CIFOR proposes to the community and Malinau Government to cultivate Adau trees, one of the original trees of Malinau. Adau can be used for housing and furniture.

At least 38 major flood and landslide incidents have occurred in the last five years throughout Indonesia. It is a shocking fact, but one that has hardly touched policymakers in Indonesia. Many people wrongly think that Indonesia does not have flood-risk area mapping. On the scientific side, there is a widespread belief that forests can prevent floods by acting as giant sponges, slowing down the surface runoff and soaking up water during heavy rainfall.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization says millions of people are at risk of starvation in the Horn of Africa due to drought and the effects of conflict.

Local environmentalists say logging in central Java worsened the situation and exposed the government’s failure to reign in illegal logging which is rampant across the archipelago.

Notes: The China Post on January 11,, 2006 also released the same news under the title Indonesia disaster sets off debate over role of logging

The sharp increase in economic and human losses attributed to flooding was simply caused by the fact that more people were living and working in flood plains

The inundations this week in two regions of Java Island sparked debate about whether deforestation was to blame, but one leading conservation group cautioned against knee-jerk reactions, saying there was little scientific evidence linking logging to major landslides or floods.

Notes: The article also released in Pravda.ru, INQ7.net, CTV.ca, CBC World News, AM 940 Montreal, Star Online and Standard Radio.

Look beyond your local fast-food joint, and you’ll see that beef is being sourced increasingly from Latin American countries like Brazil. According to the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Brazil’s cattle industry is largely driven by exports, 80 percent of which came from the Amazon.

A four-day workshop aimed at sharing the vision and action frame for community forestry in Liberia begins on Monday at the Baptist Seminary on the Robertsfield Highway.