Issue 5 of the NEPCon Sourcing Hub Update (December 2018)

It's finally December, and this year has whizzed by! I am sure you would agree that responsible sourcing has been a big ticket issue this year for many people. I have been consistently amazed by the level of dicussion around responsible sourcing, and I am excited that the debate is moving beyond "should we do it" to "how can we do it".

First, we need to make an important correction to the last issue of the Sourcing Hub Update (Issue 4 for September and October 2018). In that newsletter we incorrectly stated that "7 executives from palm oil giant Golden Agri-Resources subsidiaries arrested for corruption" as the headline for one of our Top News Stories. This is incorrect because 3 (and not 7) executives have been arrested for alleged corruption. The other 4 people arrested in connection with this case are not employees of GAR or its subsidiaries. GAR has published this statement in connection with the arrests.

In very exciting news this month, the EU and Guyana are celebrating! They have concluded negotiations on a Voluntary Partnership Agreement to combat illegal logging, improve forest governance and promote trade in legal timber. 

According to EFI the agreement "will help improve forest governance, address illegal logging and promote trade in verified legal timber products." This doesn't meant that there is FLEGT licensed timber available for Guyana just yet, but it is a very important step on the path to FLEGT licensing. 

As always, we have put together this newsletter to keep you informed about the news in responsible sourcing over the past month. I hope you find this newsletter useful, and as always, please let us know if there is something missing. Please also share it with your networks and anyone you think may find it interesting.

As we are nearing the end of the year, I would also like to wish you the very best for the festive season and a happy and safe new year. 

 

Cheers,

Alexandra Banks
Sourcing Hub Programme Manager

 

 

Sourcing Hub Updates

New Country Page for timber from Ukraine

We recently published a Country Risk Profile for Ukraine. Although NEPCon has not conducted a full Risk Assessment for Ukraine, we have analsyed the publicly available information on Ukraine and put together a summary for your due diligence on Ukrainian supply chains. 

 

 

Support the Sourcing Hub

Would you like to support the NEPCon Sourcing Hub and keep the tool free and open source? Now you can, either through a donation, corporate sponsorship or funding a specific tool or risk assessment. We are working hard to ensure we keep the risk assessments and tools up to date, but we need your help! Check out the support options, or get in touch to discuss

 

FSC Risk Assessments Approved

FSC risk assessment has been approved for Finland and is now available on the FSC document centre. You can read the official announcement here. FSC has scheduled to approve Brazil, Indonesia, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Russia, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Uruguay in the new year, but an exact date has not been given yet. 

 

 

Top News Stories

No deforestation approach in the new RSPO Principles & Criteria

NEPCon recently attended the 16th Annual Roundtable Conference on Sustainable Palm Oil (RT16) held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, held on 15 November 2018. We are pleased to have casted our vote at the 15th Annual General Assembly (GA15).  

During RT16 and GA15, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) members have agreed to new certification standards, effective immediately, which include halting deforestation, protecting peat lands and strengthening human and labour rights.
 

Photo: Lita Natasastra, NEPCon

According to the new P&C 2018 standard, there is a need to stay engaged in High Forest Cover Landscapes (HFCLs) and allow local stakeholders such as communities and governments to make their own participatory decisions on the land use in HCFLs.  

Therefore, the new P&C recognises the need for an adapted procedure that will only apply in specific High Forest Cover countries and in HFCLs, to support the sustainable development of palm oil by indigenous peoples and local communities, with legal or customary rights.  

The revised P&C has imposed a strict ban on new development on peat soils of any depth. Under the new standards, all existing planting on peat must adhere to the latest version of ‘RSPO Manual on Best Management Practices (BMPs) for existing oil palm cultivation on peat’.  

This new criterion states that future land clearing by palm oil growers does not contribute to deforestation or cause damage to peatlands and high carbon stock forest areas. 

The P&C review has also called for stronger requirements to apply human rights standards to all RSPO membership categories. Hence, RSPO’s Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) developed a new policy for RSPO and its members for the protection of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) and whistle blowers, which includes accessible and adequately resourced procedures to allow HRDs to register their concerns with the RSPO Complaints panel in anonymity and confidentiality.  

RSPO Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Darrel Webber, in a statement, welcomed the newly adopted, consensus-driven P&C 2018 standard. Although the new criteria in P&C 2018 standard come into effect immediately, a one-year transition period is given to existing RSPO grower members to implement the new standards. 

NEPCon staff members – Business Development Director, Adam Grant, and NEPCon Solutions Asia-Pacific Deputy Director, Lita Natasastra, attended the event as part of our commitment to active engagement with the certification systems.  “It was encouraging to see the development of the RSPO and the RSPO’s incremental improvement is the goal which NEPCon hopes to support. The event gave us an opportunity to explore how NEPCon can help support all actors. 

“It became evident that our experience in technical auditing and standard management is a service which will complement the ongoing work,” explained Adam. RT16 has enabled NEPCon to gain a good understanding of where RSPO is heading and how they intend to get there.  

NEPCon is an RSPO SCCS certifier accredited by RSPO’s system surveillance body Accreditation Services International (ASI). We offer RSPO Supply Chain certification. 
 

Certification forum on activities of the forest wood sector in Gabon

NEPCon participated in a forum, ‘Towards the generalisation of the certification of activities of the forest-wood sector in Gabon’ on 22-23 November 2018. Organised by the Ministry of Water and Forests, in charge of the Environment and Sustainable Development through the Agency for the Execution of Activities of the Wood Forest Sector (AEAFFB) and the Coordination Office of the Strategic Plan Gabon Emergent (BCPSGE), the Minister of Water and Forests, Mr. Jacques Denis TSANGA also graced the event.

Among topics discussed and/ or presented were the notion of certification and categorisation of the operators in the forest-wood sector, certification processes for the activities of the forest-wood sector, control of forest information and implementation of a traceability system for forest products, and identification of operator support mechanisms for forest certification.

NEPCon Africa Regional Manager, Sandra Razanamandranto, and NEPCon Forest and Climate Programme Manager, Mateo Cariño Fraisse, attended the two-day forum. We were pleased as NEPCon also delivered a presentation to introduce NEPCon to participants. NEPCon has a keen interest and strong presence in the forest-wood sector.

