There is good news from Brazil with the government of Acre in the Amazon. Ranchers may be made to reforest up to 30% of their land. The government has established a nursery growing seedlings of species such as mahogany which they will issue to ranchers. The government sees this as a vital component of its longterm aim to develop sustainable forestry as a key income generator for Acre.
Until a decade ago, private landowners were allowed to deforest 50% of their land. Now legislation has amended the figure to 80%; but many ranchers have not replanted at all.
Luis Menezes from the environmental group WWF, based in the Acre capital Rio Branco, says the impact of deforestation is being felt locally.
Mr. Menezes — “I believe this is the first time that any Brazilian state has embarked on reforestation as a public policy,”
It has yet to be determined if this policy will take flight. Cattle ranchers of Acre has a non-conformist attitude when it comes to re-forestation. In 1988, Chico Mendes a local rubber tapper and social activist was murdered. It is his concept of sustainable forestry that inspired Jorge Viana’s government. This concept would move Acre from being dependent on a single product such as cattle, to a more diverse economic development with products such as: sustainably logged timber, Brazil nuts, berries, rubber and medicinal plants.
To read more about reforestation in Brazil, click here.
Technorati Tags: Amazon lands, brazil, reforestation
Written by steve on September 28th, 2006 with no comments.
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Just came across an article that caught my attention and has me worried. A study from NASA shows that the earth is increasingly getting warmer and it is at its warmest in the past 12,000 years. NASA warns of environmental changes that could become “dangerous” if it continues.
According to NASA’s 1980 global warming simulations the study shows; based on greenhouse gas increase, the warming trend for the past 30 years has been 0.2 degrees for every 10 years.
The more drastic temperature changes can be found in the northern hemisphere. This is a result from a natural process known as positive feedback. This process is achieved by melting snow and ice at higher latitudes, which uncovers darker surfaces that absorb more sunlight.
The study concludes, if the temperature increases the earth’s sea level would change and exterminate species.
To read the entire article click here
Written by steve on September 28th, 2006 with no comments.
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RITE and Honda Jointly Develop New Technology To Produce Ethanol From Cellulosic Biomass
TOKYO, Japan, September 14, 2006–Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) and Honda R&D Co., Ltd., the Honda Motor Co., Ltd. subsidiary responsible for research and development, today announced that their cooperative research has resulted in ethanol production technology from soft-biomass, a renewable resource of plant-derived material.
What is soft-biomass you ask?
It is a renewable organic resource of plant-derived material, excluding fossil resource.
What are some examples of soft-biomass?
Livestock excreta
Waste wood
Plant residue (after the removal of edible parts)
Biomass represents organic materials that plants produce through photosynthesis from atmospheric CO2 and water, and thus does not increase atmospheric CO2 when burned.
Bio-ethanol, therefore, has attracted attention as a carbon-neutral fuel, an energy source effective as countermeasure to global-warming.
Why is this method of Bio-ethanol important?
Existing bio-ethanol production, faces supply limits, as it is produced primarily from sugar and starch of sugarcane and corn feedstock, which are also utilized as food.
In its collaborative research, RITE and Honda have established the basic technology to produce ethanol fuel from cellulose and hemicellulose, both found in soft-biomass, including inedible leaves and stalks of plants, such as rice straw. Until now, such soft-biomass represented a challenge to convert to ethanol. Thus, the new process represents a large step forward for practical application of soft-biomass as a fuel source.
Importantance to Farmers
Economically and environmentally speaking I can predict that this new method of making bio-ethanol has caught the attention of farmers especially. With this technology farmers now have the freedom to diversify their crops and have another source of income (as in the production of bio material to produce bio-ethanol).
Technorati Tags: honda, biomass, ethanol, rice straw
Written by steve on September 28th, 2006 with no comments.
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