Word: clear
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...need for stricter control of the Puer industry became clear two years ago, when the Puer market went on a destabilizing roller-coaster ride. Some Chinese buy tea as an investment, much like Europeans buy wines. In the early part of the decade, thousands of cash-rich urbanites poured their savings into the Puer, causing prices to double, then triple. "People were buying anything," says David Lee Hoffman, a California collector. By 2007, the finest aged Puer was - quite literally - worth its weight in gold. As demand soared, however, quality suffered, fakes flooded the market and prices fell...
...again, the results were clear: those who said their lives were changing were far more likely to pick unfamiliar products than those for whom everything was pretty normal. (See pictures: "What the World Eats, Part...
...This unexpected shift in the trend of clear-cutting and -burning is a result of what's known as agroforestry, an increasingly popular practice, which according to Dennis Garrity, the Nairobi-based director-general of the WAC, could be a "real compensation for deforestation." Farmers are planting trees on their property not because they want to suck up carbon dioxide - at least, not yet. Rather, trees can add value to agriculture. Fruit and nut trees provide additional income or even subsistence food, especially in times of drought, since trees are generally hardier than crops. Trees also provide salable commodities like...
...says. But Morch is encouraged by the fact that as soon as the incident was made public, the central government fired off a stern warning to the local authorities that they had violated the law, and they wanted assurances that this will not be repeated. "The law is crystal clear and the policy is crystal clear," says Morch, which shows incredible progress. "Now it really is a question of parents understanding. They need to be educated, and we have a long ways to go on this in Vietnam...
...Environmental groups in Greece complain that in the wake of the 2007 fires, there have been no substantial education initiatives or forestry work. They also blame land developers for setting fires to clear land, especially in the heavily populated areas near Athens. Greece bans building in forest areas but has no official record of which areas are protected, along with a poor record of enforcing the ban in areas devastated by fire...