Forest products
Forestry Industry
Wooden furniture manufacturers beg for support
The HCM City Fine Arts and Woodworking Association predicted that Vietnam may reach $7.6 billion from timber and wooden exports in 2016, an increase of 10 percent compared to 2015. Meanwhile, experts have repeatedly warned of the danger of falling behind other regional countries. Vietnam urged to ...
Nearly $1 billion in forest carbon finance committed in 2015
The inclusion of the UN’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation program, known as REDD+, as a standalone article in the Paris Climate Agreement was widely hailed as an encouraging political signal that protecting forests and other valuable carbon sinks would henceforth be a ...
Myanmar's logging ban feeds shadow economy of illegal trade
Sitting in a shop on the riverfront in Mandalay just last week, Win Nyunt assessed whether it was safe to hide a ton of illegally logged teak in a nearby monastery at midnight. “If I put the logs in the monastery it is safer, but I ...
Gov’t, Vietnam exchange blame on logging
Cambodian conservation officials spoke publicly for the first time on October 10 about what they described as nearly three years of corrupt practices by their Vietnamese counterparts in facilitating the multibillion-dollar illicit trade in Siamese rosewood. But their complaint comes amid allegations from Hanoi that ...
Govt vows to standardise wood processing plants
The government has instructed authorities in charge to inspect wood processing plants nationwide to ensure the plants’ operations meet production and environmental quality standards. Inspection will be launched into all licensed 1,595 plants across the country and a number of criteria will be used to assess ...
Pulp and paper supplier denies draining peat on island near Singapore
A NASA satellite detected 140 hotspots in West Kalimantan on September 12 as smallholders in the province continued to burn land for agriculture, Indonesia’s disaster management agency said on September 13. Data from Global Forest Watch shows the district of Ketapang recorded 144 fire alerts over the ...
Only certain plantation tree species may be exported: govt spokesman
Only certain species of trees grown in managed plantations may be exported, not all species, the government spokesman said last week. Eucalyptus and kathinnalong trees whose trunks measure 12 centimetres or less may be felled for export but trees with larger trunks must not be used ...
Banks pump billions into deforestation-linked firms in Southeast Asia: study
Banks have financed companies responsible for rainforest destruction in Southeast Asia to the tune of billions of dollars, a study showed on September 6, and called on lenders to stop “fuelling forest crime”. Southeast Asia is home to some of the world’s most diverse rainforests, but ...
Modern machinery, technical skills needed to improve wood processing
Modern machines and technical skills are required to enhance the competitiveness of the Lao timber processing industry in line with other countries in the region. Chairman of the Okawa Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Japan, Mr Yuji Sonoda made the observation during an interview with Vientiane ...
More than a thousand furniture plants ordered to shut down
The government has ordered some 1,154 family-unit furniture plants across the country to shut down their illegal operations, a government spokesman announced on September 1. Additionally, more than 20 wood processing plants located in or near conservation and protected forests areas were also ordered to close ...