eveningstandard--2019-03-15--Best Motheraposs Day flowers 2019

Best Mother's Day flowers 2019

Flowers are to Mother's Day what champagne is to human survival - necessary. Well, that's what I think anyway.  With the floral houses of the UK having a moment (have you seen all of those pretty bloom adorned facades?), it's no wonder they've all upped their games.  Whether you just want a chic but simple bunch for maman or a cute tussie-mussie with the most luxe boho couture roses on the planet, the country's flower emporiums are at your service to dazzle you (and your pockets) with some rather top notch and stellar mixes.  Below we've life tested, plucked, examined, picked at and smelt every single stem, petal and stamen to bring you this year's best pick of bouquets to suit all mums to ensure she has the happiest Mother's Day ever.  From Instagram favourites Wild Things to floral set designer Carly Rogers, here's 15 bouquets worthy of your hard earned moolah.  Best for: getting your money's worth  Suggested vase size: medium with an extra large rim  How long does it last for? An unbeatable 11 days before it looked visibly knackered  Known for being a firm fav of the fash crowd, and stellar hotels Claridge's and the Connaught are huge fans too.  From our building's reception to my extremely cluttered desk, praise was unanimously high for McQueen's stonkingly beautiful Mamma Mia bouquet. Designed to ' draw gasps of delight', this hearty floral soiree is inspired by a spring garden and features on-trend pink roses, delphiniums, super fun lashings of Mexican bouvardia and dense seasonal foliage.  Fresh and contemporary, the bijou is perfectly proportioned, effortlessly feminine and has been executed with a proper vintage England in mind.  Scent wise, it was the best of the lot and acts as a natural perfume in the home. To sum it all up, Mamma Mia celebrates all the things we love about our mums: constant beacons of joy and happiness. Cringe, but very true.     From £110 | McQueens |  Best for: mums who love a strong scent   Suggested vase size: small and circular with a large and spacious rim   How long does it last for? Four gloriously scented days  Forty's, as I affectionately call them, has always been a firm favourite of mine when it comes to florals. As the name of this bouquet would suggest, this mesmerising bundle of flowers is rather enchanting.  Delicate, yet bold in appearance, Fortnum & Mason offers a glorious pastel combo which wreaks absolute Britishness. Hand-tied with of lavender flowers, senecio stems, mint, peonies, roses and herbs, this exceedingly fragrant bouquet is an absolute nose-stopper. In other words it smells impeccable.  It's also worth noting that the Enchanted Bloom is only one of the few options on this list that is ethically luxe. Each rose is grown on Fairtrade accredited Tambuzi Farm, Kenya, with a goal to help society in everything they do from engaging in the community to building partnerships with the local schools and youth groups in the area. High praise for the ultra-protective Fortnum & Mason packaging too.  Best for: delivering mum a fabulous bunch even if you can't do it in person   Suggested vase size: small and circular with a small-sized rim  How long do they last for? Five absolutely fabulous days each  If you've never come across Floom before, it's about time you did. The flower-finder delivery service has been championing independent florist's fine flower power globally since launch day.  Just enter your postcode and voilà, Floom will give you a nice-and-tidy list of all the florists in your area you can price compare and buy directly on Floom.  With an ethos that's always local at heart, the online shop is great for last-minutes types - especially for kids who forget about Mother's Day on the day - and people who appreciate all things indie and alternative. We got two bunches: one from Your London Florist - a magical thing made up of peony's, dahlia's and roses and the other from Rose and Mary loaded with hydrangea, roses, snapdragon and lisi.  The inspiration behind both? Pantone's 2019 colour of the year of course, which if you need a memo, is coral. Fragrant, lush and beautifully presented, both mixes's on-trend and demi-retro vibe has a vintage appeal that will keep ma' smiling for days.  Best for: mums who go gaga for labels and like to show off.   Suggested vase size: medium long.   How long does it last for? Six wondrous days.  At first glance with all its mammoth foliage and piercing sticks, the wonderfully chic Tea Garden bouquet from Aoyama Flower Market looks like it has been plucked straight out of Game of Thrones: CC Jon Snow for Danerys.  For those unfamiliar with the brand, it was born in Tokyo and sources its impressive selection of flowers direct from Japan. Its ethos is simple - to live in harmony with the plants you put in your home - which probably explains the Zen blooms, icy hues and picture-perfect seasonal foliage the floral house is now known for.  Hand-tied and wrapped in stamped imported Japanese paper, the luxe spray includes white alstroemeria, lilies and the purest white roses. Before you order however, know this - all the flowers offered by Aoyama are seasonal only, so you may get something completely different to what you see above. What we can attest to however is the quality of the tussie-mussie. In a word, it was exceptional.  Best for: mums who love all things classic   Suggested vase size: medium tall with a small rim   How long does it last for? A very good nine days  Expertly arranged, this simple yet chic mix of cream and brilliant white petals from Interflora is guaranteed to make mum smile.  Several large white-headed roses, white antirrhinums, oriental lilies, white alstroemeria, thlaspi and salal make up the medium sized jumble, which gives it a perfectly neutral effect suitable for any room in the home. Tip: keep this bunch within sunlight's reach. The moment they hit the shade they will wilt and not in a pretty way either.  With this in mind, it's worth mentioning you check the water levels daily as these are a very thirsty bunch of flowers - we learned that the hard way. Whilst not as extravagant on the eye, it's a well-trimmed stunner, thoughtfully hand-tied with a big fat and cute purple ribbon.  Best for: mums who love their luxury   Suggested vase size: large with a giant rim  How long does it last for? Our bouquet lasted a good six days  It's luxe. It's huge. It's stunning. It's Neill Strain. If you're not familiar with this fine Belgravia boutique, read on intently. An Instagram favourite, the House of Neill Strain Floral Couture is nothing short of regal, which probably explains how he's managed to nab a rather sweet spot in the Harrod's Food Hall. Advice? Check it out.  Part of the summer collection, this 'mother of bouquets' is crowned by an enviable collection of spray and garden roses, kaleidoscopic orchids (the undisputed pièce de résistance of the entire thing), plump hydrangea, lisianthus, astilbe, wax flower, double bouvardia and scenecio. The textured foliage gives it added star appeal and enhances each flower's ludicrously astounding petal count. Speaking of the petals, they're like silk to the touch, which in terms of calibre, is quite simply top notch. Yes, it's on the more expensive side, but as the saying goes: you get what you pay for; and in this instance, it's supreme quality.  Best for: The fun mother who still wants to party at 60  Suggested vase size: medium with a large rim  How long does it last for? A reasonable five days  Princess & KO have gone all out with their ridiculously pretty corals of deep bright pinks and lush greens to create a playful mix of quirky florals that will brighten up any boudoir, dull or not.  Blooms include lysianthus, spray roses, deep purple roses and astilbe. The only other thing you need to know is that it smells absolutely incredible.  Best for: mums who are as creative as a Vogue cover  Suggested vase size: none needed  How long does it last for? Ours lasted a decent three days, but it's really the set piece you're paying for here  If you want something original, Carly Rogers is your girl. Designer of set pieces for the likes of, Sketch, Insider and Conde Nast Traveller, Carly brings an added touch of creativity to whatever her already uber creative fingers touch.  An expert in turning people's heads, her abstract creations are often inspired by classicist art and nature with an added dash of modernity to make sure it's all v. on trend. The arrangement above is just an idea of what you could get, but the best thing is that everything is bespoke, so if you want a single arrangement with a rose coming out of a moss covered log, she can do it.  Best for: mums who like a bouquet that doesn't require much effort  Suggested vase size: medium with a giant rim  How long does it last for? A stupendous six days  First things first, the picture above does not give this Odd Flower spray any justice at all. Stocked with beautiful, blousy and large avalanche roses, bursting Australian ozothamnus and soft, elegant lashings of fragrant phlox, it's almost guaranteed to make mum purr with glee.  Before you order though, know this: all the flowers from the Wandsworth-based florist are seasonally picked and curated, so you never know what you might end up getting - especially  if you subscribe to their weekly, fortnightly or monthly flower delivery service. Ours was lush either way, and out of all of the other mixes on here, was the easiest to care for. Packaging is fantastic too.  Best for: the classic mum who stills dreams of yesteryear  How long does it last for? A praise Jesus worthy seven days  If a bunch of flowers comes to us in a super cute reusable tote bag, it's worthy of our attention. Not because it's on trend or environmentally conscious, but because it's just plain fun.  Like many of the other florists on this list, Lavender Green offers another selection of whites and greens, but this time with added height for a more sophisticated, pure (hence the name) and illustrious look. Seasonal blooms include white roses, lizianthus, wax flower to stabilise, olive and ornithogalum, and can be ordered in medium or large cuts.  Scent wise, it's soft and perfect for those who prefer something less harsh on the nostrils. Where to place it you're wondering? It's ideal coffee table or prime kitchen island material.  Best for: fashionista mothers who spend endless days maxing out their credit cards  Suggested vase size: very tall with a medium sized rim  How long does it last for? Five wonderful days  Statement roses are always a good buy, especially when you want to bring some added wow factor on Mother's Day. For those Flowerbx virgins, quality reigns over quantity when it comes to this florist's bloomin' beautiful blooms.  Set up by former Tom Ford PR guru Whitney Bromberg Hawkings, every chic petal, steam and stamen comes direct from the never-ending flower fields of Holland ensuring unrivalled style, quality and A-Grade class. Our delivery of towering Mondial roses was no exception.  Wrapped in bespoke and easy to carry Flowerbx packaging, the fragrant bunch will make a very, very welcome addition to budding floraltopias. No wonder Tom Ford himself, Victoria Beckham, Louis Vuitton and Dior are fans.  Best for: mums who were destined for social media glory  Suggested vase size: medium with a roomy rim  How long does it last for? Six fabulous days. If only it was that long until Summer  You know when you walk past Liberty and see 6,000 wannabe influencers posing by all those pretty metallic barrels of flowers? Well, that's the work of Nikki Tibbles.  Purveyors of all things florally fabulous and decorators to some of the most major bashes in town known to man, this is one bunch serious flower puffs need to know (and respect). Warm, fuzzy and Disney-esque, Nikki Tibbles Wild at Heart has gone total spring with her Mother's Day offering this year.  Celebrating everything turn of the season, the Eden is an intense mix of golden roses, apricot ranunculus, peach stocks and pretty exuberant foliage which smells just as good as it looks. FYI, their easily the most Insta-friendly on this list, so nab it before all the 'grammers do.  Best for: mother's who appreciate a hand-tied bunch that comes from a florist with a Royal Warrant  Suggested vase size: medium and tall  How long does it last for? It takes five days for the roses petals to start falling at which time you'll be rushing to buy another  Shades of Blue from Moyses Stevens is very much like your traditional afternoon tea: it's loud, a little crazy, eccentric (in a good way) and yet classic all at the same time. Very English then? Indeed.  Stunningly rich, the earthy number is more vintage than the florist's usual lovingly bonkers style and includes a sensorial mix of amnesia’ roses, fragrant clematis, veronicas, imperial thistles, lilac and thiaspi.  Scent wise: think a freshly cut garden meets the lawns of a sun-kissed Hyde Park. All very lush. Available in three sizes, you can also pair your florals with everything from a bottle of Dom to uber posh heritage chocolates.  Overall, our bunch stayed true to Moyses Stevens flamboyant, grand and totally out there style (and we loved it). We just wished it lasted a little longer than five days, but alas, you can't have everything.  Best for: guys and gals who want to make their mums scream 'wow!'  Suggested vase size: large and steep, although it's important to note that one is already included  How long does it last for? Ours lasted a very impressive eight days before we had to reluctantly say goodbye  There's not much else we can say about Wild Thing's Flowers offering this year except: epic. The winner of last year's coveted Mother's Day ES floral Best, owner Louise has pulled out all the stops with this towering wedding-esque masterpiece.  The 1-metre tall palace-worthy floral spruce is inspired by the palest pastels and includes a generous offering of David Austin Juliet roses, fluffy white hydrangea, tea cup sized heards of Secret Garden roses, pistache and fragrant eucalyptus foliage.  White dill, scabiosa seed heads and vanilla roses give the bouquet greater depth while quicksand roses ranunculus Klooney Hanoi prunus blossom, white lilac, nerines and snapdragon allow for extra oomph.  Instagrammable to a T, ma' will also be happy to nab the included apothecary vase wrapped in Wild Thing's signature grosgrain ribbon - it's been stamped too. At £250, it's definitely not the cheapest option on this list, but hey, your mother's worth it. Available on request, just reference this list.  Best for: mums who like simple bling - yes, that is indeed a thing  Suggested vase size: small with a medium rim  How long does it last for? five fancy days  V chic and v fashion - Maison de Fleurs (the House of Flowers for those not well-schooled in Francais) is all about collections inspired by the runways of New York, London, Milan and Paris.  Seasonal mixes often include rare orchids and uber lush roses, so even though it's on the higher priced side of the spectrum, you really are getting what you pay for - superb quality.  If all this jargon is ticking all the boxes, go for The Marvellous, a fresh and feminine mix of on-trend pastel garden and lilac spray roses. Perfect for corners, alcoves and kitchen counters, the bouquet's lovely combo of clematis, delicate matricaris and seasonal foliage make the whole thing visibly stand out for extra luxe factor - in other words, mama's friends will be so jealous.  If you do order it, go for the clear vase option as the "Couture Collection box" packaging doesn't give it the luxe attention it deserves. All in all, prepare to go mad for its #springvibes.  For its longevity, wow factor, value, practicality and literal (and enviable) gasps of delight it brought to all who saw it, stonker wins the battle of best Mother's Day bouquets 2019.  If you're after something especially purse friendly or would like to buy locally from your (or your mums) area then Floom is your all-in-one site for stunning flowers  delivered all over the UK.  ES Best product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing.  Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter


