New accord for tropical forests enters into forceThe International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) announced the entry into force of the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 2006 (ITTA, 2006) effective Wednesday, December 7th 2011.
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Mountain forests under threatThe integrity and resilience of mountain forests is under threat from increasing temperatures and wildfires, population growth and food and fuel insecurity, warns a new FAO publication released today.
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Malaysia Maintains 56.4 Per Cent Of Land Area As Forested LandMalaysia is still able to maintain 56.4 per cent of its total land area as forested land, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said Monday.
He described it as an encouraging achievement because many countries were not able to do so as their forest areas had been opened for development.
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Events Update: Summary of Forest day 5The fifth Forest Day took place in Durban, South Africa, in parallel with the UN Durban Climate Change Conference, which convened from 28 November – 9 December 2011.
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Africa's Shrinking Forests Need Urgent Help, Climate Change Talks Hear (AfDB)Forests take up a huge amount of the continent, but are one of Africa's most misunderstood and undervalued natural resources.
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Mozambique's new forests may not be as green as they seemMAPUTO — Foreign companies are spending billions of dollars to plant forests in Mozambique, but conservationists fear the investments aren't as good for the environment as they might initially seem.
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Forested countries need reassurance that “massive investment” in REDD+ will pay off Developed countries must commit to long-term climate financing and encourage multiple funding pathways to reassure forested countries that their “massive investment” in REDD+ will pay off.
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Japan to continue supporting forestry projects in IndiaThe Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Friday said it will continue to support forestry projects in India by making focussed efforts to rejuvenate the forests and help communities earn a sustainable livelihood.
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Dar`s $85m deal at crossroads as deforestation worsensTanzania fears that failure to agree on ways to fund a scheme to protect forests at the ongoing UN climate change meeting may risk national efforts to fight deforestation.
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Mutagamba Frustrated By National Forestry Authority Leadership Water and Environment Minister, Maria Mutagamba says she is frustrated by people she appoints to head National Forestry Authority but end up being involved in corruption scandals.
Water and Environment Minister, Maria Mutagamba says she is frustrated by people she appoints to head National Forestry Authority but end up being involved in corruption scandals.
Mutagamba says many of the officials she has appointed to the Forestry Authority board go through scrutiny by state security agencies but turn out to be corrupt when they take up office.
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Adding vast forests to cut climate change could boomerang, study says“There are lots of reasons why planting trees is a good thing,” said Abigail Swann, Giorgio Ruffolo Post-Doctoral Fellow in Sustainability Science. “There are many local benefits.
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Sustainable Forest Management and Carbon StocksSustainable forest management (SFM) ensures the continuous flow of wood products and employment while improving the functionalities of forests.
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Forest land transfers, deforestation spiral out of controlLahore - A study commissioned by the Scientific Committee of WWF Pakistan has revealed that a startling area of forest land has been transferred over for non-forest uses since 1947. This is most rampant in Sindh and Punjab.
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Trees are Themba Radebe’s life. In 2007 he realised a dream by buying a gum tree plantation after working for forestry and packaging company Mondi for almost 20 years.
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TIME MAGAZINE - The canoes slip away from the dock, the morning mist still clinging to Anangucocha Lake in eastern Ecuador's Yasuni National Park. The water is the ink black of old tea, the paddles vanishing beneath the surface with every stroke.
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Pine beetles part 3: A flood of problems for ranchersWatching the pine beetles kill off the Chilcotin's vast stands of lodgepole pine forest was bad enough for cattle rancher Randy Saugstad.
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'It looks like Armageddon': The destruction of B.C. pine forestsVANCOUVER - Debbie Atha had a dream that went like this: Gregarious woman approaching 30 quits her well-paying pharmaceutical sales job in England to move to the B.C. Interior to invest her time and money building a dude ranch.
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Forestry's 'perfect storm'
The Chilcotin's beetle-killed lodge-pole pine forests are saturated with water. The harvesting crews have been sent home. And logging trucks known as Super-B Trains, hauling 300 to 400 logs apiece, are inching their way through deep mud wallows.
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Pine beetle plague is being exploited to cut healthy treesI wish to commend The Sun and Larry Pynn for the excellent series of articles "In the Wake of a Plague." This sober second look at the issues and myths surrounding the mountain pine beetle panic is long overdue.
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Pine beetle plague is being exploited to cut healthy treesAsk who caused this plague destroying our province's biodiversity.
