News from the world of forests

The process of declaring the protected areas in Bulgaria under NATURA2000 has been launched

(RadioBulgar) Following about a year’s delay Bulgaria started declaring the protected areas to enter the European NATURA 2000 ecological network. The procedure has been opened for the constituting of the first area, that of the Suha Reka /meaning Dry River/, in the region of Dobruja plain, Northeastern Bulgaria. It covers some 25 000 hectares on the territory of the districts of Dobrich and Silistra and includes some 30 species of endangered birds whose survival is important to the environmental balance of the Old continent.

2007. September 20.

News

Twelfth Croatian firefighter dies (AFP)

ZAGREB – A Croatian firefighter died on Sunday from burns sustained while battling a wildfire which killed 11 of his colleagues, a hospital in the coastal town of Split said.

2007. September 18.

China's forest products trade up 35.3% in first half (Xinhua)

China's foreign trade of forest products reached US$27.2 billion in the first half of this year, up 35.3 percent over the same period in 2006, the State Forestry Administration (SFA) said on Wednesday. Exports of forest products went up 41 percent to US$15.5 billion and imports rose 28 percent to US$11.7 billion, said Cao Qingyao, SFA spokesman.

2007. September 18.

FOREST SERVICE CLARIFIES INTERNAL POLICIES FOR WIND ENERGY (ForestPress)

WASHINGTON, – In an effort to respond to the national need for renewable energy sources while improving the protection of natural resources, the U. S. Forest Service announced today proposed amendments to clarify internal policies regarding wind energy development.

2007. September 17.

News

Timber industry to benefit from nuclear technology (Bernama)

KUANTAN, – The use of nuclear technology can help improve the quality of Malaysian timber products meant for the international market, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis.

2007. September 17.

News

Italy estimates 50 billion euros in climate change damages (AFP)

ROME - Italy's cost for environmental damages due to climate change is estimated at 50 billion euros (69 billion dollars) per year, the Italian Environment Ministry said Wednesday at a climate change conference. "The temperature in Italy has risen four times more than the rest of the world, and the rains have diminished five percent over the last century, as bouts of dryness have multiplied," Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio said.

2007. September 14.

Press room

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Dear all, The UK-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is currently advertising two positions for field scientists to work in tropical forests: 1. Research biologist to work in Gola Forest, eastern Sierra Leone. Closing date 25 September 2007. 21 month contract based in Kenema and Gola Forest.

2007. September 14.

News

UN holds desertification summit in Spain (ForestPress)

Delegates from 191 countries are meeting in Madrid this month for the presentation of a plan to tackle desertification in the world's poorest countries. The eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) began on Monday (September 3) and ends next Friday (September 14).

2007. September 13.

News

China Suspends Plan to Convert Farmland Into Forest (Reuters)

BEIJING - China suspended a plan to convert 1.07 million ha of farmland into forest to meet its pledge of reserving at least 120 million ha for farming to ensure the country's food supply, state media said on Tuesday.

2007. September 13.

Brazil logging down (skynews.com)

The Brazilian government has stated that deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has fallen to the lowest rate in at least seven years. More controls on illegal logging, improved certification of land ownership, and economic development projects that preserve the forest are driving deforestation down.

2007. September 12.

News

Official Launch of the Global Environmental Flows Network(ForestPress)

The Global Environmental Flows Network was officially launched during the 10th International River Symposium Conference, 2-6 Sept. 2007 in Brisbane, Australia. Environmental Flows – a key to informed decision making Many factors, such as water quality, sediments, food-supply and biotic interactions, are important determinants of aquatic ecosystems.

2007. September 12.

News

More wood in Norwegian forests (Nordic Family Forestry)

The quantity of timber in Norwegian forests continues to increase. The latest inventories of the Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute indicate that from 2005 to 2006 there was a volume increase of 12.3 million cubic metres. The total quantity of timber in Norwegian forests amounts to 748 million cubic metres. Today there is 70 % more standing timber than 40 years ago.

2007. September 11.

Bird-poisoning landowners to be penalised (The Scotsman)

Michael Russell CRAIG BROWN LANDOWNERS and farmers implicated in poisoning birds of prey face losing tens of thousands of pounds in state aid after the Scottish Executive pledged to step up its efforts to stamp out wildlife crime. Minister for Environment Michael Russell yesterday said he would make full use of existing legal penalties, including the cutting of thousands of pounds in subsidies to farmers who are found to blame for the poisoning of birds.

2007. September 10.

European blood-sucker falls victim to global warming (Reuters)

Xerobdella lecomtei land leech OSLO - A rare European leech seems to be headed towards extinction as global warming dries out the Austrian forest home of the tiny blood-sucker, scientists said on Wednesday.

2007. September 9.

News

Cameroon's forests (skynews.com)

The European Union and Cameroon have agreed to investigate illegal logging, which costs the central African country an estimated $100 million a year. Timber is big business in Cameroon's tropical forests, with 700 companies and individuals licensed to fell trees.

2007. September 8.

Scientific Congress Examines Role of Forests in Rural Development

The International Union of Forest Research Organization (IUFRO), a world-wide international organization devoted to forests and related sciences, is helping increase the understanding of the role of forests and forestry in rural development by hosting a European Congress with its partners the Forestry Faculty of the Warsaw Agricultural University and the European Forest Institute.

2007. September 7.

News

Timber shortage pushes building costs up in SA (sabcnews.com)

Building costs in the country are expected to be pushed up still further by the shortage of timber resulting from the fires that raged through forest plantations in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and parts of the Western and Eastern Cape.

2007. September 6.

News

Furniture export rises to EUR 1 bn (nineoclock.ro)

Forthcoming FIFE-TIMM 2007 furniture tradeshow at Romexpo has mobilised 550 companies from 17 countries. The construction market is escalating in Romania and that has made Romanian furniture manufacturers that used to export their production shift their focus onto the domestic market.

2007. September 5.