Forest Trends in the News

“Customs are at the frontline of combating the illegal logging and associated trade,” said Jennifer Prescott, Assistant US Trade Representative for Environment and Natural Resources. “The illegal wood trade has grown in sophistication. So too must the customs.”

WASHINGTON — Wastewater, and how to reduce it, clean it and recycle it, is the theme of this year’s World Water Week conference in Sweden next week. The theme seems especially appropriate as a record number of countries around the world grapple with devastating droughts while seeking to meet the increasing water demands of the world’s growing […]

The Environment Ministry has contested Vietnamese customs data suggesting the trade in illegal timber remains vast, though Cambodian authorities will not release their own export records to show how much wood is flowing to the Kingdom’s eastern neighbour.

More than 200 Chinese nationals were arrested in Cambodia last month after local police raided a compound near the Thai border where an alleged cybercrime gang was operating an online blackmail and extortion ring.

Cambodian timber exports to Vietnam over the first six months of the year have almost surpassed the total amount for all of last year, according to Vietnamese customs data, despite an existing ban on the trade – which one analyst said had “entirely failed” in light of the continuing multimillion-dollar trade.

Vietnam imported $142 million worth of timber from Cambodia during the first half of the year, according to the latest customs data from Hanoi, adding to the mounting evidence that Cambodia’s nominal timber export ban is being widely ignored.

After much sound, fury and troop deployments, it all ended with an embrace.

JPMorgan Chase aims to be 100 per cent dependent on renewable energy by 2020, and to funnel a staggering $200 billion into sustainability projects by 2025.

A Nebraska-sized chunk of the world’s forests was decimated in 2015 because of wildfire, logging and expanding palm oil plantations, according to a new study. The loss is part of a continuing trend of deforestation that could have devastating implications for the climate.

Many countries have taken steps to stop deforestation, but the study shows that those efforts have not been enough to slow it down, said Gustavo Silva-Chavez, a project manager for Forest Trends, a U.S.-based nonprofit.