deforestation News
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Sri Lanka lacks forest data for REDD+ funds
Lack of reliable data on forest resources could prevent Sri Lanka from immediately accessing UN funds pledged to help the island nation reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, a new study said. Sri Lanka was last month (25 March) promised initial funding worth US$ 4 million from the UN-managed, multi-partner trust fund to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest ...
By SciDev.Net
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Commission-funded report blames Europe for global forest destruction
Europe leads the industrialised world in driving global deforestation, according to an independent report released today by the European Commission [1]. European consumption of goods led to a forest loss of at least nine million hectares between 1990 and 2008, an area the size of Ireland. Forests in the Amazon, South-East Asia and Africa were worst affected. Major industrialised economies, along ...
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Forests finally emerging as climate issue
The representatives of more than 100 countries attending December's U.N. climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, finally focused on the important role tropical forests play in global warming. Forest clearcut in Indonesia Developed countries have pledged almost $300 million to help forest-rich developing countries prepare for their new roles and responsibilities in the post Kyoto international ...
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Forests and REDD+ in COP17 Durban
With all its complex processes and acronyms, it’s easy to forget that the international climate change negotiations are supposed to lead to changes on the ground. There have been several developments this year, however, which should remind us of the urgency of the task and the importance of getting each piece of the puzzle right, including incentives for developing countries to reduce their ...
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FAO place the spotlight on forest monitoring
With global concern growing over deforestation, loss of carbon stored in forests and the role of forests in climate change, the spotlight has been turned on forest monitoring in a bid to safeguard forests and monitor emissions from deforestation. Earlier this year, countries and FAO reconfirmed their commitment to jointly prepare the next Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA), a comprehensive ...
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Global well-being: rooted in the world`s forests
This piece originally appeared in the Washington Post Environmental Leadership supplement on April 20, 2011, and is reposted with permission. This year, 2011, has been declared the International Year of Forests, and while a few bright spots exist, forests today face a host of challenges. Mounting pressures from agricultural expansion, rapid economic development, and growing demand for products ...
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No Climate Benefit Gained by Planting Temperate Forests
SAN FRANCISCO, California, (ENS) - Planting forests in temperate regions such as the United States and Europe may not yield any benefit for the global climate, and may instead contribute to warming, according to a new study set for presentation Saturday at the American Geophysical Society annual meeting in San Francisco. By contrast, trees planted in tropical rainforests could indeed help to ...
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Environmental & industry groups commend new US ban on illegal wood imports
The United States has taken the critical step of passing legislation banning the import, sale or trade of illegally-harvested wood and forest products. The new US benchmark measure will be key in addressing this far-reaching problem. The US Congress amended the US Lacey Act, a long-standing wildlife trafficking statute, to include trade in products made from illegally harvested wood. ...
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2 New tools can cut deforestation and support sustainable palm oil in Indonesia
Can the world have its palm oil and forests, too This is an issue that my colleague and I discussed a while back. I am pleased to say that we recently moved a step toward ensuring that the answer is “yes.” At the 10th Annual Meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), WRI launched two new online mapping applications designed to help the palm oil industry grow while ...
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FAO to partner CBD on biodiversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will work together on programmes that address climate change, food security and biodiversity loss. Two memoranda of understanding (MoU) signed last week (11 Oct) on the sidelines of the 11th Conference of Parties (COP 11) of the CBD in Hyderabad, India, aim to promote partnerships covering research, ...
By SciDev.Net
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North Korea lifts the veil on its agroforestry practices
A new study offers a rare glimpse into North Korea's agriculture and forestry policies, and may open up new international connections with the country, say researchers. The report describes how locally appropriate, participatory agroforestry is helping reverse food shortages and land degradation. According to Meine van Noordwijk, co-author of the study and chief science advisor at the ...
By SciDev.Net
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African forestry sector critical to climate change debate
-“Forests play a critical role in climate change,” FAO has said during the opening day of the first-ever joint meetings between the Near East Forestry Commission and the Africa Forestry and Wildlife Commission. “The Forestry sector, mainly deforestation in tropical areas, causes 17 percent of global emissions of greenhouse gases. Sustainable forest management is a necessary component of a global ...
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UPM joins PEFC as an international stakeholder
After many years of collaboration and joint efforts to promote sustainable forest management, UPM-Kymmene has been accepted as PEFC’s international stakeholder member. PEFC (The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) is an international organisation with the main focus of endorsing national forest certification systems to ensure the verifiable, sustainable use of forests. ...
By UPM
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New tool to improve assessment of forest biomass and carbon stocks
A new online platform launched by FAO will allow countries to improve the assessment of forest volumes, biomass and carbon stocks. This data is crucial for climate change research and mitigation activities, such as increasing the carbon stock in forests through reforestation, and bioenergy development. The new GlobAllomeTree, jointly developed by FAO, the French Research Centre CIRAD and Tuscia ...
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African countries agree to curb illegal timber trade in the Congo Basin
Governments from Africa's main timber producing countries, together with timber industry representatives and civil society organizations agreed to jointly combat illegal timber trade in the Congo Basin, FAO said today following an international wood industry meeting in Brazzaville. Covering an area of 300 million hectares, the Congo Basin harbours the world's second largest tropical forest. It ...
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New EU Forest Strategy: Better Management can Boost Rural Jobs, say MEPs
The new EU forest strategy must focus on managing forests sustainably, promoting efficient use of the raw materials that they produce, and boosting the competitiveness of forest-related industry so as to create jobs, says a non-legislative resolution voted by Parliament on Tuesday. "The new EU forest strategy is a much-needed response to growing demands on forests and significant societal and ...
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A new climate for the forest products industry
The forest products sector holds an enormous stake in the coming economy defined by resource constraints, climate change policies, and shifting consumer values. What was once a simple business of turning trees into lumber and paper is now uniquely positioned—or exposed to—political and economic forces that are reshaping regulatory and market landscapes. Less than five percent of the world’s ...
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Rome UN Agencies urge immediate climate action to avert hunger
Expressing their “deepest concern”, the three Rome-based UN Agencies – FAO, the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development – warned today that climate change is a major challenge to world food security and will increase hunger and malnutrition unless immediate action is taken. FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf, speaking on behalf of the three agencies, told ...
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WWF and kimberly-clark corporation announce new global commitment to responsible forestry
Today, Kimberly-Clark and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced the expansion of Kimberly-Clark's membership in the Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN), a WWF initiative to eliminate illegal logging and conserve the world's most valuable and threatened forests. Kimberly-Clark will now include its worldwide operations in the initiative, building on its existing GFTN membership in select ...
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Forest leaders agree on principles for sustainable forestry
International efforts to combat climate change received a boost recently with consensus amongst a diverse group of global forest leaders on a new set of principles dealing with sustainable forestry. A two-day meeting in Washington, organized by The Forests Dialogue (TFD) in conjunction with the World Bank, covered a wide range of issues. These included how to deal with the drivers of ...
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