eveningstandard--2019-03-29--The best fast-growing flowers to plant now for an easy summer garden

So you're a renter who is not intending to stay forever but you want a riot of colour this summer in the patch of garden that comes with your flat? No problem.  There are plenty of plants out there that have your name on them. They grow fast, giving you flowers and climbers that will create a dazzling jungle by midsummer.  This is all quite a contrast from typical London rental gardens which are often boring and featureless because tenants don’t feel very inspired to cultivate them, believing they won’t be around long enough to benefit from the results.  Well-chosen, fast-growing annual plants will clothe fences and walls and fill borders, all for the price of a few packets of seeds.  All you have to do is scatter them on the ground and water them in. After they’ve put on a great show they will die in the autumn, so no landlord could object.  If you have a balcony or courtyard all these plants can also be grown in peat-free multipurpose compost in pots.  Perfect for renters, Crocus has a good range of large lightweight galvanised pots for £49.99 that will make a decent mini garden but won’t be too hard to hoik down the stairs when you come to the end of the lease. Some of these pots have handles for easy transport.  If you’re worried about drilling holes in your rental property to put up supports for climbing plants, push some bamboo canes into soil to make wigwams around the garden instead. Or try SH1 fence clips (six for £9.50) which can simply be hooked over the top of a fence or wall. A trellis panel, a wall chain climber support (£18.39) or some jute netting (from £5.50) can then be hung on to the clips, so when you move just unhook the whole thing and you won’t have left any trace.  Now’s a great time to sow hardy annuals such as poppies, corncockle, marigolds, nigella and cornflowers that will fill your beds with orange, pink and blue by June. Higgledy Garden and Chiltern Seeds are good online suppliers. Preparing the ground is easy. Just remove any weeds from the area you want to sow, then dig it over lightly.  No need to add compost because these plants like poor soil. Then just sprinkle the seeds thinly over the area, rake them in, water and that’s it. Once the seedlings have come up it’s a good idea to thin them to 10cm apart and then again to 30cm apart in mid-June so they have plenty of space to flower abundantly.  Other failsafe plants are annual climbers, reaching up to eight feet by the summer and easily covering a fence or scrambling over an ugly shed to bring clouds of vivid flowers. If your garden gets plenty of sun, nasturtiums are perfect, with their profusion of cheerful orange and yellow flowers and you can sow them from now until May.  Empress of India (£2.95) has scarlet flowers contrasting with deep green leaves while Tropaeolum majus Tall Mixed (£1.95) is a lovely mix of yellows and oranges.  You can eat the slightly peppery flowers, leaves and seed pods, too. Bury the seed to twice their depth in the soil, no deeper. Nasturtiums will find their own way up a fence, or grow them up wigwams or trellis. Once they have got going you won’t have to water them all summer.  If you want something more unusual, another one to sow straight into the soil from April is the rather gothic Hyacinth bean (£2.75), with sultry, deep purple leaves and seed pods and pink flowers. There are other amazing annual climbers, best ordered as inexpensive plug plants and planted out in early May. The glamorous cup-and-saucer vine cobaea scandens Purple (£7.95) is like a blousy, supercharged clematis. The buds start greenish white and then transform themselves into tubular purple flowers.  Black-Eyed Susan Thunbergia alata African Sunset and Rhodochiton Purple Bells are two other troopers that will soon cover a fence or wigwam and would make an incredible focal point in a large pot, too. The Half-hardy Climber Collection buys you five seedlings of each (£12.50).  I have a particular soft spot for the Chilean Glory Flower (£5.95) with its unashamedly garish orange and yellow little bell flowers. In London’s relatively mild climate, this is likely to survive a couple of winters. Spanish Flag (£5.95) is even more fabulously in-your-face, with flame red-tipped flowers fading to cream.


drudgereport--2019-12-15--Deforestation in Amazon up by more than double...

