Oil palm plantation fires in Sumatra are contributing to air pollution in Singapore, according to Indonesia's forestry minister.

Indonesian Forestry Minister Zulkilfi Hasan told the Wall Street Journal that fires in concession areas, rather than in forests, is causing the haze that is exacerbating tensions between Indonesia and its neighbors, Singapore and Malaysia. Air quality levels have been near "unhealthy" for much of the past week.

"The government is trying to contain the hot spots within the plantation areas," Indonesian Forestry Minister Zulkilfi Hasan was quoted as saying.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/1024-haze_riau.html

24/10/2010
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The campaign request from Animal Defenders International (ADI) for a coffee supplier to 'wake up and smell the coffee' with their use of 16 primates in a current TV advertisement continues to gather momentum.

Jan Creamer, ADI's Chief Executive said that they had been encouraged by public support, and that several appalled individuals had followed ADI's lead and also pledged to boycott Costa Coffee.

21/10/2010
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The National Anti-Vivisection Society and Animal Defenders
International uncover figures that show the UK is the biggest user of
primates in the EU 
 
The National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) has welcomed the recent
publication by the European Commission of its Sixth Statistical Report
on the numbers of animals used in EU laboratories in 2008, the purpose
of which ultimately allows analysis of trends in animal experiments
and a direct comparison of the efforts of individual Member States to
replace animal testing.

20/10/2010
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In the second in our series examining REDD we report how ambiguous forest definitions are putting the future success of forest protection schemes in doubt and allowing logging companies to destroy biodiverse habitats

Kara Moses

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/640908/lack_of_forest_definition_major_obstacle_in_fight_to_protect_rainforests.html

20/10/2010
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Animal Defenders International(ADI) launched a campaign to secure public support to

prevent the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) from performing

radiation experiments on monkeys as part of plans to travel to Mars.

This follows a major ADI public and Congressional drive in the USA to

try and prevent NASA from proceeding with similar experiments on

squirrel monkeys.
 

19/10/2010
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Walmart mandates zero deforestation in beef, palm oil sourcing

The world's largest retailer last week announced new sourcing criteria for commodities closely associated with deforestation: palm oil and beef from the Amazon.

Walmart will require sustainably-sourced palm oil for all its private brand products globally by the end of 2015, a move that will provide critical support for initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of palm oil, which has at times been produced at the expense of tropical rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia. Walmart says the move will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5 million metric tons by the end of 2015 for its U.K. and U.S. private brand products alone.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/1018-walmart_deforestation.html

18/10/2010
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