News from the world of forests

Prized for Fragrant Resin, Frankincense Trees Are Vanishing (ForestPress)

WAGENINGEN, The Netherlands - Current rates of tapping frankincense are endangering the fragrant resin's sustained production, ecologists from the Netherlands and Eritrea warned today. Frankincense is an aromatic hardened wood resin obtained by tapping Boswellia trees. For 2000 years, the resin has been important as an ingredient in incense and perfumes, especially popular in Christian communities at Christmas.

2006. December 18.

Deliblatska Pescara in Vojvodina (ForesPress)

Video control of wildfires in Special Nature Reservation „Deliblatska Pescara“ Deliblatska Pescara known as Deliblato Send and European Sahara situated in Serbia, authonomy province of Vojvodina. It is spread about 35.000 ha and bounded with Donau river on the south-east. Deliblatska pescara is natural habitation number species which belong savannah’s animal and floral elements and unique in Europe.

2006. December 18.

News

New Environment Nobel Award Needed, Norwegian Says (REUTERS)

OSLO - A new Nobel prize should be created to reward work to protect the environment and combat climate change, a former Norwegian environment minister said on Thursday. But the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute said the idea had already been considered and rejected by Sweden's Nobel Foundation. The Swedish philanthropist and inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel provided for five prizes in his 1895 will -- for peace, literature, physics, chemistry and medicine. A sixth prize, for economics, was created in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden.

2006. December 18.

No Climate Benefit Gained by Planting Temperate Forests (ForestPress)

SAN FRANCISCO, California, (ENS) - Planting forests in temperate regions such as the United States and Europe may not yield any benefit for the global climate, and may instead contribute to warming, according to a new study set for presentation Saturday at the American Geophysical Society annual meeting in San Francisco.

2006. December 15.

Platform aims to speed up innovation in forest-based sector (European Family Forestry)

The Forest-based sector Technology Platform (FTP in brief), a European research and development cooperation between industry, forest owners, scientists and other stakeholders, is currently implementing its research roadmap. More than 430 participants from 27 countries met at the 3rd FTP conference in Lahti, Finland to discuss how to get down to work.

2006. December 14.

Nine consumers out of ten prefer paper (ForestPress)

Nine consumers out of ten prefer paper rather than plastic or other package materials, if they had a free choice. This is the conclusion of a Gallup poll commissioned by the interest group "PaperPlus". A total of 6 500 consumers in seven major European countries were interviewed. As much as 93 % of them preferred paper for environment conservation reasons. Somewhat fewer preferred paper because it is more convenient.

2006. December 13.

News

Birds Bask in Warmest French Autumn Since 1950 (REUTERS)

PARIS - Birds are delaying their annual winter migration to Africa from France because of the unseasonally warm weather, a French bird protection group said on Thursday. The autumn was the warmest in France since 1950, with temperatures 2.9 degrees Celsius (5.2 F) above seasonal norms, the national weather agency has said.

2006. December 13.

News

Less supply of Christmas trees in Europe increases prices for Danish growers (Nordic Forestry)

Denmark is Europe's leading exporter of Christmas trees. Total production is circa 9 million trees, of which 85 % are exported to other European countries. The demand for Nordman fir cultivated in Denmark is particularly strong. Foreign buyers arrived in Denmark already in August to inspect the goods. They came earlier than in previous years and they want to buy greater quantities.

2006. December 13.

News

Brazilian gene bank becomes world's seventh largest (SciDev.Net)

RIO DE JANEIRO – A Brazilian gene bank of plant seeds has become the world's seventh largest, behind banks in United States, China, Germany, Japan, India and South Korea. Gene banks store genetic material from plants or animals — such as seeds, spores or eggs — frozen in cold chambers at minus 20 degrees Celsius, keeping it intact for over 100 years for later use.

2006. December 12.

News

2000 little Finnish Christmas spruces bring Christmas spirit to the European Parliament (Nordic)

They came directly from the home country of Father Christmas, 2000 little Christmas spruces from Finland found their way to new owners in the European Parliament. Santa Claus Assistants, in undercover mission instructed by CEPF, brought the fresh trees to the Members of the European Parliament and their staff.

2006. December 11.

News

Merry Christmas, Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel! (Nordic Forestry)

The European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Mariann Fischer Boel ceremonially presented her Christmas tree in Directorate-General for Agriculture. CEPF – the voice of European Family Forest Owners – organized the event together with the European Christmas tree growers and the German dairy industry, which served hot chocolate.

2006. December 11.

History repeats itself with destruction of national parks (ForestPress)

NAFI has warned that Victoria and New South Wales are preparing this weekend to endure one of the worst and most destructive periods of wildfires in their national parks. “As recent history from the 2003 bushfires prove, the failure of state governments to properly manage national park forests has disastrous environmental outcomes,’ said NAFI’s CEO, Catherine Murphy.

2006. December 11.

News

Guide to Preventing Bird Electrocutions Released (ForestPress)

WASHINGTON, DC, (ENS) - Updated technical guidelines aimed at helping electric utilities prevent bird electrocutions and ensure reliable power delivery were issued Tuesday by a committee composed of members of the electricity industry and several government agencies. The Avian Power Line Interaction Committee - comprised of members from the Interior Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Edison Electric Institute and 18 electric utilities - released 2006 Suggested Practices for Avian Protection on Power Lines.

2006. December 11.

Putin signs Forest Code bill into law (Interfax)

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a federal law on the enactment of the Russian Forest Code, the Kremlin press service told Interfax. The State Duma passed the bill on November 8, 2006 and the Federation Council approved it on November 24. The code will come into force on January 1, 2007

2006. December 9.

Press room

Synergies among Rio Conventions : the forestry sector

Rome 07 December, 2006 Dear Forestry experts, I am writing to you in order to inform and invite forestry experts from the forest-L mailing list to participate in an specific research we are carrying out at the Department of Forest Science and Environment - DISAFRI, from the Tuscia University, (Viterbo - Italy), in which world-wide experts will be involved.

2006. December 9.

Red face for EU officials over pirate timber floor (ForestPress)

A painful confirmation by the European Commission that its headquarters contain 1,000 square metres of uncertified wood from the Indonesian tropical forest highlights the problem of illegally logged timber in the EU. The commission press service on Friday (1 December) confirmed that uncertified plywood was used to renovate the 13th floor - where commission president Jose Manuel Barroso's office and the commissioners' rooms are located - despite Brussels' policy of not using dodgy materials in its buildings.

2006. December 8.

News

Hydropower: a greenhouse gas culprit? (nature)

The green image of hydropower may have been seriously overstated, warn scientists Hydropower plants have long been a byword for clean energy. But researchers warn that tropical reservoirs might release more greenhouse gases than fossil fuel power stations.

2006. December 7.

News

Financing of Forest Conservation

Payments for Environmental Services in the Tropics March 2-3rd 2007 International Society of Tropical Foresters Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

2006. December 6.