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 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 9 February 2009 by takecover08
From the beginning of April, only certified timber and timber products will be able to be used on UK government properties and projects, according to a press release from the UK Forestry Commission.
The material will have to originate either from independently verified legal and sustainable sources or from a licensed Forest Law Enforcement, Governance & [...]
Filed under: certification, deforestation | Tagged: britain, certification, deforestation, defra, flegt, forestry commission, fsc, pefc, prcument, timber, timber products, uk, woodland | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 4 February 2009 by takecover08
The social and environmental value of woodlands and forests in the UK is estimated to be in the region of £1bn, states a postnote from the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology.
Once, most of the UK was covered in woodland but the cover was gradually depleted as the demand for timber, fuel and agriculture [...]
Filed under: research | Tagged: agriculture, ancient woodlands, biodiversity, broadleaved, conifers, economics, ecosystem services, environment, european union, forestry commission, forests, international forestry agreement, parliament science and technology, research, semi-natural woodlands, social, timber, trees, uk government, uk trees and forests | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 16 January 2009 by takecover08
Will rainforests survive? That was the topic of a debate at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.
Satellite data and other research has revealed that huge tracts of abandoned tropical forests, which were once logged or farmed, are regrowing.
This evidence has prompted a contentious exchange of views and theories among scientists around the [...]
Filed under: biodiversity, deforestation, illegal logging, research | Tagged: agriculture, carnegie institution, conservation, conservation biology, deforestation, environment, logging, mining, old growth, rainforest, regrowth, Smithsonian Institution, species loss, timber, trees, tropical forest, urbanisation | 2 Comments »
Posted on 21 October 2008 by takecover08
The European Union has taken steps to crack down on illegal timber imports, according to the European Commission.
On its website, the Commission said that illegal logging destroyed millions of acres of forest each year.
It warned that much of the timber ended up in Europe, one of the world’s largest markets for wood products like lumber, [...]
Filed under: deforestation, illegal logging | Tagged: carbon sequestration, deforestation, EU, european commission, illegal logging, imports, timber, tropical forests | Leave a Comment »
