metro green issue 2011 forest

METRO WORLD NEWSMonday, November 28, 2011www.metroworldnews.com

Min 00°Max 00°

BRANSON“MY SATELLITESWILL MONITOR

DEFORESTATION”{page 5}

AMAZON HEROTHIS MAN WAS

READY TO DIE FORTHE RAINFOREST

{pages 8-9}

A TRIP FORTHE TREES

GO AND PLANTFORESTS {page 11}

More and more people now live in cities, o-cially making us humans “urbanbeings” As a result we have to build nature in our metropolitan world Milan isbuilding the world’s .rst vertical forest, a skyscraper featuring trees on every /oor

In the future vertical forests could beautify cities around the world – and cleanthe air and provide food, too. {page 6-7}

The state ofour forests

Are you LisaSimpson orEricCartman?Test your-self in MetroTree Quiz.{page 16}

Deforestation hasplummeted inrecent yearsbut situationis still bad.{pages 2-3}

How greenare you?

IMAGE: MIA KORAB

Thecoolest jobon theplanet.{page 15}THE RISE OF THE

URBAN FOREST

GREENISSUE SherlockHolmesof the wood

1news

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-58.3% +100% +84%+66.4% +64.2% +60%-47.4%-46.7% -37.1%-35.7%

FOREST HEROES AND VILLAINS(1990-2005)

1 TREE IN 1 YEAR

Filters 100,000 cubic meters

of air.

Lowers the temperature surroundings in the

summer by up to 4 degrees.

Absorbs 20 kg of dust

33 kg of carbon is sequestered Captures 80 kg

of pollutants

Produces 700 kg of oxygen

OUR ANCIENT, PRIMARY FORESTS ARE VANISHING

FUNCTIONS OF FORESTS

Primary Forests8000 years ago

Primary Forests Today

Current Secondary Forests

Lost Primary Forest

Primary ForestsToday

30% 8% 12% 24% 7% 16 %

PRODUCTION

used mainly for logging timber, burning wood, grazing land for animals, production of wild mushrooms and berries

PROTECTION

of soil and water – used mainly to protect mountain slopes from erosion and conserve, trap or filter water

CONSERVATION

of biodiversity – used mainly as a habitat for indigenous species, often endangered

SOCIAL SERVICES

used mainly for recreation – campsites, green belts around cities, walking and biking trails

MULTIPLE USE

forests that don’t have one primary function – e.g. used for both production and protection of soil and water

OTHER UNKNOWN

4%

72% of Asia’s original forest has been lost

Only 31% remains as healthy as primary

forest

Over 90% of West Africa’s original forest has been lost

8 things you need to know about forests

1

2

3

FORESTS REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING

Forests are the world’s great ‘carbon

sinks’ – natural reservoirs of carbon,

which remove carbon dioxide (CO₂)

from the atmosphere. They convert CO₂

into organic carbon and release

oxygen. Forests contain more carbon

than the entire atmosphere –

650 billion tonnes.

5

Every year, we have a net loss of 5.2 million hectares of forest,

larger than the size of Slovakia

HOW MUCH FOREST DO WE HAVE?

6TO REDUCE AMOUNT OF CARBON IN THE AIR, WE CAN:

Plant new forest

tonnes of carbon per hectare

6.5Save existing forest

2.25Manage the forest better

2

4

7

0

100

HOW MUCH CARBON FORESTS CONTAIN PER HECTARE

TON

NES

Tropical forest

Boreal forest

200

300

400

500

Tundra Temperate forest

8

Forest

xx%

xxxxx m2TEXT: DANIEL DENISIUK; GRAPHIC: MIA KORAB

SOURCES: EPA; FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010; ‘Carbon Sequestration in Forests’, 2009 report from Congressional Research Service; KKL-JNF.

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ABORAPHIC: MIA KK; GR.-JNFF.e; KKLvicch Seresear

You can’t see the forest forthe trees – as the old sayinggoes. These days, if you can’tsee the forest, it’s becausethe trees are no longer there.Deforestation is decimatingthe world’s green gold.

“Thirteen millionhectares of forest are lostevery year because of defor-estation,” explains ShareneMarshall, Global Climate Di-rector at The Nature Conser-vancy. “That’s an area thesize of Greece.”

Perhaps surprisingly,that’s an improvement. Inthe 1990s 16 millionhectares were lost to defor-estation each year. “Defor-estation and climate changeare the big issues for foreststoday,” Eduardo Rojas, Assis-tant Director-General of theFAO and Head of its ForestryDepartment, tells Metro.

“In the past decade Eu-rope has reversed deforesta-tion, and Asian countrieshave launched large defor-estation programs. But on aglobal scale, deforestation iscontinuing, primarily be-cause of the rate of defor-estation in Latin Americaand Africa.

In Brazil alone, deforesta-tion has increased by almost30% since last year, accord-ing to government figures.Companies clear primaryforests, which contain vari-ous flora and fauna, for usein the paper and furnitureindustry. But just as oftentrees are cut down by local

residents and agriculturalcompanies – not becausethey need the wood, but be-cause they want the spacefor agriculture. “In Africa de-forestation is often the resultof subsistence farming,”Marshall says.

“In the Amazon lots offorest is cleared to makespace for cattle-farming. Theother factor driving defor-estation is soy, which is of-ten used in animal feed.”

Until recently China waswidely deforested. Why ithas sunk large sums intoputting the trees back is nosurprise. “When forests arecut down, the soil is lost, wa-

ter sources are affected andpeople lose their liveli-hoods,” Rojas explains.

“Forests capture carbon,so when they’re gone carbonis simply released into the at-mosphere. And withoutforests, the risk of floods in-creases. Deforestation inPakistan contributed to the

country’s disastrous floodslast year.”

Even so, deforestationcontinues. “If Asia, with itshigh population density, canreverse deforestation, itmust be possible in LatinAmerica, too,” Rojas says.However, Indonesia retainsits spot as a top deforester.

“Things were really bad dur-ing the 1990s,” says WahjudiWardojo, an Indonesian for-est expert. “Deforestationhas decreased a bit sincethen, but demand for In-donesian wood remainshigh.”

But even if the worldrecreates all its clearedforests – at great expense --the damage can’t be com-pletely undone. Marshallsays, “Species that have dis-appeared won’t come back.”

