A forest carbon developer has claimed the first validation of a reforestation project to the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), using the opportunity to argue for what it sees as the critical role for forest planting in a sector where attention is turning very much to avoided deforestation, or REDD.

Green Resources is currently developing two reforestation projects in Tanzania, one at Mapanda and Uchindele to the VCS, and another at Idete under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). It's been involved in forest carbon investment in eastern and southern Africa since 1997.

http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1862

28/01/2010
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C Boesch, C Bolé, N Eckhardt, H Boesch (2010) Altruism in Forest Chimpanzees: The Case of Adoption. PLoS ONE 5(1): e8901. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008901

In recent years, extended altruism towards unrelated group members has been proposed to be a unique characteristic of human societies. Support for this proposal seemingly came from experimental studies on captive chimpanzees that showed that individuals were limited in the ways they shared or cooperated with others. This dichotomy between humans and chimpanzees was proposed to indicate an important difference between the two species, and one study concluded that "chimpanzees are indifferent to the welfare of unrelated group members". In strong contrast with these captive studies, consistent observations of potentially altruistic behaviors in different populations of wild chimpanzees have been reported in such different domains as food sharing, regular use of coalitions, cooperative hunting and border patrolling. This begs the question of what socio-ecological factors favor the evolution of altruism. Here we report 18 cases of adoption, a highly costly behavior, of orphaned youngsters by group members in Taï forest chimpanzees. Half of the adoptions were done by males and remarkably only one of these proved to be the father. Such adoptions by adults can last for years and thus imply extensive care towards the orphans. These observations reveal that, under the appropriate socio-ecologic conditions, chimpanzees do care for the welfare of other unrelated group members and that altruism is more extensive in wild populations than was suggested by captive studies.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0008901

27/01/2010
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by Rhett A. Butler

Lack of a clear framework and rules for a proposed climate change mitigation mechanism known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) could jeopardize its effectiveness and put forest-dependent communities at risk of exploitation, cautions a new report released by an environmental rights policy group.

In "THE END OF THE HINTERLAND: Forests, Conflict and Climate Change", the Washington-based Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) warns that without clear rules to address land tenure and forests rights issues, REDD could increase conflict by boosting the perceived value of forest land. Forest communities - which have much to gain under a well-designed and well-implemented mechanism - are particularly at risk.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0126-redd.html

26/01/2010
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Science Daily - The population of chimpanzees across
western Africa has decreased by 75% in the past 30 years, due in  
part to widespread chimp hunting. New strategies are needed to curb this  
illegal activity, experts say.


Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Ecology
suggests that genetics may provide valuable clues as to how to crack
down on the animal smuggling trade, while also helping to safely
reintroduce rescued apes into the wild.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100122002338.htm

22/01/2010
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Pan African Sanctuary Alliance

Two monkeys that were left without food and water after their owners abandoned them at a captive facility in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been safely transferred to a sanctuary, thanks to rescue efforts by the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) and conservation organizations working in the region.

http://pasaprimates.org/new-headlines

21/01/2010
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The Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) has released the PASA Operations Manual, a 134-page guidebook to modern sanctuary management that addresses everything from staff size to veterinary care and is the result of nearly two years' work.

The PASA Operations Manual replaces the original PASA Handbook, which had grown outdated since its original publication in 2002.

http://pasaprimates.org/new-headlines

21/01/2010
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