Wednesday August 10, 2011, 2:55 pm
sounds good, but we'll have to see it happen before I'll be even more excited.

Wednesday August 10, 2011, 3:56 pm
Bravo Congo : )))

Wednesday August 10, 2011, 11:21 pm
Great, but I hope they involve the citizens in paid work associated with it!

Thursday August 11, 2011, 5:16 am
Thanks for the article.

Thursday August 11, 2011, 5:30 am
Noted; thanks for sharing!

Thursday August 11, 2011, 5:49 am
Noted, thank-you.

Thursday August 11, 2011, 5:54 am
Exciting and I hope they follow through.

Thursday August 11, 2011, 6:34 am
Sounds good but we will see

Thursday August 11, 2011, 8:31 am
At last, some good news! Many thanks!

Thursday August 11, 2011, 10:11 am
If they are converting degraded forests into monoculture plantations, isn't that the same thing that is happening in Brazil and Southeast Asia? It is still wiping out bio-diversity and habitat. Just wondering out loud....

Thursday August 11, 2011, 10:19 am
Thanks for the good news. Sounds as if they are on the right track. Signed and noted.

Thursday August 11, 2011, 11:13 am
Good news, I hope it actually works out. Thanks!

Thursday August 11, 2011, 11:51 am
thanks.

Thursday August 11, 2011, 12:06 pm
Good news. Thanks.

Thursday August 11, 2011, 1:30 pm
Great article, thanks

Thursday August 11, 2011, 2:50 pm
Sounds great!

Thursday August 11, 2011, 2:55 pm
...I prefer to think in this case like San Tommaso...." I will believe it when I will see it hasppens with my eyes" anyway it's an encouraging step tks

Thursday August 11, 2011, 5:11 pm
Noted, thanks, Cal. I have to join others here with some skepticism. I have seen in the North West, where lumber companies have clear cut old growth and then proudly put signs on the replantings....one problem, the new plantings were ALL poplar! So they make the big bucks off of old growth hard wood and plant paper. No biodiversity! So I give Them the old Bronx Cheer! Hope the Congo is not following suit.

Thursday August 11, 2011, 5:27 pm
Thanks Cal.

Thursday August 11, 2011, 6:29 pm
Hhmmm.....noted

Thanks Cal

Thursday August 11, 2011, 6:57 pm
I'll donate 500 butterfly credits next to plant another tree....So glad to know that restoration is occurring in the Congo! How WISE.

Thursday August 11, 2011, 7:05 pm
Other nations should repeat the Congo's plans.

Thursday August 11, 2011, 7:41 pm
Well, I have a bit of a different perspective on this inituative. Most of you know me as a huge supporter of trees and rainforest protection so you may be supprised when I say I think this is a very BAD thing for conservation in my opinion .... I say this for several reasons:

1) Plantations tend to be very low in biodiversity. They usually are nothing more than row crops of trees (usually a single species) which is heavily controled - i.e., herbacides are often used to eleiminate all the other "undeseirable" plants to the exclusion of all but the one tree species being raised in the plantation. Further, if insects become a "problem", incecticides are used to "control" them.

2) The goal of plantations are to create the maximum ammount of wood for harvest - not to provide biological services such as protecting biological diversity.

3) I find it distressing that the Congo is asking outside sources to pay them to replant these "plantations" when they were the ones who made profits cutting them down in the first place...and of course they will make even more proffits when they cut down the plantations (so, will they look for additional funding to re-plant the cut down plantations????)

4) I have a real problem that they will get "carbon credits" (more money) to replant the plantations while they made a profit from removing the natural forests - which of course released tons of carbon in that process. And since plantations tend to be havested (cut down) in short rotation (in tens of years) as opposed to the long-term storage (in terms of houndreds of years)in natural forests, any carbon sequesteration gain will be short lived before it is released back into the atmosphere.

The only good I can see from this effort is that it MIGHT reduce the pressure on native forests. Yet there are NO PROMMISES that this will protect even one acre of native forest. In fact, it could even cause MORE distruction of the native forests! If they can make money "restoring" the deforested lands, then that is just more incentive to cut down the native forests (making an initial proffit) and then making a second profit by restoring the dammage they caused by removing the native forest.

Bottom line for me is that as proposed, I can not get too excited about this effort unless there are many other biologicaly vaild conditions placed upon "donating" funds to this program from outside sources and before they get any kind of "carbon credits"....

Thursday August 11, 2011, 7:42 pm
That's a great initiative!

Thursday August 11, 2011, 8:10 pm
I like it like that.

May it be and remain uincorrupted.

Friday August 12, 2011, 12:59 am
It's all fine saying they are going to "reforest", but what trees are going to be planted - Palms for palm oil????

Friday August 12, 2011, 6:17 am
Oh, I hope so.

And let it not be corrupted.

Friday August 12, 2011, 10:53 am
It is not the best solution but trees of any kind help. A mixed use plantation would be better The normal monoculture of the current plantation style is like the corn and soy in mass ag. This leads to potential mass infestations of disease and pests.

Friday August 12, 2011, 1:21 pm
Sound promising, but we'll better wait to see it really happen

Saturday October 1, 2011, 4:44 pm
ty..noted