02 03green www.metroworldnews.comMONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

ELISABETHBRAW

METRO WORLD NEWS

Opinion

JIMLEAPE DIRECTOR GENERALWWF INTERNATIONAL

The global climatechange talks in Dur-ban are an importantopportunity for

world governments to takeconcrete steps to reduce thegreenhouse gas emissionsthat are putting our worldin so much danger.

WWF’s mission is to cre-ate a healthy andprosperous future in whichpeople live in harmonywith nature. Solving the cli-mate crisis is fundamentalto this cause.

Many plants and animalsthat have adapted to theirenvironment over millionsof years are vulnerable toeven the slightest changesin temperature. And peopleare no more immune to the

consequences of a changingclimate. Heat waves,droughts, and devastatingstorms threaten foodproduction, and may makesome regions wholly unin-habitable.

The solution lies in build-ing an economy that relieson clean, renewable sourcesof energy.

When the countries ofthe world gather in Durban,they can put us on that path– by securing strongcommitments to move awayfrom fossil fuels, and the fi-nancing needed to create aclean path for growth in de-veloping countries and helpthem adapt to the impactsof climate change that arealready upon them.

TIME TO GET SERIOUS

ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Welcome to Metro!

Metro:Greenerthan youthink

Who in the worldcan say they areusing renewableresources? Metrocan! For every treethat’s harvestedto make the paperthat your Metro isprinted on, THREEtrees are plantedin their place, andare allowed tomature for atleast 80 years. During that time,it absorbs largeamounts ofcarbon dio-xide, so read oneco-war-riors.

MAGGIE SAMWAYS

Deforestation worldwide has plummeted in recent years But trouble is on the horizon: chop-ping for ‘green gold’ expand into new territories Metro looks at the effects of deforestation.

“Forests capturecarbon. Withoutthem carbon staysin the atmosphere,and the flood riskrises as well.”EDUARDO ROJAS, FAO FORESTRY HEAD

CHOP, CHOP: GREEN GOLD DROPS

Harvesting green gold: in Brazil alone, deforestation surged by almost 30 per cent over the past 12 months, figures says.

EIA

A new study shows

35mhectares of forestare devastated an-nually by swarmsof insects – an areaabout the samesize as Germany.Canada’s mountainpine beetle alonehas ruined 11mhectares of forestsince the late1990s. MWN

Yes, you can tackle climate change.

Pine beetle, Darth

Vader of the forest.

GETTY IMAGES

04 green www.metroworldnews.comMONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

Exchanging gifts in fancy wrapping paper sets the tone for a joyous holiday. But there’s no joy in learning the cost it has on our planet.

In the United States alone, wrapping paper and bags account for about 4 MILLION TONS of trash annually. The problem is that in most cases it is non-recyclable!

Wrapping paper is a single use paper because it:

WHAT YOU CAN DO

USA annually uses 4 million tons of wrapping

paper and bags, which is:

Has very few good quality fibers (very thin).

Is dyed and laminated.

Contains gold and silver coloring or plastics.

Contains traces of glue and adhesive tape.

Gift wrapping: uncovering the waste

204,466 hectares of forest gone

61.34 million d

only

100

gif

t ba

gs =0.15 of a tree

More boxes means fewer trees

Hungary

35Portugal

68Sweden

71Denmark

93France

67Netherlands

66Finland

47Italy 75

Czech Rep. 36

Europeans use 31 million tonnes of paper and cardboard packaging annually. Although recovery rate is high, around 82%, it still means 95 million trees are cut down every year to satisfy the ever box-hungry Europeans.

Despite strict regulations, the amount of paper packaging put on the European market keeps increasing by around 0.5 kg per person per year.

Ave

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Ave

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Bul

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an 11 kg

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53 kg

HOW MUCH PAPER AND CARDBOARD PACKAGING DO WE USE? (in kgs)

TEXT: DANIEL DENISIUK; GRAPHIC: MIA KORAB

Twenty thousand delegatesare expected at COP17 inDurban, which begins onNovember 28. As at previ-ous COP (Conferences of theParties) conferences, theirtask is to halt climatechange. But because lastyear’s conference was large-ly a failure, the task thisyear is even bigger.

“Greenhouse gas emis-sions have to stop increasingduring the next decade, orotherwise the Earth willwarm more than two de-grees (centigrade),” explainsBob Ward, Policy Director atthe Grantham Research Insti-tute on Climate Change andthe Environment at the Lon-don School of Economics.

“But they’re still rising.Because COP16 didn’t resultin an agreement, we lost ayear.” Scientists predict cata-strophic consequences iftemperatures rise by morethan two degrees.

But the odds that COP17will yield an agreement aresmall. “There will probablybe progress on smaller is-sues like technical adapta-tion,” says Dr. Saleemul Huq,a Bangladesh-based climatechange expert at the Inter-national Institute for Envi-ronment and Development.

“But the political situa-tion in the world right nowprevents major break-throughs. Even if the Oba-ma administration signed atreaty it wouldn’t be passedin Congress. And if theAmericans don’t sign atreaty, the Chinese won’t.”

Developing countries arealready seeing the results ofglobal inaction on climatechange.

“They’re already past thepoint of no return,” explainsHuq. “The recent floods inPakistan and Thailand arelinked to climate change.Because of climate changewe’re seeing weather phe-nomena that we’ve neverseen before.”

That, observers hope, willcreate a sense of urgencyamong COP17 negotiators.

“China is a ray of hoperight now,” notes Ward. “Itprobably won’t sign a treaty

in Durban, but it’s cuttingemissions. And the Chineserealize they’ll gain a compet-itive advantage by investingin green technology.”

Developing nations,meanwhile, will meet to dis-cuss climate change inBangladesh before COP17.

COP17: Call to action?

At COP16, world icons cutouts were ‘sinking’ but little was done to shore up big climate issues.

GETTY IMAGES No breakthroughs between world powers expected atclimate change conference, experts say But Chinacould yet be a “ray of hope” in going green, Metro learns

ELISABETHBRAW

METRO WORLD NEWS

COPs of climate

COP15 in Copenhagen

resulted in no major break-throughs after much talk.At COP16 in Cancun

countries agreed to reducegreenhouse gas emissions.Richer countriesagreed to givepoorer countriesmoney to financethe transition.But the combined

cuts only reach atotal of 60% of theemission reductionsneeded for a 50%

chance of keeping tempera-tures below a two-degreeincrease. COP16 also left the future ofthe Kyoto Protocolunresolved. In the Kyotoprotocol countries agreed toindividually cut greenhouse

gas emissions.The USA,

Russia, Canadaand Japan haveannounced they’llnot extend theirKyoto pledge. TheEU, however, will

continue its Kyotocommitments.

