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An urgent message from PNG
By Sam Moko, Greenpeace PNG Forest Campaigner.
As a Papua New Guinean and a landowner I thought it was necessary to do this to highlight ongoing problems in my country's forestry sector.
The ITTO report on sustainable forest management in PNG found that the local forest authority (PNGFA) is more concerned with logging for financial benefit than it is with sustainably managing our forest resource.
It will take political will to act on the recommendations outlined in the ITTO report. A strong leader is needed to fix the forestry sector, otherwise things will only get worse and there'll be nothing left for our children.
To avoid buying illegally logged timber from PNG visit our online Good Wood Guide www.greenpeace.org.au/goodwood
Himalayan Glacial melt
China - Glaciers in the Himalayas provide water for one-sixth of humanity. But climate change is threatening this water source, with reservoirs of ice disappearing as temperatures rise.
Scientists predict 80 percent of the glaciers will be gone within 30 years if current warming rates continue.
A Greenpeace team recently documented the glacial retreat on the world's highest peak, Mount Everest (Qomolangma). They took photos of the Rongbuk Glacier, Everest's main glacier, 5,800 metres above sea level, and compared them with similar photos taken in 1968.
Unfortunately, the campaigners were unable to reach the exact spot where the 1968 pictures were taken because a smaller glacier that was there four decades ago has completely disappeared, making it impassable.
G8 to act on climate change...later...maybe
Heiligendamm, Germany - In the lead up to this year's G8 summit, leaked documents revealed a distinct split among member countries on the issue of climate change; not surprising, given seven of them have committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions under Kyoto - while the US (far and away the worst offender) has not.
The final deal reached was nowhere near what's needed to halt dangerous climate change. It's full of weasel words like 'seriously consider' but fails to agree on essential targets.
What these leaders of the world's wealthiest nations fail to take into account is that reducing CO2 emissions by 50 percent (compared to 1990 levels) by 2050 is not a negotiable diplomatic point - it's a physical necessity. And, as we've already learned from the last 15 years, voluntary measures don't work.
Greenpeace, however, welcomed the fact that G8 have cleared the path for the next round of binding emission cuts to be set at the United Nations.
Replica of Noah's Ark built as symbol of hope
Turkey - Judeo, Christian and Muslim religions all include the story of a great flood and Noah's Ark. It's said that as the flood subsided, Noah released a dove, and the dove returned with an olive branch to show land had been found. To this day the Ark and dove are symbols of hope.
In the run up to the G8 summit, Greenpeace and 20 German and Turkish carpenters constructed a replica ark on Mount Ararat in Turkey, where some say Noah's Ark came to rest. It took four weeks to complete. Once finished, 208 doves (one for each country) were released and the 'Ararat Declaration' signed. The declaration demands that world leaders act to protect the basic human rights of life and health, both of which will be at risk for millions of people from the effects of climate change.
Measuring ten by four meters, the ark replica was to remind leaders of all nations attending the summit, that it's now or never to take action over climate change.