Those who go to our backcountry are familiar with our huge clearcuts and the damage done.
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Freedom of information requests expose fines in B.C.’s forest industryThe Vancouver Sun has been investigating salvage logging of pine forests in British Columbia.
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Depleting of Forest in Ghana worrying – MinisterMr Mike Hammah, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, on Tuesday expressed concern about the rate at which the country’s forest was depleting and said Government needed to update laws on forest and natural resources.
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Sustainable forest management attains greater significanceAt a time when the Indian economy is expanding at a very fast pace, importance of sustainable forest management attains greater significance, Director General of Forests and special secretary to Government of India PJ Dilip Kumar said, while speaking at the Indian Forest Congress organised in New
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What Will Save Our Forests?In this article I wrote for Earth Island Journal earlier this year detailing the fatal flaws of the climate mitigation scheme known as REDD (for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and fo
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Mountain forests under spotlight on World Mountain Day KATHMANDU: On the occasion of the International Mountain Day, ICIMOD is oragnising various programmes at its Headquarters in the Capital on Thursday to mark the day. The day is being celebrated across the globe today.
The programmes organised with the theme ‘Mountain Forests: Binding Nature, Culture, and Development’, will include a real-time panel discussion among Asia-Pacific and European experts and mountain communities on the importance of mountains.
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Study: Forest thinning increases carbon releasesAssumptions that forest thinning treatments help sequester carbon are not grounded in science — instead, recent research shows that thinning act
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Carbon Impacts from Selective Logging of Forests in Berau District, East Kalimantan, IndonesiaFew studies have attempted to address the carbon emissions resulting from the degradation of tropical forests. Selective forest logging represents an important form of degradation of tropical forests, and may lead to future deforestation of the area by providing accessibility to these areas.
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Is the Russian Forest Code a warning for Brazil?Brazil, which last week moved to reform its Forest Code, may find lessons in Russia's revision of its forest law in 2007, say a pair of Russian scientists.
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REDD+ can learn valuable lessons from community-managed forests in Latin America Community-managed forests in Latin America could provide valuable lessons for the sustainable management of these resources, in particular under Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) schemes, says a new study by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
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Evaluating the Capacity of Forest Governance System for Effective and Efficient REDD-plus Policies in the State of Pahang, Peninsular MalaysiaREDD-plus is one of the most important policy tools for promoting sustainable forest management, especially in tropical countries where significantly large net losses of forest area have been observed in recent years.
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Green India Mission: India’s REDD+ Action PlanGovernment of India announced it’s first ever National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) in June 2008 to identify measures and steps to advance climate change-related actions in its domestic sphere. One of the eight missions is the Green India Mission (GIM), which was ‘launched to enhance eco-system services including carbon sinks to be called Green India.’ This paper highlights the international political agenda motivating the agenda of the Mission as well as how it impacts communities, forest governance and therefore access to forest rights.
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ZIEM urges donors to increase ‘green' fundingTHE extreme weather and climatological changes happening around the world are having a profound impact on the population and the ecosystem, says the Zambia Institute of Environmental Management.
ZIEM chief executive officer Morgan Katati said the changes such as floods, heatwaves and droughts presented a vivid image of the direction the world was heading to.
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Carbon market driving new plantings - MAFThe Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry says foresters seeking carbon credits through the Emissions Trading Scheme have been driving much of the increase in new tree plantings.
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National approach to LCDS will create opportunities for citizensGuyana will continue to embrace a national approach regarding the Low Carbon Development Strategy so that all can be involved and become beneficiaries of the green economic imitative.
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Climate negotiator Rende: Turkey ready to do its part on climate change
Turkey is emerging in the UN as a country that is working for the common good of the world with regard to climate change and one that is interested in a positive agenda, Turkey’s climate change chief negotiator Mithat Rende has said in an interview with Sunday’s Zaman.
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Mexico can’t see the wood for the treesAn indigenous community in Mexico wants to drop protected conservation status for its area because it feels it has lost real control of its land and way of life. Concern about carbon emissions is blinding policy makers to the failures of some of their conservation policies.
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A CSR project for protecting the Bataan National ParkThe project was started after the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) and the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) signed a business and operations agreement on the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTex).
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1% increase in forest coverSince the adoption of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the government took measures to enhance forests cover from 5% to 6% including approval of forestry mega projects at the cost of Rs12 billion, said Muhammad Javed Malik, Federal Secretary, Ministry of National Disaster Management.
