Hunting for Answers: Well-managed Production Forests Important for Biodiversity Though a hunter’s preference for large game can put pressure on fragile forest ecosystems, new research has found that well-managed production forests can act as wildlife reservoirs- with controlled hunting in these areas enabling the promotion of biodiversity and improved community livelihoods.
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PRT sees 41% increase in seedling order volume over last yearPRT Forest Regeneration Income Fund has seen a 41% increase in seedling order volume over 2010, mainly attributable to improving forestry markets due to stabilization of the US housing market and growth in Chinese lumber exports.
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DuPont volunteers to suspend sales of its herbicide Imprelis®DuPont Chemical produces a herbicide, called Imprelis®, that was developed by its scientists to be “a post-emergent broadleaf weed control product that provides turf professionals with an innovative solution to control a wide spectrum of broadleaf weeds.”
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Nuclear Power: A closure that won't help the environmentThe skids are under the nuclear industry. The big recycling plant at Sellafield is to shut down because its only customers, Japanese nuclear power stations, are closing following the Fukushima accident. Good riddance? Not so fast.
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Piloting REDD safeguards principlesNigeria has initiated pilot programmes on two related Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) strategies that seek to ensure that REDD activities do not have adverse impact on non-carbon interests.
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GEF Approves Four REDD+ SFM Projects in New Funding Window for ForestsThe Global Environment Facility (GEF) has approvoved the first four projects to access incentive funds available for sustainable forest management (SFM) and REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, as well as conservation, sustainable management
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Reducing biodiversity impacts from logging in GuyanaRecent studies have indicated that modern forestry methods associated with Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and certification schemes, significantly mitigate the negative effects normally associated with logging in tropical forests.
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Forest certification: a small step towards sustainabilityIt can be hard to know whether the forest products you buy have been produced sustainably. Forestry certifications were established to give a bit more certainty, but what do they really mean? When you buy a certified product, are you necessarily helping the environment?
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UN registers Himachal's carbon trading schemeNew Delhi: Himachal Pradesh's efforts in fighting climate change have been rewarded with the UN registering its multi-crore carbon trading scheme that involves providing green cover to barren 4,000 hectares in the state.
Under this scheme, over 5000 families from remote and backward villages will receive carbon revenue for the next 20 years from the World Bank for providing green cover to several areas in across 10 districts which were declared deforested before 1990.
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Balancing agriculture and rainforest biodiversity in India’s Western GhatsCITATION: M.O. Anand, Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Ajith Kumar, Archana Bali. Sustaining biodiversity conservation in human-modified landscapes in the Western Ghats: Remnant forests matter. Biological Conservation. 143 (2010) 2363–2374.
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Including indigenous peoples and traditional knowledge in forest management key to REDD+ success The full and effective engagement of indigenous peoples and the incorporation of traditional forest knowledge in forest management strategies are crucial for REDD+ success in curbing climate change, say experts ahead of the Inte
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Russian forests burn for second successive year
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First CLT manufacturing in southern hemisphereA NZ$7 million factory producing cross-laminated timber panels is to be established at Tahunanui, Nelson, with its backers saying it provides a ready-made solution for the rebuilding of Christchurch. The first of its kind in the southern hemisphere and 18 months in the planning, the factory is expected to start production in January 2012 and employ 15, mostly local people.
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Greenpeace accused of shady fund raisingAfter releasing a report accusing pulp and paper companies of crimes against the environment, Greenpeace has faced mounting pressure from local and religious communities seeking its disbandment.
The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and the Indonesian Churches’ Commission (PGI) have said on separate occasions that the government should outlaw the international environmental organization’s office in Indonesia, alleging that the group’s operations have been funded by money from gambling in the Netherlands.
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Nova Scotia’s long awaited Natural Resources Strategy to be released next weekNova Scotia is finally going to release its new Natural Resources Strategy next week.