At COP15, world leaders spent time brainstorming...

GETTY IMAGES

...but little action,protesters said.

Sir Richard Branson has amessage: we can save ourEarth from nuclear Amaged-don and environmentalmeltdown alike. WithCutnukes.org, Branson push-es for fewer atomic bombs.His airliners use waste as fu-el, and he has created a sanc-tuary for Malagasy lemursdisplaced by deforestation.Now he plans to monitorglobal deforestation withsatellites, he tells Metro.

You’re about to open a reservefor ringtailed lemurs that havebeen displaced bydeforestation in Madagascar.Are you planning to help otherspecies that have beendisplaced by deforestation?The lemur is such a beautifulspecies. We simply have tosave the lemurs, and I’m try-ing to help other species aswell. For the past severalmonths I’ve travelled aroundthe world to save sharks,and soon I’ll be travelling toIndia to try to save the bluetiger. When it comes todeforestation, of course hu-

mans who have beendisplaced are very im -portant, but animal speciesare equally important. Moreimportant, actually.

Deforestation is often causedby local subsistence farmers.What’s the solution?One thing we can do aboutillegal logging is discover itbefore it’s too late. That’swhy I’ve just launched a newinitiative based at my space-

port. We’ll run have satellitesthat will monitor forests tosee where forests are beingcut down.

You’re in favor of eliminatingnuclear weapons. Why shouldgood countries get rid of theirnuclear weapons when badcountries still have them?They shouldn’t completelyeliminate them. What we’resuggesting is that nuclearweapons states get rid of

their nuclear weapons insteps. From a deterrent pointof view, a country only needs300 nuclear weapons.Getting rid of nuclearweapons would save a lot ofmoney and would solvemany of the world’s currentdeficit problems.

In other words, is the global re-cession a good thing fornuclear disarmament?Definitely. For example, one

of the easiest thingsPresident Obama could do tosolve the US budget crisis isgetting rid of 1,000 nuclearwarheads.

Is your interest in nuclearweapons an extension of yourgreen involvement?Yes. I’ve been visited Hiroshi-ma and Nagasaki to see theeffects of nuclear weapons.And it’s an extension of myinterest in solving global

conflicts. That’s why I fundThe Elders, an organizationfounded by Nelson Mandelathat works to solve globalconflicts.

The world has been talkingabout environmental problemsfor so long. Do you see any rea-sons for optimism?Absolutely. We have to dealwith environmentalproblems in anentrepreneurial spirit. Forexample, Virgin’s new avia-tion fuel uses waste fromsteel mills. Millions of jobscould be created worldwideby greening our cities. Theenvironment would benefit,the cities would benefit, reg-ular people would benefit,and it would stop moneypouring out to the MiddleEast.

Even if we solve all the world’senvironmental problems, theworld might be wiped out ifIran drops a nuclear bomb….If Iran dropped a nuclearbomb nuclear weapon stateswould quickly obliterateTehran, so I don’t think itwill. The bigger risk is terror-ists using nuclear weapons,but we have to set a moralexample so terrorists don’tfeel the need to use nuclearweapons against us.

05news www.metroworldnews.comMONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

GETTY IMAGES

“MY SATELLITES WILLMONITOR DEFORESTATION”

The billionaire founder of Virgin is on a one-man mission to save the Earth. He wants to cutnuclear weapons. He has created Carbon War Room to solve green problems with business

ideas. He has even turned an island into a refuge for animals displaced by deforestation.

RICHARD BRANSON

Hug a lemur!

GETTY IMAGES

With its black-and-whitetail, the ring-tailed lemur isinstantly recognizable. Butsoon it may be nowhere tobe seen. Madagascar, theAfrican island where theylive, is being deforested. The

ring-tailed lemurs are losingtheir habitat. They’re arenow listed as an Appendix 1species – the most endan-gered -- by the Conventionon International Trade inEndangered Species (CITES).

Now Richard Branson hasdecided to rescue the charm-ing primates. On hisCaribbean Moskito Island,the billionaire is creating asanctuary for ring-tailedlemurs. Even though the

Caribbean climate differsfrom Madagascar’s, expertsbrought in by Branson havegiven their approval. 30 ring-tailed lemurs are currentlybeing introduced to MoskitoIsland. ELISABETH BRAW

Saving lemurs displaced by deforestation

ELISABETHBRAW

METRO WORLD NEWS

The world’s first vertical forest is currently under construction in the Garibaldi Repubblica area in Milan: it will comprise two high-rise apartment buildings – 80 and 112 meters tall, respectively – with balconies housing 480 big and medium-sized trees, 250 small-sized trees, 11,000 ground cover plants and 5,000 scrubs (the equivalent of a hectare of forest).

If each apartment had been built side by side on the ground, the entire project would require 50,000 square meters of land. One ‘tower’ requires just 200 square meters of ground area.

Protects from direct sunlight

30°C 21°C

O₂

Protects from the wind

Captures small dust particles

Releases humidity

Produces oxygen

CO₂

Protects from noise

50,000 m²

200 m²

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Cities: a grey jungle, distantfrom the fresh breezes oflush forests, right? Not sofast. In Milan the world’sfirst vertical forest is beingbuilt. In the future suchgreen meccas may beautifycities around the world.They’ll capture carbon inthe atmosphere and give an-imals a home, too.

Milan’s new Bosco Verti-cale (Vertical Forest) towers27 floors of apartments,each surrounded by mini-forest that includes a varietyof trees and bushes. In total,the buildings house theequivalent of a 10,000square-meter forest.

Bosco Verticale is still theonly one in the works. Butit’s part of a global trend.“Living walls and green roofsare being built in citiesaround the world”, notes Dr.Stephan Barthel, a specialistin urban ecosystem servicesat the Stockholm ResilienceCentre. “The trend goes handin hand with the urbaniza-tion of the world. Within 40year the world has to buildcities for three billion people.For the first in history hu-mans are urban beings, andas a result we have to buildnature in cities.”

Vertical forests will bene-fit not just the residents ofthe building, who have a mi-ni-park at their doorstep.“The trees improve air quali-ty by absorbing fumes andcarbon dioxide”, explainsBarthel. “This will lowerrotes of illnesses like asth-

ma. The trees also reducenoise and reduce the tem-perature. And, dependingon the type of trees, they’llalso help the local flora andfauna.” By providing fruits,nuts and berries, even me-dicinal substances, verticalforests could give cities withgreater food security. Waste-water could be used to fertil-ize the forests. The woodcould even be used to powerhyper-efficient stoves.

