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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/timber-laws/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Timber Laws</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/timber-laws/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Illegal timber imports from Cambodia, Laos skirt Vietnam safeguards, report reveals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-timber-imports-from-cambodia-laos-skirt-vietnam-safeguards-report-reveals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-timber-imports-from-cambodia-laos-skirt-vietnam-safeguards-report-reveals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jul 2026 11:35:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/09032420/RESIZED-Preah-Roka_Mongabay_Andy-Ball-5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322242</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corporations, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Logging, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Illegally sourced timber from Cambodia and Laos continues to enter Vietnam’s supply chains despite recent efforts to tighten legality controls, according to a new report from U.K.-based watchdog the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Falsified paperwork, manipulated harvesting quotes, and intermixing of timber from multiple sources are just some of the ways well-established criminal networks perpetuate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Illegally sourced timber from Cambodia and Laos continues to enter Vietnam’s supply chains despite recent efforts to tighten legality controls, according to a new report from U.K.-based watchdog the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Falsified paperwork, manipulated harvesting quotes, and intermixing of timber from multiple sources are just some of the ways well-established criminal networks perpetuate the illicit trade, EIA teams uncovered during a four-year investigation. “We repeatedly observed mechanisms through which timber from questionable sources could be incorporated into formal trade channels,” says Thomas Chung, forest timber campaigns lead for the EIA. Vietnam is one of the world’s largest timber exporters. As a major manufacturing hub of furniture, flooring and other wood products, it plays a key role in international supply chains, shipping roughly $17 billion in timber and timber products in 2025. Timber from neighboring Laos and Cambodia represents a relatively small share of Vietnam’s total supply, the EIA report says, accounting for less than 9% of all timber shipments into the country. However, it carries an outsized legality risk that significantly undermines Vietnam’s efforts to ensure legal sourcing. To maintain access to lucrative export markets, such as the U.S., the EU, Japan and China, the country has made several recent updates to its national timber legality framework, known as the Vietnam Timber Legality Assurance System (VNTLAS). However, the EIA investigation indicates these efforts are being grossly undermined by persistent imports of illegal timber from Cambodia and Laos, exposing key weaknesses in the VNTLAS system. A consistent issue was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-timber-imports-from-cambodia-laos-skirt-vietnam-safeguards-report-reveals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-timber-imports-from-cambodia-laos-skirt-vietnam-safeguards-report-reveals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322242</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EU deforestation law nudges timber trade, Indonesia probe shows, but risks persist</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eu-deforestation-law-nudges-timber-trade-indonesia-probe-shows-but-risks-persist/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eu-deforestation-law-nudges-timber-trade-indonesia-probe-shows-but-risks-persist/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Apr 2026 04:31:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/17040959/Picture1-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317697</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Kalimantan, Europe, European Union, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Forests, International Trade, Rainforests, Regulations, Supply Chain, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Several European timber firms have cut ties with suppliers linked to deforestation in Indonesia following a 2025 investigation, suggesting that an upcoming European Union regulation is already influencing behavior ahead of its implementation at the end of 2026. Still, new trade data show imports from high-risk suppliers continued in 2025, raising concerns that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Several European timber firms have cut ties with suppliers linked to deforestation in Indonesia following a 2025 investigation, suggesting that an upcoming European Union regulation is already influencing behavior ahead of its implementation at the end of 2026. Still, new trade data show imports from high-risk suppliers continued in 2025, raising concerns that timber linked to forest clearance may still be entering EU supply chains. In their 2025 investigation, U.K.-based NGO Earthsight and its Indonesian partner, Auriga Nusantara, traced timber from recently cleared forests in Indonesian Borneo to European importers, using government documents, satellite imagery and trade records. Analyzing nearly 10,000 unpublished documents submitted to Indonesian authorities, the investigators identified cases where timber produced through forest clearance had entered European supply chains in some cases. The findings showed that the top five users of deforestation-linked wood in Indonesia in 2024 all exported products to the EU. Their main European customers were companies in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, which together ordered more than 23,000 cubic meters (812,200 cubic feet) of wood products that year, including plywood, decking and door frames. While only some shipments could be directly verified, the investigation pointed to a wider risk that timber linked to deforestation is entering EU markets through opaque supply chains. But despite these findings, the investigation has already prompted changes among some of the companies involved, with several cutting ties with the suppliers named in the report. Under the EU’s new antideforestation regulation, the EUDR, set to come into force&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eu-deforestation-law-nudges-timber-trade-indonesia-probe-shows-but-risks-persist/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eu-deforestation-law-nudges-timber-trade-indonesia-probe-shows-but-risks-persist/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317697</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>SE Asia’s smallholders struggling to meet EUDR: Interview with RECOFTC’s Martin Greijmans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/se-asias-smallholders-struggling-to-meet-eudr-interview-with-recoftcs-martin-greijmans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/se-asias-smallholders-struggling-to-meet-eudr-interview-with-recoftcs-martin-greijmans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Dec 2025 10:59:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/29105530/IMG_6036-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312175</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Europe, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Certification, Coffee, Community Forests, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Green, International Trade, Palm Oil, Plantations, Regulations, Timber, and Timber Laws]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Smallholders produce significant quantities of Vietnam’s coffee, Indonesia’s palm oil, and Thailand’s rubber exported into the EU. Yet under the bloc’s upcoming deforestation-free regulation (EUDR), industry experts say small-scale producers across Southeast Asia need more support to help prepare them to comply with the new rules. The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is set to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Smallholders produce significant quantities of Vietnam’s coffee, Indonesia’s palm oil, and Thailand’s rubber exported into the EU. Yet under the bloc’s upcoming deforestation-free regulation (EUDR), industry experts say small-scale producers across Southeast Asia need more support to help prepare them to comply with the new rules. The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is set to take effect at the end of 2026, after EU lawmakers voted earlier this month to postpone its implementation for the second year in a row, citing technical concerns. Its goal is to ensure that forest-linked products imported into the EU are deforestation-free by introducing mechanisms that enable companies trading seven commodities — cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy and timber — to track their products’ origins throughout the entire supply chain. While experts say increased oversight is a vital step to reduce the footprint of EU consumption on forests, others have warned that without appropriate support and governance mechanisms, the new rules could introduce inequities that harm small-scale producers. Many smallholders lack the capacity and capital to comply with some aspects of the new regulations, for instance. This could see them sidelined in favor of bigger producers who can more easily adapt, according to Martin Greijmans, community enterprise program lead at RECOFTC, a Thailand-based community forest nonprofit. Further complicating matters are limited resources to inform smallholders about how the regulations will affect their businesses, underscoring the need for greater efforts by governments and private companies to help smallholders adapt, he says. “One shocking thing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/se-asias-smallholders-struggling-to-meet-eudr-interview-with-recoftcs-martin-greijmans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/se-asias-smallholders-struggling-to-meet-eudr-interview-with-recoftcs-martin-greijmans/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312175</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Ghana ships first ‘gold standard’ timber to EU, questions about FLEGT&#8217;s future remain (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-ghana-ships-first-gold-standard-timber-to-eu-questions-about-flegts-future-remain-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-ghana-ships-first-gold-standard-timber-to-eu-questions-about-flegts-future-remain-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Nov 2025 17:17:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fred Pearce]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/03154304/IMG_6803-Ghana-e1762189069257-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308741</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Europe, European Union, Ghana, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Commentary, Forests, Governance, International Trade, Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ghana has become the first African country to win fast-lane access to European Union markets for its timber. A trading license negotiated with the European Commission over 16 years means all logging in the West African country is now recognized as being untainted by illegality, and is carried out with the consent of nearby forest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Ghana has become the first African country to win fast-lane access to European Union markets for its timber. A trading license negotiated with the European Commission over 16 years means all logging in the West African country is now recognized as being untainted by illegality, and is carried out with the consent of nearby forest communities, who are compensated in cash or in kind. Armed with the license, traders can sell Ghanaian timber into Europe without further checks on its legality, a landmark that will be recognized by a gathering of Ghanaian and European politicians, timber industry officials and others on Nov. 4 in Brussels. The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) license — among a series of measures introduced by the EU more than 20 years ago to tackle the root causes of illegal logging — has widespread support from industry and civil society in Ghana, as do the national rules on forestry and timber tracking and trading that underpin it. Richard Nsenkyire, managing director of Samartex Timber and Plywood, one of Ghana’s leading timber exporters, says the license marks “the beginning of a new era in compliant international trade” for Ghana, which “will guarantee access to the EU market.” Yet there are fears that Ghana’s FLEGT license, the first in