EPA reversal allows resumption of bird-killing pesticide

Washington, DC, June 25— The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted a request by Louisiana rice growers to use 1,500 pounds of granular carbofuran to combat rice weevil. The granular formulation of this highly toxic chemical has been responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of birds, including Bald Eagles, and was phased out from legal use, beginning in 1991, for that reason.

The EPA initially intended to grant the “emergency use” application of three tons of active ingredient, enough to cover 10,000 acres of rice fields, without seeking public comment or alerting conservation groups. After pressure from American Bird Conservancy (ABC), Defenders of Wildlife, National Audubon Society, NRDC, Sierra Club, and other groups, the EPA capitulated and agreed to allow only enough pesticide to cover 2,500 acres. They will open a five-day public comment period, beginning Thursday, June 27, before they decide whether to grant carbofuran use for the remaining 7,500 acres.

Laboratory data verify that carbofuran is among the most highly toxic pesticides to birds. One tiny granule can kill a bird, and more than fifty species, including Bald and Golden Eagle, Eastern Bluebird, Great Horned Owl, Red-tailed Hawk, Kestrel, Northern Pintail, and Blue-winged Teal, have been documented as having died from carbofuran poisoning. The EPA estimated that prior to cancellation of the granular formulation, up to two million birds were killed each year by carbofuran. No other substance listed under the EPA’s Ecological Incident Investigation System has killed more birds. Scientists at the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) stated that “there are no known conditions under which carbofuran can be used without killing migratory birds. Many of these die-off incidents followed applications of carbofuran that were made with extraordinary care…”

Scientists from around the country concur.

“The decision to allow the resumption of carbofuran use after years of well documented, science-based proof of its dangers, sets a dangerous precedent and once more puts birds at extreme and unnecessary risk,” said Gerald Winegrad, Vice President for Policy at ABC. “Let us hope that concerns raised by so many environmental groups help EPA make the right decision and deny further applications for granular carbofuran use.”

Caroline Kennedy, Director of Special Projects at Defenders of Wildlife noted that “In addition to birds, carbofuran is responsible for many documented incidents of killing other wildlife, such as mammals and aquatic species, and should not be used—it’s unsafe at any speed.”

The timing of this decision is of further concern to environmentalists as they have learned from one EPA representative that the overall registration of carbofuran will be up for review at the end of the year. Although the granular use of the chemical has been the primary cause for concern with regard to bird deaths, biologists are also investigating the likelihood that flowable carbofuran is equally hazardous.

Source: American Bird Conservancy

Peru forestry law triggers violent protests

By Mary Powers

Lima, Peru, July 1, (ENS)— A new forestry law that changes the way logging concessions for Peru’s tropical forests are granted is facing violent opposition by a small group of loggers who environmental groups say represent big logging interests responsible for decades of depredation in the lush Amazon rainforest.

To view full story please go to www.ens-news.com

Environmentalists challenge Kenyan gov’t in court

By Katy Salmon

Nairobi, Kenya, July 1 (IPS)-- Kenyan environmentalists go to court on Jul 9 to challenge a government plan to excise nearly 170,000 acres of public forest.

The environmental coalition -- which includes East Africa Wildlife Society and Kenya Forests Working Group (KFWG) -- are appealing to those who have already been issued title deeds to the contested forests to come forward and defend themselves.

“There are people who may very well have petitioned government to excise that land and we do not know. Our concern is that the minister did not appear to give sufficient or satisfactory reasons of why he did what he did. My clients are asking for public accountability, that’s all,’’ says the environmentalists’ lead counsel, Stephen Mwenesi.

They argue that the government acted illegally by issuing title deeds before announcing its intention to give out the 167,000 acres of public land.

“The main ground for challenging the minister’s legal notices and the decision to alter forest boundaries is that we believe the action to be unconstitutional,’’ the KFWG said in a statement Monday.

“There appear to [have] been alterations of boundaries of forests and title deeds issued prior to the Minister’s Legal Notices. The government has already reacted publicly and stated that it was settling landless people.

“That may be so, but we are wondering why such an important step has to be taken in apparent contravention of the Forests Act and the Constitution. We are not aware that the government has license to break the law,’’ the statement said.

Ali Kaka, director of East African Wildlife Society, says the land is incapable of supporting the squatters that the government claims will benefit from the allocations.

“A lot of this land that was to be degazetted is not suitable for resettlement of anybody, even eagles for that matter. So this was highly suspicious,’’ he charges.

The environmentalists believe the destruction of the forests also will be detrimental to important water catchments and places for protection of Kenya’s world-famous flora and fauna.

“Kenya simply cannot afford to lose any more forested land. We already had less than two percent of forested land under protected status and losing more would mean disaster for this entire country and even the very people who were to be settled there,’’ Kaka predicts.

For example, one of the forests being targeted, Eastern Mau Forest Reserve, is the main catchment area for Lake Nakuru, the second most visited national park in Kenya, Nakuru town and the surrounding farmland.

Settlers have already cleared large areas of forest, reducing streams draining into the lake and local farms from permanent to seasonal. Environmentalists say further clearance will aggravate the situation, threatening the lake and the farmers’ livelihoods.

As water catchments, forests also provide water for hydropower generation -- the main source of electricity in Kenya. Sondu-Miriu hydropower plant is being constructed to meet the country’s electricity needs -- which are growing faster than they can be met -- by providing 60 megawatts of electricity in 2003.