Of course, not every treeand animal can exist in ahigh-rise. “There will bemushrooms, plants and in-sects, but not the full rangeof plants and insects that ex-ist in natural forests”, saysMichel Pimbert, head ofagricultural research at theInternational Institute forEnvironment and Develop-ment. “And the range oftrees is limited, as someform too long roots andwould ruin the building.”

Still, city planners eye thegreen towers with keen in-terest. Notes Pimbert: “Onthe 27th floor trees are like-ly to snap when it’s windy,but not on the fourth floor.Vertical forests, gardens andallotments could be the fu-ture. They regenerate envi-ronments that have becomevoid of life and could healthe rift between city andcountryside.”

VERTICAL FORESTS, SAVIOR OF CITIESMore people than ever live in

cities. But it doesn’t have to be lifein a concrete jungle.

ELISABETHBRAW

METRO WORLD NEWS

Green roofs, living wallsFedEx, the courier giant, isrepenting for its carbon-dioxide sins with a new “liv-ing roof” on its Chicagosorting center.

Buildings around theworld – even Greece’s Fi-nance Ministry – now fea-ture living roofs with treesand plants.

Holland, in turn, is lead-ing the development of liv-ing walls, which featurebushes, beehives, and bird-houses. The “vertical vil-lage”, by Dutch architecturefirm MVRDV, has a garden

outside every high-riseapartment. There are evenbirdhouses for falcons, whokeep the ground free fromrats.

“But building a livingwall is a huge challenge”,says Stephan Barthel at theStockholm Resilience Cen-tre.

“And there’s still a lot ofprejudice; people think thattrees and bushes will ruinwalls and roofs. But manyancient walls have been cov-ered in greenery for cen-turies.” ELISABETH BRAW

FedEx’s “living roof” on its Chicago sorting center.

Milan is building the world’s firstvertical forest, a skyscraper featuringtrees on every floor. In the futurevertical forests could beautify citiesaround the world – and clean the airand provide food, too.

Future cities may look just like this, with buildings surrounded by vertical forests. Residents will even be able to pick nuts and blueberries.

Patrick Blanc's vertical garden at CapitaLand in

Singapore: Blanc, a French garden designer, spe-cializes in living walls. This wall decorates the of-fices of Asian real estate giant CapitaLand.

Patrick Blanc's roof garden at Phyto Universe in

New York: Phyto Universe, a “natural beauty oa-sis” in Manhattan, features a 280 square-metervertical garden with some 9,000 plantsthroughout the store. Each plant in the gardensymbolizes Phyto’s botanics-based formula.

Living wall on Caixa Forum in Madrid: The post-modern art gallery is located next to Madrid’sbotanical garden. When it was rebuilt in 2008,Patrick Blanc was commissioned to make a livingwall.

Edouard Francois Tower Flower in Paris: TowerFlower’s 30 apartments feature a “jungle of vege-tation”, as one critic put it. Francois is alsoworking on a vertical forest, to be completed in2014.

ELISABETH BRAW

Vertical forests

around the world

1234

PHOTOS

1. PATRICK BLANC

2. MARC JEANSON

3. PATRICK BLANC

4. PAUL RAFTERY

2

4

1

3

60 seconds

Maas

USE PINE,JUNIPER

Willy Maas, architect at

Dutch firm MVRDV, which

specializes in living walls

and vertical gardens

Why do cities need living

walls and vertical forests?

By creating forests andgardens and parks onbalconies and roofs, weuse city space more effi-ciently, and we givebirds and animals aplace to live in the cityagain. Trees are alsogood since cities face anincreasing responsibili-ty for global warming.

What are the benefits for

people?

We want to live in thecity but also in nature.A vertical forest or gar-den is an easy and sue-ful way of helping theenvironment. Balco-nies are cheap, so it’seasy to add a garden orforest in a newbuilding. Ideally itshould be long so thatpeople have the feelingof strolling in a park orforest.

Which trees are best suit-

ed to vertical forests?

The drier, the better. Ju-niper trees and pinetrees are good, andmost varieties don’tsnap when it’s windy.

There are daily flights fromLima to Puerto Maldonado,capital of Madre de Dios re-gion. The K’erenda Hotel is30 minutes away from theairport (it’s located in the3.7 km of Puerto Madonado-Isuyama highway). In the K’erenda Homet, Vic-tor has two double huts forvisitors, a camping area anda small port next to the riv-er. You can learn about envi-ronmental protection andmedicinal plants during anarray of entertaining hikes.

Right at home in the jungle: Victor Zambrano with his wife Rosa and his daughter K’erenda outside their house.

SENGO PÉREZ/PUBLIMETRO PERU

Nestled in the PeruvianAmazon basin lies the na-ture reserve of Tambopata,arguably one of Earth’smost biodiverse places. Itspristine virgin forests areprotected by the state, butencircling the reserve isAmazonian rainforestthreatened by human activi-ty. Forests are vanishing be-cause of illegal logging,small-time miners who cuttrees and scour rivers forgold, as well as some farm-ers that use forest land togrow their crops.

But against the facelessforces maiming the Ama-zon stands one man who lit-erally bleeds for the trees –Victor Zambrano. Born nearthe city of Puerto Maldona-do on the edge of Tambopa-ta 65 years ago, Victor grewup on a farm by the reserve;

a respect towards plant andanimal life was sown in himfrom an early age. But heleft to study in Lima andwent on to join the navy, faraway from the jungle, asfate would have it.

But destiny took anothertwist and in 1987, Victor re-turned to Tambopata insearch of the green paradiseof his childhood. He wanteda quiet life but he found ahuge problem: the paradiseof his memories was nolonger there, nor did it be-long to his family.

“I was a foreigner in myown land. My family’s farm,because of legal trickery, be-

came property of an agricul-tural cooperative of new set-tlers,” Victor recalls.

“I found a bleak picture.Instead of the forest of mychildhood, I discovered ascorched land and just a fewtrees and animals fightingfor survival.”

Victor decided to fight toget back his land and give itback to the jungle. He knewit wouldn’t be easy. Hemoved back to Puerto Mal-donado, and started to livein a small wooden house.His legal battle lasted foryears, and he had to con-front the settlers, who con-tinued to plunder the forest.