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Management of beech forest can cut firewood emissionsHow do you get more wood out of a tree and fewer emissions from the firewood? The answer lies in the type of trees you choose to plant, the layout that you plant them in and the size you let them grow to.
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Metsäliitto is Testing the new Finnish FSC StandardMetsäliitto Group has started the testing of Finland's new FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification standard in part of its own forests. The Group's forests have already been certified according to the PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) standard. In future, the FSC standard will be applied in these forests as well.
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There's still money in trees, even wilding pineIn response to the problems, and the costs, of wilding conifer control (ODT, 28.12.11) there is considerable scope to mitigate much of these costs with the recovery of saleable wood in the form of saw logs, post timber (roundwood), firewood and the potential income from chipping residue fo
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Study on REDD-plus Related Activities by JapanThis presentation was made on 10th April, 2011 at the REDD+ Partnership meeting and workshop held in Bangkok, Thailand. The presentation discusses Japan’s involvement in REDD+ activities.
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Should EU plan be given another chance?IT will be interesting to see whether Malaysia will finally decide to support the European Union's (EU) new timber regulation that will come into force in January next year.
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Forest Products Sector Council urges collaboration with Aboriginal peoplesDeveloping effective, local partnerships with Aboriginal peoples will be a critical factor in helping the Canadian forest products sector address future labour force requirements, according to a new report from the Forest Products Sector Council (FPSC-CSPF).
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Hats Off to Guyana's Outgoing President Jagdeo, a Forest Champion The Kansas-sized country of Guyana, formerly known as British Guiana and the only English-speaking nation in South America, held elections on November 28, 2011, and voted in a new president, Donald Ramotar.
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Open letter: Radicals threaten resource developmentAn open letter from the Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, on Canada’s commitment to diversify our energy markets and the need to further streamline the regulatory process in order to advance Canada’s national economic interest.
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‘The rule of law? – not in the forest sector of Guyana’In November 2009, the Government of Guyana signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Norway that provides for Guyana to demonstrate transparency and improved governance in the forest sector. The associated Joint Concept Note was revised in March 2011. The required REDD-plus Governance Developme
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New brochure focuses on EU Timber Regulation (EUTR)The latest brochure in EFI’s Making a Difference: From Science to Policy series is now available! It focuses on EFI’s work coordinating the EUTR Support Study project, which investigated the most effective ways of meeting various requirements of the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR).
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Are we approaching ‘peak timber’ in the tropics?Over the past few decades, tropical timber production in many Asia–Pacific countries has been akin to the symmetric logistic distribution curve, or ‘Hubbert Curve’, observed in the exploitation of many non-renewable resources—a rapid increase in production followed by a peak and then decline.
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Trees4Future - Major European forest research infrastructures opening up Major forest infrastructure will be opened up to researchers from the public and private sectors across Europe thanks to the newly started project Designing trees for the Future (Trees4Future). For the first time key infrastructures within the European forest based sector, including databases, state-of-the-art analytical tools and predictive models will be integrated and made available via a user-friendly, central access portal.
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Video reveals global resistance to FC projects & critical perspectives on REDDGlobal Forest Coalition and Global Justice Ecology Project have produced a new video entitled A Darker Shade of Green: REDD Alert and the Future of Forests.
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Bank enters sustainable forestry collaboration South African banking firm Nedbank Capital and public engagement project Face the Future have signed a pioneering memorandum of understanding (MoU) designed to facilitate collaboration between the two, with the intention of enabling them to jointly develop sustainable forestry projects in Africa.
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Forest fires in Chile stoke tensions over indigenous land rights
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Better forest management campain gets cash boost Dar es Salaam. The campaign to improve forest governance in the country yesterday got a major boost as Finland and Norway contributed a $ 5,060,000 towards the second phase of Mama Misitu campaign.
The second phase which will take off this year to 2016, is expected to improve transparency and accountability in the forestry sector and reduce illegal harvesting of forests.
The campaign would be build on public, private and non-governmental partnerships and networks related to sustainable use of forests and timber products.
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Improving Forestry for Nature, People and the Climate As we watch the world debate how best to address climate change, and as carbon emissions continue to soar, at least one climate strategy strikes me as a "no-brainer." We should do everything we can to save the world's forests.
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Ontario Auditor General urges tighter oversight of reforestationThe government should do more to oversee private-sector forest companies to make sure they do an adequate job of successfully reforesting areas where timber has been harvested, Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter says in his 2011 Annual Report.