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Congo to 'reforest' with plantations across one million hectares The Republic of the Congo has announced a new program to create plantations across one million hectares (2.47 million acres) of degraded forest lands.
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Toshaos agree by majority vote on resolution to fast track Norway forest fundsAmerindian leaders have agreed by majority vote to a resolution calling for the fast-tracking of the institutional requirements for the release of the Norway funds critical to the implementation of projects under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
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Buyer, Regulator, and Enabler - The Government's Role in Ecosystem Services MarketsThis paper discusses the public sector's role in PES internationally. In general, the public sector's role in ecosystem services markets is both critical, and evolving. The public sector roles are evolving in three distinct ways:
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The 'State of Play’ Assessment of Land Use in the International Policy Response to Climate Change The purpose of this document is to provide a clear overview of how terrestrial ca
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Dilemma: encouraging continuous improvement or endorsement greenwash?
A few weeks ago, WWF was attacked by the international NGO Global Witness in a widely publicised report Pandering to the loggers. It is a case which raises some important dilemmas about the choice that NGOs (and others) have to make between carrot and stick.
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New Report Shows B.C. Lagging Behind in Creating Sustainable Forestry Jobs The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is calling out B.C.'s forest industry for lagging behind developing sustainable jobs. A new report says the province risks losing further ground on the processed wood market if efforts are not made to both renew our forests and create more long-term jo
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A new paper in Trends in Ecology and Evolution argues that decades of conservation actions have had a positive impact for many of the world's endangered species. Even if we have not yet turned back the tide of the current mass extinction crisis, there have been notable successes.
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Preserving the cloud forest through Ethiopian-German partnershipA multifaceted project to preserve one of the last of Ethiopia's native forests has been underway for the past four years with the support of Germany's International Climate Initiative and NABU, the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union. The project focuses on reforestation, job creation in the region and the introduction of sustainable forest management practices. The area was officially named a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve earlier this year.
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Dirk Brinkman has been selling trees since 1970, before carbon had anything to do with it.
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Protected areas are more effective at reducing deforestation when they allow sustainable forest useGuest blogger Kenneth Chomitz, Sr. Adviser, Independent Evaluation Group, World Bank shares the highlights of a new study comparing deforestation in protected vs. sustainably managed forests.
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Effectiveness of Strict vs. Multiple Use Protected Areas in Reducing Tropical Forest Fires: A Global Analysis Using Matching MethodsProtected areas (PAs) cover a quarter of the tropical forest estate. Yet there is debate over the effectiveness of PAs in reducing deforestation, especially when local people have rights to use the forest.
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Burns Lake Community forest fined for visual quality objectives infractionWhat is valued and significant and what is not?
The interpretation of scenic vistas in the local area is highly subjective and difficult to interpret say two local forest industry representatives.
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Grassy Narrows First Nation win legal battle that may end clearcut logging in their TerritoryThe Grassy Narrows First Nation (Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek) won a major victory yesterday in their more than decade long battle to stop clearcut logging in Grassy Narrows’ traditional territory in Northwestern Ontario.
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Adaptation and mitigation work hand-in-hand in Latin American forests The long held view that adaptation and mitigation are mutually exclusive approaches for reducing the impacts of climate change has been questioned in a recent study, with the beginnings of an integrative approach in many forestry projects in Latin America showing improved outcomes at the local le
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UPM to Establish Four Jointly Owned Forests in Different Locations in FinlandFinland, Aug 15, 2011 - UPM will establish four regional jointly owned forests in Finland using about 2 000 hectares of company forests as an original asset.
UPM’s jointly owned forests will be located in Western, Eastern and Central Finland as well as in Ostrobothnia next to UPM mills using significant volumes of wood.
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Issue Brief: Land Tenure and REDD+: Risks to Property Rights and Opportunities for Economic Growth Global climate change threatens to impact the livelihoods of millions of the poorest and most vulnerable populations in profound and unpredictable ways.
