After frenzied campaigning which raised logging of Chile's forests as a major international issue, the project that threatened to make woodchip from threatened temperate rainforests has been called off. We have supported the many groups working on this campaign, and all those that have responded to alerts over the past several years share in this victory. This is the most recent in a string of stunning successes for the Worldwide forest conservation movement. There is hope that global forest sustainability can and will be achieved, before large forest wildernesses become a thing of the past. g.b.

The battle to save some portion of Borneo as intact, contiguous rainforest appears to have been lost. Malaysia and Indonesia have essentially destroyed this globally significant rainforest. Consumers of tropical timbers; i.e. buyers of plywood for new home construction in the U.S., are ultimately responsible. Predatory logging companies and complicit consumers are bent upon repeating this pattern of disastrous tropical land management in most of the World's remaining tropical wildernesses. This must not be allowed to happen. The following account of new scientific research provides persuasive evidence that forest sustainability is primarily determined by conditions over large scales-such as bioregions and landscapes.g.b.

INDIA: An Unnatural Disaster 15 Dec

Clearing India's Mangrove Forests Has Left The Coast Defenseless. The thousands of people who died when a cyclone struck the eastern coast of  India last weekend could have been saved if mangrove forests had not been destroyed to make way for shrimp farms, according to coastal geographers.

Following is an account of loggers taking forest conservation groups to court for allegedly forcing their Deep Ecology religious beliefs on the United States Forest Service. This suit is a shameless debacle. The loss of  logging jobs is tragic but inevitable. The boom is over. How badly the bust treats us all will depend on how zealously we conserve remaining forests and pursue the age of forest restoration. Scientific, economic, spiritual and other means of knowing and understanding this global ecological crisis are equally valid, and critical to finding solutions to these complex issues. g.b.

The World Bank is funding a mining survey in the Cotachi Cayapas Ecological Reserve, despite the fact that mining activities are prohibited in protected areas in Ecuador. Given the ecological significance of the reserve in question, World Bank support for this project also breaks its own promise to protect global biodiversity. Please write to the World Bank and tell them to desist.

Environmentalists are blaming widespread illegal logging as a factor in disastrous flooding that has hit the central coast of Vietnam for the second time in two months.

A British environmental group that for years has campaigned against illegal logging in Cambodia has been appointed an independent monitor of the country's forestry sector.

Bougainville was subjected to a six-year trade blockade by Papua New Guinea following the island's secession from PNG in the early 90's. Forced to depend on their own resources, Bouganvillians revived their disappearing cultural heritage and strengthened their local communities. As a result of the absence of western food and medical supplies, people ate a healthier diet and returned to traditional medicines. "We have proved to [PNG authorities] for six years" says Josephine Haripa, "that we did not need their help". At the time of the WTO's push for further globalisation, this is an inspiring story. From the Earthbeat program on Australia's public broadcaster, Radio National.

Ecological Enterprise's new Ecological Information web portal, called Eco-Portal, at http://www.Eco-Portal.com/   The Eco-Portal works much like Yahoo, Lycos, or other search  engines -- only sites have been carefully chosen for inclusion.  So rather than getting millions of hits of varying quality when you search for "rainforests" on a major search   engine, on the Eco-Portal you will get several thousand highly pertinent hits--the best that the Internet has to offer on the  topic.

There is a window of opportunity to assist in the conservation of the largest remaining rainforest in West Africa, Nigeria's Cross River rainforest. The region includes rare and unique gorillas, drill monkeys, chimpanzees, gray parrots and other endangered animals and plants. The decision has recently been made to halt logging in the area. This progress must be consolidated through complimentary letters. Please respond to this Action Alert. g.b.

The last forests of Indo-Malaysia are being mopped up. Even CNN has the scoop on the logging in Indonesian National Parks. South-east Asian rainforests are toast unless something is done quickly.g.b.

The Health of the Earth 2000

Excerpts from the United Nations Environment Program's report on the environmental health of the planet.

The future of the controversial Chad-Cameroon oil development project and pipeline was in doubt yesterday after Exxon announced it was "considering changes" in the consortium which has planned to undertake the venture. 

Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Elf Aquitaine have pulled out of its oil extraction and pipeline project in Chad ands Cameroon. Exxon and the World Bank are the other parties involved in the project, which plans to export oil from the land-locked African country of Chad via a pipeline through neighbouring Cameroon. RIC and other organisations have been involved in campaigns against the scheme, and the backdown by Shell and Elf confirms that you, dear reader, have the power to help stop environmentally destructive projects. Please keep responding to our action alerts! Continued pressure on the World Bank is now crucial. Link here to Action Alert.

The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, now less than 12 months away, have been billed as the "Green Olympics". Yet NSW State Premier Bob Carr, whose government is responsible for the Games, plans to approve clearfelling on Sydney's doorstep. ACTION Request -- see end of article

At the 1997 negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions, an Australian environmentalist wore a paper bag over his head -- he was too ashamed of his government's stand to show his face. Australia won special concessions in those negotiations and is allowed to increase its carbon dioxide emissions. Now, the Australia Institute has found that Australia emits 25% more carbon dioxide per capita than the US and more than double most European Union countries.