Earth Capital Partners hires sustainable agriculture and forestry team
Earth Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on renewable energy, has hired a sustainable agriculture and forestry investment team from IBIS Capital Management and EMP Global.
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Fink's green fund hires for agriculture investment
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Kashmir Plans Logging Crackdown to Slow DeforestationMUZAFFARABAD, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, January 25, 2010 (ENS) - Yousaf Butt, a timber worker in the Neelum Valley at the Line of Control in Kashmir, is worried about his job because of government plans to enforce a ban on the cutting of trees.
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NEPAL: Communities Take Up Cudgels for Forest ConservationKATHMANDU, Feb 2, 2010 (IPS) - Tired of walking, Shankar Prasad Ghimire, 87, a retired government worker, puts his walking stick aside and takes rest on a vast expanse of lush green land.
Such dramatic backdrop of dense forest cover gives this former bureaucrat reason to be proud. As chairman of the Kafle Community Forest, he helped transform the once dying forest into a 94-hectare green treasure trove in Lamatar village in Lalitpur district, 13 kilometres south-east of Kathmandu.
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Forests hold poverty solutionHA NOI — The forestry sector's biggest difficulty is to balance the relationship between hunger elimination and poverty reduction and its development, a conference heard yesterday in Ha Noi.
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Two areas in Mauricie are the first to obtain fsc certification as a result of a concerted effort by 15 companiesSAINT-SÉVERIN-DE-PROULXVILLE, QC, Feb.
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Palm oil plantations are now 'forests,' says EUEUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission and some EU member states hope to redefine palm oil plantations as "forests," according to a leaked document from the EU executive.
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It is possible that the environmental challenge in Africa that will have the biggest impact on the rest of the world is the degradation of the Congo Basin rainforest. According to Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, in her 2009 book
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Assisted natural regeneration of forestsThe need for an effective and low cost forest and biodiversity restoration and rehabilitation methods is now highlighted in the face of climate change and the global phenomenon of rapid loss of forests and biodiversity. An estimated 850 million hectares of degraded forests exist globally.
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Canada: Forestry industry must diversify, capitalize on demand for green energyMONTREAL - The federal government can help rescue Canada's battered forestry industry and thousands of jobs by providing $1.5 billion in funds to encourage diversification to new eco-friendly uses such as biochemicals and bio energy, says a new study released Monday.
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Ghana: EU Take Action On Illegal Logging
The European Delegation in Ghana is working with the Ministry of Forestry and Natural Resources to curb the importation of illegally logged timber from the country to the European market.
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ECO2 Forests to Acquire Controlling Interest in Forest Guard Inc. Projects ECO2 Forests Inc. (PINKSHEETS: ECOF), announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire controlling interest in certain projects of Forest Guard Inc., a privately held company specializing in for profit Avoided Deforestation projects.
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IMF Proposes "Green Fund" for Climate Change Financing The world must adopt a low-carbon model for growth as it rebuilds from the global economic crisis, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
- Strauss-Kahn proposes “Green Fund” to help finance shift to low-carbon world
- Says IMF to release proposals in a few weeks
- Fund could be created partly through issuance of IMF’s special drawing rights (SDRs)
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Sino-Forest completes acquisition of Mandra Forestry
TORONTO, Feb. 8, 2010 /CNW/ - Sino-Forest Corporation (TSX: TRE) ("Sino-Forest") today announced that it has completed the acquisition of substantially all of the outstanding common shares of Mandra Forestry Holdings Limited.
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Continuous improvement in safety at TimberWestNANAIMO, BC, Feb. 8 /CNW/ - TimberWest Forest Corp.'s commitment to safety showed positive results for the fourth consecutive year with its Medical Incident Rating (MIR) dropping from 2.17 in 2006 to 0.53 in 2009, a decline of 88 per cent.
