Forest News Watch

Greenpeace calls first certified 'sustainable' palm oil a greenwash, blocks shipment from Indonesia

The world's first shipment of certified sustainable palm oil, due to arrive in Rotterdam, "does not meet the criteria set for an environmentally friendly product," according to Greenpeace. The international NGO reports that the shipment's producer, United Plantations, logs in vulnerable peat forests in Kalimantan, Indonesia. United Plantations is the first company to receive the new palm oil certification from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), initiated by companies and non-governmental organizations in 2003. Greenpeace states that United Plantations does not meet several of the RSPO certification's conditions for sustainable palm oil. Greenpeace's allegations include United Plantations cutting down trees in prime orangutan habitat, failing to comply with local Indonesian environmental laws, and engaging local populations in land conflicts. Greenpeace suggests that because of United Plantation's certification, consumers should be more critical of the RSPO. In 2007, palm plantations yielded more than 38 million tonnes of oil, making it one of the world's biggest commodity products. In a related development, Greenpeace activists halted a palm oil shipment and prevented it from leaving Dumai, Indonesia for Europe. Activists painted "Forest Crime" and "Climate Crime" on the hull of three palm oil tankers and a barge full of rainforest timber. "Today Greenpeace is takin... Read more...

UK: Scotland's Environment Minister releases consultation paper on forests and climate change

Scottish Minister for Environment Michael Russell launched a consultation on the increased role that Scotland's forests can play in the fight against climate change, accompanied by a paper outlining proposals for developing renewable energy projects and planting more trees. The paper, Climate Change and the National Forest Estate in Scotland, relates to legal provisions in the Scottish Climate Change Bill that may be needed to help with the way forward, such as the potential to give Ministers the power to modify certain functions of Forestry Commission Scotland, allowing to undertake new and innovative activities to help tackle climate change more effectively. The included proposals are to help the Scottish Government meet its greener energy targets as well as planting more trees, to increase the area of Scotland covered in woodland by the second half of this century. "As part of the Scottish government's commitment to tackling climate change, we have undertaken to implement a world-leading 80% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2050. We also want to see 50% of all Scotland's energy produced from renewable sources by 2020," said Russell. Some specific suggestions include: Establishing joint ventures with communities or the private sector to develop renewable sources of energy on the national forest estate; The possible creation of a not for profit Trust that will bring renewe... Read more...

International campaign letter calls for FSC to stop certifying plantations

The World Rainforest Movement (WRM) has issued an open campaign letter to FSC members urgently calling for FSC to resolve the "serious problem of FSC certification of monoculture tree plantations" at the next FSC General Assembly in South Africa from 3-7 November. FSC has already stated that one topic of discussion at the Assembly is a Review of FSC Principles and Criteria, and the WRM hopes it will be used as an opportunity for changing those principles in such a way as to exclude the certification of monoculture tree plantations by FSC. "FSC members -- particularly from the environmental and social chambers -- must be made aware that certification of that type of plantation is not only eroding the FSC's credibility but, more importantly, that it is undermining local people's struggles against plantations," the letter reads. It states that all large-scale plantations have heavy impacts on "the same things that FSC members from environmental and social organizations agreed needed to be protected when they joined the FSC: indigenous, traditional and peasant communities' rights and livelihoods; forests, grasslands and wetlands; water, soils and biodiversity.... The obvious conclusion must be that large scale tree monocultures are uncertifiable." WRM expresses its disappointment that four years after the FSC Plantations Review was launched, nothing has changed. "The time has now a... Read more...

Environmental groups express criticisms, cautious praise towards European Commission's forest package

In response to the European Commission's release of its proposed illegal logging legislation and goal of halving tropical deforestation by 2020, environmental groups have released diverse criticisms, cautious praise, and suggested improvements. WWF criticized the Commission after the position paper's release for weak legislation against illegal timber and "denounces the lack of ambition" reducing its goal to tackle illegal logging. The Commission intends to pursue a minimum 50% reduction in tropial deforestation by 2020 and halting global forest loss by 2030. WWF is disappointed in this reduction from May's Bonn climate conference, where representatives from over 60 countries signed a WWF commitment to achieve zero net deforestation by 2020. Additionaly, "the draft proposal does not have the teeth needed to seriously clamp down on illegal timber trade," said Anke Schulmeister, Forest Policy Officer at WWF. WWF is concerned that the proposal does not bind companies all along the supply chain to provide credible assurances that their timber is legally sourced, nor does it clearly specify whether source country laws, such as those protecting land tenure rights of local peoples, need to be covered by these assurances. Greenpeace's position is similar to WWF's, that the Comission's package falls short. Regarding the proposed legislation against illegal timber trade, Greenpeace state... Read more...

Eliasch Review unveiled by Gordon Brown, calls for a carbon neutral global forest sector by 2030

According to the newly-released Eliasch Review, "Climate Change: Financing Global Forests," the international community should enable rainforest countries to halve deforestation by 2020 and make the global forest sector 'carbon neutral' by 2030. The Review also states that reducing emissions from deforestation should be fully included in any post-2012 global climate deal at Copenhagen. Led by the Swedish born businessman Johan Eliasch, CEO since 1995 of sporting goods manufcaturer Head N.V., the Review is an independent report commissioned by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Key findings include: by 2030 global forest loss should be balanced by new forest growth; REDD should be fully included in any post-2012 global climate deal; national governments should develop their own strategies to combat deforestation in forest countries, including establishing baselines, targets and effective governance and distribution of finances; the forest sector should be included in global carbon markets in the long term; public and private sector funding will be needed in the short to medium term as carbon markets grow; and the international community should provide support for capacity building where necessary. Total capacity building costs are estimated at up to $4 billion over 5 years for 40 forest nations. "Saving forests is critical for tackling climate change. Without action on deforestatio... Read more...