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon, shown in this photo taken in Para state in August 2019, has risen sharply this year (AFP Photo/Joao LAET)  Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon in November surged by 104 percent compared to the same month in 2018, according to official data released Saturday.  The 563 square kilometers (217 square miles) deforested that month is also the highest number for any November since 2015, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which provides official data on deforestation.  That is considered a significant increase, particularly during the rainy season, when deforestation generally slows.  For the first 11 months of the year -- also the first months in office of Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right leader who has eased restrictions on exploiting the Amazon's vast riches -- deforestation totaled 8,974.3 square kilometers.  That is nearly twice the 4,878.7 square kilometers reported for the first 11 months of 2018.  The data was collected by the satellite-based DETER system, which monitors deforestation in real time.  Another satellite-based system used by the INPE known as PRODES, considered more reliable but slower to compile data, reported in late November that in the 12 months beginning August 2018, deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon had passed the 10,000 square kilometer threshold for the first time since 2008.  That represented a 43 percent increase from the preceding 12-month period.  Deforestation in indigenous areas rose even faster, by 74.5 percent from the preceding period, INPE reported.  Overall, PRODES showed that the world's largest tropical forest lost 10,100 square kilometers in that 12-month period, compared to 7,033 square kilometers in the previous 12 months.  On Friday, Ricardo Galvao, INPE's former president, was named one of the 10 most important scientists of the year by the respected British journal Nature.  In early August he was fired by the Bolsonaro government, which accused him of exaggerating the extent of deforestation.


eveningstandard--2019-08-22--Amazon rainforest fire Dramatic satellite images show devastating scale of wildfire destruction

Amazon rainforest fire: Dramatic satellite images show devastating scale of wildfire destruction

These dramatic images show the destruction sweeping the Amazon as wildfires rage through the Brazilian rainforest.  Satellite photos show smoke tearing across four states – spanning a distance of around 1,500km – as the country battles a record number of wildfires.  Another picture captures the once-lush land of Mato Grosso, western Brazil, torched by the furious blaze.  The National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) has detected 74,155 fires in Brazil’s Amazon region this year, a surge of 84 per cent over the same period in 2018.  In one week, Inpe satellite images spotted 9,507 new forest fires in the country, mostly in the Amazon basin.  Strong winds carried smoke from the fires more than 1,700 miles on Monday and caused an hour-long blackout in the city of Sao Paulo.  The images emerged as President Jair Bolsonaro suggested non-governmental organisations (NGOs) could be to blame for the landscape’s incineration.  Brazil’s leader suggested NGO workers might be starting the fires to make him look bad.  "Maybe - I am not affirming it - these people are carrying out some criminal actions to draw attention against me, against the government of Brazil," Mr Bolsonaro said in a video posted on his Facebook account on Wednesday.  "This is the war we are facing."  When asked by reporters if he had evidence, the president did not provide any.  The states that have been most affected this year are Mato Grosso, Para and Amazonas, all in the Amazon region,  accounting for 41.7 per cent of all fires.  Mr Bolsonaro, who once threatened to leave the Paris climate accord, has repeatedly attacked environmental non-profits, seen as obstacles in his quest to develop the country's full economic potential, including in protected areas.  Mr Bolsonaro and Environment Minister Ricardo Salles have pushed for increased development and economic opportunities in the Amazon region, which they consider overly protected by current legislation.  Some NGOs, environmentalists and academics have been blamed the administration's pro-development policies for the sharp increase in Amazon deforestation shown in the latest data from the space research institute.  The government is also facing international pressure to protect the vast rainforest from illegal logging or mining activities.  Citing Brazil's apparent lack of commitment to fighting deforestation, Germany and Norway have decided to withhold funds earmarked for sustainability projects in Brazil's forests.  French and German leaders have also threatened to abandon a trade deal between the EU and Mercosur countries to pressure Brazil into complying with its environmental pledges within the Paris Climate Agreement.


eveningstandard--2019-11-18--Brazil's Amazon deforestation at highest rate in 11 years, country's space agency says

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit the highest level in more than a decade this year, the country's space agency has said.  Almost 10,000 square kilometres - 4,000 square miles or 1.37 million football pitches - were lost between July 2018 and the same month this year, Inpe said. This is up roughly 30 per cent from the year before.  It comes after President Jair Bolsonaro, who says the rainforest belongs to his country and not the world, came under criticism for his handling of the issue.  The region was plagued by out of control fires over the British summer months.  Inpe today said deforestation reached 9,762 sqkm (3769.129 sqm), the the worst level of deforestation since 2008, heaping further pressure on the environmental policy of President Bolsonaro who favours developing the Amazon region economically.  The Amazon is the world's largest tropical rainforest and is considered key to the fight against climate change because of the vast amounts of carbon dioxide it absorbs.  Risks to the forest drew global concern in August when fires raged through the Amazon, drawing sharp criticism from France's President Emmanuel Macron.  At a briefing to discuss the numbers, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said the rise in deforestation showed the need for a new strategy to combat the illegal logging, mining and land grabbing which he blamed for the increase in deforestation.  Beef prices are also at record highs in Brazil, encouraging land grabbing for cattle ranching, which is one of the biggest drivers of deforestation in the region.  Environmentalists and nongovernmental organisations place the blame squarely on the government, saying that President Bolsonaro's strong pro-development rhetoric and his policies to weaken environmental enforcement are behind the rise in illegal activity.  "The Bolsonaro government is responsible for every inch of forest destroyed. This government today is the worst enemy of the Amazon," said Marcio Astrini, public policy coordinator for Greenpeace, in a statement.  President Bolsonaro's office directed Reuters to remarks made by Mr Salles and another official and did not comment further on the issue.  In August, Reuters reported that President Bolsonaro's government had systematically weakened environmental agency Ibama, grounding a team of elite enforcement commandos and forbidding agents from destroying machinery used to illegally deforest.  Brazil's Climate Observatory, a network of nongovernmental organisations that includes Greenpeace, said that the 2019 increase in deforestation was the fastest in percentage terms since the 1990s and the third fastest of all-time.  Mr Salles said Brazil would roll out a series of measures to counter the rising deforestation, including stepping up enforcement efforts assisted by high-resolution satellite imaging.  The minister said he would meet governors of Amazon states on Wednesday to further discuss tactics to counter deforestation.  All options are on the table for countering deforestation, including activating the military for use in environmental enforcement operations, Mr Salles said.


tass--2019-09-24--Brazils president refuses to consider Amazon rainforest as world heritage

Brazil’s president refuses to consider Amazon rainforest as world heritage

UN, September 24. /TASS/. The issue of preserving the Amazon rainforest where terrible wildfires continue to be fought should be resolved considering the Brazilian sovereignty over a significant part of this territory, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said at the opening of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Tuesday.  "It is a fallacy to think that Amazonia is a world heritage. It has also been proven wrong by scientists that the Amazon forests are the lungs of the planet. Guided by these misconceptions, certain countries act with no respect, like colonialists, instead of trying to help. They undermine the most sacred thing we have - our sovereignty," the president said.  "I reiterate, any initiative regarding support of the Amazon forests should take Brazil’s sovereignty into account," Bolsonaro added.  The Brazilian National Institute for Space Research estimates that wildfires destroyed more than 1.8 million hectares of the Amazon forests in Brazil in the time between January and August. Amid the uncontrolled spread of the fire, Brazilian society started criticizing Bolsonaro and his government over their disregard for environmental protection, as their opponents say. In turn, the authorities claim that some fires can be explained by natural seasonal reasons, while others are a result of deliberate arsons.  In late August, Bolsonaro engaged in a heated debate with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. The remarks were made after Macron proposed discussing the Amazon wildfires at the G7 summit in Biarritz. Brasilia strongly criticized this decision, accusing the French leader of infringement of Brazil’s sovereignty.


theindependent--2019-09-22--Amazon fires Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro to use UN speech to reject criticism over response

Amazon fires: Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro to use UN speech to reject criticism over response to blaze ravaging rainforest

