External News

MEXICO CITY, Jan 5, 2011 (IPS) - Thanks to its experience with community forestry projects, Mexico can provide tips on how to manage forests while fomenting the development of local economies in 2011, the International Year of Forests.

Every year, some 13 million hectares of forests are lost worldwide, and deforestation is responsible for 20 percent of total emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gases responsible for global warming, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Looking to influence how climate change money is allocated, Indonesia will nominate a candidate to serve on the Green Climate Fund’s (GCF) board, the Environment Minister says.

The GCF, which implements the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), will have 25 board members, and be comprised of 15 officials from developed countries and 10 officials from the developing world, including seven Asian members.

Timberland and timber REIT (real estate investment trust ) investors continue to wade through "erroneous and underreported analysis in financial outlets" writes Forisk blog which is a forest economics research firm. In a recent article Weyerhaeuser , now structured as a REIT, was called the worst performers in S&P. The Forisk blog show the comparative performance of the three publicly traded timber REITs: Plum Creek (PCL), Rayonier (RYN), Potlatch (PCH); and Weyerhaeuser. Read blogg

There are also reports far more positive about Weyerhaeuser

OTTAWA, Canada, Jan 6, 2011 — The Harper Government today announced a new investment to protect jobs in Canada’s forest industry through the Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program. This announcement will see workers in the Edmundston, New Brunswick area benefit from a significant investment in the Twin Rivers Paper Company Inc.’s mill.

BOCA RATON, USA, Jan 06, 2011 - Patriot Rail Corp. (“Patriot”), a privately-held short line and regional freight railroad holding company, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of the six short line railroads belonging to Weyerhaeuser Company, effective December 30, 2010. This acquisition, the largest for Patriot to date, brings to 13 the number of short line railroads currently owned by Patriot Rail.