He received death threats,but he kept going, and con-tinued to plant new trees.

One day, the settlers triedto violently evict him. Vic-tor faced them, but theywere too many. Seeingthem, Victor decided to self-inflict a knife wound on hischest, to demonstrate thatthey would have to kill himin order to take him out ofhis land. The men saw himbleeding, became fright-ened and left. Other neigh-bors began to respect him asa leader, a mad one perhaps,but one who was willing todie for his jungle.

When he retrieved hisland, there was an impor-tant task to be done: refor-estation. “With a little help,nature can recover by itself.The arid land I found wherecattle once grazed is jungle

again,” Victor proudly says.Now he has 120 species ofplants and over 19,000trees. The revived florabrought in fauna: deer,jaguars, boa constrictors,mallards, among other ani-mals. The first tree he plant-ed was a chestnut, whichnow measures 20 meters.

Nowadays, the K’erendaHomet shelter, (“Shine”, thename of her daughter in Es-e’eja, the local natives’ lan-guage) with an area of 36hectares, has been declareda private conservation area.Victor has regained hishouse and his jungle... andhe has regained his child-hood’s paradise.

SENGO PÉREZMETRO WORLD

NEWS IN PERU

Standing tall: trees have regrown thanks to Victor’s efforts.

SENGO PÉREZ/PUBLIMETRO PERU


Tambopata

How to get to the nature re-serve from Peru’s capital cityLima.

PERU

MADRE DE DIOS

TAMBOPATA

LIMA

PACIFIC

OCEAN

ECUADOR COLOMBIA

BRAZIL

For more informationcheck out www.keren-da.com

Reserve facts

The Tambopata is a naturalreserve of 275,000 hectareslocated in the south of Peru-vian Amazon rainforest andit is protected by the statesince 1990. You can walk a mile among

trees and you won’t be ableto find two of the samekind. So far, there are over 700recorded bird species, 1200butterflies, 90 mammals and120 reptiles.

“With help, nature can recoverby itself. The land where cattlehad grazed is jungle again.”VICTOR ZAMBRANO, ACTIVIST IN PERUVIAN AMAZON

Great life goals have roots in childhood memories This is true for Victor Zambrano, activistin the Peruvian Amazon Metro met the man who returned to his past life to save the trees

He bled green: A manand his Amazon love

It's a carbon ‘ticking timebomb’ waiting to happen...Russia’s melting permafrostand could release vast quan-tities of carbon dioxide intothe atmosphere – all becauseof dramatic changes in typesof planet-preserving treesgrowing there, a group of USexperts has warned.

Russia’s legendary taiga –the largest continuous ex-panse of forest on Earth – isbecoming more and moretolerant of warmer weatherand as a result, tree speciesthat play a vital role in regu-lating climate change are indecline, a new study pub-lished in the scientific jour-nal Global Change Biology.

“We’ve identified that theSiberian boreal forest is con-verting from predominantlyneedle-shedding larch treesto evergreen conifers in re-sponse to warming climate,”said the study’s lead author,Jacquelyn Shuman, re-

searcher at University of Vir-ginia. “This will promote ad-ditional warming andvegetation change, particu-larly in areas with lowspecies diversity.”

Larch trees lose their nee-dles in the autumn, allowingthe huge snow-coveredground surface of winter toact as a shield and reflectsunlight and heat back intospace. All this helps keep theclimate in the region very

cold. But with evergreens,the trees absorb the sun-light, causing heat retentionon the ground. This couldcause the soil to decomposeat a fastrate,

releasing CO2 into the atmos-phere.

“This is not the scenarioone would want to see,” thestudy’s co-author HankShugart said. “It potentiallywould increase warming ona global scale.”

The Siberian Taiga is theworld’s most important for-est in terms of ‘stocking at-mospheric carbon’ – Russiaholds nearly half of theNorthern Hemisphere’s en-tire terrestrial carbon. Harshclimatic conditions help toslow down the degradationprocess of dead organic mat-ter in the soil and thus re-duces carbon emissions intothe atmosphere. About 60per cent of this carbon islocked in the ground that’scurrently permafrost.

10 green www.metroworldnews.comMONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

It rivals the Amazon as the world’s top natural eco weapon but its landscape is changing Russia’s taiga forest is losing its planet-preserving vegetation, meaning the land

could release vast qualities of CO2

ANTHONYJOHNSTON

METRO WORLD NEWS

Fires andinsects —the biggestthreat toRussia’sforests

For Elena Kulikova, headdirector of forestry atWWF Russia, the potentialchanges in the taiga's vege-tation are not somethingfor immediate worry.

“Threats to Russia’s bo-real forests are not hugelyvisible now. Any changesof this sort would not benoticeable even fifty yearsfrom now,” Kulikova told

Metro. “What we need tobe more attentive to arethe outbreaks of insect in-festations and forest firesin the region.”

Russia’s boreal forestsare experiencing rejuvena-tion, too, Kulikova added,thanks to changes in thecountry’s socio-politicallandscape.

“After the Soviet Union

collapses, many state agri-cultural collectives wereleft untended but as a re-sult became conducive togrowing forests. Birchtrees can naturally sproutup in these territories, cre-ating an intermediarystage for coniferous treesassociated with the taigato grow.”

ANTHONY JOHNSTON

60 seconds

Onuchin

“SIBERIA’SFORESTSRETAINCARBONBETTER

THAN AMAZON”

Alexander Onuchin, direc-tor of the SukachevInstitute of Forest, Russia’sleading forest-biologic in-stitution (headquarteredin Krasnoyarsk, Siberia)

How do Russia’s taiga com-pare with the Amazonrainforest in the role ofprotecting Earth’s ecosys-tem?The virgin forests of theAmazon are known asthe biggest ‘player’ inthe global carbon cycle.These forests holdabout 120 billion tonsof carbon every yearand lead the world inabsorbing CO2 throughphotosynthesis. But intropical climates the de-struction processes oforganic matter occurvery rapidly, meaningcarbon can easily returnto the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, the natu-ral features of the taigaallow on a whole a posi-tive balance betweencapture and storage ofcarbon and its counter-flow back into theatmosphere – a betterbalance than the one inthe Amazon. At best theSiberian forests are ableto absorb no more thana quarter of carbonfrom the world’s man-made emissions.

