News center

Mexico Sees Bigger Butterfly Migration This Year (Reuters/ForestPress)

Story by Anahi Rama EL ROSARIO, Mexico - Wildlife officials say good weather should bring a surge in the number of monarch butterflies migrating to Mexico this year, after last year's cold resulted in the lowest numbers in more than a decade. Each fall tens of millions of the bright orange and black butterflies begin arriving in central Mexico's Michoacan state to winter in the fir trees after a 3,000-mile (4,800-km) trek from Canada that fascinates biologists.

2005. November 25.

France Wants to Raise EU Limits on Biofuel Use (Reuters)

PARIS - French Industry Minister Francois Loos wants the European Union to raise limits on the use of biofuels, a cleaner-burning fuel alternative, in petrol and diesel, according to an interview to be published on Monday.

2005. November 24.

Press room

ENA FLEG Ministerial Conference

The International Institute for Sustainable Development will provide both daily and summary coverage of the Europe and North Asia Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Ministerial Conference currently being held in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation from today through 25 November 2005.

2005. November 23.

Frontiers in Forest Information: a centenary conference/workshop at St Anne's College (ForestPress)

Oxford, 5-7 December 2005 – Organised by Oxford University Library Services in conjunction with the International Union of Forest Research Organizations, CAB International and other partners Book now on www.plantlib.ox.ac.uk/forestry - reduced-price bookings close 31 October.

2005. November 23.

EU Destroying Forests of Poor Countries, WWF says (ForestPress)

GENEVA - EU countries are helping destroy major forests in poorer countries through massive imports of illegal timber, the conservation group WWF said on Tuesday. It said Britain was "the biggest importer of illegal timber in Europe" and was responsible for the loss of 600,000 hectares of forest -- more than twice the size of Luxembourg -- each year in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

2005. November 23.

The slowest disaster (The Ubyssey/ForestPress)

The Pacific Forestry Centre How BC’s Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic is setting the tone for things to come The Interior of BC isn’t green these days, it’s a sea of red, a carpet of dead and dying trees. A tiny bug, the size of a grain of rice, is changing the face of our forests—and the economy of the Interior along with it. The Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB), Dendroctonus ponderosae if you want to get Latin about it, is by no means a stranger to the woods of western North America.

2005. November 23.

Strengthen the Union’s Forestry Strategy, EESC insists! (ForestPress)

The European Economical and Social Committee adopted last week Wednesday their opinion in response to the EU Commission's communication on the EU Forestry Strategy. CEPF welcomes the opinion prepared by Mr. Seppo Kallio and hopes that the recommendations that it gives can be well recognised in the development of a new EU Forestry Action On 26 October the EESC (European Economic and Social Committee) adopted an opinion (Rapporteur: Mr Seppo Kallio - Group III, Various interests, Finland) in response to the European Commission’s recent Communication on an EU Forestry Strategy.

2005. November 22.

The value of NWFPs is increasing (ForestPress)

The value of wood removals is decreasing, while the value of NWFPs is increasing – and underestimated Roundwood removals in 2005 were forecast to value around US$64 billion, mainly accounted for by industrial roundwood. The reported trend shows an increase of about 11 percent over the previous 15 years, which is less than the rate of inflation over this period. Thus, the reported value of removals in real terms has fallen at the global level.

2005. November 21.

Birds arrive, poaching begins (Deccan Herald)

From S T Beuria Birds over Lake Chilka, Orissa, India Bhubaneswar – Despite the bird flu fear, killing and poaching of migratory birds have already begun in Orissa’s Chilka lake, Asia’s biggest brackish water lagoon and one of the major winter homes in the country for migratory birds from across the globe.

2005. November 21.

US Forest Service commander charged with arson (Reuters)

PHOENIX - The commander of an elite U.S. Forest Service firefighting team was indicted on arson charges on Thursday, accused of setting two wildfires in a national forest, officials said. Van Bateman, who forestry officials said was one of the first out-of-state commanders dispatched to New York after the September 11 terror attacks, was charged with setting timber afire and arson on public lands.

2005. November 19.

Australia gives grant to develop forest resources (VNS/ForestPress)

HA NOI - Australia will grant AU$919,000 to help Viet Nam implement projects to develop the nation’s forest and timber resources. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Australian Embassy signed an agreement in Ha Noi on Thursday.

2005. November 19.

New methods for combating root rot in Sweden (Nordic)

Root rot causes loss and damage to an amount of 55 million euro every year. A new instrument permits forest owners to determine themselves which trees have rot and which of them are sound.

2005. November 18.

News

Europe and North Asia Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (ENAFLEG)

Ministerial Conference Preparations (ForestPress) The ENA FLEG Ministerial Conference will soon take place on November 22-25, in St. Petersburg, Russia,at the Hotel Pribaltiyskaya http://www.pribaltiyskayahotel.ru/comm.html. Participation: As of November 11, 45 Governments have confirmed participation in the conference and twelve ministers and five deputy ministers are scheduled to attend.

2005. November 17.

Green group considers buying forest (ABC)

An environmental group is proposing to buy the rights to the Arcadia forest near Collie, in Western Australia's south-west, in a bid to stop it being logged. The Forest Products Commission is planning to log the forest as part of next year's harvest plan.

2005. November 16.

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN AND INTO THE FUEL TANK (ForestPress)

If you think you can smell a chip shop next time a Forestry Commission van passes, it might have nothing to do with a logger's lunch. Instead, it might be because the van is running on the cooking oil that fried your last meal of fish and chips.

2005. November 15.

News

Ex-deputy forestry chief gets five years (Bangkok Post)

Bribery case linked to illegal logging scandal Former deputy forestry chief Prawat Thanadkha and a timber trader were sentenced to five years and two years in jail respectively for their parts in the five million baht bribery case connected to the Salween illegal logging scandal in Tak from 1997 to 1998.

2005. November 15.

What is a technology platform? (Nordic)

The concept of a “Technology Platform” was established by the European Commission to promote an integrated research approach based on private-public partnerships. The Platform brings together, amongst others, producers, industry, research institutions and European level regulatory authorities, to define a common long-term research agenda. This agenda is based on a common Research & Development (R&D) vision for that sector, signposting how it will move forward.

2005. November 14.

News

THE JAPANESE HAVE A WORD FOR IT (forestry.gov.uk)

Martial arts and sushi are two well-loved imports from Japan, but there's a third that people in Britain have been flocking to take part in and didn't even realise it - momijigari. Momijigari is the traditional Japanese pastime of watching the changing colours of trees in autumn. We might not have a word for it but thousands of people take to the woods every year to see the riot of colours that nature has to display.

2005. November 14.