Africa and only the second in the world (after Indonesia), could also turn out to be the last — a victim, in part, of a political climate in which the EU appears to be retreating from many&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-ghana-ships-first-gold-standard-timber-to-eu-questions-about-flegts-future-remain-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-ghana-ships-first-gold-standard-timber-to-eu-questions-about-flegts-future-remain-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308741</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EUDR implementation comes laden with potential unintended consequences</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/eudr-implementation-comes-laden-with-potential-unintended-consequences/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/eudr-implementation-comes-laden-with-potential-unintended-consequences/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Sep 2025 19:05:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/04150701/Image_7-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305415</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Brazil, Cerrado, East Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana, Global, Indonesia, South America, Southeast Asia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Cacao, Coffee, Conservation, Crops, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Farming, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Globalization, International Trade, Land Use Change, Palm Oil, Pasture, Politics, Regulations, Supply Chain, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Set to enter into force Dec. 30, 2025, the European Union’s deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) aims to halt the bloc’s contribution to global forest loss. Experts Mongabay spoke to agree the EUDR promises to become a landmark legislative tool for curbing commodities supply chain-related deforestation at the international level. But those analysts also warn of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Set to enter into force Dec. 30, 2025, the European Union’s deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) aims to halt the bloc’s contribution to global forest loss. Experts Mongabay spoke to agree the EUDR promises to become a landmark legislative tool for curbing commodities supply chain-related deforestation at the international level. But those analysts also warn of “unintended consequences” built into the law that could imperil the initiative’s objectives and effectiveness and in some cases raise the risk of further deforestation or land use change spreading to other ecosystems. Once it is implemented, the EUDR requires producers of a wide range of commodities — including cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy and wood — prove their products are not being sourced from land deforested after Dec. 31, 2020. EUDR implementation was delayed in 2024 when transnational companies and commodity producing nations complained to the EU of being unprepared for the law. That hiatus raised widespread concerns the delay might be used for “watering down” the statute. But the postponement could also allow time for potential EUDR defects to be addressed. The Rainforest Alliance, for example, which has supported the law from its inception, “definitely saw the unintended consequences from the start,” says Fanny Gauttier, the NGO’s European public affairs lead. Prime among those unintended consequences, she says, is the possibility of the EUDR accidentally excluding many of the world’s smallholder farmers. Other experts point to the potential “leakage” of commodities once destined for EUDR nations being shipped to unregulated markets. Add&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/eudr-implementation-comes-laden-with-potential-unintended-consequences/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/eudr-implementation-comes-laden-with-potential-unintended-consequences/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305415</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Let’s understand the value of the forest’ says Liberia’s Silas Siakor</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/lets-understand-the-value-of-the-forest-says-liberias-silas-siakor/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/lets-understand-the-value-of-the-forest-says-liberias-silas-siakor/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Sep 2025 11:25:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/01093841/edb884ea-00f1-4a96-b10e-b1e414790373-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305234</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Community Forests, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Foreign Aid, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Logging, Plantations, Politics, Rainforests, Timber Laws, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rainforests have long played a central role in Liberia. Home to hundreds of thousands of people, they’re a source of sustenance, a site for cultural practice and habitat for forest elephants, western chimpanzees, and pygmy hippos. Massive rubber plantations carved out of them dominated the country’s economy for decades, and during the country’s civil war [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Rainforests have long played a central role in Liberia. Home to hundreds of thousands of people, they’re a source of sustenance, a site for cultural practice and habitat for forest elephants, western chimpanzees, and pygmy hippos. Massive rubber plantations carved out of them dominated the country’s economy for decades, and during the country’s civil war they provided timber that funded rebel groups. After the guns fell silent, Liberia overhauled its forestry laws to give communities a bigger role, with foreign donors pledging vast sums to support the reforms. Today, some of those donors are pulling back on their commitments, and new threats to Liberia’s forests are emerging. Nobody knows the importance of Liberia’s forests — or the challenges of protecting them — better than Silas Siakor. A prominent voice pushing for community rights in forest management, he was instrumental in designing the postwar legal reforms as well as the exposure of logging corruption scandals. In 2006, Siakor was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for his work investigating illegal logging under former President Charles Taylor. With the prize money, he set up an environmental watchdog group, the Sustainable Development Institute. Now, he’s helping to run an innovative pilot project in Liberia’s southeast Sinoe county, where 28 communities are set to begin receiving direct “area-based payments” from the Irish government in exchange for conserving their forests. “Two things came to mind when I first started to think about this approach,” he told Mongabay. “How do we incentivize forest owners to keep their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/lets-understand-the-value-of-the-forest-says-liberias-silas-siakor/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/lets-understand-the-value-of-the-forest-says-liberias-silas-siakor/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305234</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Liberia has a new plan to protect its rainforests. Can it work?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/liberia-has-a-new-plan-to-protect-its-rainforests-can-it-work/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/liberia-has-a-new-plan-to-protect-its-rainforests-can-it-work/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Sep 2025 11:20:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/05104807/woman-in-a-liberian-forest-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305241</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Community Forests, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Foreign Aid, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Logging, Plantations, Politics, Rainforests, Timber Laws, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Around half of West Africa’s remaining rainforests are in the small coastal nation of Liberia. They’re home to species like western chimpanzees and pygmy hippos, valuable stands of hardwood — and hundreds of thousands of people. Despite years of logging reforms backed by foreign aid, Liberia lost more than 38,000 hectares (94,000 acres) of humid [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Around half of West Africa’s remaining rainforests are in the small coastal nation of Liberia. They’re home to species like western chimpanzees and pygmy hippos, valuable stands of hardwood — and hundreds of thousands of people. Despite years of logging reforms backed by foreign aid, Liberia lost more than 38,000 hectares (94,000 acres) of humid primary forest in 2024 , driven by factors including agriculture, unsustainable logging and mining. A group of 28 communities in Liberia may have a solution, and it’s an elegantly straightforward one: Pay them to keep the forest standing. Under a new pilot project in southeastern Sinoe county, the government of Ireland is set to pay those communities $1.50 per hectare (2.5 acres) of forest they protect annually for the next two years. Fifty thousand hectares (124,000 acres) in two community-controlled rainforests are included in the pilot, with residents hoping to collectively receive $75,000 each year — about twice what a logging company would have paid them in land rental fees. Liberia’s Sapo National Park. Image by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay. The money will be spent on development projects chosen and funded by the communities themselves, with some oversight by the Liberian organization managing the pilot. That organization, Integrated Development and Learning, hopes it can find enough funding to scale up the pilot to a total of 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) of rainforest. “It’s taking some responsibility and saying these communities are doing something for all of us, for the planet and environment, and therefore&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/liberia-has-a-new-plan-to-protect-its-rainforests-can-it-work/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/liberia-has-a-new-plan-to-protect-its-rainforests-can-it-work/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305241</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Timber trade watchdog urges Poland to halt imports of Myanmar ‘blood timber’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/timber-trade-watchdog-urges-poland-to-halt-imports-of-myanmar-blood-timber/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/timber-trade-watchdog-urges-poland-to-halt-imports-of-myanmar-blood-timber/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Feb 2025 13:19:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/20131412/Timber_truck-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294758</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Europe, Myanmar, Poland, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Illegal Logging, International Trade, Logging, Military, Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Highly prized teak from Myanmar continues to be imported into Poland, despite EU sanctions on the Southeast Asian country’s state-run timber monopoly following the 2021 military coup and violent crackdown on citizens. Environmental law nonprofit ClientEarth last month formally requested the Polish timber trade regulator urgently inspect firms engaging in the trade and take serious [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Highly prized teak from Myanmar continues to be imported into Poland, despite EU sanctions on the Southeast Asian country’s state-run timber monopoly following the 2021 military coup and violent crackdown on citizens. Environmental law nonprofit ClientEarth last month formally requested the Polish timber trade regulator urgently inspect firms engaging in the trade and take serious action to prevent imports of the banned timber. According to data from the Polish Central Statistical Office, the country imported more than $11.5 million worth of Myanmar timber between 2021 and 2024. Most imports were of teak (Tectona grandis), a durable and weather-resistant wood coveted by luxury furniture and yacht manufacturers. In its formal request to the Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection, ClientEarth said the persistent trade not only infringes the EU sanctions, but also brings Poland, an EU member state, into violation of the EU Timber Regulations (EUTR). The bloc ruled in 2020 that any import of Myanmar teak into the EU violates the EUTR because it’s not possible to determine whether it was harvested legally. The nonprofit previously raised a complaint about Poland’s non-compliance with the EUTR with the Council of the