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will head to New York on Monday in an attempt to defuse the international outcry over the fires raging through the Amazon while simultaneously asserting the country’s right to develop the rainforest as it sees fit.  Until recently, few countries enjoyed such widespread affection as Brazil did, with its tradition of multilateral and “soft power” diplomacy, its unrivalled footballing prowess and vast natural beauty.  But Mr Bolsonaro will address the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday amid global indignation over his government’s handling of the deforestation in the Amazon.  Brazil’s government believes the international criticism is unfair, but its actions show that it’s worried, including about the potential economic consequences.  Fund managers with more than $16 trillion (£12.8tn) in assets have demanded action on deforestation, while European lawmakers are lining up to attack the trade deal between the European Union and the South American trade bloc that Brazil leads, Mercosur. Austria’s parliament rejected the agreement on Wednesday.  In response, the Bolsonaro administration launched a public relations campaign asserting Brazil’s sovereignty over the Amazon and commitment to protecting and sustainably developing the rainforest. Now the president is taking that message to the UN.  “The United Nations General Assembly could be a great opportunity for Brazil to present and clarify its foreign policy,” said Sergio Amaral, Brazil’s ambassador to Washington DC until earlier this year.  “It’s also a chance to demonstrate its “commitment to sensitive issues for the international community, like the environment.”  The question remains of how Mr Bolsonaro can both calm fears over deforestation while asserting Brazil’s right to develop the Amazon.  There’s also the added tension of his likely interaction with French President Emmanuel Macron - whose wife the Brazilian leader insulted.  “I am preparing a fairly objective speech,” the president said on his weekly Facebook live broadcast on Thursday night. “No one is going to fight with anyone, you can rest assured.”  In the same breath, however, he said that he’d receive a beating in the press, no matter what he said, and that some countries were more interested in buying up the Amazon than saving it.  For the government the international outcry is vastly disproportionate to the amount of environmental damage.  “This has been orchestrated by Brazilian groups that are systematically against the government,” Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo said in an interview on 3 September. “They want to use any tools at their disposal to attack the government even if this harms the country.”  Environment Minister Ricardo Salles argues that the Bolsonaro administration’s development policies highlight how much previous Brazilian governments failed the 20 million people who live in the Amazon region.  “This is the first government that engages in a serious discussion about how to develop the Amazon,” he said. “The worst human development indicators in Brazil are in the Amazon.”  Mr Araujo, as well as Institutional Security Minister General Augusto Heleno and Eduardo Bolsonaro, the president’s son and nominee to be Brazil’s next ambassador to Washington DC, are helping the president to draft his speech.  While he may seek to minimise reports of environmental destruction, an emollient address is unlikely, particularly given that Bolsonaro retains the support of the US government in his approach to the Amazon.  Given the president’s outspoken nature - and love of social media - even a softer tone would probably not last long.  “Brazil used to communicate this idea of great sociability,” Andreza dos Santos Souza, the director of the Brazilian Studies Program at Oxford University, said. “These intolerant speeches are changing this perception.”  The outrage over the Amazon fires clearly has the potential to harm Brazil. Ahead of the G7 Mr Macron threatened to scrap the EU-Mercosur trade deal over what he described as Bolsonaro’s “lies” over his commitment to climate change.  The US clothing company VF Corporation, which owns Timberland, Kipling Bags and The North Face, has suspended Brazilian leather purchases, and Norway’s two biggest investors have warned global companies against contributing to environmental damage. Brazilian embassies have also been targeted by protesters.  Fitch Solutions Macro Research, formerly BMI Research, issued two reports warning of “increased scrutiny” and “economic risks” after the fires.  “We believe that international concern over deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon basin will create headwinds to export demand and investment inflows,” Mr Fitch wrote.  For Amaral, Brazil has rapidly lost its hard-won reputation as a leader on environmental issues. Aside from the blow back from certain countries or corporations, individual consumers may start to reject Brazilian products.  “This change is terrible for the country, terrible for the image of the country and for the perception of consumers,” he said.  Brazil has fallen four places this year in the global ranking of the Country Brand Index, a measure developed by the Sao Paulo-based global branding consultancy FutureBrand, and now ranks 47th out of 75.  The survey was completed in July, before the fires in the Amazon, but took into account the first six months of Mr Bolsonaro’s government.  “The Amazon is a very sensitive topic, with huge repercussions, and it comes on top of a number of negative issues associated with Brazil in the past few years,” Daniel Alencar, partner-director of FutureBrand, said. But, he added, a country’s brand is constantly in flux. “No single event is going to destroy the image of Brazil.”


vox--2019-12-12--Supertrees: Meet the Amazonian giant that helps the rainforest make its own rain