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City Dwellers Drive Deforestation in 21st CenturySatellite data reveals that demand from urban areas may be the primary driver of the loss of trees--a shift from the patterns of the past
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Issue date: Saturday, 30 January 2010 Keeping more forest or biodiversity with many empty stomachs does not make any senseGöttingeli Nepalese Society, popularly known as GöNeS, proudly started to introduce the well-known Nepalese academician in Germany who has already set a standard in their respective field.
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Ecosystem services - it’s an easier concept to turn into practical actions than biodiversity"The climate alters the natural environments people are used to. Deciding what to protect is an ethical problem," says research scientist Markku Kanninen.
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UNFCCC Publishes Copenhagen Meeting Reports5 February 2010: The UNFCCC Secretariat has published the report of the tenth session of Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) (FCCC/KP/AWG/2009/17) and the report of the eighth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on
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Palm oil deal 'a threat to the rainforest'Hundreds of millions of tonnes of palm oil look set to be pumped into Britain's vehicles despite scientific evidence showing that chopping down rainforests to make way for plantations exacerbates climate change, according to a leaked report.
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Forestry Bribes IncreasingMore Lao forestry officials are taking bribes in exchange for illegal logging concessions.
BANGKOK—The number of forestry officials in Laos charged with taking bribes is increasing despite an ongoing crackdown, according to a top government lawyer.
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Green, Greener, Greenest: Washington and Business Battle Over Policy ChoicesThe U.S. forest industry is learning it's no longer easy being green—and that might not be a bad thing when it comes to government support during tough economic times.
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AGORA builds capacities in forestry in Morocco and Tunisia AGORA project brings together scientists and policy-makers to build new forest research capacities in Tunisia and Morocco based on effective transfer of scientific knowledge from Portugal, Italy, Spain, France and Turkey.
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Issue date: Thursday, February 18th, 2010 Making the Most of Climate Finance: A Development PerspectiveThe Copenhagen Climate Change Conference underscored the urgent need to make additional financing for adaptation and mitigation available to developing countries. As we all know, the needs are enormous.
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Sino-Forest's Chairman & CEO Receives "2009 China Forestry Persons of the Year" Award
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China Forestry buys RMB 464-mln forest assetMar. 1, 2010 (China Knowledge) - China Forestry Holdings Co Ltd has announced that it will spend RMB 464 million to purchase rights in a forest in Ninglang County, Yunnan Province.
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Payments for Forest ConservationI spent a good chunk of last week working with US and Mexican colleagues, looking at data from a forest conservation program in Mexico. This “Payment for Environmental Services” (PES) program is in the highly threatened area where Monarch butterflies stay over winter.
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WBCSD: Sustainable Forest Finance Toolkit Now AvailableGeneva, 22 February 2010 - PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) have launched the Sustainable Forest Finance Toolkit, which aims to support the finance sector in
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Finding a new way in the woodsAiling forest economy unites first nations and businesses in B.C.'s northwest to create value from low-quality wood. A federation of first nations and independent loggers is forging a new type of forestry in northwestern B.C. by rebuilding their economy from the bottom up.
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Why did America's leading environmental groups jet to Copenhagen and lobby for policies that will lead to the faster death of the rainforests--and runaway global warming? Why are their lobbyists on Capitol Hill dismissing the only real solutions to climate change as "unworkable" and "unrealistic," as though they were just another sooty tentacle of Big Coal?
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Canada Keeps Their Lumberjacks HappyLast week $100 million was given to the forestry industry in Canada for new green energy technologies. This makes it the only industry in the federal budget to receive targeted money from Ottawa.
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Timber industry threatened by unwanted, invasive weedA $494,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant will study how the spread of cogongrass affects Alabama's pine forests.
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Native village's forest company goes global
An isolated First Nations region on the northern British Columbia coast is emerging as a new economic powerhouse, leading the rebirth of the forest industry in that part of the province.
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US-Alaska: Why does Congress want to raid our best carbon bank?
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New forests fend off desert encroachment at Great Wall in NW China XI'AN, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Shaanxi Province has been successful in fending off desert encroachment with afforestation near the ruins of the Great Wall.