“After the two-day event, we increased NEPCon’s presence among forest sector actors. We would like to leverage our breadth of skills and experience to continue growing our presence in Gabon by organising a seminar on LegalSource standard for companies and other stakeholders in relevant sectors,” said Sandra.
 

Photo: Mateo Cariño Fraisse

The discussions at the forum created a plan to implement actions including, but not limited to, the following: make a comprehensive diagnosis of the forestry sector, of its actors and its needs; define a specific action plan for each actor as well as a communication platform that allow exchanges between actors; implement a monitoring mechanism to follow up on progress and achievement towards forest certification; and define technical and financial support programmes to support companies towards forest certification.

The forum was held two months after Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba announced that the country will revoke forestry permits from firms that have not embraced an international standard on responsible logging by 2022. He said all loggers must be committed to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification by 2022.  

About 21.775 mil hectares, or 84.5% of Gabon is forested, as revealed by Mongabay.According to WWF, the overall rate of deforestation in the country remained relatively low but illegal logging has been a problem and illegal timber trade is expected to account up to 50% of all forestry activity.  To date, only three out of 40 major companies in Gabon are FSC certified.

To find out more about sourcing timber from Gabon, visit the NEPCon Sourcing Hub.

 

France Looks to Curb Palm Oil and Beef Imports to Halt Deforestation

Recently, French government unveiled their National Strategy to combat deforestation by setting up import regulation of several major commodities including soybean, palm oil, beef and beef products, cocoa, rubber, as well as wood and its derivatives, as reported byEcoWatch. French government realized that they part of deforestation drivers, as quoted by World Economic Forum, "European countries bear an important responsibility since a third of this deforestation is due to the consumption of agricultural products by the countries of the European Union.".  

The French National Strategy is part of the French attempt to end deforestation by 2030 and to bring producers, companies, investors, and consumers to take part in this goal. The strategy implementing 17 measures including financial aid to encourage exporting countries or regions to respect non-deforestation criteria; the launch of a "zero deforestation" label for consumers by 2020; and a 2019 push for a European policy on imports posing a risk for forests, as EcoWatch described. 

Christian Sloth, NEPCon's ResponsibleSource Programme Manager, commented on the release of the French National Strategy, “obviously this is good news for us as we want to stop deforestation too. I think this policy is great and we should encourage the rest of EU and the rest of the world to adopt similar policies”.  

With NEPCon's extensive experience supporting organisations to implement diue diligence systems to control the risks of sourcing illgeal timber, we are excited to see the lessons learned from the FLEGT Program and the EU Timber Regualtion applied to this new measure. "It is clear from the EUTR that a risk based due diligence approach to managing supply chains risks can be an efficient tool to achieve real change in the way commodities are sources across a whole industry or even country. Obviously for such a system to work well there needs to be real engagement and resources assigned, both from the industry, but also from the government" Christian said. 

NEPCon conducted risk assessments to major commodities mentioned in the French National Strategy, mainly beef, soy, timber, and palm oil in producing countries that can be accessed on the NEPCon Sourcing Hub.
 
 
Brazil loses almost one million football pitches worth of forest

Referring to the new release of Brazilian annual deforestation data, The Guardian points out that last year, the speed at which forest is being cleared in Brazil has reached a peak since 2008. The size of the cleared land is equivalent to almost one million football pitches, as Phys.org also reported.  

Worlds’ leaders, including Brazilian President Bolsonaro, are now gathering in Katowice, Poland for the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or  COP 24, to address climate change issues including deforestation.

Brazil, initially chosen to host COP25 next year, has refused the offer, which makes Carlos Rittl, executive secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory, a coalition of environmental non-governmental organizations, worry that “the image of Brazil is at risk... Climate and the environment are the only issues where Brazil is a leader in global terms. We are not leaders in world trade, we are not leaders in a geopolitical sense on security issues. But on climate and environment, we are leaders, and we are giving that up” as he said to  New York Times.

“The Amazon rainforest represents more than half of Earth's remaining rainforest and covers an area of 5.5 billion km2, about 60 percent of which is in Brazil. But it is under threat from illegal logging as well as farming, in particular from soybean plantations and pasture land for cattle.” According to Phys.org.

NEPCon developed comprehensive risk assessments of Brazilian beef and soy which can be accessed on the NEPCon Sourcing Hub. 

 

News from November 2018

Timber

 

Albania

• Balkan Insight reports: Chainsaw Gangs: The Plunder of Albania’s Ancient Forests. Rampant illegal logging in Albania’s biggest national park is ravaging primeval woodland protected by UNESCO, a BIRN investigation reveals.
• Tirana Times reports: Albania illegal logging, animal cruelty continues at slower pace, watchdog says. An Albanian environmental watchdog says it has identified illegal hunting, logging, animals kept in captivity and fires endangering rare species during this year, defying moratoriums and sanctions in place, although at a slower pace compared to a year ago.

Australia

• ABC News reports: Australia's endangered forests are being 'stolen' and sold in hardware and office stores. Thousands of hectares of state forest appear to have been logged or earmarked for logging illegally, an ABC investigation has found, amounting to what some say is the mass "theft" by a government-owned for-profit logging company.       

Bolivia

• Ojo Público reports: Fake papers that launder illegal timber in Bolivia. Timber trafficking is supported in this country by documents that contain false information: They declare non-existent trees in forest concessions and then justify their volumes by substituting timber extracted from prohibited areas. This illegal activity occurs in protected areas and the department of Santa Cruz.          

