Posted on 15 May 2009 by takecover08
The European Union and the Republic of Congo have announced a new agreement to ensure wood products exported from the Republic of Congo to the EU contain no illegally harvested timber and are derived from managed forests, says the European Forest Institute.
Congo exports about $330 million in timber products each year, about half of which [...]
Filed under: deforestation, forestry sector, illegal logging, tree disease, tropical timber | Tagged: congo, deforestation, efi, EU, european commission, european forest institute, flegt, forestry, illegal timber, sustainable forestry management, vpa | 1 Comment »
Posted on 13 May 2009 by takecover08
In the last decade, Asian farmers have cleared tens of thousands of square miles of forests to accommodate the world’s growing demand for palm oil, an increasingly popular food ingredient, reports Science Daily.
Ancient peatlands have been drained and lush tropical forests have been cut down.
As a result, the landscape of equatorial Asia now lies [...]
Filed under: carbon, climate change, deforestation, forest fires, natural disasters, research, sequestration | Tagged: asia, borneo, carbon dioxide, climate change, columbia univerisity, conservation, deforestation, el nino, emissions, fires, global emissions, global warming, goodard space flight center, greenhouse gases, indonesia, malaysia, nasa, palm oil, papua new guinea, peeat, pnas, proceedings of the national academy of sciences, research, science daily, slash and burn, tropical forests, vrije university, wildfires | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 21 April 2009 by takecover08
The Sumatran tiger, a critically-endangered subspecies, is hanging on by a thread in its island home, reports Mongabay.com.
Biologists estimate that, at most, 500 individuals remain, with some estimates dropping as low as 250.
Despite the animal’s vulnerability, large-scale deforestation continues in its habitat mostly under the auspices of one of the world’s largest paper companies, Asian [...]
Filed under: animals, conservation, deforestation, forestry sector, illegal logging, protest, tropical timber | Tagged: app, biologists, conservation, deforestation, extinction threat, eyes on the forest, indonesian, mongabay, paper pulp, sumatran tiger, tiger human conflict, tigers, timber, tropical forests, wwf | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 25 March 2009 by takecover08
Barcoding every tree in an African rainforest sounds as plausible as counting grains of sand on a beach, but this is exactly what one British company has set out to do, reports Kate Walsh for the Times.
Helveta, a technology firm based in Oxford, is developing a system for tracking timber that will help prevent illegal [...]
Filed under: certification, climate change, conservation, research, security | Tagged: barcode, barcoding, black market, certification, certified timber, climate change, deforestation, environment, ethical goods, eu legislation, forest certification, garden furniture, helveta, illegal logging, liberia, offsetting, protected trees, sequestration, tagging, technology, timber, tropical timber, un, us aid | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 18 March 2009 by takecover08
World forests face the dual challenge of climate change and the global economic crisis, a key UN report says.
On the BBC News website, environment reporter Mark Kinver said it suggested that although the economic slowdown might reduce deforestation rates in the short term, it was also likely to lead to other problems.
One concern, would be [...]
Filed under: climate change, deforestation, forestry sector, illegal logging, research, tree stats | Tagged: bbc news, climate change, deforestation, ecology, fao, forests, mark kinver, redd, reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, rome, state of the world's forests report, un, woodlands, world forest week | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 11 March 2009 by takecover08
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell to 291 square miles (754 square kilometres) between November 2008 and January 2009, reports Mongabay.com.
This was a drop of 70% when compared to the same period 12 months earlier, said Brazil’s Environment Minister Carlos Minc.
A decrease in forest clearing had been expected.
Economic turmoil, which has reduced the availability of [...]
Filed under: carbon, climate change, conservation, deforestation, illegal logging, tropical timber | Tagged: biodiversity, Brazil, climate change, conservation, deforestation, economic downturn, environment, forests, global warming, mongabay.com, monitoring, rainforest, recession, tropical timber | 1 Comment »
Posted on 10 March 2009 by takecover08
An Indonesian district in West Java, Garut, has started a unique program to support reforestation.
Mongabay.com reports that any couple planning to get married must give 10 trees to local authorities for reforestation efforts before the marriage will be legally sanctioned.
But it’s not just married couples that must support reforestation. Couples filing for divorce must [...]
Filed under: tree planting, twiglet | Tagged: biodiversity, deforestation, divorce, ecology, environment, forest, gurat, indonesia, marriage, newly weds, planting, reforestation, trees, west java | 1 Comment »
Posted on 25 February 2009 by takecover08
Severe fires in Indonesia – responsible for some of the worst air quality conditions worldwide – are linked not only to drought, but also to changes in land use and population density, according to a new study in Nature Geoscience.
“During the late 1970s, Indonesian Borneo changed from being highly fire-resistant to highly fire-prone during drought [...]
Filed under: agroforestry, carbon, forest fires, natural disasters, tropical timber | Tagged: forest fires, indonesia, borneo, deforestation, pollution, tropical forests, timber, environment, wildfires, oil palm, fires, land use change, biofuels, eurekalert, university of toronto, nature geoscience, air pollution, haze, fire resistance | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 24 February 2009 by takecover08
Nearly one quarter of Papua New Guinea’s rainforests were damaged or destroyed between 1972 and 2002, Mongabay.com reports.
Researchers, writing in the journal Biotopica, said the results – published in a report last June – show that Papua New Guinea is losing forests at a much faster rate than previously believed.
Over the 30-year study period, 15% [...]
Filed under: biodiversity, climate change, conservation, deforestation, illegal logging, research, tropical timber | Tagged: biotopica, commercial logging, conservation, deforestation, ecosystem, environment, habitat loss, logging, papua new guinea, phil shearman, rainforest, timber, trees, tropical timber, university of papua new guinea's remote sensing centre, woodland | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 19 February 2009 by takecover08
Deforestation has increased by 55% during the past year in Vietnam’s Dak Nong province, reports the Vietnam News Agency.
A report in Mongabay.com said that at least 440 hectares (1,100 acres) of tropical forest were illegally logged in the central highland province, and protected areas were also being targeted.
Forest officials attribute the increase to high commodity, [...]
Filed under: biodiversity, conservation, deforestation, tree stats, tropical timber | Tagged: biodiversity, dak nong, deforestation, environment, industrial plantations, mongabay.com, old growth, replanting, vietnam, vietnam news agency | Leave a Comment »
