Dear friends and co-fighters!

Welcome to the next issue of Positive News.

Let you spread it among your friends and co-fighters in your countries and around the Earth.

We will be glad to receive and publish your positive news from the fields and offices.

Welcome to send us photos of your country's Nature Reserves.

Sviatoslav Zabelin, SEU coordinator

Digest of Socio-Ecological Union International for 09 December , 2022. №56

Vishersky State Reserve was established in the extreme north-east of the Perm region of Russia.  The area of the reserve is 241200 hectares. Here is an untouched array of dark coniferous taiga and mountains, located in the most picturesque places of the Northern Urals at the sources of the Vishera River. Low (up to 1469 m) stone ridges with mysterious Mansi names, the purest taiga rivers, streams and small waterfalls, a unique combination of European and Asian flora and fauna — all this is protected and studied by the staff of the Vishersky Nature Reserve.

The threat to Gunung Mulu National Park in Malaysia from the palm oil industry has finally been averted – a great success for the indigenous peoples living there. After years of protests, the Sarawak state government has now revoked the concession for the plantation.

“I hope that we can stop many more such cases of encroachment in order to preserve a healthy environment,” says Matek Geram from the indigenous organization SADIA, a close partner of Rainforest Rescue: “The forest is our life and the life of the indigenous peoples. We intend to do everything we can to save our forests for future generations.”

The indigenous Penan live as nomads in and from the forest (© David Hiser/Alamy Stock Foto)

A key element to the success was efforts to map the ancestral land of the indigenous people, in which Matek played a key role. Much of his work revolves around training villagers in the skills needed to formally stake out their territory and educating them on their rights. Matek’s work is funded by donations to Rainforest Rescue.

Mapping work was crucial in the struggle because the 4,400-hectare palm oil concession not only bordered Gunung Mulu National Park, the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Sarawak, it also overlapped indigenous territories. Read more

A two-decade reforestation project on the tropical island of St. Helena in the southern Atlantic Ocean has not only restored trees found nowhere else in the world, but has also involved nearly every member of the island community in the effort. The Millennium Forest, as it’s called, has struggled with invasive species and irregular funding, but has still managed to thrive, adding new plant species — several of them threatened and two thought to have gone extinct. The growing forest is attracting animal species to its habitat, including St. Helena’s only endemic bird. Ocean islands pose special challenges for forest restoration, since many plant species evolved in isolation on remote islands, and saw drastic population crashes to the point of extinction, or near-extinction, when people and invasive species arrived. As a result, island reforestations typically can’t match original forest composition, but must mix both native and non-native species.

The Millennium Forest project has now become a legacy that the current generation is handing down to upcoming ones, according to project founder Rebecca Cairns-Wicks. Read more

Like many islands around the world, Tetiaroa Atoll in French Polynesia has been overrun by rats and other invasive species that profoundly affect its terrestrial and marine ecosystems. In July, the paradisiacal 12-island atoll was declared rat-free after years of concerted efforts to wipe out the predators.

A red-footed booby and its white chick in a heliotrope tree. Image by David Helvarg.

Scientists have been studying the atoll’s plants, seabirds, insects, lizards, crabs, coral and algae, establishing a uniquely comprehensive ecological baseline to better understand how the rat eradication will affect the atoll — and others like it. Read more

Along a windswept ridge line on Wellington’s south coast, above the pounding sea and in the shadows of whirring wind turbines, 11 kiwi – New Zealand’s treasured national bird – are making themselves at home for the first time in generations.

A big North Island brown kiwi is prepared for release in Wellington. Photograph: Neil Hutton

The unique flightless birds have been busy in the week since their arrival. They have each moved out of their temporary human-made homes and begun digging burrows into the hillsides with their strong claws. Soon they will line their dens with leaves, soft moss and feathers in preparation for their enormous alabaster-like eggs. The kiwi, who will be monitored closely to ensure they are settling into their new habitat, are the first cohort of 250 that will be introduced to the wilds around the capital over the next six years – a huge milestone for a city that prides itself on regenerating native birdlife. Read more

The Indonesian government has for the first time relinquished state forest into the custody of Indigenous communities in the eastern region of Papua, covering a combined area the size of New York City. Experts say this recognition of customary forests in Papua is significant as the region is threatened by increasing expansion of plantations, logging and mining operations, with Indigenous groups there having little to no legal protection against companies that covet their forests. With this official recognition, the government has essentially handed over its control over these forests to the Indigenous communities, and therefore no licenses for any kind of commercial activity can be issued for those areas.

Bambang Supriyanto (left), the director-general of social forestry program at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, handed over the decrees that recognize customary forests in Papua to representatives of Indigenous communities in Jayapura, Papua, October 2022. Image by Asrida Elisabeth/Mongabay.

Activists have welcomed the move, but say it represents just a sliver of the millions of hectares of ancestral forest that are still waiting to be officially acknowledged in the Papua region. Read more

Argentinian legislators recently approved a law to permanently protect the Mitre Peninsula at the tip of South America, which harbors vast peatlands and kelp forests that host an assortment of species. The Mitre Peninsula is thought to hold about 84% of Argentina’s peatlands, which are known to sequester about 315 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, roughly equivalent to three years of emissions in Argentina.

The Mitre Peninsula contains spectacular examples of relatively untouched kelp forests. Image by Joel Reyero.

The region also holds more than 30% of the world’s kelp forests, another key store of carbon. Read more

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission has outlawed shark lines and wire leaders, both of which aid industrial-scale fishers in targeting sharks. Shark numbers in the open ocean have dropped by roughly 71% in the past 50 years.

A shark in shallow water with remoras. Image by Andy Casagrande / Ocean Image Bank.

Proponents consider the measure a potentially precedent-setting move that could precede similar bans in other regions. Read more

Dear friends and co-fighters! Welcome to the next issue of Positive News. Let you spread it among your friends and co-fighters in your countries and around the Earth. We will be glad to receive and publish your positive news from the fields and offices. Welcome to send us photos of your country's Nature Reserves.

Digest of Socio-Ecological Union International for June 17, 2022. №50

Dear friends and co-fighters! Welcome to the next issue of Positive News. Let you spread it among your friends and co-fighters in your countries and around the Earth. We will be glad to receive and publish your positive news from the fields and offices. Welcome to send us photos of your country's Nature Reserves.

 

Digest of Socio-Ecological Union International for May 27, 2022. №49

Dear friends and co-fighters! Welcome to the next issue of Positive News. Let you spread it among your friends and co-fighters in your countries and around the Earth. We will be glad to receive and publish your positive news from the fields and offices. Welcome to send us photos of your country's Nature Reserves. 

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