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Tropical countries fail to bring social, environmental benefits – ReportTropical countries that seek a share of billions of dollars of climate finance in return for protecting their forests risk creating strategies that fail to bring social and environmental benefits.
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Sustaining forests: investing in our common futureWe are pleased to announce the 5th issue of the UNEP Policy Series on Ecosystem Management titled ‘''Sustaining forests: investing in our common future”
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CSD, Orissa Condemn Forest Department’s Proposed Participatory Forest Management Resolution 2011Report by OrissaDiary.com correspondent; Bhubaneswar: Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), Odisha, a large network of tribals and forest dwellers which struggled hard to get the historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 enacted by Parliament today vehemently criticized the State Fores
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Evaluation of Social and Environmental Risks Accompanying the Procurement of Timber from Papua New GuineaBackground and Objectives:
The background to this study is concerns that have been raised over the years of the social and environmental impacts of timber operations in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The aims of this report are to examine social and environmental risks inherent in the procurement of timber from PNG and to review current initiatives and trends towards legal verification and sustainability certification in PNG from the perspective of whether these reduce the social and environmental risks of timber procurement.
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The forest companies of the futureForests could increasingly act as a backbone of sustainable economies. Companies that recognise this can advance their own bottom line, and help ensure that forests thrive
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National parks do not contribute to poverty, finds decade-long studyA new study of Uganda's Kibale National Park refutes the conventional wisdom that parks cause poverty along their borders.
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How “effective” are protected areas in conserving biodiversity? BOGOR, Indonesia (25 August, 2011)_Traditional means of conservation have entailed the annexation of land where human activities are strictly controlled or curtailed: so-called “fortress conservation”.
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Deforestation much higher in protected areas than forests run by local communitiesBOGOR, Indonesia _ Tropical forests designated as strictly protected areas have annual deforestation rates much higher than those managed by local communities – reinforcing a challenge to a long-held belief that the best way to conserve forests is to lock them away in protected areas, according t
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A modest proposal for wealthy countries to reforest their land for the common goodThe Coalition of Financially Challenged Countries with Lots of Trees, known as "CoFCCLoT", representing most of the world's remaining tropical forests is asking wealthy nations to share global responsibilities and reforest their land for the common good of stabilizing climate and protecting biodiversity.
"We are willing to play our part, but we require a level playing field in which we all commit to equal sacrifices," a coalition spokeswoman says.
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Ecuador's climate plan worth a look
Developed countries including Canada have insisted it is imperative that developing countries should also shoulder responsibility for combating greenhouse-gas emissions if they expect a truly effective international approach to dealing with climate change.
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Wis. officials start work on timber clearing plan
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Govt plans tree credits, village forests to improve green coverNAGPUR: The Maharashtra government will soon introduce the concepts of 'tree credit' and 'village forests' to improve green cover in the state. Both initiatives will be implemented by the social forestry department (SFD).
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Plan to sacrifice forest for sugar puts economy before ecosphere in Uganda
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The Conservation and Management of the Forests of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania The forests of the Eastern Arc Mountains (EAM) in Northeastern Tanzania contain exceptional species richness of local and global importance. They are recognized by WWF as a Global 200 Ecoregion, and by Conservation International as a terrestrial biodiversity hotspot.
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Time to fell obstacles to tracing wood productsThere is a massive re-rating of native forest going on, even as world resolve to tackle climate change crumbles.
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Hanging Moss or Timber – Northern Forests Leading the Way to SustainabilityNew ways to assess the sustainability of forest based activities in Northern Europe is the main topic of the Northern ToSIA final conference which started today in Rovaniemi, Finland. Drawing on several case studies, the final conference will demonstrate how the results of the project can help managers balance the demands of different aspects of forestry, for example bio-energy and timber production, reindeer husbandry, wildlife management and recreation.
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Mondi Syktyvkar launches Forest of the Future projectRussia, Aug 17, 2011 - Last month Mondi Syktyvkar launched the large-scale Forest of the Future project to further strengthen its forestry operations. The program is scheduled to close in 2013.
