Latest News

AFP
Greater clarity on climate finance at 46-nation forum
AFP
At best, say experts, Cancun will deliver good progress on finance, technology transfer, preventing deforestation and encouraging skills-building in poor ...
Remarks at the Geneva Dialogue on Climate FinanceUS Department of State
A climate for European actionIndependent
Human Survival Depends On Shared Technology, Says New UN Climate ChiefIntellectual Property Watch (blog)
PEJ News -Reuters Blogs (blog)
all 322 news articles »

Reuters India
A climate for European action
Independent
It was also clear they were beginning to take action to reduce their emissions. But nowhere could they see an OECD government in which the volume of capital ...
Website tracks Copenhagen pledgesAFP
Human Survival Depends On Shared Technology, Says New UN Climate ChiefIntellectual Property Watch (blog)
The People Create Thousands of Solutions to Confront Climate Change!PEJ News
Reuters Blogs (blog)
all 274 news articles »

The World Bank Group seeks a middle path between development and environmentalism / asiasentinel.com

MONTREAL, Sept. 3 /CNW Telbec/ - Boralex Power Income Fund (the "Fund") has today declared a cash distribution in the amount of $0.01667 for the period from September 1, 2010 to September 15, 2010, being the expiry date of the offer made Boralex Inc. ("Boralex") to acquire all the issued and

Deforestation in the Amazon has been found to have fallen dramatically in the last year, after new satellite surveying methods enabled accurate accounting of large-scale destruction.

Ok so this isn’t strictly related to forestry but let’s face it, this is interesting! The ongoing saga of the new Amazon dam has finally come to an end with President Luiz Lula da Silva signing the contract for the Belo Monte dam with the Norte Energia consortium. The 11,000 MW dam will become the world’s third [...]

Amazon deforestation rate slashed
Carbon Positive
Deforestation of tropical forests is a major contributor to greenhouse emissions worldwide. Forest loss adds billions of tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere ...

and more »

WWF, 26 August 2010 | Guided by WWF’s overall forests and climate vision of no net greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation by 2020, the Engaging Civil Society in REDD+ programme sought to build capacity and contribute to the readiness of national REDD+ programmes. Activities focused on several key forest countries – particularly those with high rates of deforestation and forest degradation, and in countries or regions, such as the Congo Basin and Guyana, whose large and highly biodiverse forests will increasingly be vulnerable to deforestation pressure. This report synthesizes achievements, challenges, and lessons learned across varied geographies and themes over the course of Engaging Civil Society in REDD+ programme. The purpose of this report is to share reflections, insights and experiences gained through this work so that others can benefit, and to shape and sharpen future WWF efforts in this complex and rapidly evolving area.

The first half of 2010 saw western timber markets begin to recover after hitting historical lows in mid 2009. The upturn was fueled by optimism in domestic housing markets and strong export demand from Asian markets. In June, when the first time home-buyer credit expired, new home starts fell further than predicted. Things continued to get worse, culminating this week when the lowest seasonally adjusted housing start numbers in more than a decade were released. Housing starts fell twice as fast as the National Association of Realtors had originally predicted. In response, many lumber and panel buyers reduced inventories and some producers have been forced to close shop. Inventory reduction made its way upstream to timber companies in July.

Melbourne, Australia 11-13 October 2010 | Australasia’s premier Trade Fair & Carbon Conference for emissions intensive business and low-carbon economy product & service providers will be this year's best opportunity to network with key domestic and international carbon business players, and to develop strategies to minimise costs and maximise benefits associated with emissions reductions and carbon pricing.

Melbourne, Australia 11-13 October 2010 | Australasia’s premier Trade Fair & Carbon Conference for emissions intensive business and low-carbon economy product & service providers will be this year's best opportunity to network with key domestic and international carbon business players, and to develop strategies to minimise costs and maximise benefits associated with emissions reductions and carbon pricing.

Skepticism mounts on benefits of moratorium
Jakarta Post
The correlation between funds raised through the government's emission reduction plans with the goal to tackle the forestry crisis was vague as there was ...

Synopsis: 

जलवायु परिवर्तन विश्वव्यापी रुपमा एउटा खेलजस्तै भएपनि नेपाल जस्ता विकासोन्मुख राष्ट्रहरुको लागि एउटा महत्वपूर्ण सामाजिक तथा वातावरणीय चुनौतीको रुपमा आएको छ । हामीले मलुक भरनै यसका प्रभावहरु महसुस गर्न थालिसककेा छौं । ग्रामीण समदुायहरुले वर्षाको प्रवृत्तिहरुमा परिवतर्न हुँदै आएको देखिरहको छन् । पानी पर्ने क्रममा देखिएको परिवतर्न सँगै मनसुनी वर्षाको ढिलाई, पानी पर्ने क्रममा अनियमितता, अचानक बाढी

BMKG to take lead in monitoring emissions
Jakarta Post
The money from Norway would be disbursed based on tons of emissions reduced from deforestation and forest degradation, which would be verified through the ...

New climate change mitigation schemes could benefit elites rather than the ...
EurekAlert (press release)
Under REDD+ (for reducing deforestation and forest degradation), industrialized countries will provide developing nations with sizeable sums of money in ...

and more »

Tembec has announced the permanent closure of its newsprint mill located in Pine Falls, Manitoba.

The mill had been indefinitely idled due to a labour dispute on September 1, 2009. After examining a full range of options, Tembec initiated a sales process for the mill in early January 2010. This sales process has proved unsuccessful. After a thorough analysis of the situation, Tembec concluded that the permanent closure of the facility was the only viable option. Approximately 230 employees will be affected.

"Although not an easy decision to make, the structural decline of the newsprint market and the cost structure of the mill prompted such a decision," said Chris Black, Tembec's Executive Vice President and President, Paper Group. "The Company intends to act in a manner that will ensure that employees receive their severance pay in accordance with the collective agreement."

As a result of this announcement, a net charge of approximately $8 million related to the closure will be recorded in the quarter ending September 25, 2010.

Source: Tembec

Posted by ForestTalk.com

Synopsis: 

Helping the millions of poor people at greatest risk from climate change to adapt to its impacts is a daunting task. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report states clearly that climate change is already having discernable impacts. These are disproportionately affecting poor communities — especially those in poor countries.

Mongabay.com
80% of tropical agricultural expansion between 1980-2000 came at expense of ...
Mongabay.com
They highlight the emergence of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), an approach that could see tropical countries ...
Most new farmland comes from cutting tropical forest, says Stanford researcherStanford University News

all 6 news articles »

Source: Mongabay --More than 80 percent of agricultural expansion in the tropics between 1980 and 2000 came at the expense of forests, reports research published last week in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Source: CIFOR's Blog -- Because of this haste to implement, he explained, countries may neglect to “build on and learn from previous efforts” and fail to create the conditions – such as secure land tenure and strengthened local capacity