Tropical Forests

Logging underwater forests for timber in Ghana

12.06.2008

Ghana is beginning to log drowned forests from Lake Volta as a source of high-value tropical logs. Ebony, teak, mahogany and nearly 100 other species have been found on the lake bottom, where they have stood since the construction in 1964 of the Akosombo hydroelectric dam. The venture is expected to earn $100 million per [...]

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Friday Photography

12.05.2008

Sumatra oak, Quercus sumatrana the southernmost oak, Sumatra, Indonesia. The buttresses and surface roots are typical of many tropical trees. Photograph by Tom Kimmerer

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Perak, Malaysia, home to rare trees

11.13.2008

Malaysia has an astonishingly diverse forest flora. One estimate puts the number of tree species in Peninsular Malaysia at over 9,000.  Many of these trees are rare and highly localized. The state of Perak, in northern Malaysia, has identified five sites where very rare trees are located, and is acting to preserve those sites.  The [...]

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UPM to create model forest of Malaysian tree species

10.20.2008

Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) will create a model forest to include 400 species of Malaysian forest trees on a 27 hectare site near the campus in Serdang and on a 48 hectare site at the Bintulu campus in Sarawak.  The project will receive nearly $400,000 in funding from Mitsubishi Corporation. Deputy Dean Dr. Mohamad Azani [...]

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Put Forests Back Into Carbon Markets, say Gore and Maathai

09.23.2008

Andrew Revkin  at Dot Earth has a nice article about the proposal by Al Gore and Wangari Maathai to include forest preservation in carbon-trading markets designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions.  Gore and Maathai, both Nobel Peace Prize laureates for their conservation work, are promoting the work of the Avoided Deforestation Partners. Tropical forest conversion [...]

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