Forest products

Forestry Industry

Trafficking of banned Myanmar teak lands German company with $4m fine

WOB Timber, a logging company based in Hamburg, Germany, has been ordered by a court to pay a $4 million fine for illegally trading Myanmar timber. The April 27 decision was one of the highest financial penalties for this type of crime in the European ...

Nicolás Bustamante Hernández

Mekong: Reducing Forest Crime And Deforestation

A new Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC)-For-Trade project, in collaboration with the United Nations (UN) Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) Programme’s initiative for the Lower Mekong, will promote trade and sustainable forest management (SFM) and at ...

Illegally Harvested Timber Sold ‘Under Cover’ in Attapeu Province in Laos

Businessmen in Laos’s Attapeu province are selling timber hidden for years in the forest after being harvested illegally, mixing it with other timber allowed by provincial authorities to be sold by local villagers, Lao sources say. Now being sold to private businessmen, the contraband timber was ...

Ounkeo Souksavanh for RFA’s Lao Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Germany provides EUR 20 million for forest law enforcement, trade

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is providing about EUR 20 million and the Lao government is contributing the equivalent of EUR 4 million as non-cash benefits for the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) project from 2021 to 2026. An agreement ...

Viengdavanh Banphahaksa

Myanmar’s troubled forestry sector seeks global endorsement after coup

In the midst of political chaos fomented by a Feb. 1 military coup of the government in Myanmar, the country’s forestry sector is seeking legitimization from the international community. A statement from the nationally privatized Myanmar Forest Products and Timber Merchants Association (MFPTMA), with an oddly ...

Mongabay.com

Forests are needed to absorb carbon, but the overheating planet might soon flip a critical switch

New research shows that the fast warming of the planet could cause trees and plants to release more carbon than they absorb, a critical function reversal that would further accelerate climate change. By as early as 2040, given the current projections of global temperature rise, land ...

Jack Board

Angkor sells out: Cambodia turns a blind eye to vanishing forests

A series of reports this year show that protected forest areas across Cambodia are under increasing threat from land grabs and deforestation. As Cambodians struggle with the economic impacts of COVID-19, journalists and advocates report that illegal logging and land development continues, from central Cambodia’s Prey Lang Forest to the Cardamom Mountains ...

Editorial

New resources for forest protection

Vietnam has entered the world’s carbon credit trading market after a long period striving for sustainable forest management. This is a major event, marking a positive start in mobilising new resources for forest protection and improving forest quality and sustainable forest management, thereby helping Vietnam ...

Laos, EU discuss targets for trade in legal timber products

Representatives of the European Union (EU) and the Lao government have held discussions on an agreement on combating illegal logging and promoting trade in legal timber products. The issue was discussed at the fourth Joint Expert Meeting (JEM) on a voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) on forest law ...

Thailand to allow use of 'economically valuable trees' as collateral for financial loans

Owners of 58 types of ‘economically valuable trees’ will be able to use them as collateral when applying for loans at financial institutions under a new policy, Government spokesperson Narumon Pinyosinwat said on her Facebook page. “This policy was proposed by the Ministry of Commerce as ...

THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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