Brazil

• Yale Environment 360 reports: Why Brazil’s new president poses an unprecedented threat to the Amazon. Newly elected Jair Bolsonaro, an authoritarian nationalist sometimes called the “tropical Trump,” has staked out an environmental agenda that would open the Amazon to widespread development, putting at risk a region that plays a vital role in stabilizing the global climate. 
• Folha de S. Paulo reports: Amazon deforestation skyrocketed during the presidential campaign. Between August and October, illegal logging rose 48.8%; the most significant increase happened along the border between the states of Acre and Amazonas.
• Mongabay reports: The last trees of the Amazon. Illegally-sourced timber from Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia are incorporated into the international market with falsified official documents that are almost never verified. Timber traffickers are now pursuing new species of trees, but the countries’ governments do very little to protect the species.            
• The Epoch Times reports: Isolated tribes under threat by Illegal logging in Brazil. Recently, the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau indigenous reserve in the Amazon region, where at least three isolated tribes live, was invaded by illegal loggers. An international campaign to raise awareness about this situation was launched by Kanindé, a third-sector agency that works with tribes living in the reserve.           
• Mongabay reports: Brazil could lose Nepal-size area of rainforest due to policy revision. Brazil’s Forest Act requires landowners living in the country’s Amazon region set aside 80 percent of their private land for native vegetation. But when the law was revised in 2012, a paragraph was added that says this 80 percent requirement can be relaxed to 50 percent if a state protects more than 65 percent of its public land. A new study finds that this revision means that an area of the Brazilian Amazon between 65,000 and 154,000 square kilometers in size could lose its protected status.
• Mongabay reports: Purus-Madeira: the Amazon arc of deforestation marches north. For the past decade, the southern part of Amazonas state has seen some of the highest rates of deforestation increase in Brazil, threatening the unique moist forest ecosystem found on the divide between the Purus and Madeira river basins. The municipalities of Apuí and Lábrea, on the Transamazon highway (BR-230) lead this destructive trend. But now a variety of land users, including legal and illegal loggers, cattle ranchers, entrepreneurs and land grabbers are moving north along the currently unpaved BR-319 highway, causing major deforestation.
• Mongabay reports: Amazon deforestation at highest level in 10 years, says Brazil. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit 7,900 square kilometers for the year ending July 31, 2018, reports Brazil’s national space research institute, INPE. The figure represents a 14% increase over last year and a 41% miss of the official deforestation target. Final figures will be released next spring.
• Phys.org reports: Brazil loses 'one million football pitches' worth of forest. Deforestation in Brazil has reached such epic proportions that an area equivalent to one million football pitches was lost in just one year, Greenpeace said. Between August 2017 and July 2018, deforestation increased by almost 14 percent with an area of 7,900 square kilometers (3,050 square miles) of forest cleared, according to the governmental institution of special investigations.        
• SciDevNet reports: Legal tweak could wreck Amazon forest. Proposed changes to legislation that protects areas of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil may be exploited to deforest up to 15 million hectares of land, a study has found. The Forest Code, a regulation approved half a century ago, says that owners of land in the Brazilian rainforest must set aside 80 percent of their plots for conservation. But as of 2012, the rules were revised so that the proportion can be reduced to 50 percent if more than 65 percent of the state in which the land is situated is given over to reservations for indigenous people or other protected areas. 
• Think Progress reports: Brazil backtracks on climate leadership with Bolsonaro set to take power. Environmentalists are concerned that a feared rollback of climate stewardship is already underway in Brazil a month after the country’s presidential election. President-elect Jair Bolsonaro reneged this week on hosting major U.N. climate talks next year, even as deforestation rises in the Amazon and indigenous activists come under threat.  
• TimberLeaks reports: US flooring giant buying tropical wood from Brazilian firm at centre of illegal timber scandal. A recent crackdown by Brazilian police and environmental authorities resulted in Latin American flooring giant Indusparquet being fined hundreds of thousands of dollars and being partially banned from operating for allegedly using fraudulent permits. This has not stopped America’s largest flooring retailer, Floor & Decor, from continuing to buy from them.           

Cambodia

• Khmer Times reports: EU promotes laundering of looted Cambodian wood. Despite a ban on the export of timber to Vietnam that came into effect at the beginning of 2016, in the year following the Cambodian government’s decision, according to conflicting sources, 300,000 cubic meters of wood were illegally cut in Cambodia and then smuggled into Vietnam.
• Phnom Penh Post reports: Environmental law changes get go-ahead. The ministries of Interior, Environment, and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Monday agreed on the amendment to the laws concerning forestry, fisheries and natural resource protection. They are set to send the draft to the Council of Ministers for revision before it can be passed by the National Assembly. The amendment came after Minister of Interior Sar Kheng took issue with the existing forestry law and criticised high-ranking officials for allowing forestry crimes to happen.
• Phnom Penh Post reports: Illegal logging continues unabated in Cambodia Foresty crimes continue unabated in the Kingdom. This week alone, two crackdowns on illegal logging took place in Ratanakkiri and Oddar Meanchey provinces. Authorities on Wednesday uncovered and seized dozens of timber from illegally-felled first-grade woods in Ratanakkiri province, following a tip from the locals.
• Radio Free Asia reports: Cambodian Authorities Move to Amend Laws in Effort to Protect Forests. Widespread illegal logging in Cambodia’s forests is making the government reevaluate existing laws intended to protect the country’s natural resources. Cambodia’s Minister of Interior Sar Kheng held a meeting Tuesday with his counterparts from the environment and agriculture ministries as well as the heads of other institutions to discuss amending several laws, which he says have been ineffective.
• Khmer Times reports: Forestry crimes on decline: Agriculture Ministry. The Agriculture Ministry has issued a report showing that in the first nine months of this year there were 846 cases of forestry crimes, down from 963 during the same period last year.
• Phnom Penh Post reports: ‘Mondulkiri rife with forest crimes’. A truck transporting timber overturned on Thursday evening, killing one person and injured another. The incident at Sen Monorom commune, in Mondulkiri province’s O’Raing district, has added spark to the ongoing debate on forest crimes in the province.
• Khmer Times reports: Sar Kheng chastises border authorities over illegal logging. Interior Minister Sar Kheng has blamed local officials posted along the Cambodian-Thai border for failing to curb the flow of illegal loggers sneaking across the border to cut down trees in Thailand.         

China

• RadioNZ reports: China urged to play its part to combat illegal logging in PNG.Papua New Guinea civil society groups have called on China to introduce regulation on illegal wood imports from the country. PNG is China's single largest supplier of timber, however, large quantities of these wood imports come from illegal operations.
• Mongabay reports: Stop importing illegal timber, PNG activists tell China at APEC Summit. Environmental and community groups from Papua New Guinea issued a letter for Chinese President Xi Jinping during the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in the capital, Port Moresby. In the letter, the authors asked that China, the destination for the bulk of PNG’s timber exports, regulate imports to discourage the illegality that plagues PNG’s forestry sector.