European Union in June 2023. However, it said it has yet to receive any response to its complaints, either from Polish authorities or through EU channels. “The EUTR rules are a key tool in the fight against the trade in illegal timber, but they need to be implemented effectively,” said Ranja Łuszczek, a lawyer at ClientEarth. “The lack of adequate action&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/timber-trade-watchdog-urges-poland-to-halt-imports-of-myanmar-blood-timber/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/timber-trade-watchdog-urges-poland-to-halt-imports-of-myanmar-blood-timber/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294758</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Parties gutting EUDR received donations from companies tied to illegal deforestation: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/parties-gutting-eudr-received-donations-from-companies-tied-to-illegal-deforestation-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/parties-gutting-eudr-received-donations-from-companies-tied-to-illegal-deforestation-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Nov 2024 18:11:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/06135029/forest-fire-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290206</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China, Europe, and European Union]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Cacao, Coffee, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Illegal Logging, Logging, Palm Oil, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Timber Laws, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Parties members of the European People’s Party (EPP), a large center-right political party, received political donations from influential companies linked to illegal deforestation and which are likely to benefit from changes to a key EU forest protection law, according to a new Earthsight report. Yesterday, the EU Parliament voted to postpone the EU Deforestation Regulation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Parties members of the European People’s Party (EPP), a large center-right political party, received political donations from influential companies linked to illegal deforestation and which are likely to benefit from changes to a key EU forest protection law, according to a new Earthsight report. Yesterday, the EU Parliament voted to postpone the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) by one year and approved a series of amendments put forward by the EPP calling for less stringent requirements. Over €1.7 million has been donated to EPP members, including Austria’s Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP) party and Germany’s Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (CDU) party, from companies and shareholders who profit from goods covered by the EUDR and have links to illegal deforestation or are exposed to forest-risk commodities, the report said. One of the approved amendments involves the creation of a new category of &#8216;no-risk&#8217; countries, which will be subject to less stringent requirements in their management of forests than countries of &#8216;low,&#8217; &#8216;standard,&#8217; and &#8216;high&#8217; risk. Under this criterion, most EU member states would be considered ‘no-risk,&#8217; as well as China, the U.S., and Russia creating a “dangerous loophole” that facilitates the laundering of products from high-risk to no-risk countries, said Fyfe Strachan, policy and communications lead at Earthsight. Oil palm planation and native tropical rainforest on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Image by Rhett Ayers Butler/Mongabay. Julia Christian, a campaigner at the EU environmental watchdog Fern, wrote in a press statement that the EU Parliament approved the amendment “without assessing whether these changes&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/parties-gutting-eudr-received-donations-from-companies-tied-to-illegal-deforestation-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/parties-gutting-eudr-received-donations-from-companies-tied-to-illegal-deforestation-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290206</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Angkor Plywood, the ‘timber cartel’ shipping Cambodian forests internationally</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/angkor-plywood-the-timber-cartel-shipping-cambodian-forests-internationally/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/angkor-plywood-the-timber-cartel-shipping-cambodian-forests-internationally/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Oct 2024 03:21:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/14024339/DJI_0017-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288600</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Logging, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the first part of a Mongabay series investigating Cambodia’s illicit timber trade. Read Part Two. Several Cambodian journalists contributed to this report, but have requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the story. STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — Rare timber species likely logged from Cambodia’s embattled protected forests have been exported to Vietnam [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first part of a Mongabay series investigating Cambodia’s illicit timber trade. Read Part Two. Several Cambodian journalists contributed to this report, but have requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the story. STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — Rare timber species likely logged from Cambodia’s embattled protected forests have been exported to Vietnam and China for years by Angkor Plywood, one of the country’s most notorious logging companies, Mongabay can reveal. Over a year-long investigation, Mongabay has acquired documents and testimonies, as well as photo and video evidence, that show Angkor Plywood has been illegally logging timber from Cambodian protected areas and violating various laws by exporting sawn logs internationally. The company has done this for years with impunity, in part due to the connections of the company’s management. Angkor Plywood was established by its chairman, Chea Pov, a man who has worked his way up Cambodia’s timber business, in 2011 with Taiwanese national Lu Chu Chang. The latter previously headed the Cambodian Timber Industry Association and developed a reputation in the early 2000s for illegally felling protected resin trees belonging to Indigenous communities. Together, Pov and Chang have built a timber empire focusing on the beleaguered Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, a nearly 490,000-hectare (1.2-million-acre) lowland rainforest in northern Cambodia. Its flat topography and proximity to numerous transit arteries, coupled with the sanctuary’s rich mineral deposits and formerly lush forests, have made it a lucrative target for loggers and miners. Mongabay has previously uncovered logging routes and timber&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/angkor-plywood-the-timber-cartel-shipping-cambodian-forests-internationally/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/angkor-plywood-the-timber-cartel-shipping-cambodian-forests-internationally/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-288600</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How effective is the EU’s marquee policy to reduce the illegal timber trade?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/how-effective-is-the-eus-marquee-policy-to-reduce-the-illegal-timber-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/how-effective-is-the-eus-marquee-policy-to-reduce-the-illegal-timber-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jun 2024 16:16:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/19142610/Cameroon-timber-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283383</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation Effectiveness]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Europe, European Union, Global, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forests, Illegal Logging, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Logging, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Regulations, Timber, Timber Laws, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It’s extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, to determine the full extent of the illicit production and trade of timber worldwide. Illegal loggers and the shadowy networks that trade in timber outside the law aren’t exactly reporting their activities to authorities who track timber imports and exports. But it is possible to get a sense of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It’s extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, to determine the full extent of the illicit production and trade of timber worldwide. Illegal loggers and the shadowy networks that trade in timber outside the law aren’t exactly reporting their activities to authorities who track timber imports and exports. But it is possible to get a sense of the scale of this trade. According to Interpol, the international crime-fighting organization, illegally harvested and traded timber accounts for an estimated 15-30% of the global timber trade and is worth $51 billion to $152 billion every year. This represents a major loss of tax revenue for both the exporting and importing countries, but the damages go far beyond that. “Both illegal logging and the international trade in illicitly harvested timber have a serious economic, social and environmental impact,” Interpol says. “Illegal logging is responsible for deforestation, habitat loss, species extinction, and contributes to global warming.” Stacks of rainforest timber in Indonesia. Image by Rhett Butler/Mongabay. There are efforts to rein in this illegal global trade at many levels of government. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), for instance, is a multilateral treaty that prohibits the trade of endangered species of plants and animals. The federal governments of the United States and Australia have adopted major legislation to stem imports of illegally harvested timber into their countries with the Lacey Act Amendments of 2008 and the Illegal Logging Prohibition Bill of 2012, respectively. Preceding both of those national efforts&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/how-effective-is-the-eus-marquee-policy-to-reduce-the-illegal-timber-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/how-effective-is-the-eus-marquee-policy-to-reduce-the-illegal-timber-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283383</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New illegal logging threatens Liberia’s forests amid vague ban</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-illegal-logging-threatens-liberias-forests-amid-vague-ban/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-illegal-logging-threatens-liberias-forests-amid-vague-ban/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 May 2024 08:21:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[James Giahyue]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/01190308/SeizedKpokoloKlayCheckpoint_BomiLiberia_JamesGiahyueTheDaylight-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281630</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Community Forests, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Law Enforcement, Logging, Politics, Rainforests, Timber Laws, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MONROVIA — Chainsaw-milled timber is emerging as a damaging new form of illegal logging in Liberia. Chainsaw milling is legally permitted only for small-scale production of boards for the country’s domestic market, but larger operators may be using it as a means to evade regulations governing the sourcing and tracing of wood, and to avoid [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MONROVIA — Chainsaw-milled timber is emerging as a damaging new form of illegal logging in Liberia. Chainsaw milling is legally permitted only for small-scale production of boards for the country’s domestic market, but larger operators may be using it as a means to evade regulations governing the sourcing and tracing of wood, and to avoid paying royalties to communities. Liberia has the largest intact forests in West Africa, a reservoir for biodiversity and a vital resource for the people who live in them. During the long civil war that began in the 1990s, armed factions indiscriminately felled large areas for valuable timber to pay their fighters and enrich their leaders. Establishing effective regulation of the timber industry was an important part of the peace process negotiated in the mid-2000s. In the postwar period, Liberia set up a system meant to ensure that wood is sustainably