Razing the Rainforest


How can we best conserve the world's rainforests in the face of enormous challenges from palm oil, timber trade, green colonialism and biofuels?

SENATOR MARINA SILVA Former Environment Minister, Brazilian government

WARREN EVANS
Head of Environment, World Bank

SIMON COUNSELL Director, Rainforest Foundation UK

SIR GORDON CONWAY Chief Scientist, DFID 

  • TALKS
  • FOCUSInterview with Tony Juniper
  • 60 SECONDSRainforest facts
  • INTERVIEWS
  • NEWSDeforestation: The hidden cause of global warming

Simon Counsell, Director, Rainforest Foundation UK

Simon Counsell, Director of Rainforest Foundation discusses ways in which to help protect the world's rainforests

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Warren Evans

Warren Evans, Director of Environment at the World Bank discussses ways to reduce the destruction of the world's rainforests

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Senator Marina Silva

Senator Marina Silva, former minsiter for the environment in Brazil, discusses the challenges facing rainforest conservation today

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Panel discussion

The panel discuss the importance of indigenous people of rainforests in conserving the forests

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Can we sustainably manage rainforests?

Senator Marina Silva discusses how to sustainably manage rainforests

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Audience comments 1

Dr Claire Ozanne - Roehampton University

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Audience comments 2

Daniel Elkin - Environmental journalist

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Audience comments 3

David Young - Global Witness

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Audience comments 4

Patrick Cunningham - Trustee of the Indiginous People's Cultural Support Trust

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Audience comments 6

Carolina - Brazilian environment journalist

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Simon Counsell

Simon Counsell responds to audience comments

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Senator Marina Silva

Senator Marina Silva responds to audience comments

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Warren Evans

Warren Evans responds to audience comments

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Interview with Tony Juniper

Interview with Tony Juniper

Tony Juniper, special adviser to The Prince of Wales' Rainforest Project, and former…

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Saving the rainforest?

Saving the rainforest?

The world's rainforests serve as a key defense against climate change.

How can…

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Panel Members

Panel Members

Read biographies of the panel for the Razing the Rainforest event, 22 October…

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Eliasch Review into deforestation

Eliasch Review into deforestation

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Johan Eliasch host the Number 10 launch of the Eliasch…

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Rainforest facts

Rainforest facts

60 second guide to…

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Interview with Tony Juniper

Tony Juniper, special adviser to The Prince of Wales' Rainforest…

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The world’s remaining great forests

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 20th July 2010

The Earth was once covered in ancient forests, 80% of which have been either destroyed or degraded, according to conservationists. Half of that has been in the last 30 years.

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Amazon forest fires ‘on the rise’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 7th June 2010

The number of fires destroying Amazon rainforests are increasing, a study from University of Exeter Geography Department has found. A team of scientists said fires in the region could release similar amounts of carbon as deliberate deforestation.

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The world's net rate of forest loss has slowed markedly in the last decade, with less logging in the Amazon and China planting trees on a grand scale.

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Copenhagen ‘fails forest people’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 22nd January 2010

A multi-billion dollar deal tabled at the Copenhagen climate summit could lead to conflicts in forest-rich nations, a report has warned. The study by the Rights and Resources Initiative said the funds could place "unprecedented pressure" on some areas.

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Amazon deforestation ‘record low’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 13th November 2009

The rate of deforestation in the Amazon has dropped by 45% and is the lowest on record since monitoring began 21 years ago, Brazil's government says. According to the latest annual figures, just over 7,000 sq km was destroyed between July 2008 and August 2009.

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Rainforest - The Burning Issue launched

  • Source: The Prince's Rainforest Project
  • Icon: Script 23rd October 2009

The PRP has just released a new online, interactive booklet that describes how rainforests are in the front line in the fight against climate change and explains how a new form of international collaboration could help to reduce tropical deforestation, with many benefits for developed and developiong countries

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‘Boom and bust of deforestation’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 11th June 2009

Cutting down Amazon forest for cattle and soy does not bring long-term economic progress, researchers say.

A study of 286 Amazon municipalities found that deforestation brought quick benefits that were soon reversed.

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Rainforest is worth more standing

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 5th June 2009

A new analysis has shown that payments to reduce carbon emissions from the forests could generate more income than palm oil production on deforested land.

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A three-year survey by Greenpeace shows that western demand for beef and leather and an increase in cattle ranching is leading to intensified deforestation in the Amazon.

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Deforestation ‘faster in Africa’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 26th May 2009

Africa's forests are disappearing faster than those in other parts of the world because of a lack of land ownership, a report says.

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How Britons fuel destruction of the rainforest

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 1st May 2009

British consumers are fuelling the rising demand for palm oil, speeding up the destruction of rainforests

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Trees are growing faster and could buy time to halt global warming

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 27th April 2009

Plants and trees are growing faster because of rising carbon dioxide levels, potentially buying Earth more time to address global warming, according to scientists.

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‘Green Nobel’ for forest champion

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 19th April 2009

A campaigner who was jailed during his battle to save the rainforest in Gabon has received a top international award.

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Key role of forests ‘may be lost’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 18th April 2009

Forests' role as massive carbon sinks is "at risk of being lost entirely", top forestry scientists have warned.

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Remote-controlled helicopters are being used to identify the animals and plants living in some of the world's least accessible rainforests.

