A large part of the tropical forests of the poorly managed world (AP)

By RAPHAEL g. SATTER, Associated Press Raphael g. Satter, Associated Press - Tue Jun 7, 9: 07 pm EST

LONDON - large tracts of tropical forests of the world have been formally protected from deforestation, but an international conservation group said that might not be enough to save them.

A report published Tuesday by the International Tropical Timber Organization, said that much of the land being set aside for forest was not managed sustainably - leaving vulnerable that the production of agriculture and biofuels gobble up acre after acre (hectare after hectare).

"Deforestation is going down and there is a very substantial increase and good coverage of protected areas" Duncan Poore, one of the authors of the report, said Associated Press advance of its publication.

But he said that, in the future, "Outlook could not therefore seem favourable."

It is that food because increasing and the price of fuel mean land covered in trees to the left becomes much less profitable than the land used to grow soy or wheat beans. And a global climate still occupy a distant prospect, it is not at all certain that companies rich funds invest tropical forests to offset their greenhouse gas emissions will continue to flow.

"Forces promoting the destruction of forests, such as higher food and fuel prices, could easily be those that promote the conservation of the forest," the organization said in a report.

The report itself counted 761 million hectares (1.88 billion acres) of what is called "permanent forest estate" - land set aside for forest tropical host in perpetuity.

That would make the size of the estate permanent about as much as the Australia, but the report warned that only 10 for % of the land was managed sustainably - a term meaning that wood, fruit and nut harvest are retained within healthy levels and forest borders are secure.

Speaking of the light room, the first floor of Royal Overseas League London, Poore said that the international community should focus on ensuring that the 700 any remaining hectares (1.73 trillion-SDO acres) set aside for the use of the forest were in sustainable management.

If that had happened, he said, he could live with having the rest assigned to agricultural or other uses. "If these 700 million hectares is secure, I think that we are O.K.," he said.

"It would be good if there was more," he added, before becoming thoughtful for a moment.

"It is more important to decide what you want to keep and secure it and take care of property, is to a forest which has disappeared", he said.

The Japan International Organization-based tropical Woods, founded in 1986, is composed of 33 member countries who together represent 1.42 billion hectares (3.51 billion acres) of tropical forest, or 85% of the total world.

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Online:

http://www.ITTO.int/

(This location version corrects corrects organization.) (Adds details and quotes, and links of photos).

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Tropical "hot spots" can get too hot to grow (AFP)

PARIS (AFP) - climate change is on the right track to disrupt food crops of lifeline across large parts of Africa and Asia already mired in chronic poverty, according to an international study published Friday.

More than 350 million people are facing a "Storm" conditions for food disaster, warns the report by scientists at the Consultative Group on international agricultural research (CGIAR).

Temperature increases projected by the specialists of the climate one could, by 2050, shorten the seasons below the critical threshold of growth, aggravate the variability of weather and make several regions dominated by subsistence inappropriate for the main crops.

If these areas first have a history of persistent food shortages, the mixture could be fatal.

"We are beginning to see much more clearly where the effect of climate change on agriculture could intensify the hunger and poverty," said Patti Kristjanson, researcher in the research programme of the CGIAR climate change, Agriculture and food security (CCAFCS).

Farmers know from experience dealing with temperamental weather patterns by planting time changing and the movement of livestock.

But climate change fast and could force them to use "entirely new crops or new farming systems", and many may not able to adapt, Kristjanson said.

The 100-page study identifies points hot "potential food crisis" by the superposition of three kinds of data on global and regional maps.

It identifies areas of heat above optimal conditions - or even downright tolerance - for major crops, including rice, maize and beans.

Average maximum temperatures during the growing seasons, for example, are poised to rise above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in some parts of the West and South Africa, the India and China by 2050.

In some areas agricultural growing seasons can be short at least five per cent, and considered to be in any other year on the other variation of rainfall is probably exceed 21 per cent, as thresholds of viability for some cultures, the study found.

To assess potential impacts, agricultural density and current food insecurity are also taken into account.

"When you put these maps together, they indicate places in the world, where the arrival of the stressful growing conditions could be particularly disastrous," said Polly Ericksen, researcher at the International Institute of research of the livestock of the CGIAR in Nairobi.

Even in rich countries, climate impacts can be very disturbing - French farmers, reeling from the worst drought of spring, in more than a century are slaughtering herds due to lack of food.

But in many countries in Africa and Asia, where farmers are already struggling to meet basic needs, "survival is strongly linked to the fate of regional crop and livestock yields," said Eriksen.

Scientists are working hard to breed new strains of grain staple that will be able to withstand a future warming, but some areas may have to new crops completely to meet the nutrition needs, researchers said.

"The window of opportunity to develop innovative solutions that can effectively address these challenges is limited, said Philip Thornton, a CCAFS researchers and co-author of the study."

"The major adaptation efforts are needed now if we want to avoid the serious food security and livelihood problems later.

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