Canada: Quebec adds 17,800 km2 to its protected areas

The Quebec goverment has announced the protection of an additional 1% of the province's land area, adding 17,800 km2 to its protected areas. The announcement was made by Quebec Premier Jean Charest as well as the Ministre du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs, Line Beauchamp. The new protected areas are located primarily in Northern Quebec; there are six new territories being protected and five extensions of the limits of existing protected territories. The territories being protected include the George River and the National Parks Reserves Monts-Pyramides, Collines-Ondulées and Baie-aux-Feuilles. Part of the protected areas, around the George River, houses one of Northern Quebec's largest herds of caribou (approximately 385,000). "The Government is taking the first step to protect barren-ground caribou which, we hope, will lead to the protection of woodland caribou in the Boreal region, a species that is vulnerable in Québec and threatened in Canada," explains Christian Simard, executive director of Nature Québec. This area also includes Lac de la Hutte Sauvage, an historic meeting place for Innus, Naskapis, and Inuit while hunting. The province has already received congratulations from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and its SNAP-Quebec chapter, Nature Quebec, and the Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI). "We would like to congratulate Quebec as ... Read more...

U.S.: Ex-ENGO staffer releases tell-all book about environmental groups' hypocrisy

A new book, "Green Inc.: An Environmental Insider Reveals How a Good Cause Has Gone Bad" by Christine MacDonald (Lyons Press), has been released, claiming that conservation supporters are being "duped by their own leaders." MacDonald, who joined Conservation International in 2006 and left a year later, accuses the leaders of today's most prominent conservation groups of spending their time "globetrotting" with politicians and pop culture celebrities. MacDonald accuses Conservation International's CEO Peter Seligmann of using his corporate credit card to pay for private meals and other expenses and of using the nonprofit's funds to pay for a vacation in Africa. Retailers claiming green policies and sustainable merchandise such as IKEA and Wal-Mart are accused of selling wood products implicated in the illegal logging trade. Environmental groups such as The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International are criticized for routinely partnering with oil, gas, power and mining companies, welcoming their money and their executives as board members. A number of environmental groups are slammed for financial support and praise received from corporate giants including General Electric, Eastman Kodak, ExxonMobil, Nissan, and Dow Chemical, which are ranked among the worst corporate air polluters in the U.S. In her book, MacDonald also delves into the "double lives"... Read more...

Booklet promoting wood use to tackle climate change at the centre of a new forest controversy

The British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range released a new booklet encouraging consumers to view the forest industry as one producing renewable, climate-friendly products. "Climate change is the biggest opportunity our forest sector has ever seen," Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell when announcing the booklet, "Tackle Climate Change, Use Wood," jointly produced by BC's Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd., the Forest Products Association of Canada, and the BC Forestry Climate Change Working Group. "Whether it is using wood waste for bioenergy, generating carbon credits from intensive silviculture, or expanding the use of wood in construction, we need to send a clear message around the world that BC's forests are an integral part of solving this global challenge." Several leading environmental groups promptly reacted to the release of the booklet, criticizing the BC government for publishing it, and stating it should rather be promoting forest protection, not use, as an effective climate change strategy. The NGOs -- David Suzuki Foundation, ForestEthics, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), Pembina Institute, and BC Spaces -- take issue with the booklet's over-simplification of the forest industry's role in climate change. ForestEthics' Merran Smith noted that "the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has prioritized protection of forests as the most effec... Read more...

Norway announces huge financial contribution to Brazil's new Amazon Fund

Norway has announced that it will contribute up to USD $1-billion to reduce deforestation in the Amazon from now until 2015. The agreement was signed during a meeting between Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, making Norway the first contributor to the Amazon Fund. Norway, a country of less than 5 million inhabitants (half the population of a province like Quebec, or a country such as Belgium), is thereby making the largest financial pledge ever of any industrialized countries to curb deforestation. The final size of Norway's contribution, which will go to President Lula's major campaign against deforestation, will depend on how successful Brazil will be in reducing deforestation. Norway's contribution to the Amazon Fund is part of the federal government's climate and forest program, launched by PM Stoltenberg at the December 2007 UN climate conference in Bali. Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions due to deforestation and forest deterioration are among the quickest and most cost-effective climate efforts. In 2008, Norway will contribute about USD $20-million to the Amazon Fund, and contributions for 2009 will increase to an estimated $120-million. "Efforts against deforestation may give us the largest, quickest and cheapest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Norway has to reduce its own emissions, and at the same... Read more...

HRH The Prince of Wales calls for "a sense of wartime urgency" to tackle deforestation, climate change

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales gave a speech in London calling for "a sense of wartime urgency" when it comes to stopping rainforest destruction and global warming. Prince Charles, in his role as founder of The Prince's Rainforests Project aimed at highlighting the value of the world's remaining rainforests, held a black-tie dinner at London's Mansion house for financial institutions. The goal of the dinner was to highlight the part that the financial community can play in providing market-based solutions and to encourage potential investors to join in the effort to find ways of making the rainforest a new asset class. The Prince told attendees that the phenomena of climate change and rainforests are "umbilically connected" and that "it is no exaggeration to say that rainforests are the world's lifebelt." Explaining the analogy of war, HRH stated that the consequences of climate change will "even in the medium term, with hundreds of millions of people displaced, lead to security issues which will dwarf what we have witnessed in recent years and result in unprecedented geopolitical and economic upheaval." He called for a joint effort by the state and the private sector to find a way for the environmental value of rainforests to outweigh their worth as a source for logging, palm oil, beef, soya, and other industries that contribute to their destruction. "Relying on govern...

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