Forestry

With commodity prices surging, lending to Brazilian farmers for tractors, harvesters and plows reached 8.2 billion reais ($4.8 billion) for the July through November 2010 period, a 64 percent increase since the same period last year and the fastest pace since 2004, reports Bloomberg.

The central government will spend 220 billion yuan ($33 billion) over the next decade to protect China's natural forests.

Billions have been pledged to fund schemes that slow climate change by saving trees and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), but the private sector won’t come on board in a big way unless forest carbon starts to behave more like established commodity forward markets, argues a new discussion paper unveiled in Cancun.

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) mechanisms are one of the best short term alternatives for significantly reducing green house gas emissions, thus contributing to minimize the impacts of global climate changes.

A3P has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Joe Ludwig, that the Gillard Government will introduce legislation restricting the importation and sale of illegally logged timber.A3P CEO Richard Stanton said “we are gratified that the Governm