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News 1 Million hectares of state forests FSC certified – WWF receives acknowledgements On November 2nd 2005 the National Forestry Administration received the certificate for the FSC certification of 1 million hectares of state forests from 8 counties of Romania.
News The first of January 2006 marks a significant milestone for food safety in the EU, with the entry into application of a large updated body of food and feed legislation.
The German government wants to push for a European tsunami early warning system for European coasts. Research minister Annette Schavan said that tsunamis were not impossible in Europe, especially under climate change. The CDU politician suggested to implement the system in the Mediterranean Sea and at the Atlantic coast.
News JACKSON, Wyo. – Managers of the Bridger-Teton National Forest say they want to set travel routes for skiers and snowboarders through mountainous bighorn sheep winter range to protect the state's smallest and most isolated herd. At just over 100 animals, the Targhee bighorn sheep population is all that remains of a herd that once roamed from the west side of the Teton Range to the valley bottoms of Jackson Hole. The Forest Service says human influences, including recreation, now pose the biggest threat to the stability of the herd.
News By James Madden FIREFIGHTERS have controlled dozens of blazes in three states, but heatwave forecasts have them still on high alert. Lightning strikes are believed to have started several fires early yesterday morning, including two large blazes in Victoria and another in South Australia.
News UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council renewed diamond and timber sanctions on Liberia for another six months and asked an expert panel to take a fresh look at the bans by June 7. In a resolution adopted unanimously, the council also extended an arms embargo for another year in the West African nation, founded by former American slaves.
By Peter Graff, LONDON — British hunters galloped through fields and forests on the year's biggest hunting day on Monday in a show of defiance at a newly introduced ban on the age-old custom of killing foxes with packs of dogs. Organisers laid trails with the smell of fox -- rather than allow dogs to chase real foxes -- to avoid falling foul of the ban imposed this year by Prime Minister Tony Blair's ruling Labour Party.
News Corrupt officers have undermined the police's largest crackdown on illegal logging ever this year and could further endanger the prospects for future operations, a top detective says.
News The Central Union of Finnish Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK) is reforming its forest biodiversity programme. The Forest Owners' Union is reforming its biodiversity programme for private forestry. The new programme covers all aspects of sustainable forestry.
News By Nicola Jenvey (Durban) – Hundreds of rural families, many of whom are child-headed households, are securing sound incomes by growing indigenous trees from the seeds found in local forests and using the saplings as currency. The project, which aims to help people out of poverty, got a boost yesterday when 100 new bicycles, food, clothing and building materials became the anchor products for a range of stores that will barter trees for goods.
LONDON - Britain's organic food and drink market will increase 72 percent by 2010 to reach 2 billion pounds ($3.47 billion), research company Mintel said on Thursday. Organic products currently account for around one percent of overall food and drink sales, with market sales estimated at1.2 billion pounds ($2.08 billion) in 2005, the report said.
News By Lau Meisan JOHOR BARU – In a bid to hasten the planting of mangrove trees and create greater awareness of their importance, the Government will embark on a programme of community involvement. The public, especially those staying near mangroves, will be asked to "adopt" designated mangrove areas for replanting and monitoring the trees that helped reduce the impact of last year’s tsunami.
News Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness. In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.
News WASHINGTON, - Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that more than $380 million will be distributed to 41 states and Puerto Rico for improvements to public schools and roads. "This funding helps to strengthen the communities that surround national forest lands and provides the resources to enhance environmental stewardship within those communities," said Johanns. "The Secure Rural Schools Act funding has helped to create federal/local partnerships and foster a spirit of cooperation."
FAO Forestry Paper 145 Forest law compliance is attracting increased attention in the international forest policy arena as significant volumes of timber are illegally felled, processed and traded every year. Illegal logging and associated trade have far-reaching environmental, social and economic consequences. Various stakeholders at the local, national and international levels are making efforts to address the issue.
News By Mary Pemberton ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The howling has stopped. An animal-rights group is dropping the "howl-ins" it conducted as part of a nationwide campaign to stop the killing of wolves in Alaska, but members will continue their call for a tourism boycott of the state. Over the past two years, Friends of Animals helped stage hundreds of demonstrations in cities across the country to protest Alaska's predator-control program, intended to allow moose and caribou to increase in numbers. Some activists dressed in wolf outfits at the gatherings, and some howled in imitation of wolves to protest the hunts.
By Dan Goodin SAN FRANCISCO - It might just take a Christmas miracle to deck out these spindly branches, and at $90 a tree they're anything but cheap. But like Charlie Brown's sad sapling, it's the thought behind them that shines through. The city is renting 100 young potted trees, from fruitless olives to Brisbane boxes, to homes for the holidays. Instead letting them get tossed to the curb when holiday is over, the city will pick them up in January and plant them in a neighborhood in need of greenery. "We call it the guilt-free option," said Mark Westlund, spokesman for the San Francisco Department of the Environment, which introduced the unusual tree rental program this year as an environmentally friendly alternative to harvested firs and artificial trees.
News By JOHN ROSS SCOTLAND's biggest national park is objecting to plans to build a 34-turbine wind farm on the edge of its boundary. The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) says the proposed development at Glenkirk, Tomatin, would have an unacceptable visual impact and would potentially harm tourism in the area. It also has concerns over the impact on protected species, such as golden eagles. Eurus Energy Limited has lodged a planning application with the Scottish Executive for the wind farm, with the closest tower being 380 metres from the park boundary. The Highland Council has formally sought the CNPA's views on the development.
