Forests and forestry
Forest products
10 sawmills closed, 18 others in process: official
Ten sawmills located near and inside forest areas have been closed and removed, while 18 others are in the process of being removed as part of the government’s crackdown on sawmill operations and illegal logging. The closures came after the government recently issued an order ...
Public should look at detail of anti-forest encroachment measures: Prayut
Government chiefs including Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha on January 31 urged the public to look at the detail of proposals by the National Reform Steering Assembly for tackling forest encroachment, saying it has merely tried to correct wrongs and not legalise wrongdoings including by resort ...
Deforestation-free commodities represent a major investment opportunity: report
It’s estimated that about 10 percent of global emissions comes from deforestation — meaning we could make considerable progress toward halting climate change simply by keeping what remains of the world’s forests standing. Agricultural commodities — especially beef, palm oil, soy, and pulp and paper ...
Vietnamese luxury wooden furniture makers feel pain of regulations and deforestation
A mere 45 minutes northeast of Vietnam’s bustling capital city of Hanoi is the carpentry town of Đồng Kỳ, where conversations take place above the incessant din of electric saws cutting wood. A thin layer of sawdust coats every surface, and after a few hours ...
No violations of timber ban, forestry sector reports
There have been no violations of the ban on timber exports to foreign countries from the provinces after the Prime Minister issued the order almost nine months ago, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Thongphath Vongmany ...
Laos, China launch plant inspection and quarantine project
Laos will benefit from a new plant inspection and quarantine development project with a feasibility study looking at improving the protection of agriculture and forestry production along the country’s borders. An agreement to implement the project was signed on Friday in Vientiane between the Director ...
Green groups want paper giant to stop using drained peat in Indonesia
International and Indonesian NGOs are calling on the country’s largest paper company to stop using drained peat swamps for industrial agriculture. The practice, which relies on drying out the waterlogged soil so that acacia trees can be planted, has enabled vast new swaths of land ...
Timber smuggling worries Kon Tum
Local residents are concerned about timber being smuggled on the Đắk Bla River in the Central Highland province of Kon Tum, after authorities failed to stop the illegal activity. Last Tuesday, local media reported that smugglers are using tyres to float timber on the Đắk ...
Nickel and Dimed on frog mountain
Our motorbikes crossed flimsy bamboo bridges in western Sagaing Division, a landscape still showing the devastation of 2015’s floods. Shifting gears up a twisting, muddy hill trail took us over the border to Chin State. There, several villages are tucked into the forested slopes of ...
Phong Nha Heritage forest seriously damaged by loggers
Numerous precious timber planks chopped down by illegal loggers have been left on the ground, amid vast clearings in the Hoa Son forest. After one and half an hours of crossing steep mountains, reporters reached the timber-rich area of Hoa Son Forest in Minh Hoa district ...