Colombia

• The Bogatá Post reports: Deforestation in Colombia: The forest is burning.Deforestation in the Amazon has reached a critical point – if action is not taken now, the eco-systems will not recover. Colombia is losing about half a football field of forest cover per minute, affecting climate and levels of both CO2 and water, according to Mauricio Cote, a climate change specialist with Fundación Natura, the oldest environmental non-profit organisation in Colombia.
• UN Environment reports: Religious and indigenous leaders join forces oninitiative to end tropical deforestation in Colombia. In an unprecedented and historic show of unity, leaders from every major faith tradition today joined indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombian communities, climate scientists, and NGOs in pledging to defend the Amazon and end deforestation. The Interfaith Rainforest Initiative in Colombia was launched today at an event in Bogota convened by UN Environment and a coalition of Colombian and global multi-faith partners.         

Denmark 

• Cph Post reports: Denmark leading the way against deforestation in the EU.Head of Amsterdam Declarations Partnership sends letter to the EU Commission. As the current president of the Amsterdam Declarations Partnership, the environment and food minister, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, has sent a letter urging the EU Commission to produce an action plan to tackle deforestation in the EU.

European Union

• Mongabay reports: The ongoing trade in conflict timber (commentary). Last year, the 28 Member States of the European Union imported €260 million-worth (about $296 million-worth) of timber from countries that the World Bank considers to be fragile and conflict-affected. In an attempt to take responsibility for the role of European companies in the cycle of conflict in many forest countries, the European Commission has recently published a Guidance Document for importers that is designed to ensure that companies are mitigating the risk of buying illegal timber in conflict situations and of exacerbating conflict in their day-to-day business. Let’s hope that the new EUTR Guidance Document can help push companies to meet this responsibility.
• The Guardian reports: EU states call for tough action on deforestation to meet 2020 UN goal. The UK, France and Germany have called on the European commission to launch tough new action to halt deforestation by the end of the year. A long-delayed EU action plan should be brought forward “as soon as possible”, says a letter to the commission sent by the Amsterdam Declaration group of countries, which also includes Italy, the Netherlands and Norway.
• The Daily Observer reports: Guyana and the EU reach an agreement to promote trade in legal timber products and improve forest governance.Guyana and the European Union (EU) have concluded a six-year process of negotiations towards a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), which aims to improve the application of forest laws, strengthen forest governance and promote trade in legal wood products. Representatives of Guyana and the EU were expected to initial the VPA on November 23 (yesterday) in Brussels, ahead of each side signing and ratifying the agreement.      

Ghana

• Ghana News Agency reports: Ghana gets set to issue FLEGT license. Ghana is at the final stages to issuing the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) license in the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA). 
• Modern Ghana reports: Civic response deepens forest governance through real-time monitoring. Civic Response has deepened its further approach towards the promotion of forest sector governance through the implementation of its Civil Society-led Independent Forest Monitoring in Ghana (CSIFM-Ghana) project.

Guyana

• The Daily Observer reports: Guyana and the EU reach an agreement to promote trade in legal timber products and improve forest governance.Guyana and the European Union (EU) have concluded a six-year process of negotiations towards a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), which aims to improve the application of forest laws, strengthen forest governance and promote trade in legal wood products. Representatives of Guyana and the EU were expected to initial the VPA on November 23 (yesterday) in Brussels, ahead of each side signing and ratifying the agreement.      

India

• The Telegraph reports: NGOs question ‘surplus’ timber being stacked and loaded in wagons for transportation. Different NGOs working to save Poba rainforest in Assam’s Dhemaji district and valuable trees have questioned the incidents of massive quantities of wooden planks being stacked and loaded in the wagons for transportation to other states from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.            
• The Arunachal Times reports: Rampant destruction of forests in Namdang. The rampant logging of trees being carried out for the last couple of years within the unclassified 42.77 sq km Namdang forest area in Changlang district has led to large-scale destruction of the forest.

Indonesia

• The Jakarta Post reports: Deforestation leading to Jambi flooding, warns green group. Excessive damage to Jambi’s forests as a result of destructive activities like illegal logging and mining, as well as land conversion, is causing routine flooding in the province, environmental group Warsi Indonesian Conservation Community (KKI Warsi) has warned. The latest flooding caused by the deforestation occurred in Bungo regency, which saw the inundation of almost 770 houses inhabited by around 914 families last Saturday.             
• Environmental Investigation Agency reports: Genuine forest reform can only happen under the gaze of independent eyes. Looking back into a past of chaos, corruption and crime, Indonesia has clearly come a long way in reforming its timber sector. During the 1990s and early 2000s, illegal logging was so widespread that more than 70-80 per cent of timber produced in Indonesia was sourced illegally.           
• Rainforest Action Network reports: Explosive Reports Expose Illegal Logging and Human Rights Abuses by Forestry Giant Korindo Group; Tokyo 2020 Olympics Implicated in Sourcing Tainted Wood. In-depth investigations into the Korean-Indonesian conglomerate Korindo Group have produced two reports documenting widespread evidence of illegality, environmental destruction andcommunity rights violations across the company’s operations.

Japan

• Rainforest Action Network reports: Explosive Reports Expose Illegal Logging and Human Rights Abuses by Forestry Giant Korindo Group; Tokyo 2020 Olympics Implicated in Sourcing Tainted Wood. In-depth investigations into the Korean-Indonesian conglomerate Korindo Group have produced two reports documenting widespread evidence of illegality, environmental destruction andcommunity rights violations across the company’s operations.
• The Straits Times Asia reports: Tokyo Olympics 2020 organisers deny accusations of illegally sourced wood usage. The organisers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have vehemently denied an accusation by an environmental group that several of the new Games venues are being built by wood that has been purportedly obtained through illegal logging. The US-based Rainforest Action Network (RAN) said on Monday (Nov 12) that the use of wood from Malaysia and Indonesia to build new Games venues "flies in the face" of Tokyo's commitment to realise the United Nations' sustainable development goals.          

Kenya

• News from the slopes reports: Illegal logging decrease as residents engage in farming along Mt Kenya forest. For many years, human/wildlife conflict has led toloss of lives and property to residents of Kangaita in the slopes of Mt. Kenya forest. But since January this year the small scale farmers have something to smile about after the National government and donor funded solar powered electric fence was commissioned to keep away wild animals from their farms.     