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Just forest governance - for REDD, for sanity
Published: Aug 2011 - IIED
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In Mayan cosmology, the ceiba tree, with its elephantine, silver-grey trunk that towers above the jungle, is the tree of life, shoring up the corners of the sky and sending its roots deep into the underworld.
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Leaders Announce Global Effort to Restore 150 Million Hectares of Deforested LandNew Global Restoration Council to be led by former Swedish Prime Minister Persson
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Macquarie and Partners Build $25 Million Partnership to Find REDD ProjectsProfit-minded banking group Macquarie has tapped the expertise of environmental non-profit Flora and Fauna International in the past to identify endangered rainforests that can generate carbon credits if saved. Now they’ve formed a partnership to scale up the activity, and they have $25 mil
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Paper company demonstrates environmental and social responsibility in Lao PDR Finnish-based paper, packaging and wood product producer, Stora Enso, is setting the pace for behavior change needed within large-scale industry, with its plantations in Lao PDR having a positive impact on crop production among local families and promoting community development and local business
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REDD+ and Agriculture: a cross-sectoral approach to REDD+ and implications for the poor The paper outlines the linkages between forests and agriculture, and the
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Making REDD+ cross-sectoral: why, how and what are the potential socio-economic impacts? The need for REDD+ to coordinate and
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Bamboo: can it live up to the 'green gold' hype?
It could reduce the pressure on native forests but the rapid expansion in bamboo plantations is in danger of making it the latest in a long line of tarnished 'wonder crops'
From India and Indonesia to Colombia and Costa Rica, the number of bamboo plantations worldwide is rising as quickly as the fast-growing crop itself.
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Southern Ontario County fines landowners for cutting down their own treesDon and Donna Kowaluk live in a rural, agricultural area of southern Ontario, near Strathroy.
About 15 years ago, 22,500 trees were planted on the Kowaluk’s property.
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Now, earn money for growing treesPUNE: Soon, planting trees could become a money-making proposition. A proposal on 'tree credits,' a concept to make conditions favourable for people to willingly grow and protect trees by getting appropriate periodic financial returns, has been floated by the directorate of social forestry.
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Sustaining forests: investing in our common future - UNEP Policy Brief UNEP has published the fifth issue in the Policy Brief on Ecosystem Management series. This policy brief seeks to outline how forests can be a key part of a green economy that provides opportunities for innovative solutions to forest management. The provides an overview of the many values of forest assets before reviewing the complex issues that threaten forests globally and lastly looking at the emerging innovative market and policy solutions that can promote long-term sustainable forest management and contribute to a green economy.
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WWF “highly concerned” about Ta Ann corruption allegationsBASEL/GLAND, SWITZERLAND AUGUST 22, 2011 –/WORLD-WIRE/– WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature, is “highly concerned ” about corruption allegations against the Malaysian Ta Ann Group, a member of the WWF’s Global Forest & Tra
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Minister responds to MP’s columnsIn response to Alex Atamanenko’s claims in his Aug. 2 and Aug. 16 columns, I believe the readers of your newspaper deserve and need to know the facts.
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New solutions needed for wildfire woesIn the aftermath of the disastrous wildfires in 2003 that burned hundreds of homes and caused millions of dollars in property damage in and around the communities of Kelowna and Barriere, the City of Cranbrook began doing what hundreds of other communities across B.C. must do if they wish to better protect themselves from future wildfires.
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Missing out on green job potential Ever since United States house prices peaked in mid-2006 and the great economic slump began south of the border, British Columbia's government and forest industry alike have been understandably anxious.
Dependent as we have been on the U.S. market for billions of dollars in forest product purchases, B.C. naturally yearned to open up new markets.
Given its spectacular economic growth, China became the focus, and before long B.C.'s marketing efforts yielded gains in both the volume and dollar value of forest products exported.