UATUMÃ SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT RESERVE, Brazil — The white mist is thick and creamy, and it envelops me as I plod up the steep stairs of the exposed steel tower. In this swirling fog, it’s hard to tell how high I am and how much further I have left to go.  Wearing a climbing harness that’s a little too snug and secured by a cable that looks a little too thin, I unclip my carabiner from the railing and attach it to the next one up. The diamond plate flexes under my weight as I move toward the next set of steps. I can’t see the ground, but I can see that the gaps between steps on the stairs are wide enough for my boot to easily slip between them.  I have inadvertently ended up at the front of our little group, far ahead of everyone else who set out on this climb. The scientist guiding us suggested we get to the top of the tower by sunrise, which meant waking up at 4 am and scaling the structure in the dim light of early morning. Alone in the clouds, I pause at a landing marked “200 meters,” feeling the whole tower sway in the wind. It’s silent and still, save for a breeze roiling wisps of fog between the steel braces of the tower.  I am here in the jungle, a half-day’s journey by pickup truck and boat from the nearest major city, two-thirds of the way up the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory, the tallest structure in South America, to experience a force that defines the Amazon rainforest as we know it.  The hundreds of billions of trees, spread over the 2.1 million square miles of forest below, channel a colossal volume of water into the air every day. Alongside that water, they emit an elixir of chemicals that react to form particles, inducing that moisture to fall back out of the sky.  The rainforest, amazingly, makes about half of its own rain.  In the early morning hours, a huge upward torrent of fog emanates from the treetops, spreading so thick that it’s impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction. This moisture rises into the sky and condenses as it cools, forming clouds (scientists call this the evapotranspiration process). When it meets dust and particles, it forms drops that create rainfall.  It’s a vital mechanism for keeping the Amazon’s vine-draped greenery lush. The downpours top up the aquifers that slake the thirst of tens of millions of people in Brazil’s cities and irrigate the farmlands that feed them, even those thousands of miles away and far from the rainforest itself. In some parts of the jungle, the rain is so regular that locals plan their days around it, scheduling breaks and short naps during afternoon rainstorms before returning to work once the skies clear.  The daily churn of rainfall and evaporation has a cooling effect on the region and can influence rainfall patterns as far away as the United States. And as its rain-drenched vegetation grows, the Amazon inhales and stores a gargantuan volume of carbon, an effect that ripples throughout the global climate system.  The Amazon rainforest has been described as the lungs, the sweat glands, and the heart of the planet, but these metaphors are inadequate. The Amazon is not an organ, but an organism unto itself, sprawling beyond the sum of its parts. Nothing else compares to what the Amazon rainforest does for itself, the region, and the rest of the planet.  Yet a soccer-field-sized area of the Amazon rainforest is cleared every 60 seconds due to logging for timber, or clearing space for cattle ranching, soy farming, and mining. As the forest loses trees, it loses its rhythm: rain, evaporation, transpiration, condensation, rain.  Without these towering giants and the soil beneath them acting a gargantuan reservoir of carbon, fewer heat-trapping gases will be absorbed and the process will eventually reverse. The carbon in the forest will enter the atmosphere, accelerating the planet’s warming.  The Brazilian Amazon this year has suffered an alarming spike in deforestation and forest fires that environmental activists blame on lax law enforcement and tacit approval from Brazil’s right-wing government. Scientists say that there are seldom natural fires in the rainforest; almost all are ignited by humans.  These losses sparked international outrage. “Our house is burning. Literally,” wrote French President Emmanuel Macron on Twitter in August. “It is an international crisis.”  But Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was defiant, arguing at the United Nations General Assembly that the Brazilian Amazon belongs to Brazil and that international alarm over its destruction is a threat to the country’s sovereignty.  Eventually, Bolsonaro deployed the military to fight the fires and declared a moratorium on new blazes. But the losses the Amazon has experienced are already having consequences. The dry season is getting longer, and scientists are finding imprints of deforestation in the record droughts seen in major cities like São Paulo, some 1,500 miles away.  A scenario even more alarming lies ahead. About 17 percent of the Amazon has been lost since 1970, and if deforestation reaches around 25 percent, scientists warn that the Amazon may not create enough of its own rain to sustain itself. The ecosystem could enter an irreversible cascade of collapse and degrade from tropical rainforest into savanna, a process known as a dieback.  This prospect has added urgency to research conducted atop this swaying steel tower. Scientists here are racing to understand all of the complicated ways in which the Amazon rainforest interacts with the world around it — before it’s lost. But to truly appreciate the breathtaking power of the rainforest, it helps to start with a single tree.  The towering Brazil nut tree is a microcosm of how the rainforest makes its own rain  The Amazon rainforest is home to nearly a quarter of the planet’s terrestrial biodiversity, and its waters have more fish species than any other river system. More than 100,000 invertebrate species, 378 reptile species, 400 amphibian species, 427 mammal species, 1,300 bird species, 3,000 kinds of fish, and 40,000 types of plants live in this magnificent ecosystem.  Life here has yielded novel scientific insights and produced lifesaving medicines. New species and benefits are still being discovered. There are even tribes of people that, to this day, have eluded contact with the outside world.  Yet amid this splendor, the trees in the rainforest still stand out.  One example is the iconic Brazil nut tree, Bertholletia excelsa, also known as Para nut. It’s not as massive as the sinuous, sprawling kapok tree, nor as precious to loggers as the chocolate-colored mahogany. But Bertholletia excelsa is one of the most powerful tree species in the jungle. It’s the only member of its genus and it thrives deep in the jungle, surrounded by billions of other trees, drenched by the near-daily downpours it helps create.  Humans are still learning how to grow Bertholletia in plantations, so almost all of the world’s crop of Brazil nuts comes from wild trees. It’s just a tiny example of how the Amazon’s expansive, interlocking ecosystem can be impossible to replicate.  En route to the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory, or ATTO, I spotted one of the trees from a boat on the Uatamã River, a tributary of the Amazon River. Its crown of wavy oval leaves towered over its neighbors along the riverbank. After we unloaded our gear from the boats, I walked along a dirt path up to the tree.  Standing at its roots, the tree’s nearly 6-foot-wide trunk filled my view and eclipsed the smaller trees around it. The ground was spongy with leaf litter and damp from the rain. Even mid-afternoon, the hottest time of the day, the thick, looming canopy cast a cool shadow. Vines draped down the sides of its gray bark; highways of leafcutter ants scurried over its roots. A screaming piha bird called out with its resounding three-tone chirp.  From the soil to the sky, every layer of the Amazon rainforest pulsates with life. And every day, this Bertholletia bridges the two, channeling more than 260 gallons of water into the air daily.  Of course, Bertholletia is not alone. It stands alongside more than 390 billion trees in the Amazon, belonging to an estimated total of 16,000 tree species throughout the rainforest, of which 6,727 species have been described, many of which can also gush hundreds of gallons into the air daily.  The sun crests over this verdant ocean every morning, and as the light hits the leaves, the rainforest takes its first steamy breath of the day. All of this moisture feeds into a massive body of water floating above its canopy, constantly fed by evapotranspiration and dispatching rain throughout the forest. In a way, the mightiest rivers in the Amazon flow through the sky.  Scientists are still learning about all the ways the Amazon rainforest is linked to the rest of the planet  From Manaus, Brazil — the capital of Amazonas state — the journey to the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory starts with a three-hour car ride across highways and dirt roads, followed by a two-hour boat ride, capped with a bouncy 30 minutes on a jungle road in a pickup truck.  Researchers from Brazil and Germany teamed up in 2009 to select a site and build this tower to study the rainforest with minimal human influence, where diesel exhaust and road dust wouldn’t interfere with measurements of pollen, carbon, and volatile organic compounds. They also wanted to make sure the roads they built to support the research station couldn’t be easily used for illegal logging and poaching.  “If you create a street [all the way to the research site], people are going to cut down the rainforest,” warned Stefan Wolff, a meteorologist at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry who is studying the exchange of gases between rainforest and atmosphere. The tedious trip, across the river and dirt roads, that scientists and supply crews make to ATTO three times per week serves as a barrier to miscreants.  The amenities at the research station are austere. The main camp is just a corrugated-roof mess hall and a bunk, where about two dozen people — scientists, staffers, maintenance workers, cooks — all sleep in hammocks just a couple of feet apart from one another. There is running water and a nearby generator that provides electricity, but internet is brought in via satellite, and much of its bandwidth is reserved for scientists transmitting data to research centers in Brazil and Germany.  The logistics are all in support of an effort to measure and monitor the rainforest in its most pristine state. The key questions the scientists are trying to answer here are how the rainforest influences the world around it and how the world, in turn, influences the rainforest. It’s part of a truly global system, the scale of which is difficult to comprehend.  It begins 3,000 miles away in the Sahara Desert, where dust crosses the Atlantic on trade winds and lands in the rainforest, nourishing the Amazonian soil. The dust whipped up in the Bodélé Depression in Chad, an ancient lake bed, contains phosphorus that is vital for plants.  Without this movement of dust — about 22,000 tons of it per year — the forest would be starved of important minerals, and the specific makeup of trees, shrubs, and ferns would change. That would, in turn, alter how much water is evaporated and how much carbon is absorbed, creating an altogether different ecosystem.  The Amazon rainforest currently takes in about 2 billion metric tons of carbon each year, roughly 5 percent of annual global output. Within its biomass, it holds about a decade’s worth of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions.  At the same time, the Amazon generates far-reaching effects of its own. The movement of moisture from the rainforest influences patterns of rainfall across much of South America, and signs are emerging that deforestation is worsening droughts around the continent.  But scientists were long in the dark about just how all these local, regional, and international links to the rainforest came together.  In 2012, scientists here constructed an 80-meter steel tower outfitted with instruments to measure rain, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and aerosols going into and coming out of the Amazon rainforest. It was a start, but they soon realized they needed to cover more areas, which meant getting higher above the forest.  It helps to think of the tower as a wide-angle camera lens. If you mount the instruments close to the treetops in the canopy, you pick up only the movement of gases from the trees immediately below. Move the sensors higher, and you can monitor a wider region.  In 2015, the team inaugurated a 325-meter-tall orange and white steel tower, stayed with guy-wires, sending steel, scaffolding, and construction equipment by boat and dirt roads to this remote part of the jungle.  The tall tower houses tubes that suck in air from the top and pump it to a laboratory housed in a shipping container at its base. The instruments there — like chromatographs and spectrometers — measure the churn of gases, moisture, aerosols, and particles above the tops of the trees that link this forest to the global climate system. Scientists can even identify the source of some particles by testing the DNA they find.  However, these tools remain vulnerable to the peculiarities of the jungle, like torrential rainfall and defecating birds. I watched a pair of scientists remove a bee infestation from a box of electronics on top of another 80-meter tower at the site, delicately scraping away the hive and capturing the queen in a plastic bottle.  But at the top of the main tower, one doesn’t need sophisticated devices to sense the immense scale of the rainforest’s influence on the weather. It’s playing out right before me.  The sun is rising over the horizon. Breaks appear in the fog, the mist condenses into discrete clouds, and the forest starts to peek through. Heated clouds begin to rise straight up as winds at different altitudes shuffle the puffy white cotton balls past each other like overlapping highways. The tower sways as the wind picks up.  Clouds soon start pouring out fine shrouds of rain. A few minutes later, mist begins to rise from the trees again. The scene plays out thousands of times a day over the Amazon, recycling moisture over and over until it reaches the ocean.  The scientists at ATTO are also tracking this cycling of moisture on much smaller scales. Back on the ground, some of the researchers are zooming in on individual trees, and sometimes, down to their leaves.  Around sections of the camp, researchers have placed baskets that capture falling leaves, seeds, and sticks to track the biological productivity of diverse biomes of the rainforest, like the low-lying campina. It’s a part of the forest with poor, sandy soil and a high water table that stunts the growth of plants, but shelters a large variety of epiphytes like orchids. The campina stands in contrast to other parts of the forest with imposing, fast-growing trees that quickly blot out the light above and thin out the vegetation below.  Layon Demarchi, a botanist at the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA), measured the growth of tree trunks in a 50-by-50-meter section of the campina with a micrometer, tracking how they change with rainfall patterns. “It’s a little island in the forest,” Demarchi says. The Amazon rainforest isn’t one big ecosystem as much as it is dozens of unique biomes stitched together, he explained, each with its distinct library of life, but working together to spread moisture and nutrients that sustain the rainforest as a whole.  There are other experiments scattered throughout the research station. Behind the bunk, a laser cloud-measuring instrument is pointed upward to the skies monitoring their volume and composition. Laboratories in shipping containers track the opening and closing of stomata, the pores on the leaves of various trees, studying how they release moisture and take in carbon dioxide.  The stomata emit volatile organic compounds like isoprenes, which react in the air to form particles, explains Cybelli Barbosa, a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry who frequently conducts her work with a machete at her side. Those particles then serve as nucleation points, allowing moisture to condense and form droplets. Rain in the rainforest isn’t just an accident of the weather; Bertholletia, like millions of other trees in the Amazon, induces rainfall.  The findings at ATTO will eventually feed into global climate models that will help us understand the changes we’re making and what the future holds for life as we know it.  “Our work can very practically be used to make policy decisions,” Wolff says. “As we are performing long-term measurements of various meteorological parameters, we directly see the differences in those variables from season to season, year to year.”  But the baseline for the forest is rapidly changing.  Preserving the Amazon benefits the whole world, but there’s immense pressure on the ground to exploit it  About an hour’s boat ride downriver from ATTO is the village of Maracarana, home to about 300 people. Maracarana was settled in the 1970s as this part of the forest was cut away to make room for ranching cattle. But in 2004, the Brazilian government established the area as part of the Uatumã Sustainable Development Reserve. It’s a forest protection system that attempts to combine conservation with sustainable forest uses by local traditional communities. The designation created legal protections for more than 1 million acres of this section of the rainforest and punishments for those who would destroy it.  Residents were given cash to stop cutting down the forest but were still allowed to reap its bounties, provided they did so in a way that allowed it to regenerate. Claudomiro Dos Santos Gomes, 52, works in Maracarana as a farmer and volunteer conservationist. He explains that people in the village now grow manioc, corn, beans, and watermelon on the cleared pastureland. From the forest, they harvest Brazil nuts, acai berries, and andiroba oil, a popular ingredient in incense and organic cosmetics. The government also helps the people in the village take their products to market in major cities like Manaus. The area’s clear and calm waters have made it a popular destination for sport fishers, too.  Nomadic indigenous groups who once roamed the reserve taught the newer arrivals about the cures and remedies of the rainforest, according to Dos Santos Gomes, and there are many more benefits that have yet to be discovered.  “It’s more lucrative right now to preserve the forest,” Dos Santos Gomes says.  But he notes that there are more than a dozen villages along the Uatamã River in this rainforest reserve, and not all of them are good stewards. There is little oversight or monitoring, so in many villages, people end up taking conservation money from the government to preserve the rainforest while also taking bribes from illegal loggers.  And in Maracarana, the residents in this remote area still need to power their homes, charge their phones, build health clinics, and send their children to school, which means they need to trade for resources from the outside. If people stop buying the crops from them, or if the demand for rainforest products surges, the pressure to clear the forest or over-exploit it will grow.  With the Amazon far-off and remote — even for most Brazilians — its value as a global store for carbon, a generator of rainfall, and a regional air conditioner is abstract and easy to take for granted. And it’s even more difficult to get other countries to step in when almost two-thirds of it is contained within the borders of just one country.  Brazil’s election of far-right President Bolsonaro has sparked a new surge of deforestation. His administration has made no secret of its desire to sell off the wood, land, and mining rights to the forests, as well as to roll back protections for the indigenous people who live there. His administration has scoffed at the idea of the rainforest as a global asset.  “It is a fallacy to say that the Amazon is the heritage of humankind, and a misconception, as confirmed by scientists, to say that our Amazonian forests are the lungs of the world,” Bolsonaro told the UN in September. “Using these fallacies, certain countries, instead of helping, followed the media’s lies and behaved in a disrespectful manner and with a colonialist spirit. They even called into question that which we hold as the most sacred value: our own sovereignty.”  The accelerating pace of disruption has sparked bloody confrontations with indigenous groups that want to preserve the forest and their way of life. And for the planet as a whole, time is rapidly running out for humanity to drastically cut its greenhouse gas emissions to limit this century’s warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the more ambitious target of the Paris agreement.  The Amazon rainforest is one of the most important barriers against unchecked warming and intensifying drought cycles in Brazil and beyond. But scientists are concerned that deforestation and fire are pushing the Amazon too close to an irreversible cycle of collapse. And evidence shows that the rainforest’s capacity to absorb carbon is already declining.  “We believe that negative synergies between deforestation, climate change, and widespread use of fire indicate a tipping point for the Amazon system to flip to non-forest ecosystems in eastern, southern, and central Amazonia at 20-25% deforestation,” Carlos Nobre and Thomas Lovejoy wrote in a 2018 editorial in the journal Science Advances. And at the current rates of deforestation, “we are 20 to 30 years off from reaching this tipping point,” Nobre recently told Yale Environment 360.  Leaders from around the world are in Madrid through December 13 to negotiate the details of implementing the Paris climate agreement. A key point of the talks is how countries around the world can develop concrete ways to preserve and restore critical ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest. Several Brazilian states and France are expected to announce a partnership for rainforest conservation during the conference, bypassing Brazil’s central government.  But time is running short. If scientists can get their message out about how trees like Bertholletia benefit people across the Earth — even those who may never taste its nut or stand in its shade — they may help secure the future of the rainforest.  Victor Moriyama is a Brazilian documentary photographer with a focus on public security and violence, indigenous communities, environmental conflicts, and deforestation.