Malaysia

• Channel News Asia reports: Former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman charged with 35 counts of corruption. Former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman was on Monday (Nov 5) charged with 35 counts of corruption involving about US$63 million. The charges relate to logging contracts in Sabah. He allegedly received bribes in exchange for offering timber concessions in the east Malaysian state.            
• The Borneo Post reports: S’wak govt to continue exploring new revenue from forest sector, says CM. The Sarawak government will continue to explore new revenue for the state from the forest sector, said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg. Without disclosing much details, he said one of the ways is through eco-tourism. “Several initiatives have been implemented to see to it that Sarawak’s forests are properly managed while programmes on conservation of forests and wildlife are to carry on.            

Namibia

• The Patriot reports: Namibia’s timber chronic harvesting nightmare. The excessive harvesting of timber destined for foreign markets in the Zambezi Region has created enormous distrust amongst environmentalists and residents of the region.      

Papua New Guinea

• RadioNZ reports: China urged to play its part to combat illegal logging in PNG.Papua New Guinea civil society groups have called on China to introduce regulation on illegal wood imports from the country. PNG is China's single largest supplier of timber, however, large quantities of these wood imports come from illegal operations.
• Mongabay reports: Stop importing illegal timber, PNG activists tell China at APEC Summit. Environmental and community groups from Papua New Guinea issued a letter for Chinese President Xi Jinping during the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in the capital, Port Moresby. In the letter, the authors asked that China, the destination for the bulk of PNG’s timber exports, regulate imports to discourage the illegality that plagues PNG’s forestry sector.

Peru

• Ecosystem Marketplace reports: Can sustainable logging help save an indigenous way of life?. When the indigenous people of Bélgica, in the Peruvian Amazon, turned to sustainable logging, they did so to earn income, out of necessity. They found, however, that the process of getting certified helped them create a long-term strategy for sustainable management of their land.
• Mongabay reports: Extinction by omission: Peru’s disappearing ancient shihuahuaco trees. In 2015, Peru’s National Forest and Wildlife Service (Serfor) created a working group to update the list of threatened plant species in the country. Although an initial list of 705 species, including the shihuahuaco tree, valued in the hardwood timber trade, was published, the list has not yet been made official. Last year, a second workshop was carried out in which the shihuahuaco was classified as critically endangered, with a warning that it could be wiped out in at least two regions of Peru by 2025. Peru’s failure to update its own threatened-species list has also meant it can’t nominate the shihuahuaco for inclusion in the global list administered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
• IOP Science reports: Deforestation risks posed by oil palm expansion in the Peruvian Amazon. Further expansion of agriculture in the tropics is likely to accelerate the loss of biodiversity. One crop of concern to conservation is African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis). We examined recent deforestation associated with oil palm in the Peruvian Amazon within the context of the region's other crops. We found more area under oil palm cultivation (845 km2) than did previous studies.        
• Phys.org reports: Rainforest destruction from gold mining hits all-time high in Peru. Small-scale gold mining has destroyed more than 170,000 acres of primary rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon in the past five years, according to a new analysis by scientists at Wake Forest University's Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation (CINCIA). That's an area larger than San Francisco and 30 percent more than previously reported.   

Philippines

• Politiko Mindanao reports: Cops seize P84K worth of illegal lumber in Caraga.Authorities have confiscated P84,000-worth of alleged illegally cut forest products in Caraga region, police said. According to the Police Regional Office (PRO) 13, 41 pieces of iron wood tree “Magkuno” lumber with estimated volume of 900 board feet worth P72,000 were seized in Barangay Poblacion, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur recently.            

Romania

• Business Review reports: Romanian government to allow 53-hectare deforestation for Canadian company’s gold mining operations. The Romanian government is preparing to approve the permanent removal of over 56 hectares of forest from the national forestry fund in the area of Simeria, Hunedoara county, of which more than 53 ha will be deforested in order to allow Deva Gold, 80 percent owned by Canadians at Eldorado Gold, to carry out its gold mining operations, according to profit.ro.        
• Romania Insider reports: Report reveals illegal logging is still a major problem in Romania. The latest report by Greenpeace Romania not only shows that illegal logging continues to be a major problem for Romania, but also reveals a worrying increase in cases of illegal logging. A total of 12,487 cases of illegal logging were identified nationwide in 2017, which would translate into 34 cases per day, representing an increase of 32% compared to the previous year.         

Russia

• Russia News Today reports: Greenpeace estimated the scale of illegal logging in Russia.  Illegal logging threatens Russia former collective farm forests withundefined legal status of the area about 40 million hectares, which exceeds the area of Germany, told RIA Novosti the head of the forestry Department of Greenpeace Russia Alexey Yaroshenko.           

South Korea

• FLEGT  reports: Comparing South Korea’s timber legislation and the EUTR. In March 2017, South Korea revised the Act on the Sustainable Use of Timbers, a milestone in its efforts to promote legal timber trade. The EU FLEGT Facility has published a brief that describes similarities and differences between the revised Act and the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR).            

Thailand

• The Nation reports: New forest monitoring system to help fight climate change. Thailand is developing forest monitoring systems to measure its success at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and carbon stocks preservation (REDD+).

Ukraine

• Mongabay reports: Forestry reforms could fall short without PM’s backing in Ukraine. Ukraine’s prime minister called for “a massive crackdown” on his country’s timber sector after allegations of widespread corruption and illegality. The London-based NGO Earthsight first revealed the potential illegalities in a July 2018 report, and since then, independent investigations from WWF Ukraine and the EU’s Technical Assistance and Information Exchange have corroborated Earthsight’sfindings. A reform package that would allow for independent enforcement of Ukraine’s forestry laws and increased transparency has been approved by the country’s cabinet of ministers, but it still lacks the signature and public backing of Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
• Kyiv Post reports: UK researchers, Ukraine officials face off over illegal timber exports to EU. Ukrainian officials and representatives of the European Union in Ukraine have strongly refuted allegations of collusion and corruption made by the London-based environmental watchdog Earthsight.  

United States of America

• TimberLeaks reports: US flooring giant buying tropical wood from Brazilian firm at centre of illegal timber scandal. A recent crackdown by Brazilian police and environmental authorities resulted in Latin American flooring giant Indusparquet being fined hundreds of thousands of dollars and being partially banned from operating for allegedly using fraudulent permits. This has not stopped America’s largest flooring retailer, Floor & Decor, from continuing to buy from them.           

Vanuatu

• The Vanuatu Independent reports: More illegal logging in Vatthe conservation area. CAMPAIGN for Justice is deeply concerned that illegal logging operations in Vanuatu’s biggest conservation area in Matantas Big Bay, Santo have continued since a report of these illegal operations was completed. The report was handed over to the Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation last September.            

Viet Nam

• Nhan Dan reports: New agreement creates opportunities and challenges for timber export sector. Vietnam and the European Union (EU) signed the Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (VPA/FLEGT) in October 2018. This is a legally binding trade agreement with the aim of improving forest governance and promoting the export of legal timber and timber products from Vietnam to the EU market. Besides many opportunities, the agreement also poses challenges for Vietnamese timber and forest product exporters. 
• The Asean Post reports: The grass in Vietnam may not be that green. In spite of the regional trend, Vietnam has experienced a resurgence in forest cover over the decades, reaching 48 percent as of 2017. However, some are calling Vietnam’s improved performance deceptive, achieved at the expense of its neighbors, specifically Lao and Cambodia.
• Vietnam Plus reports: FLEGT-VPA to fuel Vietnam’s wood export to global markets. Vietnam’s signing of the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Voluntary Partnership Agreement (FLEGT-VPA) with the European Union (EU) will help the country boost wood product exports to not only the EU but also many other markets, according to an official.
• Vietnam News reports: Agreement opens EU to VN timber. The signing of the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Voluntary Partnership Agreement (FLEGT-VPA) between Việt Nam and the European Union is expected to have a positive impact on the country’s economy and environment. 
• Market Screener reports: Clamping down on Vietnam’s illegal timber trade: EU trade agreements should signal a new era. China's role in the global trade in illegal timber has been well documented, including in Global Witness reports. But now, as a trade war begins to escalate between the US and China, it is Vietnam which is also becoming an increasingly important destination for tropical timber that is known to be at a high risk of being illegally harvested.         
• Mongabay reports: Vietnam-EU legal timber agreement signed, but much work remains. The European Union has signed an agreement to support Vietnam’s forest governance improvement goals, aimed at ensuring that the timber it imports from the Southeast Asian country is legally sourced. The Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) was signed Oct. 19 in Brussels by Federica Mogherini, the EU high representative for foreign affairs, and Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Vietnam’s minister of agriculture.

 

Palm oil

 

Indonesia 

• Tempo.co reports: Indonesia Focuses to Expand Palm Oil Market outside Europe. The Indonesian Trade Ministry focuses on developing several new export markets for palm oil products and its derivatives, given the negative sentiment that still continues from one of the main markets, the European Union.
• The Jakarta Post reports: We are not against palm oil, but against deforestation: Greenpeace . Environmental watchdog Greenpeace Indonesia has responded to a statement from the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) and the Indonesian Oil Palm Farmers Association (Apkasindo) that called on the government to take firm action against Greenpeace, which they said was harming Indonesia’s economy.
• Tempo.co reports: WWF Indonesia: Managing Palm Oil Field Need Political Commitment. WWF Indonesia assessed that a strong political commitment is needed in implementing a sustainable way to manage palm oil plantation, which has been done in Sintang, West Kalimantan. “If we want to push for a sustainable palm oil management that is well executed, one of the factors and the key is political leadership,” said WWF Indonesia’s Sustainable Palm Oil Program Manager Putra Agung today, Nov. 22, at Sintang.
• MIT News reports: Burning Indonesian peat causes haze in Singapore.  Radiocarbon measurements provide evidence that the origin of the haze over Sumatra's neighbors is peat, not deforestation and waste burning as many believed.
• Radio NZ reports: Indonesia calls for palm oil development in Solomon Islands. Indonesia's President is encouraging Indonesian companies to develop palm oil in Solomon Islands.
• Food Navigator reports: Unilever implements jurisdictional palm oil approach in Malaysia and Indonesia. Unilever is working with local governments to implement a jurisdictional, district-wide approach to sustainable palm oil for four areas in Malaysia and Indonesia.
• The Jakarta Post reports: Palm oil industry calls on govt to take 'firm' action against Greenpeace. The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) and the Indonesian Oil Palm Farmers Association (Apkasindo) have called on the government to take firm action against environmental watchdog Greenpeace, which they say harms Indonesia’s economy. 
• Antara News reports: Sintang district encourages palm oil firms to get ISPO certificates. The Sintang District administration, West Kalimantan Province, has encouraged palm oil plantation firms operated in the area to meet the mandatory sustainability certification of the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO). Head of Sintang District Jarot Winarno said currently only six out of 47 palm oil plantation firms in the area that have received the certificates.
• Independent reports: Greenpeace activists detained after boarding palm oil tanker off Spain. Six Greenpeace activists who boarded a tanker transporting palm oil off the coast of Spain have been detained by the ship’s captain, the campaign group has said. The protesters unfurled banners reading “Save our Rainforest” and “Drop Dirty Palm Oil” from the tanker in the Gulf of Cadiz on Saturday. Ship is carrying palm oil linked to rainforest destruction in Indonesia. 
• Mongabay reports: Palm oil supplier to PepsiCo, Mars, and Hershey resumes deforesting in Indonesia. A palm oil producer that supplies major companies including Nestlé, Mars, Hershey and Johnson & Johnson has been found to have cleared 4.5 square kilometers (1.7 square miles) of intact forest in Indonesia since May. While the clearing by the subsidiary of Jakarta-listed PT Austindo Nusantara Jaya Tbk (ANJ) is likely legal, it violates the well-publicized no-deforestation commitments of many of its customers.
• European Supermarket Magazine reports: Consumer Goods Forum Calls For Collaboration To Tackle Forced Labour In Palm Oil Industry. The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) and Fair Labor Association (FLA) have called for greater collaboration between various stakeholders involved in the palm oil industry to tackle the problem of forced labour. According to the latest report by the FLA and CGF, the palm oil industry in Indonesia and Malaysia has shown several indicators of forced labour.
• New Straits Times reports: Indonesia and Malaysia sidesteps EU's trade curb. Malaysia and Indonesia are not participating in the EU’s Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) Workshop related to biofuels in Brussels, Belgium. In a statement on Thursday, the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) explained that it was because of the likelihood of the EU using the ILUC’s land use criteria to justify phasing out or restricting palm oil in the EU's Renewable Energy Directive II (REDII) mandate.
• Mongabay reports: In funding palm oil giants, banks may share in ‘sins of the companies’. The recently signed moratorium on new oil palm plantation permits mandates a review of all current licenses. In a sector rife with illegality, this may have far-reaching implications, including for financiers of palm oil companies. For the banking sector, a major palm oil investor, this highlights the need to improve due diligence and sustainability policies, experts suggest.
• CIFOR reports: Governing sustainable palm oil in Indonesia: An evolving policy regime. Indonesian President Joko Widodo signed a recent moratorium on new palm oil concession permits. During the three-year freeze, the government will undertake a comprehensive nationwide review of oil palm licenses and develop efforts to enhance productivity – particularly for smallholders. This move is seen as a significant step forward to improving governance in this sector. But is this enough?

Malaysia

• Al Jazeera reports: Malaysia has 'window of opportunity' on indigenous land rights. Malaysia's new government has a "window of opportunity" to address indigenous land rights and stop the intimidation, harassment and arrest of those attempting to defend their land, Amnesty International said at the launch of its latest report into indigenous rights. Across the country, indigenous people, who make up about 14 percent of the population, are locked in a battle for their land and way of life with companies that want to exploit the forest for its timber and plant agricultural crops like durian, rubber and palm oil. 
• Baking Business reports: Sustainable palm oil certification mandated in Malaysia. Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil certification will become mandatory for many oil palm plantations in the country on Dec. 31, according to the Malaysian government. The M.S.P.O. certification differs from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification, according to the Malaysian government, and current R.S.P.O. certification should make it easier to obtain M.S.P.O. certification.
• Quartz reports: A palm oil giant has been sanctioned over forced labor and trafficking workers. The charges include forced labor, complicity in the trafficking of workers, terrible living conditions, widespread illegality and over 25 breaches of the organization’s sustainability certification criteria on FELDA plantations.
• The Edge Markets reports: Lopsided commitment to RSPO-certified palm oil a grave concern. RAHMAT Jemeran, 60, cultivates oil palm trees on a 3ha smallholding in Batu Pahat, Johor, in compliance with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) standards. He tells The Edge that he has to work two jobs in order to support himself and his family
• New Straits Times reports: Ministry to assist smallholders towards MSPO certification. The Ministry of Primary Industries will be working hand-in-hand with smallholders in the plantation sector to achieve Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification, which will be mandatory by end-2019. Its minister, Teresa Kok Suh Sim, said the certification would allow smallholders, who account for about 40 per cent of the country’s palm oil production, to upgrade the standard of their crop, hence boosting their market penetration.
• Food Navigator reports: Unilever implements jurisdictional palm oil approach in Malaysia and Indonesia. Unilever is working with local governments to implement a jurisdictional, district-wide approach to sustainable palm oil for four areas in Malaysia and Indonesia.
• The Malaysian Reserve reports: Stop labelling palm oil before we talk about free trade, says Dr Mahathir. Free trade can’t happen if certain parties continue to label Malaysia’s palm oil, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the Malaysian leader uses the Asean Summit to criticise countries that are trying to outlaw the country’s main commodity.
• The Borneo Post reports: Biosecurity plan for oil palm to benefit industry. With the newly-launched Biosecurity Plan for oil palm in place, various agencies, the industry and stakeholders will be more committed and vigilant in responding to any potential intrusion of exotic pests and diseases into Malaysia. This, will in turn, protect the health and yield of oil palm, said Minister of Primary Industries, Teresa Kok.
• European Supermarket Magazine reports: Consumer Goods Forum Calls For Collaboration To Tackle Forced Labour In Palm Oil Industry. The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) and Fair Labor Association (FLA) have called for greater collaboration between various stakeholders involved in the palm oil industry to tackle the problem of forced labour. According to the latest report by the FLA and CGF, the palm oil industry in Indonesia and Malaysia has shown several indicators of forced labour.
• New Straits Times reports: Indonesia and Malaysia sidesteps EU's trade curb.Malaysia and Indonesia are not participating in the EU’s Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) Workshop related to biofuels in Brussels, Belgium. In a statement on Thursday, the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) explained that it was because of the likelihood of the EU using the ILUC’s land use criteria to justify phasing out or restricting palm oil in the EU's Renewable Energy Directive II (REDII) mandate.
• New Straits Times reports: More efforts needed to make palm oil sustainable.THE Forest Trust (TFT), a global non-governmental organisation focused on transforming supply chains, is of the view that more ambition, innovation and collaboration are vital for Malaysia to achieve industry-wide change for responsible palm oil.
• Eco-business reports: Why is it so hard to sell sustainable palm oil?. Malaysia’s Sime Darby Plantation produces 2.43 million tonnes of certified sustainable palm oil a year. The challenge is finding a buyer for it, says chief sustainability officer Dr Simon Lord in this interview with Eco-Business.
• The Jakarta Post reports: Expanding palm oil exports without neglecting existing markets. When opening the 14th Indonesian Palm Oil Conference here last Monday — three days before the actual conference began — President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called on palm oil players to explore new frontiers, especially in Iran, Africa and South Asia. The initiative to open new markets for palm oil is apparently driven by the rising barriers in a number of Indonesia’s traditional markets like the European Union, India and the US. 
• Confectionery News reports: New worker helpline launched to tackle human and labor rights issues in palm oil supply chain. Nestlé and Sime Darby Plantation introduce Laborlink mobile worker survey platform as part of action plan on labor rights in palm oil.
• The Edge Markets reports: National commodity policy to be improved. The National Commodity Policy will be improved with the inclusion of a new direction and targets for the nation’s agro-commodity industry, says Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok. She said efforts to determine the direction and initiatives to develop the industry in the short and medium term will be made through settlement sessions between the ministry and the relevant agencies and other interested parties.
• Borneo Post reports: Palm oil industry in the doldrums. Malaysia’s palm oil futures hit a fresh three-year low on Friday over worries that a hike in production would add on to inventories as global countries slow down on buying crude palm oil (CPO).
• Just Food reports: Industry report highlights forced labour in palm oil. A report commissioned by industry body The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) has called for greater collaboration to tackle forced labour issues in the palm oil industry. The Fair Labor Association (FLA) report highlights serious challenges in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Ghana

