2 211 articles
News By Nguoi Lao Dong Vietnamese shipments of wood chairs were forecast to surge 45 percent this year making up 22-25 percent of the country’s woodwork exports, according to the industry association. The Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (Vietfores) said the industry saw a 27 percent year-on-year increase in chair export sales to US$445 million, a staggering 47 percent increase.
News Nations from across Europe and Africa have come together this week in the Lower Oder Valley National Park near Berlin in Germany, under the auspices of a United Nations Memorandum of Understanding, to discuss the future of mainland Europe’s rarest songbird, the Aquatic Warbler. The current world breeding population of the Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola has plummeted, since the beginning of the last century, by 95 per cent to only 16,000 males in just seven countries. The species nests in the fen mires and wet meadows of eastern central Europe and migrates more than 5,000 kilometres to Africa for the winter.
Great progress made during the first meeting of Treaty’s governing body Rome - The first meeting of the governing body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was marked by a broad consensus among participating countries that safeguarding these resources plays a crucial role in ensuring the food supply of future generations, FAO said.
News MILAN - One of Italy's most beautiful lake islands, Isola Madre in Lake Maggiore, was hit by a freak storm on Wednesday night which knocked down a 200-year-old cypress tree, the local tourist board said. "They are hoping to rescue the Cashmere cypress, probably by using helicopters," a statement from the tourist office said.
News LISBON - Fires in Portugal have destroyed more than a fifth of the country's forests in the past decade, a researcher said on Thursday. In one of the first studies on fires in Portugal, Pedro Vieira estimates that between 1995 and 2005 fires wiped out more than 700,000 hectares (1.73 million acres) of forests, leaving 2.5 million hectares (6.25 million acres).
News A micro-fungus is the probable reason why ash trees all over Sweden are dying. Despite extensive sampling the authorities do not know how to stop the quickly spreading infection. SLU, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, hopes that the solution can be found by means of a research project.
News Written by Maria Dimitrova/Ivayla Bozhanova In Bulgaria the International Danube River Day this year is marked as “The People and the Danube” and focuses on flood prevention June 29th is marked as the International Danube River Day. On this date 12 years ago, in 1994, the then 13 countries of the Danube River basin and the European Commission sign the Convention on cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Danube River /the Danube River Protection Convention (DRPC)/ in Sofia. The countries, which signed the document were: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Serbia-Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Ukraine. The document set the beginning of a more vigorous and active international co-operation for the preservation of the river wildlife that depend on it. The festivities include huge festivals on the banks of the river, public meetings and educational events. They pay tribute to the Danube, its people and the progress that has been made. This year the motto of the International Day is “The Danube and Fish”.
News The Rainforest World Music Festival is a unique festival that brings together on the same stage renowned world musicians from all continents and indigenous musicians from the interiors of the mythical island of Borneo. Its formula of afternoon informative workshops, ethno-musical lectures, jamming sessions and mini concerts, followed by evening performances on the main stage has proven to be a hit with the audience, who come from near and far.
News The tasmanian-devil From Bernard Lagan of The Times in Sydney More than 150 years after Australia’s settlers brought them from Britain so they could enjoy the hunt, foxes have reached Tasmania — until now a predator-free haven for rare small mammals. A panel commissioned by the Tasmanian Government reported that there was overwhelming evidence that the European red fox had become established on the wilderness island which is about the size of Scotland.
News The Directors-General of the ministries responsible for EU forestry measures will meet in Gmunden in Austria on 28 and 29 June 2006. The meeting, to be held at the end of Austria’s EU Presidency, will be chaired by both Finland and Austria. Aarne Reunala, Director-General of the Department of Forestry, will be the second chairman.
Korea is a heavily forested country, with 65% (6.5M hectares) of its total area covered with forest. Despite this, Korea is not yet self-sufficient in wood. To large extent, this is because of a lack of mature timber. The Korean government has initiated a forest policy which will result in a well stocked forest. As part of this policy, and in an effort to reduce abusive harvests, there are now restrictions on cutting that apply to forest product companies and individuals.
News Despite widespread rain across the country, water levels in Spain's reservoirs fell for the seventh consecutive week last week. Total capacity fell by 482 cubic hectometres (-0.9%) and now stands at 54.4%. Although average weekly rainfall of 13.5 litres per square metre is significantly up on the average for 1930-1986 of 8.7 litres, water levels have fallen as the rain failed to reach the reservoirs.
News By Jenifer Johnston Visitors to Scotland will be asked to opt-in to a new “green tax” under a revolutionary scheme being drawn up by tourism chiefs, environmental groups and the business community. The charge – expected to be between 5 and 10 – would be used to offset the environmental damage tourists cause while visiting the country.
News Two forestry undergrads, Carl Kristoff and Sean Macalister, have embarked on a cross-Canada bike tour this summer, to raise money and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis... This how they write about themselves
News By Ed Stoddard ANTANANARIVO - The pace of deforestation in Africa has probably been underestimated by satellite imagery, lending new urgency to efforts to save the continent's wild treasures, a scientist said on Thursday. "The consensus is that Africa is losing about 0.4 to 0.7 percent of its forests each year but this is likely an underestimate," said Holly Gibbs, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin who has been studying the phenomenon.
News Visocica Hill, is the first European pyramid to be discovered and is located in the heart of Bosnia, in the town of Visoko. The pyramid has all the elements: four perfectly shaped slopes pointing toward the cardinal points, a flat top and an entrance complex. There are also the ruins of a Medieval walled town, once the base of a Bosnian king Tvrtko of Kotromanic (1338-1391). Because of its similarities to the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico, it has been named the “Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun” ('Bosanska Piramida Sunca').
News New Hampshire Fish and Game Department It's prime time to get in a hunter education class. If you're looking to purchase your first hunting license in New Hampshire, you are required to complete a hunter education course before you can hunt. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department offers hunter and bowhunter education classes around the state, as well as trapper education. To find a class call (603) 271-3214.
Written By: Yeoh Jun-Lin The Rainforest World Music Festival has established itself having two components to make up its whole. There are the evening shows under the canopy of trees and night sky. And there are the daytime mini-shows that have been called “workshops” over the last 9 years of the festival’s existence, but are really more of a loose collection of every possible attempt to milk more information, more music and more personal interaction from the musicians with the audience.
