Komatsu PC400LC-7 and D155A-3 Clearing Land
A 2006 Komatsu PC400LC-7 and a 2000 Komatsu D155A-3 clearing trees and establishing an access road to a new surface mine.

By: PAmining

Read the original post:
Komatsu PC400LC-7 and D155A-3 Clearing Land - Video

GEORGE TOWN, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- The DAP-led Penang government had never issued approvals for landowners to carry out land clearing activities in Bukit Laksamana, Balik Pulau here.

The state's Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said that to the contrary, notices to stop such works had been issued to the landowners since Oct 2014.

"We are in the process of taking legal action against landowners for clearing land without permission," he told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony of new members of the Penang Municipal Council, here today.

On Tuesday, it was reported that land clearing activities on hills in the state was still going on with the latest incident detected in Bukit Laksamana and Bukit Batu Itam in Balik Pulau.

Chow said the approval for land clearing activities and approval for the plan in Bukit Batu Itam was issued in 2007.

Read more:
Penang never approved land clearing in Bukit Laksamana

Native vegetation codes irk both environmental and farm groups.

Proposed loosening of land-clearing codes by the O'Farrell government will allow NSW farmers to slash, burn and rip will little oversight, environmental groups claim.

Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner and Environment Minister Robyn Parker on Thursday unveiled for public comment the first three self-assessable codes for clearing native vegetation.

The codes - for managing invasive native species, thinning native vegetation and clearing paddock trees in cultivated areas will help ensure we strike the balance between conservation and efficient agricultural management, Mr Stoner said.

This places trust in landholders to manage their property sustainably while maintaining environmental standards.

Advertisement

Environmental groups, though, say the codes permit the use of chains dragged by bulldozers and blade ploughs that run counter to the recommendations in the Native Vegetation Regulation Review completed a year ago by agricultural consultant Joe Lane.

Self-assessable clearing should only include methods such as burning or clearing individual plants with nil to minimal disturbance to soil and groundcover, Mr Lane's review said.

The codes will obviously lead to a lot more destructive land-clearing when we need to be protecting [native vegetation] as much as possible and moving to a more sustainable agriculture - not slash, burn and rip, said Jeff Angel, director of the Total Environment Centre.

Pepe Clarke, chief executive officer of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, said the prospect of large-scale clearing creates a substantial environment risk while placing landholders at risk of breaking laws if their self-assessment proves to be erroneous.

Originally posted here:
Native vegetation codes open way for destructive clearing: environmental groups

Latest News Most Read Hot Topics

Attrition: Afghanistan Leads The World

January 7, 2015: Despite a tremendous mine clearing effort in Afghanistan, the country still suffers over 900 landmine casualties a year, nearly half of them children (those under age 18). The mine clearing effort greatly increased after the Taliban were driven from power in 2001. But in the last six years the Taliban have been increasingly planting more mines themselves and attacking or scaring away mine clearing teams.

Until 2006 Afghanistan was making great strides in getting rid of millions of land mines (most of them Russian and Chinese Cold War vintage stuff). In 2001 over 1,600 Afghans a month were being killed or wounded by all these mines but by 2006 the losses were cut in half. But since then the growing use of landmines by the Taliban and drug gangs has increased annual mine casualties to nearly a thousand. By 2006 17 years of demining efforts had cleared nearly a thousand square kilometers mines. At the time that was believed to be 70 percent of the mined areas. Up until 2007 the Taliban and drug gangs tended to leave the deminers alone. But then new minefields began to show up, planted by the Taliban and drug gangs to protect drug (opium and heroin) operations. This happened despite the fact that most Afghans wanted nothing more to do with landmines and just want to see them all gone. Most of the people actually clearing the mines are Afghans, and some have been at it for since the 1990s. Foreign aid groups and governments provide equipment, training and money for salaries and supplies. The biggest supplier of such aid has been the United States.

