Source: National Public Radio 

by Jon Hamilton

Weekend Edition Saturday, July 5, 2008 - One of the world's great wildlife sanctuaries is literally going up in smoke. The hardwood forests of Virunga National Park in Central Africa are being cut down to support a lucrative — and illegal — trade in charcoal. If the destruction continues at its present rate, most of the trees in southern Virunga will be gone in a decade.

Virunga, founded in 1925, includes the mountains where the late anthropologist Dian Fossey did her research for the book Gorillas in the Mist. But endangered mountain gorillas, several of which were recently found murdered execution-style, are just part of the story.

"There are more mammal, bird and reptile species in Virunga than in any other park in Africa, and possibly even the world," says Emmanuel de Merode, a conservationist who is working with rangers to save the park.

Virunga's problems stem from its location in what has become a war zone. Most of the nearly 2 million-acre park is situated in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But portions sprawl into Rwanda and Uganda.

For the full article, please visit: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92233755&ft=1&f=1025 \\

Source: WWF
Published July 4, 2008 10:09 AM

Curitiba, Brazil — A "fragile" land tenure system and "a scarce presence" by the State were identified as key factors in rising Amazon deforestation last week.

The diagnosis was delivered to the 3rd International Congress on Bioenergy last week by WWF-Brazil forest engineer Ana Euler, who said there was a need to re-discuss the Brazilian development model.

"In many areas of the Amazon we come across a situation in which there are various 'landowners' for the same piece of land and proof of land ownership is extremely difficult," Euler said. "In such a scenario, the populations that are more vulnerable end up being penalized."

"Indigenous peoples, extractivists and small peasants generally lose the dispute to agribusiness and other groups that deploy greater political and economic strength."

The findings draw on studies of the states of Para and Rondônia where a high incidence of land conflict and associated violence were linked to forest degradation and destruction.

For the full article, please visit: http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/37574 \\