thesun--2019-01-16--Amazing fairytale forest looks like scene from Lord of the Rings but its real and in the UK

Amazing fairytale forest looks like scene from Lord of the Rings but it’s real and in the UK

THIS amazing fairytale forest looks like it has been pulled from a Lord of the Rings scene - but it's real and can be found in the UK.  A photographer stumbled upon the atmospheric wood deep in the heart of Dartmoor, Devon, and has been taking stunning pictures of the Middle Earth-esque spot.  Neil Burnell, 44, has captured incredible images of Wistmans Wood over the course of the last year.  The woodland conjures up images of the fantasy scenes described by JRR Tolkien in his famous stories.  He named his photo project The Mystical and visited the difficult-to-find woodland 20 times to get the perfect shots.  He said: "I'm often told by people the photos look like a forest from Middle Earth.  “It felt like I was in a film set, so I wanted to portray the cinematic feel in the photo series.  “My favourite image from the set is Empire, as this was the first time in many visits where I had the conditions I wanted and was the shot that got the series started.  "I personally feel the forest looks like more like Dagobah from Star Wars, which is why I called the photo Empire, after Empire Strikes Back.  “I love to try and produce an atmosphere in my images, and Wistmans Wood is one of the most atmospheric places I've visited.  “The woodland is also notoriously difficult to photograph and I love a challenge.  “I have probably visited Wistmans Wood around 20 times in the last year but unfortunately, it has only had the required mist on two occasions.  "Photographing it without the fog is a hard task, and almost impossible to make images with the atmosphere I was looking for."  We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.


thesun--2019-03-21--Amazing aerial picture shows cross-shaped forest used for target practice in WW2

A CROSS-shaped forest in Suffolk was used by the RAF as target practice in the Second World War.  The 300mx300m cross made up of trees is located on Berner’s Heath, near Icklingham, where inert bombs - filled with concrete were dropped onto the site.  It is also believed it was a dumping ground used by squadrons returning from missions who needed to dump any bombs that were out of date or unexploded.  The high-altitude bombing range, were explosives were often dropped from heights such as 20,000ft, was used by the RAF from 1936 until the 1950s.  Barner’s Heath was also used as a training area during the First World War for tanks as far bank as 1916.  Owned by the Elveden Estate it was a top secret site for battling training and tanking testing.  The area can now be accessed by members of the public.  We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.


anonnews--2019-04-23--Brazilian Couple Plants Over 2 Million Trees To Restore A Destroyed Forest

When the rain forest around their home was destroyed, a Brazilian photographer and his wife took matters into their own hands and slowly reforested the area, planting over two million trees throughout the course of many years. When Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado went off to travel the world and pursue a career in journalism several years ago, his home was deep in a tropical forest, and a habitat for many exotic plants and animals.  Sadly, when he returned, he found that his home had been destroyed. The rainforest that he lived in had been entirely cut down, and the lush tropical forest that he once knew and loved had become a barren wasteland. Seeing his homeland in this state sent him spiraling into a deep depression.  Then one day, his wife Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, got an amazing idea. She suggested that they try to replant the forest all on their own, and she truly believed that it could be done. The couple quickly got to work on replanting the forest that they once knew and loved.  The job wasn’t easy, but eventually, they were able to reforest the area around their home. Miraculously not long after the plants begin to bloom again, the animals started to come back also, giving new life to the region.  “The land was as sick as I was – everything was destroyed. Only about 0.5% of the land was covered in trees. Then my wife had a fabulous idea to replant this forest. And when we began to do that, then all the insects and birds and fish returned and, thanks to this increase of the trees I, too, was reborn – this was the most important moment,” Salgado told The Guardian back in 2015.  “Perhaps we have a solution. There is a single being which can transform CO2 to oxygen, which is the tree. We need to replant the forest. You need forest with native trees, and you need to gather the seeds in the same region you plant them or the serpents and the termites won’t come. And if you plant forests that don’t belong, the animals don’t come there and the forest is silent,” he added.  20 years later, the area is nearly unrecognizable because there are so many trees and so much wildlife.  Once the project really started to pick up steam and show promise, the couple founded Instituto Terra, an organization through which they hired other members who care about the environment just as much as they do.  “We need to listen to the words of the people on the land. Nature is the earth and it is other beings and if we don’t have some kind of spiritual return to our planet, I fear that we will be compromised,” Salgado explained.  The feats that have been achieved by this couple show that individuals really can make a difference if they put in the effort. The average person today feels very disempowered and they don’t believe that they can do anything to make a difference in this world.  However, the people who actually try to make a difference, oftentimes end up with some incredible results. The couple responsible for this incredible restoration worked very hard to make it happen, but all of that hard work is only necessary because very few others are doing their part. With so many people not paying attention to the state of the environment, it requires a great deal of effort from dedicated people to actually make a change. It doesn’t have to be like this though, because the more people that chip in, the less work we all have to do.  If every single person in the world planted just one tree, we would have billions of new trees. Sadly it doesn’t seem like the global population is up to the task yet, so the job rests on a few dedicated people, who will try to show the rest of the world that change is possible.


thedailyrecord--2019-06-25--Colourful larch forests in Perthshire at risk from disease

A tree disease that forces all affected trees to be felled is coming close to Drummond Hill beside Loch Tay, prompting land managers to make plans for the inevitability of its arrival in an area famous for its colourful larch forest.  Phytophthora ramorum, a disease which infects and kills larch, has been confirmed to be on trees less than 10 kilometres from Drummond Hill.  Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS), an executive agency of the Scottish Government which manages the large forested site, is preparing its management plan for the next five years and is factoring in the certain encroachment of the disease.  Robin Almond, planning forester for the FLS team in the Highland Perthshire area, said: “The Drummond Hill woodlands are a vital part of the local landscape above Loch Tay.  “However, with the presence of the larch disease in the area, there is an increasing likelihood it will reach the slopes of Drummond Hill within the next few years.  “Those few years give us an opportunity to look at how we can manage this in a sympathetic manner.  “Once we have a fully formed proposal, we will invite members of the public to comment on how we tackle this issue.”  If the disease is confirmed on trees in a woodland, the land owner or manager is served with a statutory plant health notice requiring the infected larch – and all other larch within 250m – are felled and removed.  Perthshire has been recording small outbreaks but compared to the west coast of Scotland, central areas are not experiencing such rapid infection. Phytophthora ramorum spreads through water droplets and so far, is less common the further east you go in Scotland.  The long-term forecast is serious enough that forestry bodies are no longer planting large areas with larch for timber because new trees may not reach maturity.  Mr Almond added: “Drummond Hill is within an ‘area of great landscape value’ and is part of the Taymouth Castle designed landscape, so we don’t want to wait until the disease arrives because felling all the larch would have a huge impact on the amazing woodlands.”  Dates for drop-in sessions on the proposals will be announced in due course but anyone looking for more information on the land management plan process for Drummond Hill can contact enquiries.east@forestryandland.gov.scot


theguardianuk--2019-12-07--‘Felling this forest would be like knocking down a cathedral’