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Business should get credit for saving forests, coalition says
Power companies should get credit under a climate change bill for forest conservation, a coalition of groups said Monday.
Companies also should get credit for supporting farming activites that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the groups said.
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Sappi plans R814m empowerment dealPaper and pulp manufacturer Sappi on Wednesday announced a proposed R814-million broad-based black economic-empowerment (BBBEE) deal that would benefit employees and communities surrounding its mills and plantations in South Africa.
CEO Ralph Boëttger said in a conference call that the deal was an important milestone for the group and would translate into the empowerment of about 30% of its South African business.
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A Pioneering Biologist Discusses The Keys to Forest ConservationDuring a half-century of studying Central American forests, Daniel Janzen has witnessed the steady destruction of tropical woodlands. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, the noted conservation biologist discusses his ambitious plans to use 21st-century technology to engage the public and halt forest loss.
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Forestry Statistics Pocketbook - 2009 edition
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US company awarded US$15 million Amalia Falls road projectU.S. company Synergy Holdings has been awarded a US$15 million project to build roads and bridges necessary for the start-up of the Amalia Falls Hydro project, Head of the Privatisation Unit, Winston Brassington, confirmed last evening.
President Bharrat Jagdeo announced the award of the contract at his office yesterday, noting that efforts are being made to conclude the financial arrangements for the Hydro project.
The Inter-American Development Bank and the China Development Bank have agreed to finance the US$450 million project.
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India to seek funds for developing nations to increase forest coverThe government intends to afforest 600,000ha under the green India mission, part of a national action plan on climate change
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Job cuts come to forest, energy ministries
VICTORIA – The B.C. government issued 294 layoff notices Monday to staff in the forests and energy ministries, and announced it is closing the forests ministry field office in Prince Rupert.
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Concerns raised over cut of Saskatchewan's Dutch elm disease programREGINA — Every time another elm tree becomes infected with Dutch elm disease (DED) and is cut down on Nathaniel Bowen's tree-lined street in Regina, he can't help but feel sad.
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Tree-planting, a staple of the summer job market for students, is disappearingOTTAWA — A summer job for students that has become as iconic as the loon and beaver may be going the way of the $2 bill.
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Central-East European Regional Office – EFICEEC launchedThe development of EFI Regional Offices continues. The latest office to open its doors is the Central-East European Regional Office – EFICEEC in Vienna, Austria.
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Debugging the beetle kill argument
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Indigenous Lands: Painful History of State Control Over Forests Traced by ‘Heavily Deforested Footprints’Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues; Ninth Session; 12th & 13th Meetings (AM & PM):
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Illegal logging in Northwest Russia The North-West of Russia is a region, where most of the Russian forest products export to Europe is originated.
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Can forests thrive in the world of carbon trading?CNN -- So few forests remain in the tiny country of Armenia that the World Bank has warned it could one day become a desert.
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Illegal logging in Indonesia costing U.S. jobs-reportINDONESIA-LOGGING/USA
* Indonesian illegal logging hurting U.S. industry -report
* Trade tools can help clean up the sector
* Illegal logging threat to efforts to fight climate change
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Forest Investors Grapple with Sustainability Investor interest in forestry is building, driven by climate change concerns, shifting and growing markets for forestry products – and the good, old-fashioned portfolio diversification benefits of an asset class which weathered the financial crisis much better than most and which offers stable long-term returns. But, argue sustainable finance experts, barriers to monetizing the environmental attributes of the sector remain high – both retarding investment but also generating opportunities for early movers.
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Loggers Try to Adapt to Greener Economy LOWELL, Ore. — Booming timber towns with three-shift lumber mills are a distant memory in the densely forested Northwest. Now, with the housing market and the economy in crisis, some rural areas have never been more raw. Mills keep closing. People keep leaving.
