Forest Trends in the News

Illegal logging on a vast scale by Vietnamese loggers has stripped huge areas of protected forests in recent months, with fresh piles of felled timber and rutted logging routes in Ratanakkiri province flatly contradicting the government assurances the trade is over.

Police in Ratanakkiri province on Friday arrested six journalists who were following a truck suspected of heading to Vietnam with a load of illegally logged timber for a local military police officer, though the reporters and police gave different accounts.

Authorities in Vietnam’s Gia Lai province have recently stopped at least nine overloaded timber trucks crossing into the country from the Kingdom, despite the Cambodian government ostensibly banning wood exports to its eastern neighbour, according to a Vietnamese news report.

More than 48 cubic meters of luxury rosewood has been found in Kratie province’s Snuol district, believed to have been hidden by illegal loggers.

Ecosystem markets have gotten a lot of attention over the last few years as a tool to help landowners fund conservation, by linking good stewards with the entities who benefit from their stewardship. Homeowners for example might earn tax credits for capturing stormwater on their properties, or farmers and forest landowners could “grow” water quality […]

Ferney Caicedo, a trained forest ranger, is slipping and sliding over the forest path while he leads a horse and a group of four other people up a hill. Rain from the night before has made the wooded slopes almost impossible to ascend. The humidity is high. Sweat drips constantly from underneath Caicedo’s cap. This […]

Ferney Caicedo, a trained forest ranger, is slipping and sliding over the forest path while he leads a horse and a group of four other people up a hill. Rain from the night before has made the wooded slopes almost impossible to ascend. The humidity is high. Sweat drips constantly from underneath Caicedo’s cap. This […]

Bedrock environmental legislation, such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, has helped inspire innovative solutions to complex environmental issues. Today, there is a fast-growing industry that encourages private investors and businesses to work independently or in partnership with public agencies and apply market-based approaches to conservation.

ROBBINSVILLE, N.C. (AP) – The rumor in the timbering parts of the mountains began a few years back: The Chinese are buying up the lumber mills.

Cambodia and Laos share a border and a problem: vast swathes of their forests have been cut down, loaded on trucks and driven east to Vietnam and often sent onwards to China.