. Human-wildlife conflicts are therefore inevitable. Tomi, as he is now known, accompanies the Patrol regularly learning to be a wildlife protector and an elephant ambassador to humans.

*last March was the warmest March on record according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The combined land and ocean global average was 1.39℉ above the 20th century average. Antarctic sea ice expanse in March was 6.9% lower than the 1979-2000 average. Many locations in Ontario, Canada received no snow in March setting a record for low snowfall.