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Prince Charles calls for emergency rainforest funding

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 2nd April 2009

Prince Charles tells world leaders that they must 'strain every sinew' to find ways to halt the destruction of forests across the world

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State government blames expansion of slum areas for sharp loss of Brazilian rainforest over past three years

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G20 summit: Prince of Wales to discuss rainforests with leaders

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 1st April 2009

The Prince of Wales will meet world leaders and the heads of international institutions on Wednesday to discuss solutions to protect the planet's threatened rainforests.

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‘Crunch year’ for world’s forests

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 26th March 2009

Efforts to mitigate climate change could be hampered if nations do not agree to protect the world's forests by the end of the year, warn researchers.

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Forests ‘facing a testing time’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 16th March 2009

World forests face the dual challenge of climate change and the global economic crisis, a key UN report says.

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‘Green’ dams hasten rape of Borneo forests

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 16th March 2009

Tribal peoples are fighting huge hydro-electric projects that are carving up the island's rainforest

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Scientists say 4C rise would kill 85% of the Amazon rainforest. Even modest temperature rise would see 20-40% loss within 100 years

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Amazon rainforest at risk of ecological ‘catastrophe’

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 12th March 2009

Climate change could kill the Amazon rainforest even if deforestation and emissions are curbed, scientists at the Met Office fear.

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Fate of the rainforest is ‘irreversible’

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 12th March 2009

A third of the Amazonian 'carbon sink' is doomed whether or not emissions are cut, Copenhagen conference is told

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Revenge of the rainforest

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 6th March 2009

The Amazon has long been the lungs of the world. But now comes dramatic evidence that we cannot rely on it in the fight against climate change

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Trees in the tropics are getting bigger, which means they are soaking up an extra 5bn tonnes of CO2 a year

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Tropical forests are drying out because of global warming

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 16th February 2009

Tropical forests could dry out and become prone to wildfires which could devastate large areas as global warming worsens, scientists have warned.

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Rainforest razed so cattle can graze

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 2nd February 2009

Brazil's attempt to double its share of the global market for beef will carry a heavy environmental cost, report warns

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Hackers ‘aid’ Amazon logging scam

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 15th December 2008

Hackers have helped logging firms in Brazil evade limits on tree felling, says a Greenpeace report. The hi-tech criminals penetrated a computer system designed to monitor logging in the Brazilian state of Para.

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Brazil sets target to slow Amazon deforestation

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 3rd December 2008

Brazil plans to boost spending and programmes to significantly slow the rate of destruction of the Amazon rainforest by 2017, aiming to reduce global warming by slashing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted when trees are burned.

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Amazon deforestation accelerates

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 29th November 2008

The destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has accelerated for the first time in four years, Brazilian officials say.

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International proposals to protect forests as a way of tackling climate change could displace millions of indigenous people and fail to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, environmentalists warn.

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Give the rainforests our word and bond

  • Source: The Times
  • Icon: Script 14th November 2008

Faced with a global credit crunch, the governments of the world are coming together to act with urgency. But faced with a far more serious climate crunch, we have yet to show our mettle.

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Prince of Wales heads to Sumatra to promote rainforests

  • Source: The Times
  • Icon: Script 4th November 2008

The Prince of Wales travels to the Harapan rainforest is on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where illegal loggers have cut vast swaths out of the forest over the years.

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Earth ‘on course for eco-crunch’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 29th October 2008

The Living Planet Report, WWF, says that more than three quarters of the world's population lives in countries where consumption levels are outstripping environmental renewal.

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Excerpts from speech given by Marina Silva at Razing the Rainforest event, 22 October 2008

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Nature loss ‘dwarfs bank crisis’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 10th October 2008

The global economy is losing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the current banking crisis, according to an EU-commissioned study. It puts the annual cost of forest loss at between $2 trillion and $5 trillion.

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Deforestation rises sharply as farmers push into Amazon

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 1st September 2008

Concerns over the destruction of the Brazilian rainforest resurfaced at the weekend after it emerged that deforestation jumped by 64% over the last 12 months, according to official government data

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Brazil launches rainforest fund

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 1st August 2008

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has launched an international fund to protect the Amazon rainforest and help combat climate change

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Biggest ever forest protection fund targets Congo basin

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 17th June 2008

The biggest ever fund set up to battle deforestation was launched today, targeting the vast Congo basin rainforest in central Africa. The fund is intended to provide African governments and people living in the rainforest with a viable alternative to logging, mining, and felling trees for firewood and subsistence farming

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Nature laid waste: The destruction of Africa

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 11th June 2008

The massive scale of environmental devastation across the continent has been fully revealed for the first time in an atlas compiled by UN geographers

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Third largest tropical forest could be halved by 2021

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 3rd June 2008

The forests of Papua New Guinea are being chopped down so quickly that more than half its trees could be lost by 2021, according to a new satellite study of the region

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Images reveal ‘rapid forest loss’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 2nd June 2008

High-resolution satellite images have revealed the "rapid deforestation" of Papua New Guinea's biodiversity rich rainforests over the past 30 years

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Prince Charles launches campaign to save ravaged rainforests

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 21st October 2007

Prince Charles launches an organisation which calls for a new green economics that recognises the world's rainforests are worth more alive than dead

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Deforestation: The hidden cause of global warming

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 14th May 2007

The accelerating destruction of the rainforests that form a precious cooling band around the Earth's equator, is now being recognised as one of the main causes of climate change

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