Landmines were outlawed by an international treaty in 1999, but this mainly applied to nations that don't have landmines or don't have any reason to use them. Islamic terrorists, rebels and drug gangs have not signed the international agreement and find the mines a cheap way to control civilian populations and slow down anyone coming after them. It takes more time, money, and effort to remove these mines than to place them. Most countries needing to get rid of mines seek to speed up mine clearing by training local volunteers to be part of the part-time mine clearing teams. The government provides training, pay (usually pretty good by local standards), health and life insurance and other benefits. When a new bunch of mines are found (usually by an animal coming across them), the team gets to work.

Despite efforts like this it has not been a promising time for those seeking to enforce the ban on the use of landmines. In the last few years Israel, Libya, Syria, North Korea, Iran, and Myanmar (Burma) planted new mines. In addition, there are three countries still manufacturing landmines (India, Myanmar, and Pakistan). Arms dealers will still provide large quantities of Russian and Chinese landmines, many of them Cold War surplus. China, Russia, and other communist nations were major producers of landmines during the Cold War. The mines were produced not just for use against potential enemies but to aid in keeping the borders closed and preventing citizens from leaving these unpleasant dictatorships.

There has been a growing list of outlaw organizations that are ignoring the 1999 Ottawa Convention to ban landmines. The Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan are manufacturing landmines in primitive workshops and using them against Pakistani, Afghan, and foreign soldiers, as well as Afghan civilians who refuse to support the Islamic terrorist group.

Despite the 1999 treaty, landmines are still causing over 5,000 casualties a year worldwide. About twenty percent of the victims are killed and 90 percent of them are males. This is largely because men are more likely to be out in the bush or working farmlands that still contain mines. A third of the casualties are security personnel (police and soldiers). Afghanistan leads the world in landmine casualties. Most landmine losses these days occur in countries where rebels and criminals are still using landmines, either factory made ones from countries that did not sign the Ottawa Convention or locally made models.

Landmines are simple to make and workshops are easily set up to do it. There's no shortage of mines out there, despite the fact that in the first few years after the 1999 Ottawa Convention was signed over 25 million landmines, in the arsenals of over fifty nations, were destroyed. But these nations were not users and rarely sold them either. For those who want landmines, they find a way to obtain and use them. The Taliban are the latest group to demonstrate this. Leftist rebels in Colombia have been making their own mines for years now, as have Islamic and communist rebels in the Philippines. There are believed to be over 100 million mines still in the ground and at least as many in military warehouses for future use.

The 1999 Ottawa Convention was supposed to have reduced land mine casualties among civilians. It hasn't worked because the owners of the largest landmine stockpiles, Russia and China, refused to sign. Chinese land mines are still available on the international arms black market. China is believed to have the largest stockpile, mostly of anti-personnel mines. The old ones are often sold before they become worthless. But even these mines, which go for $5-10 each, are too expensive for many of the criminal organizations that buy them. Land mines, competitive with the factory built ones from China, can be built for less than three dollars each. You can find all the technical data you need on the Internet. On the plus side these locally made anti-personnel mines tend to be less powerful than factory made ones and thus the mine boots provide even better protection when the wearer encounters an locally made mine.

Read more from the original source:
Attrition: Afghanistan Leads The World

Highway 162 Land
Before land clearing.

By: Nathaniel Cabell

Originally posted here:
Highway 162 Land - Video

The Manchester Land Conservation Trust continues to make improvements to the 1-mile portion of the historic Cheney Rail Trail that it owns.

The most recent change came in November, when the group used a grant from the Manchester Road Race committee to buy 260 tons of stone dust to apply to the trail to make running, walking and biking it easier.

Built in 1869, the 2 1/4-mile Cheney Railroad was important to the success of the family's silk mills. Not only did the railroad transport raw materials into and finished goods out of town, it also served as a commuter train for workers living in the north end of Manchester.

The railroad ceased its passenger service in 1933 but continued a freight service into the 1980s.

"It's unique to Manchester," said Susan Barlow, a member of the Manchester Land Conservation Trust and the Manchester Historical Society.

On Jan. 31 at 1 p.m., Barlow will lead a free hike of the rail trail, which takes her imagination back to the time when workers would leave their north end homes and hop on the train to work at the silk mills.

