News: European Parliament gets tough on illegal logging
EU suppliers of timber from illegal sources must pay fines that reflect the real environmental and economic damage done by illegal logging, said Environment Committee MEPs on Tuesday.
Multinationals reaping big from abusive forestry practices in DRC
Multinational companies are profiting hand over fist from abusive forestry practices in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where illegal logging, mislabelled timber and false permits are widespread, according to several non-governmental organisations.
The first in a series of in-depth statistical reports have been released by the European Timber Trade Federation (ETTF) in its programme for monitoring the impact of the EU Timber Regulation on trade flows.
The actual causes of deforestation -- above all, the already unsustainable demand agricultural products in the North -- were considered a far lower priority in Doha than carbon market-related accounting. Nonetheless, some governments, especially those of the UK and Norway, paid at least lip service to them.
The world’s most precious trees are being rapidly logged into extinction in countries such as Cambodia and served up to Chinese consumers as “staggeringly” expensive ornate furniture with the complicity of Beijing, a comprehensive investigation into the trade has found.
New report compares timber import requirements to safeguard biodiversity
A TRAFFIC document analysing and comparing the different requirements under various regulatory systems for legal importation of timber into the European Union (EU) has been launched today in India.