EU and Congo deal ‘to curb illegal timber trade’

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 [...]

China outlines tree planting plans for 2009

China’s Vice Prime Minister Hui Liangyu has urged government departments and the public to focus on the environment, and continue to plant trees, the China Daily website reports.
In 2008, China’s forest cover increased by 4.77 million hectares, Mr Hui told a conference attended by the country’s central and local forestry administration heads.
In addition, output of [...]

Certified Chinese forest ‘reaches one million hectares’

Forests owned by members of the Chinese chapter of WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) that have been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has recently passed the one-million-hectare mark, the environmental group has announced.
Set up and managed by WWF, GFTN aims to eliminate illegal logging and improve the management of valuable and [...]

Forests and farms ‘can fight climate change’

The problem of global warming from greenhouse gases calls for a stronger involvement of agriculture and farming communities, as well as forestry and forest users in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said.
“Agriculture and deforestation are major contributors to climate change, but by the same token farmers and [...]

Forests ‘forgotten’ in EU climate policy, MEPs warn

A Swedish MEP has said that the EU climate policy package’s failure to address the role of forests in curbing global warming was a “major mistake”, reports the EurActiv website.
Liberal MEP Lena Ek made her comments during a meeting of the European Parliament’s Industry Committee.
Her views were seconded by Irish Christian Democrat MEP Avril Doyle, [...]

Australian Greens call for end to native forest felling

The Australian Green Party is trying to gather support for their new policy to end the felling of all native forests, national broadcaster ABC reports.
The party has announced it wants the logging of native forests to end, and for timber to be sourced from tree plantations.
Green MP Paul Llewellyn says the party will allocate preferences [...]