harvested only from licensed concessions, and volumes of timber are properly accounted for to ensure the state and local communities get their share of the taxes and royalties. The time, place, and date of every tree harvested commercially is meant be recorded in the LiberTrace tracking system. Raw, round logs are exported to foreign markets, mainly to European Union countries, China and Vietnam. Chainsaw milling is an exception. Currently, small-scale operators are allowed to reach informal agreements with local communities to fell trees and cut them into boards. The timber they produce is solely for sale in Liberia’s domestic markets and meant to be no&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-illegal-logging-threatens-liberias-forests-amid-vague-ban/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-illegal-logging-threatens-liberias-forests-amid-vague-ban/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281630</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Malaysian logger Samling’s track record leaves Indigenous Sarawak questioning its plans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/malaysian-logger-samlings-track-record-leaves-indigenous-sarawak-questioning-its-plans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/malaysian-logger-samlings-track-record-leaves-indigenous-sarawak-questioning-its-plans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Oct 2023 20:11:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Danielle Keeton-Olsen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/26192853/20230826_085717-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274466</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, Sarawak, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Community Development, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Land Rights, Law, Logging, Rainforests, Timber Laws, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[UPPER BARAM, Malaysia — When James Nyurang became headman of Tanjong Tepalit village in 2008, he learned from his predecessor — and father — of the terms set by timber giant Samling Group. When the company began cutting trees and leveling roads in Tanjong Tepalit in the 1990s, the headman of this Kenyah Indigenous village [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[UPPER BARAM, Malaysia — When James Nyurang became headman of Tanjong Tepalit village in 2008, he learned from his predecessor — and father — of the terms set by timber giant Samling Group. When the company began cutting trees and leveling roads in Tanjong Tepalit in the 1990s, the headman of this Kenyah Indigenous village along Sarawak’s Baram River signed a deal with Samling. They agreed that the company would pay a commission of 0.50 ringgit (10.5 U.S. cents) for every metric ton of timber extracted and transported out along the edges of newly built logging roads. Timber cleared from the wider areas that branched off these roads were excluded from the community’s compensation deal. As Samling Group grew into an international timber conglomerate, Tanjong Tepalit modernized slowly alongside it, but Nyurang felt his community had been compelled into making that deal and should have received more for the dense forests and clean waters they lost three decades ago. Nyurang says he was surprised to meet Samling again last year. Though he’s no longer a headman, he says the company sought him out to discuss complaints raised by residents of his and neighboring villages against one of the company&#8217;s concessions, the Gerenai Forest Management Unit, which abuts Nyurang&#8217;s village. Timber is chopped and tagged for transport at a logging site near the site of the former Baram Dam blockade on August 22, 2023. Image by Danielle Keeton-Olsen for Mongabay. The retired teacher and community prayer leader studied Samling’s plans and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/malaysian-logger-samlings-track-record-leaves-indigenous-sarawak-questioning-its-plans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/malaysian-logger-samlings-track-record-leaves-indigenous-sarawak-questioning-its-plans/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-274466</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Small wins for Indigenous Malaysian activists in dispute with timber giant</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/small-wins-for-indigenous-malaysian-activists-in-dispute-with-timber-giant/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/small-wins-for-indigenous-malaysian-activists-in-dispute-with-timber-giant/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Oct 2023 16:33:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Danielle Keeton-Olsen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/04095740/Pic1_Community-members-celebrating-withdrawal-of-lawsuit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273865</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Logging, Politics, Rainforests, Timber Laws, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous activists have claimed two small victories against timber giant Samling in their decades-long battle to protect their remaining forests and territories in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Operating in Sarawak since 1976, Samling has grown to be the biggest among the “Big Six” timber companies that control almost three-quarters of the country’s forest concessions. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous activists have claimed two small victories against timber giant Samling in their decades-long battle to protect their remaining forests and territories in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Operating in Sarawak since 1976, Samling has grown to be the biggest among the “Big Six” timber companies that control almost three-quarters of the country’s forest concessions. The company reportedly exported timber worth 544 million ringgit ($115 million) in 2022. Indigenous activists say the rise of the company has often come at the expense of traditional land, homes and livelihoods, even as the company has made efforts to undertake more corporate social responsibility practices. Samling&#8217;s state-sanctioned concessions have overlapped with dozens of Indigenous villages. Some of these communities accept or tolerate the company, but individuals and grassroots organizations have fought for decades against the company’s actions. One such group, SAVE Rivers, was sued by Samling after publicizing concerns about the company’s treatment of people living in and around two areas under the company&#8217;s management: the Ravenscourt and Gerenai forest management units. After 25 months and four rescheduled trials, Samling and SAVE Rivers reached an amicable settlement announced Sept. 18, the day the trial was scheduled to begin. “Samling maintains that their licensing and harvesting activities in Gerenai FMU and Pelutan FTLA [forest timber license area] are subject to monitoring and approval by the Sarawak authorities,” said the statement published on Samling’s website. “Both parties to the Suit agree that the welfare of the local community remain their priority.” The lawsuit hinged on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/small-wins-for-indigenous-malaysian-activists-in-dispute-with-timber-giant/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/small-wins-for-indigenous-malaysian-activists-in-dispute-with-timber-giant/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273865</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EU deforestation-free rule ‘highly challenging’ for SE Asia smallholders, experts say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/eu-deforestation-free-rule-highly-challenging-for-se-asia-smallholders-experts-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/eu-deforestation-free-rule-highly-challenging-for-se-asia-smallholders-experts-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Sep 2023 12:45:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/20122259/01_Banner_Coffee_CIAT-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273471</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Certification, Coffee, Community Forests, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Green, International Trade, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Regulations, Rubber, Timber, Timber Laws, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A landmark EU anti-deforestation regulation that entered into force in June 2023 could come down hard on smallholder farmers in mainland Southeast Asia who produce a significant proportion of the region’s forest products exported to the bloc, forest trade experts say. The EU’s deforestation-free regulation (EUDR) aim to prevent seven forest-related commodities and their products [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A landmark EU anti-deforestation regulation that entered into force in June 2023 could come down hard on smallholder farmers in mainland Southeast Asia who produce a significant proportion of the region’s forest products exported to the bloc, forest trade experts say. The EU’s deforestation-free regulation (EUDR) aim to prevent seven forest-related commodities and their products from entering the EU market if they’re found to be linked to deforestation. The rule requires producers and companies trading timber, palm oil, soy, rubber, cattle, cocoa and coffee into the EU to provide detailed evidence proving their goods were not grown on land deforested since 2020. The new regulations give producers and companies until December 2024 to fully comply. While the regulation is a step toward transparency and international deforestation-free supply chain management, observers say it places millions of smallholders who depend on access to the EU market in a vulnerable position. Many small-scale farmers lack the technical capacity and financial capital to meet the hefty due diligence requirements of the new rules, experts say. Intact rainforest in Cuc Phuong in northern Vietnam. Image by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay Smallholders produce 95% of Vietnam’s coffee, 42% of Indonesia’s palm oil, and 95% of Thailand’s rubber. Finding ways to avoid small-scale producers being shut out of EU supply chains should therefore be a top priority for both exporting countries and the EU, according to Phuc Xuan To, a policy adviser at sustainable finance think tank Forest Trends.  “There are a lot of concerns and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/eu-deforestation-free-rule-highly-challenging-for-se-asia-smallholders-experts-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/eu-deforestation-free-rule-highly-challenging-for-se-asia-smallholders-experts-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273471</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forests in the furnace: Can fashion brands tackle illegal logging in their Cambodian supply chains?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/forests-in-the-furnace-can-fashion-brands-tackle-illegal-logging-in-their-cambodian-supply-chains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/forests-in-the-furnace-can-fashion-brands-tackle-illegal-logging-in-their-cambodian-supply-chains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jul 2023 02:05:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy BallGerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Gerryflynn]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/11070912/Header_Garment-Deforestation_Mongabay_Andy-Ball_Story-2_1-scaled-768x512-1.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270770</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Chasing Deforestation and Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cambodia, Cardamom Mountains, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy, Biofuels, Clean Energy, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Fashion industry, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Fuelwood, Globalization, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Logging, Mongabay investigation, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Transparency, Transportation, Tropical Deforestation, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story is the second article of a three-part Mongabay mini-series exploring the link between Cambodia&#8217;s garment factories and illegal logging. Read Part One and Part Three. KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia — “Going into the forest is dangerous, some people die when trees fall on them, but they are desperate,” said Saroeun*, a logger who makes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story is the second article of a three-part Mongabay mini-series exploring the link between Cambodia&#8217;s garment factories and illegal logging. Read Part One and Part Three. KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia — “Going into the forest is dangerous, some people die when trees fall on them, but they are desperate,” said Saroeun*, a logger who makes multiple trips each day into Central Cardamoms National Park in southwest Cambodia’s Kampong Speu province. “They don’t know what else to do: if we don’t go to cut trees, we don’t have money,” he added. “I go every day and risk my life. I struggle and have to persist with my life in the forest.” The timber that Saroeun illegally cuts and transports from the forest to his village of Kteh will change hands many times, being bought and sold until it comes to rest in a garment factory, possibly in Kampong Speu province, neighboring Kandal province or further afield in Phnom Penh. Whichever factory buys the wood, it will be incinerated to generate thermal energy used for steaming, washing, dyeing or ironing fabrics — likely as part of an international fashion brand’s supply chain. But Saroeun has no way of knowing this from his wooden stilted house on the outskirts of the forest, largely because he’s insulated — and isolated — by the seemingly deliberate opacity of garment factories’ supply chain. He risks life, limb and liberty each day to scrape by on the few dollars’ profit he can eke out of forest crimes.