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China publishes forestry climate change five action pointsChina has formulated “forest response to climate change five actions points” to implement the National Economic and Social Development Twelfth Five-Year Plan, forestry development second five year plan and Forestry Action Plan to address climate change, and further promote the “second five year
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'Peak timber' concerns in tropics(BBC) - Current tropical timber practices are not sustainable and nations should consider the "implications of 'peak timber'", a study has suggested.
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Praise for Sabah’s forestry policy growing popularSABAH is fast becoming a trailblazer in sustainable forest management. This is evident from the numerous accolades, notably from the United Nations, World Wildlife Fund Malaysia, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Prince Charles Charity, for the success of its forest conservation efforts
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GEF Closes $160 Million Fund for Sustainable Forestry in AfricaGlobal Environment Fund, a U.S. private-equity firm with $1 billion under management, completed the closing of a $160 million fund for sustainable forestry in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Jayanthi Natarajan turns down proposal seeking Rs 1K crore under CAMPANEW DELHI: Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan has asked the Comptroller and Auditor General to review the spending of the funds of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
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Peak Timber: Rate of tropical timber harvest a concernTimber production in the world's tropical countries is exceeding the forests' ability to replace the felled trees, an Australian report says.
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Expert speaks out on impact of logging in PNGOne of the world's leading tropical biologists says clear felling of forests on Papua New Guinea's controversial Special Agricultural and Business leases is likely to have profound impact on PNG's environment.
As you heard earlier in the program, logging on SABLs has pushed PNG's log exports into record territory.
In 2011, 650,000 cubic metres of logs were exported from SABLs.
A prominent scientist in tropical biology says the environmental impact of this sort of logging is very significant.
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Five percent increase in India's forest coverNew Delhi: In what could bring cheers to environmentalists, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the country's forest cover has increased by nearly five per cent between 1997 and 2007.
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USA - USDA: New Forest Planning Rule
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Ilim Group is awarded Proof of Leadership in Forest Management CertificationFollowing the results of 2011, Ilim Group was acknowledged as the leader of forest management certification. The respective Proof of Leadership was awarded to Ilim Group by the Russian Branch of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
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A word from Hon. Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural ResourcesThe Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, today addressed representatives of Canada’s forest industry at a luncheon speech at PaperWeek 2012 in Montreal.
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Pro-poor benefit distribution in REDD+
Ensuring the poor or the most vulnerable sections of society benefit from REDD+ is key mainly to build both national and international legitimacy, and foster successful delivery of conservation and social objectives.
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World Bank’s New Greenhouse Gas Accounting Methodology Approved by SCS Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) has assessed the World Bank’s new methodology for estimating the emission reductions resulting from adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.
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USD 62 million to Nepal Government Multi-Stakeholder Forestry ProgrammeThe Multi-Stakeholder Forestry Programme is the product of the first multistakeholder design process to be undertaken in Nepal’s forestry sector.
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Political insurance for PE funds
A new insurance product has been launched to cover private equity fund investments in Africa and other emerging markets against political risk.
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Germany backs growth of Lao forestry Germany has given Laos further grant aid of 6 million euros (about 61 billion kip) to safeguard the livelihoods of people, mainly in the southern provinces, who depend on the sound management of their natural environment, especially forests.
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Global Environment Fund beats target for Africa forestry fund Global Environment Fund (GEF) has raised $160 million into its Africa Sustainable Forestry Fund, exceeding its target of $150 million.
The Maryland-based fund manager claims the fund is the first private equity fund to focus solely on sustainable forestry in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Push for forest conservation destroying Pakistani yak herding practices Local government efforts to promote forest conservation in a Pakistani village are blocking access to common lands and destroying traditional yak herding practices that villagers depend on for their livelihoods, says a recent study by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
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FOREST PRACTICES BOARD CONFIRMS BELL UNDERSTATED FOREST PROBLEMSThe Forest Practices Board has confirmed that former forest minister Pat Bell has been grossly understating the true problems facing B.C.’s forests.
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Proof Is in: Our Forests Are Badly MismanagedOn the second of February, I attended a presentation at the Western Silvicultural Contractors' Association AGM in Kamloops.
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Forests? Depends on who's counting
B.C.'s foresters are an argumentative lot, and for the past few years, one particular disagreement has repeatedly seized their attention.
It's the question of how much forest land falls into the official category known as NSR - not satisfactorily restocked.
