SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A landmark forest protection ruling by Indonesia might be good for investors trying to save carbon-rich forests, but only if a ban is enforced and progress is made in using the market to save the environment.

Tropical forests across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia stored 247 gigatons of carbon — more than 30 years' worth of current emissions from fossil fuels use — in the early 2000s, according to a comprehensive assessment of the world's carbon stocks.

31 May 2011: The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has released its annual report, titled "Focus on Forests: Time to Act," which includes eight stories outlining CIFOR's global work.

Global demand for softwood lumber increased by about 18 percent in 2010. This came after a year when wood consumption worldwide was the lowest it had been in almost 50 years. This upward trend in consumption has continued thus far in 2011, with total volume consumed being more than 20 percent higher than the same period in early 2010, according to the market publication Wood Resource Quarterly.