News

Boosting competitiveness in the expanding global furniture market (Asiafurniture /ForestPress)

AS part of the collective effort to assist one another in maintaining each nation’s momentum for economic progress and to ensure that the region continues to be favored as a trading partner of other more developed regions, nine of the ten Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries are prepared to take the next step in boosting an industry that will allow the regional economies to take a greater share of the expanding global furniture and home decor market. The industry referred to is the rattan production and fabrication industry.

2005. September 12.

European Openings - Door and Window Conference (ForestPress)

Chiltern Dynamics and sister company BM TRADA Certification will pave the way for prEN 14351-1 Product Standard for pedestrian doors and windows without fire resistance by staging a major conference for the door and window industry in the autumn. The event entitled ‘European Openings’ will be held in London on Monday 17 October and repeated in Leeds on Thursday 10 November, with the full support of major industry bodies including TRADA, Glass & Glazing Federation (GGF) and Door & Hardware Federation (DHF).

2005. September 11.

Luxembourg and Slovak Republic gain PEFC endorsement (ForestPress)

PEFC Council: The PEFC Council today announced the international endorsement of the forest certification systems from Luxembourg and the Slovak Republic.

2005. September 10.

News

Giant grasses could replace fossil fuels in next decade (ForestPress)

BY NIGEL HAWKES British Association Festival of Science WITHIN the next ten years, fields across Europe and North America could be dense with the dancing fronds of elephant grass, a crop with a serious chance of replacing coal and oil in electricity generation Trials have shown that the plant flourishes on most arable land, requires no fertiliser, suffers no pests or diseases and produces huge volumes of material that can be harvested using existing technology and burned in power stations.

2005. September 9.

News

Lethal Needle Blight Epidemic May Be Related To Climate Change (ForestPress)

September 8, 2005 Lodgepole pines (Pinus contorta)are an economically important species, being used in construction and for pulp. Vancouver BC (SPX) Sep 02, 2005 Biologists studying a lethal blight of lodgepole pines in northwestern British Columbia present strong evidence in the September issue of BioScience that climate change is to blame for the outbreak.

2005. September 8.

News

Green Technology Set To Transform Scotland's Forest Products Industry (Building News)

September 7, 2005 A new, eco-friendly technology that has the potential to revolutionise Scotland’s forest products industry is to be developed thanks to a L181,000 research grant, which has been awarded to a team of engineers at the University of Aberdeen.

2005. September 7.

The Nordic ministers responsible for forestry met (ForestPress)

Ministers of the Nordic countries want to improve forests and thereby to strengthen local communities The Nordic ministers responsible for forestry met on 29th – 30th August with politicians and experts in N?debo in Denmark. The subject of the meeting was the value of forests for local communities.

2005. September 5.

Peat bog burning blamed for much of global warming (NewsTelegraph)

Reports by Charles Clover, Environment Editor Burning peat bogs set alight by rainforest clearance in Indonesia are releasing up to a seventh of the world's total fossil fuel emissions in a single year, the geographers' conference heard. Tropical peatlands are one of the largest stores of carbon on the Earth's surface and setting them alight is contributing massively to global warming, said Dr Susan Page, senior lecturer in geography at Leicester University.

2005. September 5.

News

B.C. ’s Coast Forest Region (ForestPress)

B.C.’s deeply indented, island-dotted coastline covers more than 25,000 kilometres (15,500 miles) from Washington State north to the Alaska panhandle. Much of the Coast Forest Region is remote wilderness yet most of B.C.’s 4 million residents live in the southwest corner of the province, which includes the cities of Vancouver and Victoria. The forest industry built B.C.’s coastal economy, and remains the number-one industry today.

2005. September 5.

News

Forests in Alabama (ForestPress)

Forestlands cover over 70% of Alabama (22.9 million acres) and is second in size only to Georgia. There is tremendous diversity in Alabama's forests, from upland oak stands in the mountains of the northeast to coastal hardwood swamps along the Mobile bay.

2005. September 5.

FOREST SERVICE WAIVES CAMPGROUND FEES FOR HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIMS (ForestPress)

Washington – The USDA. Forest Service is taking another step to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina by temporarily rescinding the fee requirement for campgrounds and the 14-day stay limit for camping on some National Forest System lands in the Southern Region. The normal fee range is $4.00 to $25.00 depending on the location.

2005. September 4.

Over 310,000 hectares of RF forests burnt down in fires in 2005 (Itar-Tass)

MOSCOW - More than 310,000 hectares of forests have burnt down in wildfires in Russia since spring, a source in the Ministry of Natural Resources told Itar-Tass on Friday.

2005. September 4.

JOHANNS ADVANCES PRESIDENT'S COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION VISION (ForestPress)

ST. LOUIS, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced USDA accomplishments and initiatives during a keynote address at the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation that will help to set the course for a new era of conservation in the 21st century. "Cooperative conservation is a priority for President Bush and USDA is committed to achieving the hard-driving goals that he has set," Johanns said at the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation.

2005. September 3.

Dry, Hot Weather Ignites Big Alaska Wildfire Season (ForestPress)

ANCHORAGE- Successive hot summers, vast swaths of insect-weakened trees and lightning strikes have combined to torch about 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares) of forest in Alaska this summer, nearly tying the state's third-largest fire season on record, federal and state officials said on Tuesday.

2005. September 2.

New Forest, Wildlife Control Strategy Out (Cameroon Tribune)

Yaoundé – Lukong Pius Nyuylime The strategy was officially presented to the public in August in Yaounde Five silent threats to the sustainable management of the forest have been identified. These are: absence of national control strategy for exploitation of forest and wildlife, approximate understanding of laws and regulations, inadequate organization, competence and lack of equipment; limited involvement of the civil society and business operators in the implementation of the forestry law and poor collaboration with partner administrations.

2005. September 1.

Foundation of the company Inatur Nordic (ForestPress)

The state managed real estate owners Statskog in Norway and Sveaskog in Sweden have jointly founded the limited company Inatur Nordic as. The new company will further improve and develop the Norwegian website inatur.no. Furthermore, the company will market and sell hunting and fishing trips, outdoor activities and nature travelling in both countries.

2005. August 31.

Scientists identify pine forest pest (ABC/National Rural News)

Scientists have finally identified a small insect that has been sucking the life out of the nation's pine forests. The sap sucking Essigella californica aphid has been defoliating up to 30 per cent of the forest canopy, costing the industry about $20 million a year in lost production.

2005. August 31.

News

Acta Silvatica’s Round the World Tour (ForestPress)

After many years of preparation the work of Hungarian scientists in forestry and wood sciences has been presented in the foreign language edition of Acta Silvatica et Lignaria Hungarica. Rezső Solymos, (Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) writes about this in the introduction to the first publication of the periodical.

2005. August 30.