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How we all pay to 'conserve' forestsIn January, a deal was struck between the Pacific Carbon Trust (the provincial Crown corporation responsible for buying carbon "offsets") and one of British Columbia's biggest logging companies - a deal that would allegedly result in hundreds of thousands of tonnes of additional carbon being stored in trees.
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Wood producers urge for speedy evaluation of logging firms
MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Wood Producers Association (PWPA) is urging the government to speed up its evaluation of logging firms so that those who comply with rules on sustainable forest management could resume operations.
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SFM Mitigating Climate Change through Sustainable Forest Management and Capacity Building Mexico
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PEFC approves China certification applicationPEFC International has unanimously approved the application of the China Forest Certification Council (CFCC) to join the world's largest forest certification system.
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Panda Bashing: Reflections on NGO-Business Partnerships NGO-Business partnerships have been getting a bad press lately.
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A collection of articles and other media in respect of environmental NGO criticism
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$40bn a year could halve deforestation worldwide Investing just 0.034 per cent of global GDP could transform the world's forestry sector, halving deforestation rates, slashing carbon emissions and creating up to five million new jobs by the middle of the century.That is the conclusion of a major new report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which argues that investing an average of $40bn a year in forest protection would allow forests to absorb 28 per cent more carbon from the atmosphere than they do now.
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Old-growth forests won't save planet IN AUSTRALIA, too often we're told the solution to all environmental problems is locking all native forests in unmanaged reserves, where they'll be immortal, grow forever and continuously suck large amounts of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
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Valuing Nature's Services Today Is an Investment in the Future
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Kigoma to Earn On Forest ConservationCOMMUNITIES in seven villages of Kigoma Rural district will early next year start earning money for protecting Masito-Ugalla forest reserve, which climate change scientists say is helping in the absorption of carbon dioxide and controlling global warming.
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China aims to raise forest cover to 23 per cent by 2020China aims to increase its forest cover to 40 million hectares over the next decade as part of its commitment to cut down its intensity of carbon emissions by 40 to 45 per cent per unit of GDP by 2020.
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The “poor man’s” carbon sink: Bamboo in climate change and poverty alleviationThis study sees bamboo as a bridge between climate change mitigation and poverty alleviation. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) promoted issues of climate change mitigation and adaptation.
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Peru awarded US$11mln grant for forest management
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China to increase forest coverageBEIJING - President Hu Jintao on Tuesday laid out plans that would see China increase its forest coverage by nearly 10 percent over the next decade.
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Conservation of forests: Incentives should trickle down to local peopleTanzania has started to implement the National Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) readiness pilot projects from which the lessons learnt will be used to inform policy makers in developing a comprehensive national REDD strategy.
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RRI, Oxfam Dialogue Highlights Linkages between Forestry, Climate Change and Food Security Issues9 September 2011: The Tenth Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) Dialogue, which convened from 7-8 September 2011, in The Hague, the Netherlands, focused on common approaches to dealing with the challenges of food security and climate change.
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Valuing the trees through the forestHow do you value an ecosystem? Putting a dollar value on natural systems such as forests has long beset economists.
Forests provide “non-use values,” such as the pleasure of knowing that a natural system exists, and recreational values, such as hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing. But recently, ecologists have also sought to value a broader set of “ecosystem services,” or the goods and services that ecosystems provide to a market economy.
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Sustainable development goals to follow the millennium development goals?NEW DELHI: The meeting was meant to review the work done two decades after the famed Rio summit or the UN meet on Environment and Development at Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
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European forest sector calls for genuine common policyIt is urgent to act internationally to protect forests, which are guardians of the climate, protect soils and biodiversity, and play a crucial role in the water cycle, according to participants in a conference on ‘European and global forests: Which way for the future?’.
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PEFC and Scottish Woodlands Score UK FirstJohn Paterson, Wood Purchasing Manager at Egger UK said "We were delighted to take the first deliveries of privately grown PEFC round wood from Scottish Woodlands.