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/forests-in-the-furnace-can-fashion-brands-tackle-illegal-logging-in-their-cambodian-supply-chains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/forests-in-the-furnace-can-fashion-brands-tackle-illegal-logging-in-their-cambodian-supply-chains/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270770</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Is Jeff Bezos&#8217;s $500 million yacht made with &#8216;blood timber&#8217; from Myanmar? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/is-jeff-bezoss-500-million-yacht-made-with-blood-timber-from-myanmar-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/is-jeff-bezoss-500-million-yacht-made-with-blood-timber-from-myanmar-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jun 2023 17:49:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Paul Woolwich]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/22161514/Seized-teak-logs-in-Myanmar-2020-c-EIA-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270141</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Forests, Greenwashing, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Reforestation, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Following tea with King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, the king of global retail made an extraordinary announcement on the next stage in his bid to help save the planet. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com and the second wealthiest man in the world, had already donated $1 billion (approx. £805.8 million) through his [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Following tea with King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, the king of global retail made an extraordinary announcement on the next stage in his bid to help save the planet. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com and the second wealthiest man in the world, had already donated $1 billion (approx. £805.8 million) through his Earth Fund to combat climate change and protect nature. Now he turned his attention to trees. At the CoP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow in November 2021, he revealed he would halt deforestation and desertification, not in the rainforest that bore his company&#8217;s name, but in Africa by planting 20 million trees across the continent in a project called The Great Green Wall. Meanwhile, 700 miles away, shrouded in secrecy, he was engaged in another ambitious and hugely expensive project – but there are concerns this one may be connected to massive illegal deforestation, genocide, corruption, the financing of a brutal military dictatorship and circumventing EU law. How? The 127 meter-long yacht &#8220;Koru&#8221; (the Māori word for &#8216;new beginnings, life and hope&#8217;) owned by Jeff Bezos. Image via Oceanco. Well, three years earlier, Bezos commissioned Oceanco, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to build him the largest sailing vessel in the world at a reported cost of $500 million (almost £403 million). It was codenamed Y721, a 127 meter-long &#8216;mega yacht&#8217; with an aluminum and steel hull and three gigantic masts making the vessel half the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza. No expense was spared,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/is-jeff-bezoss-500-million-yacht-made-with-blood-timber-from-myanmar-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/is-jeff-bezoss-500-million-yacht-made-with-blood-timber-from-myanmar-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270141</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>U.S. traders flouting sanctions on buying Myanmar teak, report says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/u-s-traders-flouting-sanctions-on-buying-myanmar-teak-report-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/u-s-traders-flouting-sanctions-on-buying-myanmar-teak-report-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2023 13:45:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/22132741/01_Banner_Gibbon_EIA-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268830</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Illegal Logging, International Trade, Lacey Act, Logging, Military, Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Vast quantities of timber from Myanmar continue to enter the United States despite sanctions on the country’s state-controlled timber monopoly, according to a new report from U.K.-based watchdog group the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Following the February 2021 military coup and violent crackdowns on citizens, countries including the U.S., Canada, the European Union, Switzerland, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Vast quantities of timber from Myanmar continue to enter the United States despite sanctions on the country’s state-controlled timber monopoly, according to a new report from U.K.-based watchdog group the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Following the February 2021 military coup and violent crackdowns on citizens, countries including the U.S., Canada, the European Union, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom placed sanctions on Myanmar’s junta leaders and military-run enterprises from the forestry, mining, and oil and gas sectors in an effort to curb the regime’s access to natural resource revenues. However, according to the new report, U.S. timber traders imported more than 3,000 metric tons of Myanmar teak into the U.S. over the past two years. The sanctions have had “no major impact on the trade of Myanmar teak into the US,” according to the report. “Instead, trade has continued at the same levels as before the coup, with the fourth quarter of 2022 seeing some of the biggest monthly imports since the time leading up to and after February 2021.” Figure from the recent Environmental Investigation Agency report showing statistics for key ports of teak entering the U.S. Data from April 21, 2021 to March 30, 2023 compiled and analyzed by EIA. Teak (Tectona grandis) possesses natural water resistance and is much sought-after for high-end furniture, flooring and for fitting out luxury yachts owned by some of the richest people in the world. Given that Myanmar or Burmese teak is considered among the highest quality in the world, international demand for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/u-s-traders-flouting-sanctions-on-buying-myanmar-teak-report-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/u-s-traders-flouting-sanctions-on-buying-myanmar-teak-report-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268830</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Despite landmark law, Europe faces tough test to end role in global forest loss (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/despite-landmark-law-europe-faces-tough-test-to-end-role-in-global-forest-loss-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/despite-landmark-law-europe-faces-tough-test-to-end-role-in-global-forest-loss-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2023 10:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sam Lawson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/15192233/ecuador_230852-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268630</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe and European Union]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Green, Illegal Logging, International Trade, Politics, Rainforests, Timber Laws, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In mountaineering, it is said, 80 per cent of fatalities happen on the descent. When you reach the summit, you are less than half way to any meaningful measure of success. Something similar could be said of efforts to stop Europe ravaging the world’s forests. After years of negotiations, the European Council is today expected [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In mountaineering, it is said, 80 per cent of fatalities happen on the descent. When you reach the summit, you are less than half way to any meaningful measure of success. Something similar could be said of efforts to stop Europe ravaging the world’s forests. After years of negotiations, the European Council is today expected to give final approval to an EU law which aims to remove at a stroke one of the biggest things driving the destruction of precious, climate-critical forests across the globe, from the Amazon to Indonesia. The EU Deforestation Regulation, as it has become known, will ban the import of the commodities whose production contributes significantly to forest devastation worldwide, and force importers and big retailers to take steps to minimize any chance they contribute to such destruction. The new EU legislation is the toughest ethical supply chain law of any kind ever enacted in a major consuming market Enacting this ground-breaking law will be an enormous achievement. It is the result of tireless campaigning by organizations dedicated to protecting forests and forest dwellers, something which is not only critical to protecting biodiversity but also to tackling the climate emergency. In almost every key forest country on the planet, the biggest threats to forests are commercial agriculture and logging. Both supply exports to wealthy countries, with the EU one of the largest markets for these tainted goods. By choking off this trade, we can halt a crucial cash flow to deforesters. The EU law will also&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/despite-landmark-law-europe-faces-tough-test-to-end-role-in-global-forest-loss-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268630</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Corruption threatens timber traceability in Nkok, Gabon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/corruption-threatens-timber-traceability-in-nkok-gabon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/corruption-threatens-timber-traceability-in-nkok-gabon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 May 2023 20:03:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/03082140/TaggedLogs_NkokSEZGabon_GSEZ-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268475</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Gabon]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Corruption, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Law Enforcement, Logging, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Tropical hardwoods]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“The challenge in the Nkok SIZ is timber traceability. The SIZ must be kept free of illegally obtained timber,” says Marc Ona, executive secretary of the NGO Brainforest. The NGO is part of a team implementing the TraCer monitoring system, which is meant to ensure the legality and traceability of the supply of logs to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“The challenge in the Nkok SIZ is timber traceability. The SIZ must be kept free of illegally obtained timber,” says Marc Ona, executive secretary of the NGO Brainforest. The NGO is part of a team implementing the TraCer monitoring system, which is meant to ensure the legality and traceability of the supply of logs to the Nkok special investment zone, or SIZ, in Gabon. The forestry sector is a pillar of the Gabonese economy. In 2010, Gabon banned exports of raw logs to encourage local wood processing, which would add value to exports and therefore increase revenue. This decision led to the establishment of the SIZ in Nkok, located 27 kilometers (17 miles) from the capital, Libreville. As a growing number of countries, including