Rainforest

• BRASÍLIA, Brazil, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bezos Earth Fund today announced it has awarded $50 million in grants to support conservation and sustainable development in the Amazon.
• "The future of the Brazilian Amazon is critical to our planet and to the Indigenous Peoples and local communities who call it home," said Lauren Sánchez, Vice Chair of the Earth Fund.
• "Prosperity and sustainability can go hand in hand — protecting the Amazon Rainforest is good for people and for the planet."
• The Earth Fund granted the Environmental Defense Fund, leading Brazilian NGOs, and Indigenous organizations $9.7 million to provide training and legal and logistical support to Indigenous and community leaders in two Brazilian States.

• Red imported fire ants have been detected for the first time on the western side of the Great Dividing Range in Toowoomba, Queensland.
• The yellow crazy ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes) ranks among the world’s 100 worst animal pests because of its impacts on agriculture and biodiversity.
• The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) poses similar threats, and is also one of the world’s most dangerous ants.

Read more:
Eradicating fire ants is still possible, but we have to choose now

Where did the crazy ants come from?

• The origin of yellow crazy ants is disputed but is likely in South-East Asia or Africa.
• It can burn human skin and is lethal for other ants and many native arthropods.
• These ants have spread to much of South-East Asia, parts of central America and the United States.
• Since reaching the Australian territory of Christmas Island, yellow crazy ants have devastated the native wildlife.
• The prospects of total eradication of yellow crazy ants in Australia are not promising.

And what about the fire ants?

• The fire ants are less distinctive than the crazy ants.
• They look like some small native ants in the genera Monomorium and Chelaner.
• However, their antennae have two segments, while these native ants have three segments.
• They are distinguished by the teeth on the mandible, or jaws: the red imported fire ant has four teeth and the other species has three.
• It has super-colonies like the crazy ant and is equally adaptable in terms of food, nest sites and multiple queens (in some, but not all colonies).

• We believe bringing back cultural burning is an important step towards creating a more just and sustainable future.
• Over a decade ago, we ran a workshop for Jayn Hobba, a non-Indigenous woman who has a nature reserve property outside Stanthorpe.
• A decade later, I can see culturally appropriate fire regimes and conservative thinning of vegetation are benefiting the ecosystems and reducing fuel load.
• A decade later, I can see culturally appropriate fire regimes and conservative thinning of vegetation are benefiting the ecosystems and reducing fuel load.

Why is cultural burning undertaken?

• By burning the right areas at the right time, we burn off the fuel loads and keep Australia’s fire-loving trees from starting dangerous fires.
• Our thousands of years of cultural burning made much of Australia look like a park – stands of trees, large tracts of grass and shrub, as historian Bill Gammage has detailed.
• Cultural burning, too, could have been lost.

How does it differ from hazard reduction burns?

• Hazard burns are usually hot burns, done with more intensity.
• Many Australian trees sweat flammable oils during the day, making it a more dangerous time.
• The wind is often gentle during a morning burn, assisting us as we direct the fire.
• Cool fires do not bake seeds or nutrients into the soil, nor do they destroy root systems.
• Hazard reduction burns are performed to control overgrowth of bush.

How is it done?

• To do it properly, you need thorough knowledge of the natural environment.
• You can’t simply walk into a field or forest and set it alight.
• Burning at the wrong time in the wrong place risks a cool burn running hot.

The return of cultural burning

The Black Summer had many causes, ranging from climate change to misuse of land and bad land and water use. The absence of cultural burning and traditional land management practices made matters worse. Cultural burning and land management can improve soil health, dampen down the impact of weeds and invasive species, control pests, sequester carbon and improve runoff and water quality.

Cultural burning could help create a better future

• Our knowledge of this continent may help save lives, land, flora and fauna – and help protect all of us from the ravages of climate change.
• Our organisation and others like it work with non-Indigenous Australian landowners and farmers to undertake cultural burns – and to pass on the lore.

• Black Tulip Flowers shares how they are inspiring eco-friendly practices for sustainable growth of the floriculture industry.
• Black Tulip Flowers is one of the largest floral companies in the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia, with 30+ years of experience in growing, export, import, retail and wholesale of fresh flowers in the region.
• Black Tulip Flowers has taken the initiative to lead the way in implementation of eco-friendly practices that not only safeguards the environment but also supports local economies.
• Black Tulip Flowers has also participated in the latest IFTEX (International Flower Trade Expo) event in Nairobi, Kenya, that hosts leading flower growers from around the world.