Pressroom

The European Union has signed an agreement to support Vietnam’s forest governance improvement goals, aimed at ensuring that the timber it imports from the Southeast Asian country is legally sourced. The Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) was signed Oct. 19 in Brussels by Federica Mogherini, the EU high representative for […]

Piuray (Cusco) │ At Peru’s first National Water Summit, senior executives and general managers of 23 water utilities, representing 14 regions of Peru, signed the Piuray Declaration on November 9th, ratifying their commitment to protect the country’s source water areas and the natural environments that sustain them. The Piuray Declaration contains seven specific commitments to […]

                  November 14, 2018 │ In the wake of a major new report from WWF and ZSL (Zoological Society of London) showing dramatic declines in biodiversity over the last fifty years, over 100 members of the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Programme (BBOP) are meeting in Paris this month to launch a […]

Vietnam is a major wood processor – hoovering up timber from rainforest-rich countries in Africa and beyond. Its trade with the EU now stands to see an major boost, following the recently concluded Free Trade Agreement and so-called Voluntary Partnership Agreement. This lift to international trade demands action from Vietnam, to prevent it from becoming […]

Last year, the 28 Member States of the European Union imported €260 million-worth (about $296 million-worth) of timber from countries that the World Bank considers to be fragile and conflict-affected, according to those countries’ own statistics. That’s an increase of almost 20 percent in reported trade since 2014. While there is no doubt that countries […]

Forest Trends has announced a new partnership with GoSol.solar in the Brazilian Amazon to empower indigenous people with sustainable solar technology. GoSol.solar is an initiative of Solar Fire Concentration Ltd (SFCO), an impact-focused enterprise based in Tampere, Finland. GoSol.solar’s goal is to eradicate energy poverty, empower small and medium-sized enterprises with solar thermal, and minimize the […]

Investments in watershed services (IWS) programs, in which downstream water users pay upstream watershed service suppliers for actions that protect drinking water, are increasing in number and scope. IWS programs represent over $170 million of investment in over 4.3 million ha of watersheds, providing water to over 230 million people. It is not yet fully […]

On September 28th, 2018 Forest Trends signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association (VIFORES), the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA), the Forest Products Association of Binh Dinh, the Binh Duong Furniture Association (BIFA), and the Vietnam Rubber Association. Members of these […]

Water quality trading is a cost-effective way to meet clean water goals and deliver multiple benefits for people, fish, and wildlife. Yet, compared to other environmental markets (think: carbon offsets), interest and demand for water quality credit trading has been slow to catch on. A new report, “Breaking Down Barriers: Priority Actions for Advancing Water […]

International Development Secretary has committed £35 million of UK aid to protecting critical forest habitats and species threatened by extinction