Robber fly - Nature photographer Thomas Shahan specializes in amazing portraits of tiny insects. It isn't easy. Shahan says that this Robber Fly (Holcocephala fusca), for instance, is "skittish" and doesn't like its picture taken.

Nature by Numbers (Video)

"The Greater Akashic System" – July 15, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) (Subjects: Lightworkers, Intent, To meet God, Past lives, Universe/Galaxy, Earth, Pleiadians, Souls Reincarnate, Invention: Measure Quantum state in 3D, Recalibrates, Multi-Dimensional/Divine, Akashic System to change to new system, Before religion changed the system, DNA, Old system react to Karma, New system react to intent now for next life, Animals (around humans) reincarnate again, This Animal want to come back to the same human, Akashic Inheritance, Reincarnate as Family, Other Planets, Global Unity … etc.)

Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Dian Fossey's birthday celebrated with a Google doodle

Dian Fossey's birthday celebrated with a Google doodle
American zoologist played by Sigourney Weaver in the film Gorillas in the Mist would have been 82 on Thursday (16 January 2014)

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Indonesia could net US$2 billion from forest conservation

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

If it is rapacious business interests that are destroying our forests, then perhaps it might be ingenious business responses that could help save them -- especially if such "commercial conservation" can generate as much money as exploiting the forests.

In the Indonesian context, there may be up to US$2 billion in potential annual revenues that could be generated just by preserving the country's forests and offering them as a carbon-dioxide (CO2) "sinks" on the global carbon-trading market.

"We should think of forests beyond timber, rattan and minerals. The most valuable aspect of a forest is actually its ability to retain and absorb carbon (CO2). That's what many people don't quite grasp yet," Laode M. Kamaluddin, regional director of the non-profit Borneo Tropical Rainforest Foundation (BTRF), said during a workshop on forest carbon-trading Thursday.

"So, our forests should be seen as manageable and durable asset, and no longer just as an exhaustible commodity."

Building on this "business-like mind-set" regarding the carbon value of forests, Laode said Indonesia should not miss out on the already existing -- and growing -- carbon trading market to raise funds for better managing and conserving its forests, and doing so in a "business-like manner".

This includes establishing professionally managed bodies for forest conservation projects, which could work closely with local communities, and ensure that the projects turned out as profitable as if the forests were used for commercial purposes.

"The aim is to show that the benefits of conserving forests are comparable to those of exploiting them," Laode said.

Studies show that a hectare of preserved forest can provide a sink for between 90 and 400 tons of CO2, while a ton of CO2 can fetch between US$3 and $20 on the carbon market.

If calculated using median figures, Laode pointed to how just one million hectares of forest in Kalimantan, Aceh, Papua or any other of Indonesia's provinces could fetch up to Rp 18 trillion (US$2 billion) alone.

As a rough comparison, the government only expects to take in Rp 2.3 trillion in royalties and fees from forestry concessions. Royalties and fees from mining, some concessions for which are located in forest areas, are expected to come to Rp 4.8 trillion.

Indonesia has some 88 million hectares of rainforest, the world's third largest area, yet is estimated to be losing up to 1.8 million hectares each year due to illegal logging and forest fires. Such risks mean that forest-related carbon projects in Indonesia are only worth between US$5 and 10 per ton of CO2 reduction.

The Swiss-based BTRF, Malinau regency in East Kalimantan and the U.K.-based Global Eco Rescue (GRE), have entered into a public-private partnership to conserve 325,000 hectares in the area worth an initial 325,000 euros.

The Malinau project is expected to serve as a pilot project in setting a more accurate "carbon value baseline" for others in Indonesia. It comes on the heels of BTRF's and GRE's one-million-hectare project in Brazil's Amazon forest, and 500,000-hectare project in Malaysia's Sabah.

Malinau regent Marthin Billa said the project was also expected to promote a culture of preserving forests and benefiting from their resources, as shown by the Dayak people, who only remove as much wood and rattan as they need, and clear forest land using responsible methods.

Forest conversation projects can at present only be offered through the voluntary carbon market (VCM), as they are not part of the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM), which only includes reforestation as an emissions reduction method.

The carbon market was born from the CDM, which allows developed nations to invest in green projects in developing countries in exchange for their required emissions reduction quota.

The international conference on climate change, which Indonesia will host next week in Bali, is expected to discuss the inclusion of the proposed Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) mechanism for the 2012 post-Kyoto Protocol agreement on emissions reduction -- combining reforestation methods with conservation.

No comments: