News

- The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is increasing the risk of illegal timber harvesting and trade. - Restrictions on movement, market changes, and other economic pressures make law enforcement more difficult. - Keeping timber production and trade legal is crucial to the protection of forests, sustainable livelihoods, and for building back better from COVID-19.

“The views of the public are clear: Burning wood for electricity is both unpopular and destructive,” said Sasha Stashwick, a senior advocate with NRDC. “It’s time for the government to end the wasteful subsidies for this polluting industry – especially when people don’t even consider it to be renewable energy. In this respect, our data shows a striking disconnect between government...  

Although some 178 million hectares of forest has been lost worldwide over the past three decades, the rate of loss has declined substantially during this period, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Tuesday.

The Netherlands should phase out the use of biomass for generating electricity as soon as possible, the advisory board of the Dutch government said in a report presented earlier this month.

One month ago, Earthsight released the findings of an 18-month long investigation into the illegal timber being used in Ikea products. The report rocked the industry and made headlines. But while Ikea and the Ukrainian government have promised to act, FSC, the green label whose failure lies at the heart of the scandal, has its head still firmly buried in the sand.

Denys Shmygal’s announcement came the same day officials confirmed a criminal investigation has been launched into a local forestry body used by Ikea's suppliers to source illegal wood.

Since taking office in January 2019, President Jair Bolsonaro has waged a relentless campaign against Brazil’s environmental laws and the rights of its Indigenous Peoples. This assault helped paved the way for the fires that tore through the Amazon last summer; the highest year on year increase in deforestation in the Amazon for a quarter of a century; a surge in violent land conflicts of...  

A new article presents the largest analysis of environmental conflicts up to date with findings that have direct implications for enhanced support of environmental defenders.