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Britain to urge green accounting at Rio+20 summit(Reuters) - Britain will urge businesses and governments to start accounting for natural capital as an additional way of measuring economic activity at a U.N.
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Clean-tech Finance Bill changes welcomed by Green IFSCThe clean-tech tax changes to the Finance Bill have been welcomed by the Green IFSC, which says Ireland’s Government is likely the first in the world to recognise forest carbon credits in tax legislation.
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Forest owners reject lease agreement with Merlyn WoodSarhad Forestry Ittehad (Safi) has rejected lease agreement between the department of forests and British company Merlyn Wood for leasing of 2,71,000 acres forest covered area in district Mansehra, Battgram and Swat for 40 years.This was stated by President, Safi Abbottabad, Riaz Mohammad Khan; G
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Buy Timber Stocks and Watch Your Money Grow on Trees(MoneyMorning, Feb 1, 2012) - Chances are you've never considered timber stocks in your investing strategy.
But if that's the case, then you've been missing out.
Timber is a long-term investment that can reward your portfolio in good times, and protect it in bad.
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Mondi Uncoated Fine Paper Celebrates 5 Years of the Green Range With the Launch of Online Green ModulesMondi Uncoated Fine Paper (UFP) has launched an online training tool, the Green Modules, to provide customers with an educational tool and information about sustainable paper production. Mondi created the online microsite (www.mondigroup.com/greenmodules), which is accessible to the wider public by registering online and provides unlimited access to the modules.
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Forest cover falls to 23.81% of total geographical area
India’s environment ministry has blamed Maoist rebels and shifting cultivation practised in the country’s north-east for a drop in forest cover.
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A big day for our Wapichan peopleThe 7th February 2012 is a very important date for the communities of the Wapichan people of the South Rupununi in Guyana: on this date, we will present to the national and international communities a m
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Focus on protecting wildlife, not commercial forestry practicesInstead of protecting wildlife, the proposed wildlife preservation act focuses more on giving more power and dominion to an incompetent forest department widely criticised for its commercial forestry practices, said speakers at a discussion yesterday.
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Paid for Keeping the Forest Alive
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African land grabs hinder sustainable development01 February 2012 (NATURE.com)- A scramble to buy African land is threatening the continent’s sustainable development, according to reports launched today at the Royal Society in London.
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Managing forest resources for sustainable developmentAn evaluation of the World Bank Group's experience - approach paper
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China makes hefty forestry investment since 2006The central government has invested 461.1 billion yuan ($73.19 billion) in forestry over the past six years, the State Forestry Administration said Wednesday.
The investment averages out at 76.85 billion yuan per annum, up from 41.53 billion yuan in 2005.
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British Columbia’s Auditor General releases his timber management reportBritish Columbia Auditor General John Doyle has released his latest report, An Audit of the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations’ Management of Timber.
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Busting the Forest Myths: People as Part of the SolutionThe long-held contention that rural forest communities are the prime culprits in tropical forest destruction is increasingly being discredited, as evidence mounts that the best way to protect rainforests is to involve local residents in sustainable management.
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Foresters facing climate change challengesForesters must face various tough challenges in the current scenario of global climate change, Forest Survey of India director general AK Wahal said while chairing the valedictory session of a two-day workshop on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus (REDD +) for India
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Gilani launches Spring Tree Plantation Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday inaugurated the Spring Tree Plantation campaign by planting a tree here at the PM House and made an impassioned appeal to the nation to make Pakistan green.
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Ethiopia pushes for green economy ahead of Rio+20 — forests a major player A green economy that prioritises forest conservation to boost development in one of Africa’s poorest nations is at the heart of a recent initiative launched by the Ethiopian government ahead of the Rio+20 summit.
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Minister of State Shane McEntee Announces Ireland's Closer Involvement in Tackling Forest Loss in Developing CountriesIreland, as a demonstration of its commitment to sustainable forest management and to addressing the global forest loss and the impacts of climate change, has made a funding contribution of €150,000 to the European Forest Institute EU REDD, which supports better forestry management in developing
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UN and KPMG Prod Corporate Leaders on SustainabilityUnited Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged corporate leaders to back up their words about sustainable business practices with concrete actions at a KPMG-sponsored conference on sustainability.
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Billionaire’s decision to invest in forestry shows ethical approachA billionaire investor has this week opted to put much of his cash in forestry investments, in a move that has been welcomed by alternative and ethical investment advocates, AAA.
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