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Study on Forest Law Enforcement and REDD in Guyana
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Tree-planting drive to earn Kenya revenue
Investors from industrialised countries are racing to strike financing deals with Kenya in partnerships set to open new avenues for donor support as the world switches to green economy.
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Sino-Forest Increases Investment in Greenheart Resources Strengthening foothold in South American tropical forestTORONTO, May 9, 2010 /CNW/ - Sino-Forest Corporation ("Sino-Forest") (TSX: TRE), a leading commercial forest plantation operator in China, is pleased to announce that Sino-Capital Global Inc.
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As the adage goes, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the second best time is now.
Ideally, investors planted their money into forestry early enough to see their money grow along with the recent surge in commodity and equity prices.
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Making your thinnings pay
Prices for timber are good right now and it makes sense to sell when market conditions are in our favour. But it's not always that easy, especially if the area to be thinned contains mixed species or is under 10ha in size -- or both.
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Tree-huggers and loggers bury hatchetA truce appears to be at hand in the long-running war in the woods.
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The World Bank Issue Brief: Forestry
- Forests cover between 25 and 30 percent of the earth’s land surface. They help to maintain the fertility of the soil, protect watersheds, and reduce the risk of natural disasters such as floods and landslides.
- About 350 million people worldwide depend on forest resources for their livelihood—of those, 50 million (especially indigenous communities) are wholly dependent on forests.
- About 65% of the total primary energy supply in Africa comes from biomass (30% in South Asia, 15% in Latin America and East Asia).
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TZ forests to disappear in 10 decades Tanzania’s entire forest cover will disappear in about 10 to 16 decades if the current high level of deforestation is not checked, a new survey warns.
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Muddy Road Molds Debate on the Future of GuyanaFIFTY EIGHT, Guyana — A battered, decades-old Bedford truck that would not look out of place in a “Mad Max” movie pulled off the road. Gold miners crawled out of its mud-splattered cab, sauntered into Peter Rajmenjan’s diner and asked if he had any bush hog for sale.
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National deforestation workshop in Cameroon looks beyond the forest While it is clear that deforestation is an important source of global carbon emissions, the potential role that agricultural mosaics at the forest margin could play, to help reduce pressure on the forest, store carbon and create benefits for local people is gaining evidence Scientists and fo
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NGO partnership to raise awareness of FSC certified African blackwoodSound & Fair has launched a partnership with Just Forests, an Irish NGO, to raise awareness of the availability of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified African blackwood, which is widely used in traditional Irish musical instruments.
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The Austrian Forest Biodiversity Index: All in one
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World's Largest Forest Protection Deal Signed in CanadaStakeholders end long-running feud to protect more than 70 million acres of boreal forest.
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Drivers of Deforestation: In the Tropics, Urbanization Plays a Key RoleStopping tropical deforestation is something that almost everyone can agree upon as a reasonable and intelligent way to reduce CO2 emissions. Trees absorb atmospheric CO2 and emit oxygen, acting as planetary lungs. Tropical rainforests are some of the largest stands of trees in existence.
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HSBC climate change fund linked to deforestationCampaign group asks HSBC to close investment fund loophole in bank's forest ethics policy.
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Balkans sound alarm over disappearing forests AFP - Illegal logging and unregulated real estate projects are threatening the Balkans' once abundant forests, home to more than half of Europe's bears and to large wolf populations.
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Another tragedy befalls the environment and we can count on those that were once environmentalists to capitalize, figuratively and literally.
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Nature Conservancy faces potential backlash from ties with BPIn the days after the immensity of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico became clear, some Nature Conservancy supporters took to the organization's Web site to vent their anger.
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In the draft UNFCCC REDD+ text that came out of the negotiations last year in Copenhagen, three of seven safeguards to be supported and promoted when undertaking REDD+ activities relate to governance:
2(b) Transparent and effective national forest governance structures...
2(c) Respect for the knowledge and rights of indigenous peoples and members of local
communities…
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Pavan Sukhdev: you can have progress without GDP-led growthDeutsche Bank economist Pavan Sukhdev is heading up the groundbreaking TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) report and doing for nature what Sir Nicholas Stern did for climate change - valuing it
Tom Levitt: Why are we putting a value on nature, why don't we just close off and protect it?