An ornithologist cradles a nuthatch in his hand as the low December sun throws the stark winter canopy of trees into relief.  Frost-covered leaves crunch underfoot along a path which meanders through ancient oaks, sycamores and willows. It is fringed with wood piles playing host to multiple types of fungi. Buzzards swoop overhead and birdsong fills the air.  This 3.2 hectares on the Northamptonshire/Warwickshire border has been woodland since the 1600s when James VI was on the throne. It is a breeding ground for many British birds, including tawny owls, woodpeckers and the now globally-at-risk marsh tit, willow tit and woodcock. As such it qualifies as ancient woodland, a unique and now increasingly threatened habitat in the United Kingdom.  Walking through Glyn Davies wood, Luci Ryan, lead ecologist for the Woodland Trust, points to the pink flags marking out how the HS2 rail link will – if the railway goes ahead – tear apart this old English woodland. Her job is to try to save not just Glyn Davies wood, which is owned by the Banbury Ornithological Society, but more than a thousand other ancient woodlands in the UK from the relentless encroachment of development.  “Ancient woodlands are an ecological goldmine,” said Ryan. “They are the most biodiverse habitats in the UK. They are uniquely British, and part of our heritage. They are our natural cathedrals, and cannot be replaced just by planting trees elsewhere. It is like knocking down St Paul’s Cathedral, putting the pile of bricks somewhere else and trying to say it’s the same thing.”  Increasingly, the UK’s ancient woodland is being lost to housing or industrial developments and transport links, and protecting these incomparable habitats makes up much of the workload of the Woodland Trust, one of four charities supported by the 2019 Guardian and Observer climate emergency charity appeal. The trust’s job has never been tougher; 1,064 ancient woodlands are currently under threat across the UK – the highest number since the trust’s records began in 1999. Since that year, the campaigning work of the trust has saved 1,101 from destruction, while 800 have suffered loss or damage. “It is deeply frustrating,” said Ryan. “Ancient woodland only covers 2.4% of the UK, so you would have thought it could be avoided. But that isn’t happening.”  The trust supports a team of 60 volunteers across the country who act as an early warning system. Known as the “threat detectors”, they scour planning applications for any sign of woodlands at risk, and pass details on to Ryan and the campaign team at the trust.  In the last seven years, it has been the Goliath of HS2 – created through an act of parliament rather than the normal planning process – which Ryan has been up against. The planned railway link between London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester will destroy or partially destroy 108 ancient woodlands covering 56 hectares of land.  Tenacious campaigning by the Woodland Trust has managed to save 14 hectares of ancient woodland, mostly by persuading ministers and HS2 of technical solutions – including tunnelling – to avoid desecrating the woodlands and the soil habitats within them which have been untouched for 400 years.  The trust also protects woodland through the purchase of areas which are threatened. Their sites range from ownership of a hedge in Sherborne, Dorset, to Loch Arkaig, a Caledonian pine forest in Spean Bridge, and Ben Sheildaig, a mountain in the west Highlands, which they purchased earlier this year.  Decades of pressure by the trust helped to change the national planning framework, which sets out the government’s planning policies for England. It now states that any development resulting in the loss of ancient woodland or ancient and veteran trees must be refused unless wholly exceptional.  In Harrogate Keith Wilkinson, a trust volunteer, was among an army of campaigners who fought successfully to save dense ancient woodland covering the steep sides of Nidd Gorge, where the River Nidd enters a deep ravine, from the bulldozers clearing land for a relief road.  A combination of high-profile marches attended by hundreds, and petitions thousands strong, finally reaped rewards when North Yorkshire county council withdrew the relief road project in October.  “For a fairly modest charity, with a small staff, trying to cover the whole of the UK, the Woodland Trust is amazing,” said Wilkinson. “They are tenacious. They are the protectors of the country’s woodlands.  In the fading light at Glyn Davies wood Helen Franklin, from the Banbury Ornithological Society, completes the ringing of blue tits, nuthatches and other birds – part of the society’s work to closely monitor population changes and movement.  Remembering the moment that the threat from HS2 was confirmed, Franklin is emotional. “I burst into tears. It is heartbreaking,” she says. “There is no logic to it and it makes me angry and deeply frustrated.”  There remains a glimmer of hope that the wood may be saved; its fate rests on the whim of a new government, even as the diggers wait a few feet away in a siding.


theguardianuk--2019-01-15--To save the rainforest we need to work with the palm oil industry Jennifer Lucey

To save the rainforest, we need to work with the palm oil industry | Jennifer Lucey

Lots of academics worry that focusing too much on the real-world impact of research threatens pure, curiosity-driven science. But really the two go hand in hand, especially when it comes to solving the complex question of how we achieve sustainability despite increasing human pressures on our planet.  As a tropical field ecologist studying rainforest destruction in Borneo, I saw the impact of the expanding palm oil industry on tropical biodiversity first hand, and so it was always a high priority to ensure the research I was doing made a difference. I was driven by scientific curiosity about how nature responds to the most drastic human activity, but also by the motivation to find solutions.  A Natural Environment [Research](https://www.theguardian.com/education/research) Council-funded fellowship allowed me a rare opportunity to devote all my energies to using science to teach palm oil companies how to look after biodiversity. In just under four years I was able to translate the pure ecological research I had done for my PhD, studying the responses of ants and butterflies to the destruction of tropical forests, into practical knowledge which will actually save rainforests.  I worked with the industry to develop a practical toolkit for stopping deforestation in tropical commodity industries, by showing how big rainforest reserves need to be to conserve biodiversity in land dominated by plantations. The toolkit, spearheaded by Greenpeace and several key palm oil industry players, has so far been used to conserve half a million hectares of forest in multiple countries – not only in the palm oil sector, but also in rubber, pulp and paper, and cocoa. Last month the major certification standard for palm oil, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), voted to use the toolkit to strengthen its “no deforestation” policy. Hopefully this will lead to larger areas of forest being protected from an industry that has been responsible for worrying levels of habitat destruction.  Work like this doesn’t just have an immediate impact on the environment; it has a multiplier effect on the wider research landscape. The government’s research excellence framework, the exercise that assigns universities funding, is coming up in 2021, and much discussion has focused on whether it’s fair that it places a lot of emphasis on research projects being able to demonstrate impact through case studies. My experience has confirmed their importance: work on the toolkit has secured nearly £2m in new research funding. An understanding of the knowledge needs of the industry has resulted in repeat funding from the RSPO for our [socially and ](http://www.sensorproject.net)[environmentally ](http://www.sensorproject.net)[sustainable ](http://www.sensorproject.net)[oil ](http://www.sensorproject.net)[palm ](http://www.sensorproject.net)[research programme](http://www.sensorproject.net) aimed at testing the impact of certification.  The work has also helped me forge new academic collaborations. My links with Indonesian academics resulted in a project with the [Universities](https://www.theguardian.com/education/universities) of York and Leeds and the Zoological Society of London to investigate the impacts of peatland restoration in Sumatra. This wouldn’t have come about without those critical local partner contacts.  These varied perspectives have also been a source of new routes of scientific enquiry. For me, questions about how to develop conservation policy changed the debate from “How do species respond to habitat fragmentation?” to “How big is big enough to support biodiversity?”.  So why aren’t we seeing more of this in UK academia? Positions in universities focused on building links between pure research and the industries, organisations and individuals that will use it tend to be short-term or administrative. To really make a difference, we need long-term networks led by academic staff who are experts in working with industry.  There is no reason why science with a social or environmental impact should compete with the need for pure research. As with my own example, applied science is usually generated from the building blocks of blue skies research. The presence of permanent knowledge exchange expertise in universities can help identify and translate unforeseen links between pure science and its applications, as well as generate funding from unexpected sources. Equally, a wider pool of ideas will produce more exciting research directions than academia can provide alone. This will bring the vital new thinking required to help balance the need to provide for our growing global population with the importance of protecting our planet for future generations.


theguardianuk--2019-08-24--Jair Bolsonaro claims profound love for Amazon rainforest as criticism intensifies

Jair Bolsonaro claims 'profound love' for Amazon rainforest as criticism intensifies

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has professed to feeling “profound love and respect” for the Amazon as fires continued to rage in the world’s biggest tropical rainforest and criticism of his environmental policies intensified.  In a televised address to the nation – met with pot-banging protests in several Brazilian cities – Bolsonaro said he was “not content” with the situation in the Amazon and was taking “firm action” to resolve it by deploying troops to the region.  But the rightwing populist played down both the significance of the forest fires that have mushroomed into a major political and environmental crisis – as well as his administration’s responsibility for it.  “Forest fires exist in the whole world and this cannot serve as a pretext for possible international sanctions,” Bolsonaro said in his brief, scripted address.  Forest fires are an annual occurrence in the Amazon region – about 60% of which lies in Brazil. But experts and campaigners blame the scale of this year’s blaze on the green light they believe Bolsonaro has given to those who wish to destroy the rainforest.  Bolsonaro hit back at such criticism in his Friday night address, claiming the spreading of “disinformation” – inside or outside Brazil – would do nothing to solve the Amazon crisis.  “Brazil is an example of sustainability,” he claimed, as the Amazon state of Acre became the latest to declare a state of emergency because of the wildfires. “It is our duty to protect the forest. We are aware of this and we are taking action to fight illegal deforestation and any other criminal activities that put our Amazon at risk,” Bolsonaro added.  “We are a government that shows zero tolerance to crime and it will not be different when it comes to the environment.”  Marina Silva, Brazil’s former environment minister, told the Guardian it would take more than propaganda and “words in the wind” to solve the Amazonian “environmental emergency” caused by Bolsonaro’s policies.  “Bolsonaro won the election with his anti-environment, anti-human rights and anti-indigenous discourse and on taking office he has transformed these words into deeds,” said Silva, who oversaw a significant reduction in deforestation while minister from 2003 until 2008. “These policies cannot be allowed to prosper.”  Amid a growing chorus of international criticism, Donald Trump came to Bolsonaro’s defense on Friday. “I told him if the United States can help with the Amazon Rainforest fires, we stand ready to assist!” the US president tweeted.  “Our future Trade prospects are very exciting and our relationship is strong, perhaps stronger than ever before,” Trump said.  Bolsonaro tweeted that he had discussed “a big trade negotiation” with Trump and that the US president “had also offered to help us protect Amazonia and fight the fires, if we wish, as well as to work together on environmental policies that respect the sovereignty of nations.”