Cutting of the South-Western and Western Mau Forest Reserves will increase the fluctuation of the flow of the Sondu River and worsen soil erosion. This will reduce the ability of the yet-to-be-completed power plant to produce electricity.

Many see this upcoming case as one of the worst examples of so-called land grabbing, which has become a major problem in Kenya in recent years. It is allegedly that all sorts of public spaces -- including school playgrounds and parks -- are being dished out to well-connected people in return for political favors.

Critics suspect that the government is using the land to win political support ahead of elections due at the end of the year.

The degazettement flies in the face of the government’s stated environmental policy. President Daniel arap Moi has repeatedly condemned destruction of forests in water catchment areas. The Kenya Forest Policy, approved by the Cabinet in 1996, states that “All gazetted indigenous forests, woodlands, bushlands and mangroves should remain reserved.”

The Policy’s broad objectives are to “increase the forest and tree cover of the country’’ and to “conserve the remaining natural habitats and wildlife therein.”

Moi recently issued a directive that the government suspends all further public land allocation. He also has appointed ex-military officers to oversee the management of Kenya’s remaining forests.

KFWG describe this as “a step in the right direction’’ but are also calling for “a statement of commitment to the law and the constitution concerning forests.”

Court cases were brought to block the destruction of the forests, which were announced 16 months ago, but none have made much headway so far. Renowned environmentalist Wangari Maathai also has brought a lawsuit, but it has yet to be heard.

ENVIRO BRIEFS

Peru swaps debt for rainforest protection
Peru’s rare pink river dolphins, jaguars, scarlet macaws, walking palms and giant water lilies will be better protected after an agreement signed June 26 by US and Peruvian officials in Washington. Under the agreement, the US will cancel $14 million in Peruvian debt payments in exchange for allocation by the Peruvian government of $10.6 million for rain forest conservation. The debt cancellation was partially funded by The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and the World Wildlife Fund, in partnership with the US government.  

The funds will be distributed to local Peruvian conservation groups for use in protecting 10 tropical rainforest areas covering more than 27.5 million acres within the Peruvian Amazon — about the size of the state of Virginia. (Go to ENS for full story)

Russian forests protected in
historic measure
In a historic conservation measure, six areas of wild forestland in the Russian Far East, totaling 1.7 million acres, were designated as protected in June. A total land mass equalling the size of Ohio, these areas are now off limits to all major industrial activity, with some of the land designated as “areas of traditional use” for the indigenous Evenk peoples. All of the protected areas are located in the vast Amur River watershed, which hosts some of the most pristine forests and watersheds in the world.  

This designation is the single largest in the history of the Amur region, and one of the largest in the world. It comes at a time when many timber and mineral industries have taken a great interest in extracting the region’s resources. The Amur region has historically been an area of intense logging and mining by Russia, and more recently, by China. (Pacific Environment)

Bt corn causes breeding problems in pigs
Iowa farmers have experienced an alarming sow breeding problem related to the feeding of genetically engineered Bt corn. Small farmers who purchased genetically engineered corn seed and have fed the resulting crop exclusively to their livestock have experienced as much as an 80% drop in breeding rates. Farmers who have reverted to feeding non-GE corn have found that breeding returns to normal. The ground on which the Bt corn was planted may still be contaminated with the offending gene - thus, small farmers who feed livestock their own corn may now have to purchase feed elsewhere from now on if the breeding problem is to be avoided. (Organic Consumers, AGR staff)

Groups sue to stop huge sale
of federal land
Environmentalists filed suit June 26 against the Bureau of Land Management for its plan to auction off about 6,500 acres of federal land northeast of Las Vegas to developers. The Western Land Exchange Project, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Committee for Idaho’s High Desert allege that BLM has violated the National Environmental Policy Act.  

The groups are concerned about impacats on water supply, water and air quality, endangered species, and the combined impact of this and several other development plans on the fragile Mojave Desert.  

According to the environmental assessment, the first phase of the project alone would allow for a thirteen-fold increase in the county’s population over the next 20 years, but the assessment states that the source of water to sustain such a development has not been identified. Environmental groups claim that the BLM also skirted many of the other issues that it is required to evaluate before offering the land for auction, and thus broke the law.(Western Land Exchange Project)

Humanity’s resource use exceeds
the earth’s capacity
Humanity’s use of natural resources, or Ecological Footprint, has exceeded the regenerative capacity of the Earth since the 1980s. The finding is outlined in a paper to be published this week (June 24-28) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Redefining Progress Sustainability Program Director Mathis Wackernagel is the lead author of the paper, “Tracking the ecological overshoot of the human economy.” He and his colleagues reached this conclusion by comparing humanity’s demand on the environment to the earth’s supply of bioproductive areas over the past 40 years.

The researchers assessed the total area globally available for growing crops, grazing animals, harvesting timber, accommodating infrastructure, marine fishing, and absorbing carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels. They then calculated how much area would be required to sustainably meet human demand for these various activities.

According to this analysis, human demand in 1961 was about 70 percent of the Earth’s regenerative capacity. By the 1980s demand had risen to match total global supply, and by 1999 demand exceeded supply by at least twenty percent. It takes the biosphere, therefore, at least a year and three months to renew what humanity uses in a single year. (Redefining Progress)