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Blackwashing: do NGO tactics risk long term public trust?Instead of making exaggerated claims about species becoming extinct, NGOs could make progress on issues like deforestation by collaborating more closely with companies, claims a new report
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Major American pension fund puts confidence in timberConfidence in timber investment funds has been heightened after a major American state pension fund decided to put $500 million into timber.
Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board (Mass PRIM) has decided to make the investment just three years after selling a $700 million section of its timber portfolio.
Senior timber investment officer at Mass PRIM, Tim Schlitzer, said it was a perfect time to reinvest in the long-term benefits that timber can provide.
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Green investment boom expected in next decadeThe next decade should see a rising wave of investment in green funds, leading financiers are predicting.
Research firm Prequin said green investment funds have gathered $12 billion to spend worldwide, with a further $26.7 billion on the horizon.
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GEF Raising African Forestry FundGlobal Environment Fund is raising $150 million for a private equity fund solely focused on sustainable forestry in sub-Saharan Africa. It already has secured a $50 million commitment from UK-based development finance group CDC.
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Belarus, UNDP to implement project to adapt forestry to climate change MINSK, 1 June (BelTA) – The Foreign Ministry of Belarus jointly with the UNDP Office is planning an investment project to aid adaptation of forestry to climate change, BelTA learnt from Valentin Shatravko, chief of the forestry department of the Forestry Mi
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Timber certification is not enough to save rainforestsActivists from the Rainforest Action Network voice support for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification scheme but say stronger policy measures are needed to control deforestation.
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May/June 2010: BONN CLIMATE CHANGE TALKSThe Bonn Climate Change Talks begin today and are scheduled to conclude on Friday, 11 June 2010.
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Safeguarding Multiple BenefitsUN-REDD Programme Officer, Wahida Patwa-Shah and UN-REDD Natural Resources Officer, Linda Rosengren, look beyond carbon to flesh out the many ways forests provide benefits to society, and highlight steps the UN-REDD Programme is taking to ensure these benefits are safeguarde
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New UBC forestry dean to focus on first nations, ChinaJohn Innes, to be officially named as the new dean of the University of B.C.'s Faculty of Forestry today, said his priorities include developing links with China and other international partners, and working closely with first nations representatives.
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Striking speech of Japans new Prime Minister Kan for achieving a ''Strong Economy''TOKYO, June 12 KYODO -
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Reporting on deforestation, pollution is dangerousJournalists who report on deforestation and pollution are increasingly at risk of violence, imprisonment, or persecution, finds a new report released last week by Reporters Without Borders.
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Improved forest management should be included in ongoing discussions of REDD policy
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Give decision makers access to the value of nature's servicesFinance ministers must realise that mounting devastation of ecosystems harms economic development
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Critics slam new climate change proposal in BonnBONN, Germany -- A new round of climate talks ended Friday with rich and poor countries both sharply criticizing a new text meant to pave the way toward a deal to halt global warming.
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No sale of forest environment services without gov’t say-soEnvironmental services provided by Guyana’s forests cannot be sold without the agreement of the government, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud says.
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Fighting sand encroachment
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David King: No cause for climate despair THE prospect of an international agreement to halt dangerous climate change may seem more remote than ever following the talks that ended last week in Bonn, Germany.
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Forestry Land Use - A Chorus of Rusty CogsThere aren’t many beards in evidence at Citola’s offices, but we hope you’ll know what we mean when we say we’ve been doing a lot of beard-stroking when it comes to the issue of the UN climate change talks.
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US-South Timberland Transaction updateThe pace of timberland transactions is still pretty slow but they are occurring (about 500,000 acres since my update last fall) and prices do not appear to have dropped below those of late last year. I think the 10% - 15% decline estimate (from the peak) is still pretty solid.
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