"The fact that the Cheneys had their silk empire and needed this transportation and shelled out the money themselves, it's hard to imagine," Barlow said. "And it's right here in the center of town. It's really quite convenient. We know people use it."

The trail is now used by walkers, runners, hikers, parents with strollers, bikers and others, Barlow said. She even knows of a few people who use the trail to walk to work.

Doug MacGillvary, the land trust's stewardship chairman, managed the installation of the trail's stone dust. The trust acquired its portion of the trail in 2005 and immediately recognized its potential, MacGillvary said.

"When I first got on this board, we were looking at what potential there was for some of these pieces of property that we weren't [being realized]," MacGillvary said. "This was obviously one of them. It was two or three years of nothing happening. It didn't happen overnight. We've been working hard on this."

Read the original post:
Land Trust Continuing To Improve The Cheney Rail Trail

Tom McAllister cleared disused plot of land next to his recycling business The 68-year-old said he could not find legal owner in government records But lawyers said patch belongs to Lord Home, son of Alec Douglas-Home Judge ruled in Lord Home's favour after he took Mr McAllister to court

By Stephanie Linning for MailOnline

Published: 14:34 EST, 6 January 2015 | Updated: 20:40 EST, 6 January 2015

14 shares

123

View comments

A pensioner has lost a bitter legal battle with a multi-millionaire Tory peer over a patch of land next to his recycling yard that he has used for more than 17 years.

Tom McAllister, 68, said he decided to clear the disused plot, which was used as a dumping ground, after he was unable to find the legal owner in government records.

But lawyers insisted the land in Rigside, Lanarkshire, belonged to the estate of David Douglas-Home, son of ex-Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home, and took legal action against Mr McAllister.

Tom McAllister, right, said he decided to clear the disused plot, which was used as a dumping ground, after he was unable to find the legal owner in government records. Lawyers said it belonged to Lord Home (left)

Read the original here:
Rigside pensioner loses legal battle with millionaire Lord Home

LAND CLEARING, JCB
RB CIVILS PTY LTD, property clearing in a JCB positrack.

By: RB CIVILS PTY LTD

Excerpt from:
LAND CLEARING, JCB - Video

Golf Cart Drive Flyover Mayfield, KY
Flyover at golf cart drive to see recent land clearing in Mayfield, KY. GoPro Hero 3, DJI Phantom 2.

By: Ryan Harvey

Excerpt from:
Golf Cart Drive Flyover Mayfield, KY - Video

Villagers seize bulldozers earlier this week during a land dispute in Preah Vihear province involving a community forest. ADHOC

After villagers in Preah Vihears Brame commune briefly held two drivers hostage and confiscated bulldozers on Monday due to an ongoing land dispute, two Chinese concessionaire companies and provincial authorities agreed yesterday to temporarily cease the clearing of contested land in the area.

During a meeting with the Chinese firms and authorities yesterday, 200 community members demanded Rui Feng International and Lan Feng halt the three-year clearing project on their lands as it greatly reduces the standard of living of the 367 families, many of whom are ethnic Kuoy minorities.

The company cleared our forest, resin trees and farming lands, making us poor and leading us to lose out ethnic identification, said community representative Nuon Mon.

In response to the demand, Sou Serey, Preah Vihear's deputy governor who presided over the meeting, said that while the province has no right to withdraw ELCs, they will work on resolving the land dispute.

We have also have no right to close the company, but were trying to solve the ongoing dispute, Serey said. Its the right of the people to not accept it.

Villagers requested a six-month cessation, but Serey could not confirm how long the clearing will be halted.

Currently, officials are demarcating property to determine ownership of the lands.

We are waiting for the commune to map the community and our committee will demarcate the community, Serey said.

The decision was several days after Brame community members briefly kidnapped two company drivers and confiscated bulldozers on Monday to bolster their opposition. The drivers were subsequently released and the machinery returned to the companies the following day.

Read more:
Preah Vihear villagers win small concession