* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

Scandinavian trees

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RE: Ancient Forests

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Early forests tamed wild rivers

The evolution and spread of trees stabilised river banks and changed landscapes around the world forever, geologists say.
Before the switch, broad, shallow, braided river channels could spread and migrate endlessly from side to side.
Only when tree-like plants with deep roots took hold some 330 million years ago did river banks finally come under control, say researchers.
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Scientists have drawn up a 'Red List' of 44 species of Central Asian fruit trees that could soon disappear unless drastic action is taken.
Around 90 per cent of the fruit and nut forests in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan have been destroyed over the past 50 years.

Source

Blobrana · L

Unearthing ancient forests can take some detective work, says Jack Watkins.
It's likely that most of us, wherever we live, have an ancient wood nearby. What's more, anyone can try their hand at a bit of light detective work as these woods have several features that can be used to broadly establish their age. The easiest place to start, explains Fran Hitchinson, conservation policy officer of the Woodland Trust, is by looking at a map.

"Old ones are not always reliable, and they often omitted features, but if your wood is not on a map, it's obviously a bad sign. Irregular shapes are another vital clue. If you created a new wood today, you'd make it square, the easiest shape to fence" - Fran Hitchinson.

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Malaysia is zooming in on forests with a satellite in order to fight illegal logging which its government says is harming the major timber exporting country, a report said Sunday.
Darus Ahmad, deputy director-general with the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency, said the "eye in the sky" programme was put in place in October.

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Action Alert: Stop WWF's Betrayal of the Earth's Last Ancient Forests
WWF is the world's largest ancient forest logging apologist; actively promoting questionable "certified, sustainable" logging in Guyana, Russia and elsewhere -- and may be the World's greatest threat facing endangered ancient forests
For many years the international conservation group WWF has supported Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification that first-time logging of ancient primary and old-growth forests is "sustainable". Millions of hectares of intact, large rainforest ecosystems have been and are being heavily industrially logged for the first time with WWF and FSC's stamp of approval. Ecological Internet (EI) recently reported upon Samling of Malaysia's activities in Guyana under the name of Barama (1.3 million ha/3.2 million acres), which received significant international bank financing based upon assurances provided by WWF and an FSC certificate of good forest management.
Sadly, WWF's partnering with this particular rainforest destroyer in Guyana is not at all unique. Similar large-scale, often illegal and highly socially and environmentally destructive logging of ancient forests in the Congo basin countries, Russia, and Indonesia continue with the blessing of WWF and FSC as their official policy. WWF's greenwashing, and propagation and subsidizing of the myth of "sustainable ancient forest logging", may be the greatest threat to the world's remaining ancient forests.

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