Can the taiga resist the im-pact of climate change?We should separate thetaiga’s role and ways tolessen negative effectsof man-made pollution.Reducing greenhousegases cannot be solvedwithout reducing man’suse of fossil fuels.

But severe globalwarming will disrupttaiga’s carbon balance,meaning carbon will betrapped less like in theAmazon, and stay in theatmosphere.

ANTHONY JOHNSTON

PER ANGELSTAM / WWF-CANON

Siberia’s taiga— the carbon ‘ticking time bomb’

Russian taiga

15%The region absorbs 15per cent of the world’sCO2 emissions — 500million tons.

12 mil km2

The largest continuousexpanse of forest onEarth.

1,672 bn tonsThe region stores 1,672billion tons of organiccarbon – roughly 50 percent of the estimatedglobal below-groundorganic carbon,researchers say.

Kulikova

Scale of Siberia’s forest region

Siberia's taiga region is about 22 times the area of France.

RUSSIA SIBERIA

ARCTIC OCEAN

MONGOLIAKAZAKHSTAN

CHINA

Global warming threatens Siberian tiger's habitat

How to volunteer

Specialist travel companies:

try Responsible Travel, whichorganizes ethical trips allover the world (responsible-travel.com, from £80 {$130;€95} for Scotland forest trip),Hands Up Holidays combinesluxury eco-travel with a ‘tasteof volunteering’ includingplanting seedlings in Belize,tree-planting in Kenya andIndia (handsupholidays.com)or volunteering break com-pany i-to-i (i-to-i.com).

Non-Governmental Organi-

zations: including GlobalService Corps(globalservicecorps.org),BTCV, UK’s largest eco-volun-teering group (btcv.org.uk),and Greenpeace, which en-lists volunteers to help withforest projects like restoringCanada’s Great Bear Rainfor-est (greenpeace.org).

How much does it cost? Thisdepends on which organiza-tion but usually includes foodand accommodation. GreenCare’s Shisong 14-day tree-planting trip costs €835($1,130) through btcv.org.uk,but tree-planting in Scot -land’s breathtaking Highlandscan cost as little as €93 ($130)with responsibletravel.com.

11green www.metroworldnews.comMONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

When you volunteer toplant trees in an exotic loca-tion, the impact is far-reach-ing. Not only are youcontributing to the restora-tion or preservation of natu-ral forests, but you’rebolstering the ecosystemson which flora, fauna andlocal people rely to survive.

“Forest conservation isn'tabout tree-hugging hippiesanymore: it's about takingcare of ourselves and futuregenerations by taking careof the plants and animalsaround us,” says Vicki Betts,who volunteered at a proj-ect run by NGO Green Careto plant trees in Cameroon.

Volunteering in the forestis not a relaxing holiday:hours can be long, while ac-commodation and food areusually no-frills. Daily dutiesinclude collecting seeds,propagation, work in thenursery, digging, plantingand weeding as well as visit-ing the local communities.In Shisong in the northwestCameroonian highlands,Betts planted seedlings torestock areas of forest cutdown for firewood and agri-culture, and on communalland to help improve waterresources.

In truth, it would benaïve to think that thesetrips can dramatically trans-

form forests and fight cli-mate change. But other ben-efits exist, including helpinghosts change local attitudesto their environment, job-creation, the sharing ofideas and skills and ofcourse, tourist money.

Even a short trip canhelp, confirms Green Careproject leader GilbertNjodzeka. “Local places areimproved and local peopleare inspired. It’s an easy ap-proach to take to changeand educate grassroots com-munities about conserva-tion.”

For many volunteers, it’san inspirational way tospend a holiday. “The tripreally did change my life,”says Betts. She quit her of-fice job in the city and did amasters degree in Conserva-tion Management and isnow studying a PhD.“Spending time with suchgood, dedicated people,both the project staff andthe other volunteers, did somuch to restore my faith inhumanity. I hope to one daybe able to return to Shisongand put my learning to prac-tical use again.”

‘Too tinya plaster’ “Volunteer tourism ofthis kind is a stickingplaster,” says Dr JanetCochrane, from Centrefor ResponsibleTourism at Leeds Met-ropolitan University,UK. “The scale of theseprojects is tiny whencompared to the scaleof destruction of theforests. The best thingto do is leave it alone.Rainforest regeneratesitself.” MWN

EMMA E.FORREST

METRO WORLD NEWS

Taking a volunteering holiday where you can help plant trees is good for the environment and good for you too Tree planting may be just a token gesture in restoring our great forests but there are other benefits

Expect to learn about the science of trees and the local communities as well

GILBERT NJODZEKA/GREENCARE

Atrip

for trees

Volunteering in the forest is not a relaxing holiday.

A vacationer planting trees at Greencare Shisong in Cameroon.

Service with a smile. A tree volunteer at work in the Peruvian jungle.

TIM WOODS

But it can help:

1 Bring money into a de p -rived area: Revenue gen-erated by voluntourismcan pay for essentials in-cluding sanitation andother infrastructures.

2 Help change localpeople’s views: You canmake them see value oftheir local environment.

3 Help stop deforestation:Local people will discoverthe importance of forestsin attracting tourism.

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Shampoo, skin lotion, may-onnaise: 50% of products inthe average supermarket con-tain palm oil. The oil is cheapand versatile. But it’s badnews for the worlds’ forests.

Twenty years ago, palmoil was one of many oiltypes produced at a relative-ly modest scale. Today it’sthe world’s most producedoil; this year’s production isexpected to be over 50 mil-lion metric tons, comparedto 43 million metric tons ofsoybean oil, which rankssecond.

“Palm oil is cheap,” saysScott Poynton, Executive Di-rector of TFT, an NGO.“World demand for vegetableoil is huge, and vegetable oilsare interchangeable. Becausepalm oil is cheaper and moreproductive, it’s pushing otheroils out.”

That’s good news for themakers of everything fromchocolate to cosmetics,who’re able to lower produc-tion costs. While Indonesia,

followed by Malaysia, re-mains the world’s top palmoil producer, Brazil is nowtrying to establish itself as apalm oil superpower. Majoroil companies like ArcherDaniel Midlands have al-ready signed contracts. Andbecause oil palms yield somuch oil per hectare, it’sgood news for the world’sgrowing population.

But for residents of In-donesia, reality looks ratherdifferent. “There is about 8.5million hectares of oil palmin Indonesia, which is 4% ofthe country, so palm oil isn’tthe major driver of deforesta-tion,” explains Dr. Meine vanNoordwijk, a Dutch agricul-turalist based in Indonesia.“But palm oil plantations ondeeply drained peatsoils docause high carbon emis-sions.” Van Nordwijk is ChiefScience Advisor for theWorld Agroforestry Centre.