• Ecosystem Marketplace reports: Oil Palm, The Prodigal Plant, Is Coming Home To Africa. What Does That Mean For Forests? Oil palm evolved in Western Africa, but it took root in Southeast Asia, where it’s driving a $60 billion-per-year industry but leading to the destruction of forests across the country. Now West African countries like Ghana are scaling up their production, and Samuel Avaala says they can do so while reviving, rather than destroying, their forests.
• Business Ghana reports: Mpohor to enjoy cocoa and oil palm factories under 1D1F initiative. Mr Ignatius Assah Mensah, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Mpohor, has said approval has been given to two entrepreneurs to establish cocoa and oil palm factories under the ‘One District, One Factory initiative’(1D1F) in the District.
• Daily Guide Africa reports: Boost For Palm Oil Production. Moringa, an investment company that provides equity financing for sustainable agro-forestry projects in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, is investing $5 million into B-BOVID to enhance its unique out-grower palm oil polyculture model. B-BOVID is a farming and palm oil processing enterprise based on social entrepreneurship principles and agro-forestry practices.
• Ghana Web reports: Child labour on the rise in fishing, oil palm sector despite decrease in cocoa sector – ICI. Government’s will to deal with activities of child labour has been described as minimal considering the efforts put in so far. According to sources, even though child labour in cocoa producing areas across the country had downed, it seems the children are being shifted to other sectors of the economy where child labour is also on the rise.
• Ghana Web reports: Agona West Assembly to supply 50,000 palm oil seedlings free to farmers. A total of 50,000 hybrid palm oil seedlings are to be supplied to farmers free of charge under the government’s flagship programme of Planting for Food and Jobs, Mr Kwame Boateng, an official of Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

 

Soy

 

Brazil

• Euractiv reports: Sustainability in Brazilian soy supply chain – the complexities of tackling deforestation. Representatives of the Brazil government and of the Brazil soy supply chain are planning to engage in renewed discussions with EU stakeholders and policy-makers in Brussels this week, writes Nathalie Lecocq. During a workshop on Monday (19 November), they will illustrate their efforts with the implementation of the Forest Code, their fight against illegal deforestation and farmers’ contribution in protecting natural habitat.
• Mongabay reports: Could Brazil be on verge of one of world’s biggest conservation agreements? (commentary). In 2016, Brazil’s soy industry (via its trade association ABIOVE), joined with Brazilian NGOs to create the Cerrado Work Group. In 2017, the NGOs published a Cerrado Manifesto, stressing the need for a biome-wide conservation agreement. Many companies in the soy supply chain, including Tesco, Marks & Spencer, McDonalds and Unilever signed on. But a roadblock to the Brazil biome-wide agreement loomed: who would pay for zero deforestation incentives with Cerrado farmers? A breakthrough may be near.
• Mongabay reports: Tax havens and Brazilian Amazon deforestation linked: study. Tax havens are found in countries that demand no or low taxes for the transfer of foreign capital through their jurisdictions. Typically, tax havens, like those in the Cayman Islands, are very secretive and lack transparency. According to a recent study, between 2000 and 2011, 68 percent of all investigated foreign capital to 9 top companies in the soy and beef sectors in the Brazilian Amazon was transferred through tax havens. Soy and beef production cause major Amazon deforestation. 
• Mongabay reports: Saving the Amazon has come at the cost of Cerrado deforestation: study. In the early 21st century, Amazon biome deforestation decreased, as native vegetation loss began rising dramatically in the Cerrado savanna biome in Brazil. Now, scientists using a new research methodology known as telecoupling, have found that the Amazon deforestation decline and Cerrado increase are linked.
• CIPS reports: Asda makes deforestation pledge for soy supply chain. Asda has committed to eradicating deforestation from its soy supply chain by 2020. All soy used both in food products and for agricultural purposes will cause zero net deforestation by 2020, the retailer pledged.
• Edie.net reports: Asda commits to new zero-deforestation soy policy.Supermarket giant Asda has this week made a fresh sustainability pledge to ensure that the soy it sources for agricultural raw materials and animal feed is "net-zero deforestation" verified by 2020.

 

Beef

 

Brazil 

• Mongabay reports: Tax havens and Brazilian Amazon deforestation linked: study. Tax havens are found in countries that demand no or low taxes for the transfer of foreign capital through their jurisdictions. Typically, tax havens, like those in the Cayman Islands, are very secretive and lack transparency. According to a recent study, between 2000 and 2011, 68 percent of all investigated foreign capital to 9 top companies in the soy and beef sectors in the Brazilian Amazon was transferred through tax havens. Soy and beef production cause major Amazon deforestation. 
• Mongabay reports: Saving the Amazon has come at the cost of Cerrado deforestation: study. In the early 21st century, Amazon biome deforestation decreased, as native vegetation loss began rising dramatically in the Cerrado savanna biome in Brazil. Now, scientists using a new research methodology known as telecoupling, have found that the Amazon deforestation decline and Cerrado increase are linked.
• Landscape News reports: Lessons from Latin America: Using less, earning more. Abílio Rodrigues Pacheco is a landowner in the Brazilian state of Goiás who works for the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA). At the recent Green Business Forum in Asunción, Paraguay, he described an experiment he conducted. On 500 hectares of degraded land, Pacheco planted rows of eucalyptus saplings along 15-meter-wide strips of cultivated fields. He mixed soy crops with corn and grass, and, once the crops had been harvested, introduced beef cattle. The results, even after just a few years, are impressive.
• Innovation Forum reports: Tropical deforestation: where’s the beef?. Increasing demand is driving beef-sector growth in the Amazon and elsewhere – and a shift in market incentives, alongside technology and innovation, appear necessary to slow deforestation
• Mongabay reports: Deforestation-linked Brazilian beef still flowing into international markets. More than 200 million cattle live and graze in Brazil, bringing US $123 billion into the country’s economy annually. However, 80 percent of new deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is caused by the conversion of forest to cattle pasture. While international beef retailers have worked to decouple their markets from cattle-driven deforestation, a recent report shows that a lack of traceability and transparency of the cattle supply chain continues to thwart their efforts.
• The Conversation reports: Strict Amazon protections made Brazilian farmers more productive, new research shows. Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s new president, will make many decisions during his four-year term, from combating violence to stimulating a stagnant economy. Those decisions will have large impacts on Brazilians, who remain deeply divided over the controversial election of this far-right populist.

Malaysia

• The Borneo Post reports: Sarawak seeks to increase cattle population. Sarawak has set its sights on increasing its cattle population, with the government drawing up plans towards this cause, says Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas. The Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development said this included the Cattle ‘Pawah’ programme, where the animals would be advanced to selected breeders. 

 

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