China, the U.S. and those in the EU, have enacted laws against illegally harvested timber imports, traceability has become crucial in the industry. Aerial view of the Nkok Special Investment Zone. Opened in 2010, its managers say it has generated 25,000 direct and indirect jobs. Image courtesy GSEZ. &#8220;Eighty-eight percent of Gabon is covered by forests,” Mohit Agrawal, director-general of the Nkok SIZ, tells Mongabay. “That means there are 41 million hectares [101 million acres] of forest to be managed. To ensure the preservation of our forests, we have been allocated logging concessions, which have quotas imposed on them. This allows the forest to regenerate and grow. Agrawal added that “Every tree is marked and geolocated. It has a barcode assigned to it, and from there,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/corruption-threatens-timber-traceability-in-nkok-gabon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/corruption-threatens-timber-traceability-in-nkok-gabon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268475</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Logging permit threatens Quilombola bioeconomic ‘paradise’ in the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/logging-permit-threatens-quilombola-bioeconomic-paradise-in-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/logging-permit-threatens-quilombola-bioeconomic-paradise-in-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2023 20:42:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[André Schröder]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/11155506/14643_ed0592a2-1021-fe59-3e99-28a47eb69e98-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268367</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation, Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Logging, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Timber Laws]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Loggers have entered the Trombetas River Biological Reserve in Oriximiná, in Brazil’s Pará state, to develop a forest management project that has divided the local Quilombola community.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Situated in one of the world&#8217;s largest blocks of protected rainforest, the remaining Quilombola communities of Oriximiná, in northern Pará, are seen as a model of sustainable development for the Brazilian Amazon with a bioeconomy based on non-timber products. The activities are centered on the extraction and sale of Brazil nuts, cumaru seeds, andiroba oil, and cobaípa oil — which are used as food or as raw material for medicine, perfume, and cosmetics. Those goods generate income and keep the trees standing, a business model in tune with the traditional knowledge that makes these Quilombolas guardians of the Amazon Rainforest. In 2022, a report published in the newspaper Valor Econômico showed how a system of cooperatives set up by the communities with the support of a nonprofit civil organization drives socioeconomic progress, turning this Oriximiná’s area into a bioeconomic “paradise,” where thousands of Quilombolas guarantee their livelihood by keeping the forest preserved. But a contract signed by a local association with a timber company affronts old customs and puts the sustainable development model at risk. The Mãe Domingas Association represents six communities of Alto Trombetas 1, one of the eight Quilombola territories in Oriximiná, and signed an agreement with a logging company called Benevides Madeiras to explore timber in the area. The deal has generated tensions, especially after the logging company employees accessed the territory to evaluate the forest’s potential. “It is not in our culture to cut down trees,” said Aluízio Silvério dos Santos, a leader of the Tapagem&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/logging-permit-threatens-quilombola-bioeconomic-paradise-in-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/logging-permit-threatens-quilombola-bioeconomic-paradise-in-the-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268367</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Liberian courts rubber-stamp export shipment of illegal logs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/liberian-courts-rubber-stamp-export-shipment-of-illegal-logs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/liberian-courts-rubber-stamp-export-shipment-of-illegal-logs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jan 2023 15:09:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/23094058/2-Liberia-loggers-felling-trees-outside-concession-as-government-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=265068</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Liberia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Illegal Logging, Law Enforcement, Logging, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Timber Laws, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Last week, a timber company won a controversial lawsuit against Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority when a court ordered the agency to allow a shipment of illegal logs to be exported overseas. Liberian environmental groups say the ruling is emblematic of a breakdown of the laws regulating the country’s logging sector under the current president, George [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Last week, a timber company won a controversial lawsuit against Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority when a court ordered the agency to allow a shipment of illegal logs to be exported overseas. Liberian environmental groups say the ruling is emblematic of a breakdown of the laws regulating the country’s logging sector under the current president, George Weah, and exposes its rainforests to serious threat. “There’s no appetite for the government to really ensure that the rule of law is applied,” said Jonathan Yiah, a forest governance expert with the Monrovia-based Sustainable Development Institute. The timber at the center of the case is at least 14,000 cubic meters (494,000 cubic feet) of highly valued ekki (Lophira alata), a durable tropical hardwood, worth more than $3 million. In 2018, communities in a remote part of central Liberia’s Grand Bassa county alerted the FDA, the Liberian agency responsible for supervising the country’s forests, to suspicious logging taking place in an area that wasn’t demarcated for commercial timber extraction. According to an unpublished report from an investigation into the case that was carried out by Liberia’s Ministry of Justice in 2020 and obtained by Mongabay, the tip led the FDA to 1,640 illegally harvested ekki logs in a lot owned by Renaissance Group Incorporated. The report outlined a string of irregular and questionable decisions made by top FDA officials following that discovery, including the imposition of a fine against Renaissance amounting to just $5,000 — a tiny fraction of the timber’s market value. The investigation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/liberian-courts-rubber-stamp-export-shipment-of-illegal-logs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/liberian-courts-rubber-stamp-export-shipment-of-illegal-logs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-265068</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With new EU rules ahead, Indonesia adds sustainability to its timber legality system</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/with-new-eu-rules-ahead-indonesia-adds-sustainability-to-its-timber-legality-system/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/with-new-eu-rules-ahead-indonesia-adds-sustainability-to-its-timber-legality-system/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Nov 2022 10:27:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/01/19113356/sabah_aerial_0661-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=262602</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Logging, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BRUSSELS — Indonesia&#8217;s timber industry is known for having the only legality system in the world that&#8217;s robust enough to be recognized by the European Union. And now, the country is in the process of revising that timber legality system by adding sustainability components such as geolocation so that its timbers could still be exported [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BRUSSELS — Indonesia&#8217;s timber industry is known for having the only legality system in the world that&#8217;s robust enough to be recognized by the European Union. And now, the country is in the process of revising that timber legality system by adding sustainability components such as geolocation so that its timbers could still be exported to the EU without much due diligence at European ports. But experts say the revision might not be enough because timbers from deforestation are still allowed in the system, and because there’s still a lack of data transparency, which prevents civil society organizations from monitoring timber trade effectively. Last year, the minister of environment and forestry issued a regulation that changed the name of the system from Indonesia’s Timber Legality Verification System to Indonesia’s Sustainability and Legality Verification System, which still uses the acronym of SVLK. In the past, the system was designed only to ensure that all timbers produced in Indonesia were from legal sources, not from illegal deforestation. Under the new regulation, the SVLK system now also verifies whether or not a forestry product — not only timbers but also non-timber products — is sourced sustainably. Since the issuance of the regulation last year, the forestry ministry is in the process of issuing new guidelines on how to implement the new system so it can cover both legality and sustainability aspects, according to Agus Justianto, the ministry’s director-general of sustainable forest management. “The rebranding of SVLK reiterates the commitment of Indonesia towards effort&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/with-new-eu-rules-ahead-indonesia-adds-sustainability-to-its-timber-legality-system/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/with-new-eu-rules-ahead-indonesia-adds-sustainability-to-its-timber-legality-system/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-262602</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EU ‘moving the goal posts’ with new timber requirement, Indonesia says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/eu-moving-the-goal-posts-with-new-timber-requirement-indonesia-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/eu-moving-the-goal-posts-with-new-timber-requirement-indonesia-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Nov 2022 07:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/02101427/Rainforest-timber-Indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=262231</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Europe, European Union, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Logging, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BERLIN — Indonesian officials have slammed the European Union’s proposal of a regulation that they say negates more than a decade of progress by the Southeast Asian country to comply with EU sustainable timber rules. Under a voluntary partnership agreement, or VPA, signed in 2011, Indonesia developed a system, known as the SVLK, to verify [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BERLIN — Indonesian officials have slammed the European Union’s proposal of a regulation that they say negates more than a decade of progress by the Southeast Asian country to comply with EU sustainable timber rules. Under a voluntary partnership agreement, or VPA, signed in 2011, Indonesia developed a system, known as the SVLK, to verify the legality of its timber exports to the EU. The EU recognized Indonesia’s SVLK in 2016, allowing the country to issue what’s known as Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licenses for EU-destined timber products. To date, Indonesia is the only country with this formal recognition out of the 15 countries that have a timber legality agreement or are in the process of negotiating a VPA with the EU. The system is supposed to favor Indonesian timber products destined for the EU market, granting them “green lane” access that exempts them from a separate due diligence process at European ports. But a bill introduced by the European Commission in November 2021 threatens to undo all that progress by once again subjecting Indonesian timber imports into the EU to stringent checks upon arrival. Arif Havas Oegroseno, the Indonesian ambassador to Germany, said the process of getting Indonesian timber exporters to comply with the SVLK requirements had been arduous, and that critics of the system might now feel justified in their opposition to it. “There are some people who disagreed