The forests felled in favorof oil palms contained myri-ads of plants and animals.

“Wildlife has been wipedout and plantations worsenclimate change becausethey stock less carbon thanthe original forests,” Poyn-ton says. “Peat swamps alsocapture carbon but theyhave been drained to makeway for plantations.” Almosthalf of Indonesia’s peat-lands have now been defor-ested and drained.

And demand for palm oilis climbing, partly due torising demand for biofuels.Indonesia plans to allocateanother four millionhectares to palm oil planta-tions for biofuels. Green-peace says by 2050 palm oilproduction will have risenby 300% from 2000 levels.And, in a move that alarmsenvironmentalists, compa-nies want to expand palmoil production in Africa.

What’scooking forpalm oil?Palm oil isn’t just a curse.“It’s very important to thelocal economy,” notes

Greenpeace’s BustarMaitar. “Companies oftenset up plantations in areaswith few jobs and poor in-frastructure.” Boycottingproducts with palm oilisn’t beneficial, says LexHovani, Forest Carbon Ad-visor for The Nature Con-servancy. The industry has

introduced “sustainablepalm oil,” but Scott Poyn-ton thinks there’s no truedistinction. Instead, hesays, companies should bequizzed about their defor-estation policy. Last yearNestle became the first bigcompany to introduce a ze-ro-deforestation policy.

Your shampoo is killing forests

ELISABETHBRAW

METRO WORLD NEWS

Palm oil, used in everyday products, is in hot demand But our thrist for oil leads to deforestation, experts say

8foods

that contain palm oil(cheaper than soy,

rapeseed or sunflower oil)

Biscuits

French fries

Frying oilSoup

Muesli

Ice cream

CakeChocolate


Indonesia’s Kerumutan Peat Swamp Forest is logged for land, threatening tigers’ existence.

GREENPEACE

TEXT: ELISABETH BRAW; GRAPH: MIA KORAB

David de Rothschild couldlive in luxury. Instead hecalls Metro on a satellitephone from a tent in theAmazon. Deforestation hasbrought him there.

“Brazil is building a hugedam in the rain forest”, heexplains. “If constructioncontinues as planned theland where I’m sitting rightnow will no longer have anyforest. And this is an areathat has already seen incredi-ble destruction in the past 20years.”

De Rothschild, the dash-ing scion of Britain’s deRotschild banking dynasty,has already undertaken dare-devil trips to save the envi-ronment. Now he aims tohalt construction of the BeloMonte dam in the Brazilianstate of Pará. When complet-ed, the Belo Monte will bethe world’s third largest hy-draulic dam.

“China’s Three Gorgesdam, the world’s largest, hasalready caused immensedamage to the nature”, hesays. “The Amazon is a muchmore sensitive area.”

The Belo Monte project inthe Xingu River began 35years ago but has been miredin controversy. Constructionhas repeatedly been haltedby Brazilian courts. Last year

140 environmental organiza-tions from Brazil around theworld wrote to President Lu-la da Silva criticizing theproject.

According to the Braziliangovernment, the dam willprovide clean, renewable en-ergy and is essential to fuel

the country's growing econo-my.

“But we’re already seeinga high rate of deforestation”,reports local activist VerenaGlass. “And lots of new peo-ple have moved to the area toget jobs connected to defor-estation. Prices are going upand locals are being dis-placed.”

While talking with Metro,de Rothschild watched peo-ple canoeing across the Xin-gu River. “The jungle is veryclose, and you can hear manyanimals, but you can’t seethem because the forest is sothick”, he says. “I’m spend-ing every day with the chil-dren here. It’s unbelievableto think that we’ll destroytheir future just to satisfy in-creasing consumption.”

Despite the widespreadcriticism, the Brazilian gov-ernment plans to completethe dam. “There will bebloodshed”, predicts de Roth-schild. “People won’t leavetheir land quietly. It’s alwaysthe people with the leastwho suffer the most. But inthe end we’ll all suffer if de-forestation continues.”

ELISABETHBRAW

METRO WORLD NEWS

“Brazil is destroyingrain forest to satisfypeople’s consumption”

David de Rothschild is trying to stop new dam in Brazilian Amazon Itwill destroy forest and unique species, says millionaire eco-warrior

This is my land!

A new dam threatens to displace

Indian tribes in Brazil.

MYOO

“If constructioncontinues the landwhere I’m now willno longer have anyforest.”DAVID DE ROTHSCHILD

Belo Monte dam

The planned dam will gen-

erate power -- and harm the

environment

It will flood 400 square kmof Amazon forest.Some 20,000 people will bedisplaced.18% of the Amazon rainfor-est has been cleared in thepast 50 years.In its first 10 years, the damwill emit 112 million metrictons of CO2 equivalent.It will threaten hundreds oflocal species.The dam is expected to sup-ply the entire state of Paráwith electricity.A study by WWF shows thatBrazil could reduce energyuse by 40% through energyefficiency.

www.metroworldnews.comMONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

14 green

Don’t touch our forest!

MYOO

BRAZIL

BELO MONTE DAM

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

URUGUAY

PARAGUAY

ARGENTINA

BOLIVIA

PERU

COLOMBIA

VENEZUELA

GUYANA

SURINAME

FRENCH

GUIANA

15green www.metroworldnews.comMONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

Sherlock Holmesof the forest

They enter the forest under-cover. Revealing their trueidentity would jeopardizenot only their mission but al-so their lives.

Sounds Sherlock Holmes-esque? It is. The detectives’task is to uncover forestcrimes, a massive under-ground business. Now thatspies don’t have a Cold Warto fight, a forest detectivemay well be the world’scoolest job.

“It’s very dangerouswork,” says Bustar Maitar,who directs Greenpeace’sforest detectives in Indone-sia. “Politicians, the policeand the military have astrong interest in the forestindustry.”

Maitar’s investigators en-ter the country’s forests pos-ing, for example, as snakescientists. Their task is todocument forest crimes likeillegal logging. “Only Indone-sians can do this work,” saysMaitar. “If forest companiesspot a foreigner they’ll arrest

him.” Even more dangerous-ly, forest detectives have tofilm and photograph every-thing they see.

