The fourth conference of the Forest-Based Sector Technology Platform, FTP in Hannover examined the development perspectives of the forest-based sector. The conclusion was that sector offers good opportunities to evolve into the lead market on European level.
News A devastating mudflow in the world-renowned Geyser Valley on the Kamchatka Peninsula has virtually obliterated the natural wonder, forcing the emergency evacuation of visitors and national park personnel, a spokesman for the local emergencies ministry said Monday.
Heads of European state forestry organisations are visiting Scotland this week to attend the 8th Conference of European State Forestry Organisations. It is the first time Scotland has hosted the conference which will include a meeting of the EUSTAFOR Executive (European State Forestry Association).
News By Adhityani Arga JAKARTA - Indonesia is among the world's top three greenhouse gas emitters because of deforestation, peatland degradation and forest fires, a report sponsored by the World Bank and Britain's development arm said.
More storm felled timber than expected still remains in the forest after the storms in Southern Sweden. Furthermore, several areas with storm felled timber are small and widely spread, which makes processing even more difficult. This is the conclusion of a helicopter inventory made by the Swedish Forest Agency.
News The melting of the planet's ice due to climate change will be the central theme of World Environment Day, celebrated annually on June 5 and this year hosted by the Arctic town of Tromsoe in Norway. Melting ice offers some of the clearest evidence of global warming, and this year's choice of host city was no coincidence, with the picturesque Norwegian town nestled in the Arctic, a region which is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the planet and where the effects are already visible.
News Growing coniferous trees produce fine particles, or aerosols to atmosphere. These reflect sunlight back to space and thus prevent the climate change. The production of fine particles by coniferous trees – as all vegetation – is being observed in the SMEAR (Station for Measuring Forest Ecosystem – Atmosphere Relations) research programme, led by the University of Helsinki.
MOSCOW - Russian scientists believe that global warming can be slowed down by releasing aerosols into the lower stratosphere, a top scientist said Wednesday. The director of the Global Climate and Ecology Institute, Yury Izrael, told a news conference that if a sulfur-based aerosol were sprayed into the atmosphere at a height of 10-14 kilometers (six to 10 miles), the sulfur particles would reflect the sun's rays.
5-6 June 2007, Warsaw, POLAND http://www.mcpfe.org/documents/meetings/2007/elm1 PRELIMINARY Agenda Opening of the meeting Adoption of the Agenda Information on the progress towards the 5th Ministerial Conference MCPFE and other international commitments
News Story by Ben Harding MADRID - Spain has ditched plans to build a 300-km motorway across the country's sun-baked plains because it would have threatened the Iberian lynx, one of the world's most endangered animals. The road linking the ancient capital of Toledo with the southern city of Cordoba would have cut straight through several protected areas, including the nocturnal cat's last viable refuge in the Sierra Morena mountains.
BRUSSELS - A mini-platoon of soldiers will be deployed to the Belgian forests to tackle a plague of hairy caterpillars that are causing allergy outbreaks in humans. Procession caterpillars, so-called for the way they march in lines through forests, are covered in long, toxic hairs which cause dermatitis and respiratory problems and account for up to 80 percent of doctor visits in the affected area.
News By Craig Whitlock KASSEL, Germany — In 1934, top Nazi Party official Hermann Goering received a seemingly mundane request from the Reich Forestry Service. A fur farm near here was seeking permission to release a batch of exotic bushy-tailed critters into the wild to "enrich the local fauna" and give bored hunters something new to shoot at. Goering approved the request and unwittingly uncorked an ecological disaster that is still spreading across Europe.
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia and Indonesia said Friday they will meet European lawmakers to debunk accusations oil palm plantations are environmentally destructive claims they said are hurting the sector. The two neighbours are the world's leading producers of crude palm oil.
News The Natural Resources Ministry is willing to offer a large number of benefits for investors in the Russian timber industry. The companies, meanwhile, are pressing for privileges in selling timber for firms with processing facilities under construction. The Economic Development Ministry reminds that subsidies for any companies are harmful for the national economy.
News QUEBEC — While hundreds of firefighters battled forest fires raging in Quebec on Sunday, officials uncovered evidence that arson might be at the root of one burning near Sept-Iles, Que.
News May is the time to remind all forest visitors how to enjoy our wildlife treasures, especially bears, safely and responsibly. Spring is when bears and cubs emerge from their winter dens, wildflowers are blooming, songbirds are building nests, and children are exploring the great outdoors.
Forest Research Ecology Division are carrying out collaborative studies with the Central Science Laboratory (CSL) and the National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC), Fort Collins, USA. A single-dose vaccine against Gonadotrophin Releasing Hormone will be tested in captive grey squirrels.
News DAVID TIRRELL-WYSOCKI Agrilus planipennis CONCORD, N.H. - As millions of Americans pack for their first camping trips of the season this weekend, foresters hope they will leave one thing behind: firewood.
