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.
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There is a growing realization that good practice Social Impact Assessment (SIA) is an issue of self-interest; it can strengthen social sustainability, reduce investor risks and transaction costs, inform adaptive management, and build stakeholder ownership when undertaken in a participatory way....
It's not as glamorous as cocaine or diamonds, but the illegal logging industry has become very attractive to criminal organisations over the past decade. A new report finds that up to 90 per cent of tropical deforestation can be attributed to organised crime, which controls up to 30 per cent of the...
Almost three years ago, the United States launched a major effort to help tropical forest nations dramatically reduce deforestation, one of the primary sources of climate pollution. This report assesses the progress made implementing this program and offers concrete recommendations for reform. By...
This is the fourth in a series of guest contributions focussed on sharing local experiences from around the world in developing and implementing safeguards in REDD+. The series features contributions from Central America, East Africa and Asia-Pacific. In this blog Luis Trevejo explores how...
Pastureland has been identified as the leading driver of deforestation in many parts of Latin America. But when considering alternative land uses – like the growing of soya beans and oil palm – it’s not necessarily an “either-or” question, says Pablo Pacheco, a scientist with the Center for...
The low price of carbon credits is a factor but probably not the root cause of new forestry plantations dropping off to near zero over the past few years, according to a leading economist. The comments from Infometrics consultant Adolf Stroombergen follow an open letter by a group of forestry...
A report by the non-governmental organization Global Witness says more than 60 percent of the West African nation's rainforests have been granted to logging companies in the past six years. The group has found evidence of fraud and misconduct within Liberia's logging sector. Copyright © 2012...
The World Bank (WB) has expressed deep concern as deforestation is alarmingly increasing in the country. The country has only 17.8 per cent or 2.56 million hectares of forest at present and such rapid reduction of forests lead to soil erosion, serious landslides and loss of biodiversity. The...
“Buy land, they’re not making it anymore!” Mark Twain’s wry observation on the North American land acquisition boom of the late 19th century remains just as pertinent today as it was then. More than a 100 years later, the sheer scale of contemporary global land purchases and its appropriation from...
In-market log prices are reduced slightly this month. However demand is still strong as shipping prices have lowered. The in-market log price has lowered 1-2% for the products Agrifax monitors, however the cost of shipping in $/JASm³ has lowered 5-6%. Inventories
Ethical investment has hit the headlines recently as figures have suggested that there has been a slight drop in interest. Data from the Investment Management Association revealed that investors have withdrawn around £17 million from green funds since November 2011, calling into question whether...
For thousands of years, the people living on the banks of the Mekong river have been paddling through its often treacherous waters in wooden cargo boats laden with all manner of freshly grown produce, ready for trade.
“New Zealand’s primary industries have this week been dealt another blow to value-added forestry products as Norske Skog has favoured re-building their Tasmania paper machine, over the one in Kawerau, and the reason is clear – government subsidies bought the deal for Australia,” said Forest...
The Second Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Legally Binding Agreement on Forests in Europe (INC-Forests2) will convene from 3-7 September 2012 in Bonn, Germany.
The increased cultivation of açaí — the purple fruit that dangles from palms in the Brazilian rainforest and is touted by many celebrities as the number one superfood for ‘age-defying beauty’ – may be one of the reasons for the country’s staggering increase in forest cover over the past two decades...
COLLEGE STATION – Protecting forests and the livelihoods they support depends on the ability to develop and implement effectively policy and other initiatives with global cooperation, according to Dr. Jianbang Gan, a Texas A&M University department of ecosystem science and management professor.
Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy and REDD+ model has been cited by former President Jagdeo at the IUCN World Congress in Jeju, South Korea as one of the working examples to achieve conservation of nature and address global climate change while creating livelihood opportunities at the...