And if the task is too riskyeven for tough detectives, lo-cals volunteer for the mis-sion. They claim to behunting.

Perhaps more surprising-ly, IKEA employs forest de-tectives, too – 17 in total. “Ivisit remote areas to tracethe wood used in IKEA prod-ucts, to ensure that the woodhas not been illegally or irre-sponsibly logged,” EvgenyZabubenin, IKEA’s forest de-tective in Russia, tells Metro.“I check for stolen wood, en-sure that harvesting volumeshave not been exceeded, andthat the location of the log-ging sites are correct. I alsocheck there’s no damage toyoung trees or soil pollu-tion.”

The Swedish furniture gi-ant uses the equivalent of325,000 fully loaded timbertrucks per year. And some

suppliers try to hide dirty se-crets. “We investigate everysupplier, every sawmill andevery forest,” says AndersHildeman, IKEA’s ForestryManager.

Each year illegally har-vested wood worth $25 mil-lion is sold worldwide.“Checking wood certificatesonce a year isn’t enough,”explains Scott Poynton, Ex-ecutive Director of TFT, aforest NGO. “Logging com-panies make sure all is wellwhen the auditors come.You have to check on log-ging while it’s happening.”

When Maitar & Co. spot acrime, they don’t call the po-lice – it’s often headed by theforest company. Instead,they take photos. “We haveto give the world evidencethat forest crimes are hap-pening”, Maitar explains.

Anders Hildeman

MAGNUS GLANS

Stumps of trees chopped down, false logging reports and polluted earth...It’s all evidence for forest detectives trying to bust illegal logging rackets

ELISABETHBRAW

METRO WORLD NEWS

60 seconds

Undercover expert

LOGGINGMAFIA

Jago Wadley, undercover for-est expert, Environmental In-vestigation Agency

The most common forestcrime is illegal logging. Howserious is the problem?It’s on the decline from anextremely high level. Anew EU law comes into ef-fect in 2013, prohibitingthe sale of wood that hasbeen illegally harvested.Companies must showthey’ve done due diligencein investigating the woodsources. But illegal logging

changes with demand.When Indonesia began en-forcing its rules, Chinesebuyers looked elsewhere –for example, Laos andPapua New Guinea.Vietnam is also a centerfor illegal logging.

Which countries buy illegalwood?It used to be a Westernproblem, but now thereare stricter laws. TodayChina is worrisome. Com-panies there would importillegal wood and export

finished products madefrom it. As consumers getwealthier there, China willbecome a larger marketfor its own wood products.

Who’s behind illegal logging?It’s a very organized busi-ness. In Indonesia youcan’t smuggle without acontact in the Navy whomyou bribe to get into inter-national waters. One com-pany owned by Vietnam’smilitary is the biggestwood smuggler from Laos.

ELISABETH BRAW

“We can’t just tellpeople that theforest crimes arehappening. Wehave to show theevidence.”BUSTAR MAITAR, GREENPEACE

ARDILES RANTE/GREENPEACE

Bustar Maitar

Mr. Green saves the forestMr. Green takes care of the environment. After finding out that urban trees alone absorb 9% of carbon emissions, he decided todo his part to protect the forests. So what did he achieve during the last year?

He bought 1000 square meters of rainforest for $40, saving 30 trees.

He refused to buy 5 kg of beef from cattle in the Amazon, saving 0.675 trees.

He used Virgin Charity Credit Card and chose a forest protection charity, saving 15 trees as a cash back for his

$2000 shopping.

He donated 10% of his $100 eBay sales to a forest protection

charity, saving 7.5 trees.

Every day he clicked on the green button at therainforestsite.com, saving

14 trees.

He donated $10 to plant 10 trees in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.

He contacted local urban forestry to plant for free 2 trees in his backyard.

He made a $5 text message donation to a forest protection charity, saving 3.75 trees.

He used recycled printing paper at work (12 reams), saving 0.72 trees.

He recycled paper packaging and paper waste, 100 kilograms, saving 2.4 trees.

After doing the sums Mr. Green smiles, knowing that his

conscious decisions saved

86 treesTEXT: DANIEL DENISIUK; GRAPHIC: MIA KORAB

SOURCES: CONSERVATREE; WORLD LAND TRUST; INVENTORY OF U.S. GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND SINKS: 1990-2009; THE NATURE CONSERVANCY.

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www.metroworldnews.comMONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2011

16

1. After reading your copy of

Metro, you:

A Save it to share with fami-ly, friends or colleagues. B Toss it in the first bin. C Leave it on the subway,perhaps somebody else willread it.

2. Paper and cardboard

recycling is a good idea,

because:

A Recycling 16 reams of of-fice paper saves 1 tree. B It lowers the bill forgarbage removal. C My waste company nolonger collects mixed rub-bish.

3. That stroll in the urban

wooded park was:

A To soothe my raw nerves.The trees make me relax!B To show my boyfriend/girlfriend that I’m so green.C A shortcut to get to a busstop faster.

4. If you were to plant a tree in

your backyard, it would be:

A A fruit tree, obviously.Why would I plant a uselesstree?B Something that looksgood and is easy tomaintain. C A local species, i.e. a natu-ral part of the ecosystem.

5. Trees provide us with:

A Shade. B Many things – from clean-er air to better-looking envi-ronment. C Charcoal for BBQs.

6. Would you get a natural

Christmas tree?

A Maybe, it is just sodifficult to place in a dump-ster afterwards. B It’s a great idea! I willplant it in my garden after-wards. C I don’t think so, Iwouldn’t like to discard itlater.

How to score

If you scored 40-60: A natu-ral-born tree hugger. If youwere a TV character youwould be: Lisa Simpson.

If you scored 20-35: Asgreen as it’s convenient. Ifyou were a TV character youwould be: Charlotte from“Sex and the City”.

If you scored 0-15: Trees aregood for paper and BBQs. Ifyou were a TV character youwould be: Eric Cartman

DANIELDENISIUK

METRO WORLD NEWS

1. A 10 (POINTS), B 0, C 5; 2. A 10, B 5, C 0; 3. A 10, B 5, C 0;4. A 0, B 5, C 10; 5. A 5, B 10, C 0; 6. A 0, B 10, C 5

Do you care about forests? Or maybe you just thinkyou do. Can you prove to yourself you’re truly green?

The tree quiz: Howgreen are you?

If you were to plant a tree, what it would be?

THINKSTOCK.COM

metro green issue 2011 forest

Documents

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organic carbon

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