with that, [they] will say ‘Look at that, the government is being duped by the EU,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/eu-moving-the-goal-posts-with-new-timber-requirement-indonesia-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/eu-moving-the-goal-posts-with-new-timber-requirement-indonesia-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-262231</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>If the US aspires to climate leadership, it must break its addiction to the products driving forest destruction (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/if-the-us-aspires-to-climate-leadership-it-must-break-its-addiction-to-the-products-driving-forest-destruction-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/if-the-us-aspires-to-climate-leadership-it-must-break-its-addiction-to-the-products-driving-forest-destruction-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Nov 2022 23:43:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sam Lawson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Willie Shubert]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/31135237/2-Timber-in-Para-state-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=262270</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, South America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Commentary, Corruption, Crime, Economics, Environment, Forests, Rainforests, Timber, and Timber Laws]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world is waking up to the climate crisis. But time is short. It is a problem, then, that populations of rich countries responsible for this looming disaster are kept ignorant of the real extent to which their own actions drive it. The long and complex supply chains of globalization mean the impacts of our [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world is waking up to the climate crisis. But time is short. It is a problem, then, that populations of rich countries responsible for this looming disaster are kept ignorant of the real extent to which their own actions drive it. The long and complex supply chains of globalization mean the impacts of our consumption are hidden from us. Our impact on forests is a case in point. As my organization’s investigations have repeatedly proved, precious tropical forests are bulldozed, Indigenous people abused, and environmental defenders murdered to supply our everyday goods. If U.S. shoppers could see what they are complicit in, they would want these products taken off the shelves. We now have an opportunity to do exactly that. A law currently before Congress &#8211; the US FOREST Act &#8211; would ban the import of agricultural goods like soy and beef produced overseas on land illegally cleared of forest. Up to 90% of forests cut and burned in the Brazilian Amazon are cleared illegally for such commodities. This isn’t subsistence farming but big business; much of it is export-driven. Laws like the US FOREST Act could help halt this destruction by choking off a big chunk of the cash funding it. Such laws must be passed urgently. To be effective, however, they must also be well designed and properly implemented and enforced. Lessons need to be learned from past failings. The U.S. banned imports of illegally cut wood 14 years ago. However, as our latest report, The Fixers,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/if-the-us-aspires-to-climate-leadership-it-must-break-its-addiction-to-the-products-driving-forest-destruction-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/if-the-us-aspires-to-climate-leadership-it-must-break-its-addiction-to-the-products-driving-forest-destruction-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-262270</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tracking the moves of Asian forestry companies in Central Africa (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/tracking-the-moves-of-asian-forestry-companies-in-central-africa-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/tracking-the-moves-of-asian-forestry-companies-in-central-africa-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Oct 2022 16:42:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alain Karsenty]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/07/20124253/rainforest-gabon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=261736</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Forestry, Forests, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Asian companies made their entry in force in the 1990s, in Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. In Southeast Asia, companies intensively and unsustainably logged the dipterocarp forests, the tall, straight-trunked trees so valued by the plywood industry. Implicitly, it was decided that there would be only one harvest, leaving heavily degraded forests. What followed was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Asian companies made their entry in force in the 1990s, in Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. In Southeast Asia, companies intensively and unsustainably logged the dipterocarp forests, the tall, straight-trunked trees so valued by the plywood industry. Implicitly, it was decided that there would be only one harvest, leaving heavily degraded forests. What followed was mainly oil palm plantations, with the price per ton of oil doubled from the beginning to the end of the decade. The conglomerates have portfolios of companies adapted to this transition: logging, oil palm, fast-growing tree plantations for pulp. The exploitation of natural forests provides the basis for capital accumulation and government connections facilitate the conversion of degraded forests into agricultural land. In the early 1990s, a powerful Malaysian company, Rimbunan Hijau (RH), developed activities in the three countries mentioned. The company was founded in 1973, its founder was “Chinese-Malaysian.” RH diversified, adopting fields as varied as palm tree plantation or telecommunications. It operated under the name of Shimmer International in Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, from the mid-1990s. In Gabon, it created three subsidiaries in order to circumvent the rule that limits the surface area that a single company can hold to 600,000 ha. Logging road in Gabon, 2021. Image by ZB/Mongabay. In Cameroon, where RH established itself in 1995, its Shimmer company operated several licenses through subsidiaries created for the occasion or as subcontractors of Cameroonian beneficiaries. Debroux and Karsenty (1997) describe the objectives and practices of the operator. Two characteristics stand out: the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/tracking-the-moves-of-asian-forestry-companies-in-central-africa-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/tracking-the-moves-of-asian-forestry-companies-in-central-africa-analysis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-261736</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New study identifies mature forests on U.S. federal lands ripe for protection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/new-study-identifies-mature-forests-on-u-s-federal-lands-ripe-for-protection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/new-study-identifies-mature-forests-on-u-s-federal-lands-ripe-for-protection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Oct 2022 17:00:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/04163042/BANNER-IMAGE-photo-1-768x453.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=261107</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Carbon, Forests, Green, LiDAR, Logging, Mapping, Old Growth Forests, Protected Areas, Research, Temperate Forests, and Timber Laws]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new map finds that roughly a third of U.S. mature forests are on federal lands, which President Biden appears eager to protect to store carbon. But much mature forest is also privately held, especially in the Southeast, and is at risk. ]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a major new study, a team of scientists has published what it calls the first-ever, map-based assessment of existing mature and old-growth forests in the continental United States. Such forests are critical to fighting climate change and data like this is deemed vital to President Biden’s climate action agenda. But the new research also shows how much mature forests on both federal and private lands in the U.S. are seriously at risk — offering a conservation opportunity to the Biden administration. The peer-reviewed study, published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, found that older forests — estimated to be 80 years old or older — make up about 167 million acres, or 36%, of all forests in the contiguous 48 states. The new study included this map generated by researchers showing mature and old-growth forests by region across the U.S. Image courtesy of Dominick DellaSala / Wild Heritage. Significantly, about a third of those older forests, or roughly 58 million acres, are on federal lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Park Service (NPS). The rest are controlled by non-federal entities, including private owners. The research noted that even though U.S. national parks are fully protected from logging, just 24% of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management forests are similarly protected, with the rest being at various levels of risk. The study calls for all mature and old-growth forests on federal lands to become fully protected.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/new-study-identifies-mature-forests-on-u-s-federal-lands-ripe-for-protection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/new-study-identifies-mature-forests-on-u-s-federal-lands-ripe-for-protection/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-261107</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Fixers: Top U.S. flooring retailers linked to Brazilian firm probed for corruption</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/the-fixers-top-u-s-flooring-retailers-linked-to-brazilian-firm-probed-for-corruption/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/the-fixers-top-u-s-flooring-retailers-linked-to-brazilian-firm-probed-for-corruption/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Sep 2022 06:30:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/29050420/The-Fixer-in-Parana%CC%81-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=260772</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation and Investigation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Industry, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Law, Logging, Mongabay investigation, Organized Crime, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A yearlong investigation by Mongabay and Earthsight has uncovered new evidence of corrupt deals and illegal practices used by Brazil’s largest flooring exporter, Indusparquet, and its suppliers. From its headquarters in São Paulo to the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest, Indusparquet has used fixers to secure secret timber deals from suppliers who have been fined [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A yearlong investigation by Mongabay and Earthsight has uncovered new evidence of corrupt deals and illegal practices used by Brazil’s largest flooring exporter, Indusparquet, and its suppliers. From its headquarters in São Paulo to the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest, Indusparquet has used fixers to secure secret timber deals from suppliers who have been fined millions for their illegal sourcing practices, while claiming to supply products to high-profile projects like Las Vegas’ Mirage Hotel, the Vatican and Taj Mahal. The company was charged in two bribery lawsuits in Brazil over its use of public officials to gain access to timber supplies. Following a tip-off from an anonymous source, we obtained access to dozens of hours of wiretaps and video footage revealing how Jose Antonio Baggio, the company’s co-founder and defendant in one of the cases, used a local official to secure bracatinga (Mimosa scabrella), a tree species native to the Atlantic Forest — the most threatened Brazilian biome. Requests for further information confirmed that Indusparquet had bought bracatinga from suppliers named in the court case against Baggio during the same period, which the wiretaps show was for an unnamed “U.S. client.” Despite Indusparquet’s claims that court decisions cleared the charges against Baggio and closed the case, there is still room for appeal, as the prosecutors’ office confirmed to Mongabay. The second prosecution we documented was sparked by a major 2018 raid on Indusparquet’s headquarters, code-named Operation Pátio. A federal prosecutor charged the firm with involvement in a 154.37 million