Amazon Rainforest is close to tipping point

Speaking at the recent United Nations-sponsored Biodiversity Science Policy Conference in Paris, France, acclaimed tropical biologist Dr. Thomas Lovejoy warned that with 18% of the Amazon rainforest already gone, a cumulative loss of 20% will set forces in motion that reduce the forest just to one-third its original size within 65 years.

These research findings drew on the expertise of Japan's Meteorological Research Institute, the UK’s Exeter University, Brazil's Centre for Weather Forecasting and Climate Change, Germany's Potsdam Institute and Earth3000. Moreover, the study showed that the current combination of global warming, deforestation and forest fires are likely to undermine the Amazon's unique hydro-geological system whereby the forest self-generates at least half of its rainfall and also brings replenishing moisture to other regions.

Dr. Lovejoy's assessment affirms previous studies by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which warned that global warming would result in a 40% loss of this vital ecosystem.

Dr. Lovejoy and international scientist contributors, we thank you for your clear and cautionary message. In the narrow margin of time that remains, let us all work with renewed commitment to save our precious planet.

In her efforts to safeguard life on Earth, Supreme Master Ching Hai has frequently addressed the importance of conserving the rainforests, as in an October 2009 videoconference in Germany.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Saving the world’s tropical forests, the lungs of the Earth, is one of the very important priorities. Because when the tropical rainforests are destroyed, there are many frightening side effects.

It’s not just the permanent changes to the world’s temperature, rainfall, and weather patterns which the forests regulate. It’s not just about the millions of people who might lose their livelihoods that depend on the forests.

There is the extinction of plant and animal species that is 100 times faster than what is natural, and it ruins our ecosystems. The rainforests themselves normally are our protectors, but as the climate gets warmer, instead of absorbing CO2 to protect our planet’s climate, they will be emitting back CO2 as

Now, we need to look at the main reason why there is deforestation. There is a whole industry behind it in most of the cases, namely the livestock industry. For example, the number one reason for deforestation of the Amazon, which is the greatest lung of our planet, is to raise cattle.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Stop the livestock industry - that would be the most effective way to halt global warming and restore our planet. It will save our precious forests, which takes decades to grow, and create more natural forests that we need to reduce global warming.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50194
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/amazongate-more-sloppy-writing-than-sloppy-science.php
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0203-hance_amazontip.html

Renowned biologist cites tragic biodiversity loss

Harvard University Professor and two-time Pulitzer Prize winning biologist and ecologist Edward Wilson warns that biodiversity on Earth is suffering from drastic loss. With just under two million species currently catalogued, an estimated 30 million exist. And although 183 species have been formally declared extinct
since the beginning of the last century, Dr. Wilson states that this number is a vast underestimate, with annual extinctions more likely in the neighborhood of 20-30,000 species.

Saying that climate change has focused more on physical than living losses, Dr. Wilson is urging for the creation of an international group of experts to oversee biodiversity, similar to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Our many thanks, Dr.Wilson for your comprehensive approach and caring reminder to include all treasured co-inhabitants in addressing our planetary crisis.

May world leaders and citizens heed the call to urgent action to save these diverse and irreplaceable lives.
Concerned for our welfare, Supreme Master Ching Hai has also often emphasized the need for adopting the most considerate, eco-conscious lifestyles, as during a March 2009 videoconference in Mexico.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Just return to compassion and respect for all life. That is the principle we must uphold to ensure that the animals do not disappear, because, that would be tragic for us humans, too. Imagine our planet without animals at all. All the dogs gone, cats gone, birds gone, fish gone, buffalos gone,elephants gone; imagine, none of the animals survive; how would we live? So, if we respect all life, then we also don’t take any life. We don’t need to take in a way that hurts or harms any other being. If all humanity lives with the animal-free diet, and lives in respect to nature and other life, then we will have a Heaven on Earth.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/20/biodiversity-loss-darwin-edward-wilson
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=114878
http://www.well.com/~davidu/amnh.htmlhttp://roboconsumer.wordpress.com/2007/09/23/extinct-mammals/

Mekong dolphins at the brink of extinction

An intensively polluted Mekong River has resulted in alarmingly low populations of the freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin. Numbers are now less than 100, with more than 50 calves who have lost their lives since 2003 from toxic levels of pesticides, mercury, and other pollutants that suppressed their immune systems.

The species has been listed as critically endangered by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) since 2004, and Seng Teak, Country Director of WWF Cambodia, stated, “A trans-boundary preventative health program is urgently needed to manage the disease-affected animals in order to reduce the number of deaths each year.”

We shed tears to know of the suffering of these aquatic co-inhabitants, and pray that they may remain strong as we strive to restore their habitat to healthy purity through our more caring stewardship of Earth.

During a July 2008 videoconference in Formosa (Taiwan), Supreme Master Ching Hai reminded once again of our impact on the lives of others, saying that it is through our consideration of other beings that we can ensure the welfare of all inhabitants.


Supreme Master Ching Hai: Farm animals get sick due to pesticides. Fish die because of farming insecticides, pesticides, etc. Wild species suffer similar fates because we also drain our chemical substances, insecticides, pesticides into the rivers, into the lakes, into the oceans.

So we lost many of these precious species, we lost many, many of us, because they are us.
And we also lose ourselves, many of us humans, because of these poisonous substances – even from the farm industry -and we still did not wake up yet.

So we must protect the environment. And the wild, they can take care of themselves. If the environments are friendly and conducive to a healthy lifestyle, then the wild will never get sick. The wild will have no problem.

Reference
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8106323.stm