A WWF/IUCN Global Review of Forest Fires (2000) has been the subject of comment in media regarding its use as a source for the IPCC and questioning the credibility of some of its claims. Some commentators have concluded that potential climate impacts on the Amazon are overstated and unsupported. WWF refutes this conclusion and stands by the credibility of its report.

WWF-UK would like to clarify the following details:

• The Global Review of Forest Fires says that “up to 40% of the Brazilian forest is extremely sensitive to small reductions in the amount of rainfall.” WWF’s source for this statement was Fire in the Amazon, a 1999 overview of Amazon fire issues from the respected Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM – Amazon Environmental Research Institute). The source quotation from Fire in the Amazon reads “Probably 30 to 40% of the forests of the Brazilian Amazon are sensitive to small reductions in the amount of rainfall.” Our report does NOT say that 40% of the Amazon forest is at risk from climate change.

• WWF acknowledges that a reference to Fire in the Amazon as the source of the 40% claim outlined above was mistakenly omitted during the editing process of the Global Review of Forest Fires report.

• The essential point made in the report (and referred to by the IPCC) is that reduced rainfall increases fire risk and that a drying of the “normally fire-resistant Amazon forest” could impact the hydrologic cycle with implications for regional and global climate.

• WWF has since published a further, more detailed report that looks at this subject in further depth: Nepstad, Daniel C, The Amazon’s Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire in the Greenhouse – Ecological and Climatic Tipping Points of the World’s Largest Tropical Rainforest, and Practical Preventive Measures, (WWF 2007). This report was supported by The Woods Hole Research Centre, the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia, and the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, and independently reviewed by Prof Yadvinder Malhi, Professor of Ecosystem Science at Oxford University.

• What is not in contention is that the Amazon is at risk from factors which include and are complicated by climate change. Climate change is widely predicted to pose a significant risk to Amazon forest cover and type. A number of recent peer-reviewed studies support this.

• WWF cannot answer for the use of our 2000 report by other institutions.

The overwhelming majority of scientists from all relevant fields stand by the basic conclusion of climate science that human-induced changes in the composition of the atmosphere are resulting in warming which is driving damaging and possibly catastrophic climate change. This finding is supported by theory, modelling and more and more extensively by measurement over more than 20 years of what has become the largest international scientific collaboration ever mounted.

Recent controversies have largely concerned scientific standards employed in the assessment of projected impacts of climate change in a very small proportion of regions and cases studied. These incidents have no bearing on the overwhelming mass of findings on the reality and causes of climate change.

As the world’s leading science-based conservation organisation, WWF is committed to ensuring the information we provide to the public meets high standards of accuracy. WWF practice is to research any errors we are alerted to and make corrections where relevant.

For further comment please call Benjamin Ward (+44 7837 134 193) or Phil Dickie (+41 7970 31952).

Benjamin Ward
Head of Press & Media Relations
WWF-UK

+44 (0) 1483 412 378
+44 (0) 7837 134 193
bward@wwf.org.uk

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In what is an outstanding victory for animals, and a crippling blow to the exotic pet trade, yesterday Judge Jennifer Rymell of Tarrant County Court affirmed the outstanding January 5 ruling of Municipal Judge Michael Smith: U.S. Global Exotics (USGE) will not regain custody of the more than 27,000 animals seized by Arlington officials in a massive civil seizure last month.

After reviewing hours of testimony, video and photos taken on the day of the seizure and gathered during PETA’s seven-month undercover investigation of USGE, Judge Rymell affirmed Judge Smith’s ruling that Jasen and Vanessa Shaw, the owners and operators of USGE, had cruelly treated all animals seized from their business on December 15. The animals, which included thousands of reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, arachnids, and many others—even sloths, wallabies, ringtail lemurs and others—were cruelly confined in hideously cramped, filthy litter pans, dungeon-like cattle feeding troughs, boxes, bags, and even soda bottles, and denied desperately needed food, water, basic and veterinary care. PETA’s undercover investigator documented starved, dehydrated animals, animals who had resorted to eating each other out of stress and hunger, animals whose wounds were so deep that muscle and bone were exposed and legs chewed off, live animals thrown away like trash, animals intentionally frozen to death in the facility’s freezers, and more.

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The animals seized have been held and cared for at a facility set up by experts brought in by PETA to ensure their welfare and safety, and cared for daily by staff of the SPCA of Texas, the wonderful Detroit Zoo, the Humane Society of North Texas, and other groups. Food and supplies for these thousands of animals has been subsidized by PETA – and costs several thousand dollars a week. The great news is that we have been able to secure permanent homes for many of the animals with the Detroit Zoo—where they will have top-notch care—and pre-screened groups are lined up to take in many others!

Since the December 15 raid, USGE has effectively been dead⎯it has not bought nor sold a single animal! This means that PETA’s investigation and efforts have saved far more than 27,000 animals⎯it has spared tens of thousands of animals the misery of being wild-captured and stolen out of their native homes, shipped in cramped crates, pillowcases and containers, and kept in deplorable, hellish conditions at USGE’s nasty warehouse. The animals rescued from USGE will never have to suffer in the cruel pet trade ever again.

This is a huge victory that has saved countless lives, but until the Petcos and PetSmarts of the world stop selling animals—all of whom are from hellholes like USGE, where profit is the only thing that counts and where the lives and welfare of these animals mean nothing—the misery will continue. Many of the animals pulled out of USGE in the nick of time were headed to PetSmart and PETCO distributors nationwide. Please don’t shop at PETCO or PetSmart and tell your friends not to either, and to never support any pet store that sells live animals.

Posted by Shawna Flavell