reais&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/the-fixers-top-u-s-flooring-retailers-linked-to-brazilian-firm-probed-for-corruption/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/the-fixers-top-u-s-flooring-retailers-linked-to-brazilian-firm-probed-for-corruption/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-260772</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal logging and trade in fine wood threaten Wampis communities in the Peruvian Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/illegal-logging-and-trade-in-fine-wood-threaten-wampis-communities-in-the-peruvian-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/illegal-logging-and-trade-in-fine-wood-threaten-wampis-communities-in-the-peruvian-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2022 10:34:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Enrique Vera]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/09100607/peru_macaws-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=260122</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Logging, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The last logging period granted by the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation (GTANW) ended on May 30, 2022, yet timber has continued to be indiscriminately extracted in the native communities of Candungos and Papayacu. Every day, boats full of mahogany, cedar and tornillo wood cross the Santiago River in the province of Condorcanqui [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The last logging period granted by the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation (GTANW) ended on May 30, 2022, yet timber has continued to be indiscriminately extracted in the native communities of Candungos and Papayacu. Every day, boats full of mahogany, cedar and tornillo wood cross the Santiago River in the province of Condorcanqui (Amazonas), heading for Santa María de Nieva. For the Wampis community members who inhabit this part of the Peruvian rainforest near Ecuador, this is a burden that has made them feel powerless for a long time. The flow of boats carrying uncontrolled amounts of logged timber in recent months is proof that deforestation is reaching significant levels, with the Wampis leaders calculating that every two weeks more than 55 tons of wood leave their villages to be trafficked. The Wampis nation has 1,370,000 hectares (3.3 million acres) of territory and encompasses 85 Indigenous communities (22 titled and their annexes), located in the basins of the Santiago (Amazonas) and Morona (Loreto) rivers. Around 16,500 Indigenous community members live in this part of Peru’s northern Amazon. To protect this population, the GTANW held a four-day assembly at the end of March to deal with the overwhelming problem of illegal logging and timber trade. The vice president of the Wampis nation, Galois Flores, says that the communities agreed to stop the loggers, giving them all of April to move what had already been cut down. However, according to Flores, the loggers asked for other 20 days, and then&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/illegal-logging-and-trade-in-fine-wood-threaten-wampis-communities-in-the-peruvian-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-260122</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With plantation takeover, Brazil’s Indigenous Pataxó move to reclaim their land</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/with-plantation-takeover-brazils-indigenous-pataxo-move-to-reclaim-their-land/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/with-plantation-takeover-brazils-indigenous-pataxo-move-to-reclaim-their-land/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2022 19:20:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Sax]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/14104555/With-plantation-takeover-Brazils-Indigenous-Pataxo-move-to-reclaim-their-land-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258207</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Logging, Plantations, Politics, Pollution, Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, Tropical Deforestation, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Frustrated with watching agribusiness and eucalyptus plantations destroy their territory, members of several Indigenous Pataxó communities in the Brazilian state of Bahia took over a plantation, set fire to it, and demanded that the multinational companies leave their land for good, in an attempt to halt outside pressure over their land. In a video manifesto [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Frustrated with watching agribusiness and eucalyptus plantations destroy their territory, members of several Indigenous Pataxó communities in the Brazilian state of Bahia took over a plantation, set fire to it, and demanded that the multinational companies leave their land for good, in an attempt to halt outside pressure over their land. In a video manifesto released on June 26, a Pataxó leader stands flanked by two other men in front of a mass of burning eucalyptus trees. “We are expelling the multinationals, the millionaires and billionaires from here,” he says to the camera. “There won&#8217;t be a single eucalyptus tree left on our sacred land, because that&#8217;s bad. We want our water, quality land, and our biome recovered. We do not accept this shameful destruction.” Freshly cut eucalyptus awaits transportation in the Comexatibá Indigenous Territory in Bahia state, Brazil. Image by Sarah Sax for Mongabay. On June 22, 180 Indigenous people took over Fazenda Santa Bárbara, a plantation that was used for cattle raising and also growing eucalyptus trees for multinational pulp production company Suzano. According to Indigenous leaders, the area occupied by the farm falls entirely within the perimeter of the Comexatibá (Cahy-Pequi) Indigenous Territory, which spans 28,000 hectares (69,000 acres) north of the city of Prado, one of the first places of Portuguese colonizers’ contact with South America’s native peoples in the 1500s. On June 25, another group of around 100 Pataxó took over a different farm, largely abandoned pasture, in the Barra Velha do Monte Pascoal Indigenous&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/with-plantation-takeover-brazils-indigenous-pataxo-move-to-reclaim-their-land/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258207</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>End old-growth logging in carbon-rich ‘crown jewel’ of U.S. forests: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/end-old-growth-logging-in-carbon-rich-crown-jewel-of-u-s-forests-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/end-old-growth-logging-in-carbon-rich-crown-jewel-of-u-s-forests-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2022 05:52:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/08052206/Tongass-National-Forest-bears-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=256938</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering Climate Now]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Alaska, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, carbon, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Forest Carbon, Forest Fragmentation, Forestry, Forests, Fragmentation, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Law, Logging, Mining, Old Growth Forests, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, Roads, Temperate Forests, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Tongass National Forest in the U.S. state of Alaska is a special place for conservation biologist Dominick DellaSala, even after decades of traveling the world to study temperate rainforests. “The trees are enormous,” DellaSala, chief scientist at the Earth Island Institute’s Wild Heritage project, told Mongabay. “It’s like being in a cathedral. It’s an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Tongass National Forest in the U.S. state of Alaska is a special place for conservation biologist Dominick DellaSala, even after decades of traveling the world to study temperate rainforests. “The trees are enormous,” DellaSala, chief scientist at the Earth Island Institute’s Wild Heritage project, told Mongabay. “It’s like being in a cathedral. It’s an amazing place.” Shag-barked yellow cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis), mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana), and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) are but a few of the tree species that can grow for hundreds of years and that anchor a rich and enduring landscape in the Tongass. The august Sitka is the world’s largest spruce and can tack on a meter and a half (5 feet) a year during adolescence on its way to a height of nearly 100 m (330 ft). Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) trees. Image by wild trees via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Walking among the giants, bryophytes and lichens carpet the forest floor, and the ground is spongy underfoot, DellaSala says. Tongass National Forest spans 67,000 square kilometers (about 26,000 square miles) of southeastern Alaska. Around 60% of it is forested, most of which is old growth. It also holds 12% of the world’s temperate rainforest. “You don’t see that in most places around the planet, let alone the temperate rainforest system,” DellaSala said. “It’s so unique on a global scale.” DellaSala and his colleagues recently published a study revealing that the forests of the Tongass hold about a fifth of all the carbon in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/end-old-growth-logging-in-carbon-rich-crown-jewel-of-u-s-forests-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-256938</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Outcry in Malaysia as failure to replant forests sparks ‘cover-up’ accusation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/outcry-in-malaysia-as-failure-to-replant-forests-sparks-cover-up-accusation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/outcry-in-malaysia-as-failure-to-replant-forests-sparks-cover-up-accusation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2022 10:32:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rachel Donald]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/15093730/great-hornbill-in-Malaysia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=254815</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, Peninsular Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Law Enforcement, Logging, Plantations, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Activists and an opposition lawmaker in the Malaysian state of Pahang have demanded government accountability after reports that just 5% of forest reserves cleared to make way for plantations have actually been replanted. According to an investigation by environmental news site Macaranga, 77,331 hectares (191,089 acres) of Pahang&#8217;s forest reserves were cleared between 2012 and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Activists and an opposition lawmaker in the Malaysian state of Pahang have demanded government accountability after reports that just 5% of forest reserves cleared to make way for plantations have actually been replanted. According to an investigation by environmental news site Macaranga, 77,331 hectares (191,089 acres) of Pahang&#8217;s forest reserves were cleared between 2012 and 2020 as part of the country&#8217;s Forest Plantation Development Programme. During the same period, only 3,971 hectares (9,813 acres) of that land — slightly more than 5% — was actually replanted with rubber or other commercial trees. The disparity in Pahang state is the most extreme example of a broader trend across Peninsular Malaysia, where less than one-third of the 185,413 hectares (458,165 acres) cleared for plantations between 2012 and 2020 were found to have been replanted. Forest reserves in Malaysia were established to be managed as sustainable timber sources, and the plantation scheme was touted as a way to transform so-called degraded forests into long-term sources of jobs and wood. However, one opposition member of the state parliament has blasted the program as a “cover-up” for a clear-cutting scheme. “The whole scheme is dubious,” politician Lee Chean Chung told Mongabay. “The loggers or operators are more interested in taking the timber rather than running the replanting scheme.” A deforested part of Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve in Pahang&#8217;s neighboring Selangor state. In Peninsular Malaysia, less than one-third of the 185,413 hectares (458,165 acres) cleared for plantations between 2012 and 2020 has been replanted. Image by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/outcry-in-malaysia-as-failure-to-replant-forests-sparks-cover-up-accusation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-254815</doi>				</item>
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