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Amazon protest -- development before environment?The decision by leaders of the Sub Central of the Indigenous Territory and National Isiboro Secure Park (TIPNIS), to initiate a 500-kilometre protest march on Bolivia's capital of La Paz capital has ignited much debate about the nature of Bolivia’s first indigenous led-government.
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Managing Congo Basin Forests - a Regional Approach for a Regional ResourceWashington — The Congo Basin forest ecosystem is the world's second largest moist tropical forest, second only to the Amazon, and represents about one quarter of the globe's remaining closed canopy forest.
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The Philippine National REDD-plus Strategy and Current Status
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Simmering tension over forest give-awayKAMPALA, 7 September 2011 (IRIN) - A plan to replace a large swathe of protected rainforest in Uganda with sugarcane could lead to further civil unrest in a year when nine people have been killed during strikes and protests against the rising cost of living.
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Peru approves ‘historic’ indigenous rights lawToday, indigenous people across Peru are celebrating President Ollanta Humala’s decision to approve the Prior Consultation Law. This is an important step forward for indigenous rights in the country.
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Apprenticeship contracts to plug forestry skills gap Forestry Commission Wales is taking action to plug a growing skills gap in the forests of Wales by offering work to contractors who agree to take on apprentices.
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Group to assess Mpumalanga biomass-to-energy potential Engineering, management and specialist technical services group Aurecon and sugar producer TSB Sugar have been contracted by the Mpumalanga Cane Growers Association to undertake a feasibility study to investigate boosting economic development in rural areas in Mpumalanga’s Nkomazi district using
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Are sustainability indicators appropriate for planted forests?EFI’s new Discussion Paper, Are MCPFE Indicators Suitable for Planted Forests?, analyses the value of indicators for assessing sustainable forest management in the context of cultivated forests.
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Think Tank Warns About Flaws in Sustainable Forestry SchemeThe UK-based International Institute for Environment and Development has issued a warning that tropical countries participating in REDD+ schemes, whereby they get compensated for protecting their forests to limit emissions of greenhouse gases from deforestation, could fail to reap social and environmental benefits.
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1st APEC Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Forestry release Beijing Statement on Forests and Forestry
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Too Much Focus on Forest Conservation, Too Little on FoodProper attention needs to be given to livelihood improvement. Forest protection is an important objective, yet local livelihoods, particularly food security of local people, needs to be taken into account.
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Effectiveness of Strict vs. Multiple Use Protected Areas in Reducing Tropical Forest Fires: A Global Analysis Using Matching MethodsProtected areas (PAs) cover a quarter of the tropical forest estate. Yet there is debate over the effectiveness of PAs in reducing deforestation, especially when local people have rights to use the forest.
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The REDD Market Should Not End Up a Subprime House of Cards: Introducing a New REDD Architecture for Environmental Integrity
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A Huge Oil Palm Plantation Puts African Rainforest at RiskIndustrial palm oil production is coming to Africa, its ancestral home. The world’s most productive oil seed has been a boon to Asian economies, but the looming arrival of large-scale plantations in Africa is raising fears that some of the same issues plaguing Malaysia, Indonesia, and other leading producers — deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, conflicts with local people, and poor working conditions — could befall one of the world’s most destitute regions.
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Metso shuffles business units, foresees growth in biopowerMetso Corp.’s Board of Directors has decided to modify the company’s business structure in order to more effectively reach the company’s future business targets.
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UNEP Risoe launches NAMA databaseThe UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Risoe Centre has launched the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) Pipeline and Analysis Database. The database contains all submissions from developing countries and countries with economies in transition to the UNFCCC for NAMAs.
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Primary forests are irreplaceable for sustaining tropical biodiversityHuman-driven land-use changes increasingly threaten biodiversity, particularly in tropical forests where both species diversity and human pressures on natural environments are high
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