Tom Phillips Latin America correspondent


theguardianuk--2019-09-25--Rewilding will make Britain a rainforest nation again George Monbiot

Rewilding will make Britain a rainforest nation again | George Monbiot

The forests still burn, but the world now looks away. In both [the Amazon basin](http://queimadas.dgi.inpe.br/queimadas/portal-static/situacao-atual/) and the [rainforests of Indonesia](https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09 /indonesia-haze-fire-forest-jokowi-negligent/), the world-scorching inferno rages on, already forgotten by most of the media. Intricate living systems, species that took millions of years to evolve, are being incinerated in moments, then replaced with monocultures. Giant plumes of carbon tip us further into climate breakdown. And we’re not even talking about it.  But underneath the grief and frustration, I also feel disquiet. We rightly call on other nations to protect their stunning places. But where are our rainforests? I mean this both metaphorically and literally. Out of 218 nations, the [UK ranks 189th for the intactness of its living systems](https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/documents /conservation-projects/state-of-nature/state-of-nature-uk-report-2016.pdf). Having trashed our own wildlife, our excessive demand for meat, animal feed, timber, minerals and fossil fuels helps lay waste the rest of the world.  Among our missing ecosystems are rainforests. Rainforests are not confined to the tropics: a good definition is forest wet enough to support epiphytes – plants that grow on other plants. Particularly in the west of Britain, where tiny fragments persist, you can find trees covered in rich growths of a fern called polypody, mosses and lichens, and flowering plants climbing the lower trunks. Learning that Britain is a rainforest nation astounds us only because we have so little left.  We now know that, alongside keeping fossil fuels in the ground, natural climate solutions – using the mass restoration of nature to [draw down carbon from the air](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/19/greta- thunberg-we-are-ignoring-natural-climate-solutions) – offer perhaps the last remaining chance to prevent [more than 1.5C, or even 2C](https://www.naturalclimate.solutions/the-science), of global heating. Saving the remaining rainforests and other rich ecosystems, while restoring those we have lost, is not just a nice idea: our lives may depend on it. But in countries like the UK, we urge others to act while overlooking our own disasters.  Foreigners I meet are often flabbergasted by the state of our national parks. They see the sheepwrecked deserts and grousetrashed moors and ask: “What are you protecting here?” In the name of “cultural heritage” we allow harsh commercial interests, embedded in the modern economy but dependent on public money, to complete the kind of [ecological cleansing we lament in the Amazon](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/28/britain- national-parks-reclaim-rewild). Sheep farming has done for our rainforests what cattle ranching is doing to Brazil’s. Then we glorify these monocultures – the scoured, treeless hills – as “wild” and “unspoilt”.  When the [International Union for Conservation of Nature](https://www.iucn.org/) sought to classify our national parks, it had to invent a new category. Most of the world’s national parks are category I or II: set aside principally for nature. But all of [ours are category V](https://www.iucn.org/theme/protected-areas/about/protected-areas- categories/category-v-protected-landscapeseascape): places where, in practice, business comes first and nature last. Much of the land in our national parks is systematically burned. In the northern parks, this destruction is [wreaked by grouse estates](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/24/grouse- estates-investigated-over-heather-burning), and in Snowdonia by farmers. But on Dartmoor and Exmoor, the [park authorities do it themselves](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2016/jan/14 /swaling-is-causing-an-environmental-disaster-on-britains-moors), torching wildlife, roasting the soil, pouring carbon into the skies: everything we condemn elsewhere.  The government’s new [Landscapes Review](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/833163 /landscapes-review-final-report.pdf) is better than I expected, but its positive proposals are in no way commensurate with our ecological and climate crises. It suggests that England’s national parks and other protected landscapes should “have a renewed mission to recover and enhance nature … simply sustaining what we have is not nearly good enough”. But it does not argue that any of our parks should aim for something better than category V. Nor does it recommend that burning should cease, or that farming should withdraw from some places to allow rainforests and other rich habitats to recover. Where is the ambition our emergencies demand?  We urgently need more trees, but we appear to believe that the only means of restoring them is planting. We have [a national obsession with tree planting](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/23/call-for-1m- people-join-uk-biggest-mass-tree-planting-campaign), which is in danger of becoming as tokenistic as bamboo toothbrushes and cotton tote bags. In many places rewilding, or natural regeneration – allowing trees to seed and spread themselves – is much faster and more effective, and tends to produce far richer habitats.  Burning gorse on Dartmoor. Photograph: Marc Hill/Alamy  All over the country, I see “conservation woodlands” that look nothing like ecological restoration and everything like commercial forestry: the ground blasted with glyphosate (a herbicide that kills everything), trees planted in straight rows, in plastic tree guards attached with cable ties to treated posts. It looks hideous, it takes decades to begin to resemble a natural forest and, in remote parts of the nation, it is often the primary cause of plastic litter, much of which is never recovered. There are no woodland creation grants in this country supporting natural regeneration: public money is pegged exclusively to the number of trees planted. This is one of the reasons for the [shocking failure to meet the UK’s targets](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/13/tree-planting-in- england-falls-72-short-of-government-target) for new woodlands.  The government should follow the [hierarchical approach ](https://naturalareasblog.wordpress.com/2018/12/28/tree-planting-and-natural- regeneration/)suggested by the conservationist Steve Jones. It should fund natural regeneration wherever possible. Where trees struggle to establish themselves, it should finance assisted regeneration (clearing competing vegetation). Only where those options won’t work should it offer grants for tree planting. But while nature loves a mess, officialdom abhors one: instead of natural exuberance it seeks neat industrial rows.  Don’t expect much help from politicians. Michael Gove’s successor as environment secretary, Theresa Villiers, seems tongue-tied, apparently terrified of offending vested interests. Labour’s vote for a Green New Deal, with a 2030 deadline for decarbonisation (20 years before the government’s) is exciting. But we now need to see its commitments on industrial emissions matched by ambitious proposals for ecological restoration.  Nor are the big conservation groups filling the void. Ours is an extraordinary situation: a nation of nature lovers, obsessed by wildlife programmes, represented by gigantic NGOs, but apparently incapable of preventing the precipitous decline of wildlife and habitats. The conservation groups have manifestly failed to translate our love of nature into action.  They betray their radical roots. The National Trust [arose from the Commons Preservation Society](https://www.monbiot.com/1995/09/27/whose-nation-whose- trust/), that tore down fences to return land to the people. Now it allows the forces it once contested to ride roughshod over its land, [allowing trail hunts](https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/our-position-on-trail- hunting) and exclusive grouse shoots to erode the sense of national ownership. On its Exmoor estate, in the resource book it publishes for school teachers, it celebrates burning the land. The RSPB was founded by women seeking to ban the import of birds’ plumage for hats – they eventually succeeded. Now, as independent ecologists raise massive petitions to [ban driven grouse shooting](https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/266770), the RSPB undermines their campaigns by calling for this [devastating practice to be, er, licensed](https://community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/martinharper/posts/why- we-need-a-review-of-driven-grouse-moor-management-in-england). Hesitation and appeasement reign.  We should continue to mobilise against the destruction of the world’s great habitats, and its terrifying implications. But the most persuasive argument we can make is to show we mean it, by restoring our own lost wonders.  • George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist


thetelegraph--2019-10-15--Plants taught to take 'selfies' in move which could help scientists discover more about the rainfore

Plants taught to take 'selfies' in move which could help scientists discover more about the rainforest

Scientists have taught plants how to take 'selfies' in a move which will make monitoring the wildlife in rainforests far easier.  The first ever "plant selfie" has been taken with the help of researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) after they managed to invent a camera which works using energy generated by the plant.  This is an exciting new development for conservationists, as they have been able to harness the natural energy created by living plants to create small amounts of electricity, allowing them to "plug in" to nature.  Earlier this year, they installed microbial fuel cells in ZSL London Zoo’s Rainforest Life exhibit, in order to power a plant to take its own picture - with the ultimate aim of using plants to power camera traps and sensors in the wild.  Now, the experiment has been a success, with the plant able to take pictures of itself without further human interference.  After spending the summer growing in strength, Pete - a maidenhair fern whose delicate leaves and shiny stalks are clearly visible in the images - now photographs "himself" regularly.