India's Wooden Furniture and Wooden Handicrafts: Risk of Trade in Illegally Harvested Wood
This report summarizes India’s domestic and imported timber flows into and out of the country and its manufacturing industry. This report is a first report by Forest Trends in a series focusing on India’s role in the global timber supply chain, with a particular focus on the extent to which India’s high demand for wood products from around the world may be driving illegal deforestation, 30 September 2020
India, Timber, illegal timber harvesting, illegal timber trade, india PM: Proposal to ban palm oil import is denial of free trad
The proposal by European countries to ban the import of palm oil is a classic example of denial of free trade, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.New Straits Times, 28 September 2019
Malaysia, Palm Oil, EU palm oil ban How beef and soy kindle Amazon fires
More than 80,000 fires have broken out in the Amazon this year, and deforestation for growing cows and soy are a major part of the problemChina Dialog, 27 September 2019
Brazil, Beef, forest fire STATEMENT ON THE LEGALITY OF PUBLISHING MALAYSIAN PALM OIL MAPS
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is encouraged by the positive statement by the Minister of Primary Industries related to the publication of maps for the palm oil sector in Malaysia.RSPO, 27 September 2019
Malaysia, Palm Oil, Malaysian palm oil map RSPO ready to publish oil palm plantation maps ‘within days’
Free Malaysia Today, 27 September 2019
Malaysia, Palm Oil, RSPO maps California’s proposed Tropical Forest Standard passes amidst controversy
The California ‘Tropical Forest Standard’ involves using corporate money to slow tropical forest destruction. It’s already controversial, even among environmental groups, partially because it uses a carbon offset model to incentivize leaving forests standing. Some see the carbon market model as having little enforcement and giving polluting corporate interests too much leeway.Earth.com News, 26 September 2019
United States, Beef, californian tropical forest standard Teresa Kok to attend Mumbai conference, lead Malaysian delegation to East Africa
Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok Suh Sim will share her views on trade as well as the challenges faced by Malaysia in exporting palm oil, particularly to India, at a vegetable oil and feeds conference in Mumbai this week. She will thereafter lead a delegation to Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia as part of a palm oil economic and promotion mission, her ministry said in a statement today.Malay Mail, 26 September 2019
Malaysia, Palm Oil, palm oil trade M'sian companies' reputation at stake over failure to manage human rights
The report, 'Human Rights Disclosure in Asean', was put together by the Asean CSR Network, the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Mahidol University and Article 30, focusing on published commitments made by companies. Overall, they conclude South-east Asian companies have been ‘marginally responsive’ to the global business and human rights push, creating a situation where they are becoming ‘under or unprepared and non-compliant without realising it.’Malaysia Kini, 26 September 2019
Malaysia, Palm Oil, human rights Palm oil exclusion from biofuel would result in contradictory outcome
Khazanah Research Institute’s (KRI) report titled Palm Oil: Malaysia-EU trade issue stated that the move could still result in a contradictory outcome as the crop’s price would drop and in turn attract bulk buying from countries outside of the EU, such as China and India that are among the top importers of palm oil by volume.The Malaysian Reserve, 26 September 2019
Malaysia, Palm Oil, eu palm oil ban Ghana to launch strategic options to address deforestation
The Principal Project Manager of Proforest a non-profit organisation for the sustainable use of natural resources, said the government is set to launch the Ghana National REDD+ Strategy to address issues inherent in deforestation and commodity production.GNA , 26 September 2019
Ghana, , REED+ Reward companies doing more R&D on palm oil, urges Jomo
Former Council of Eminent Persons member Jomo Kwame Sundaram has called for greater and more focussed efforts on research and development (R&D) in the oil palm industry, adding that companies involved in it should also receive tax incentives.Free Malaysia Today, 25 September 2019
Indonesia, Palm Oil, sustainable palm oil Amazon fires and Brazilian beef: how Hong Kong's massive appetite for the meat is driving rainforest's doom
Hong Kong is the world's biggest importer of Brazilian beef, an apetite that is playing a significant role in deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. The city's residents are among the biggest meat eaters in the world, each consuming the equivalent of two 10-ounce pieces of steak a day.South China Morning Post, 25 September 2019
Brazil, Beef, forest fire Indonesia has not imposed tough enough penalties for plantation fires: Greenpeace
Indonesia has not imposed serious enough penalties on pulpwood and palm oil firms that had large fires on their land from 2015 to 2018 and more fires on some of those farms also polluted the region’s air quality this year, Greenpeace said on Tuesday.EnviroLink, 25 September 2019
Indonesia, Palm Oil, forest fire RSPO investigating Genting subsidiary over plantation hotspots
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is probing a Genting subsidiary over hotspots at its oil palm plantation in Central Kalimantan.Malaysia Kini, 25 September 2019
Malaysia, Palm Oil, forest fire Indonesia has not imposed tough enough penalties for plantation fires – Greenpeace
Indonesia has not imposed serious enough penalties on pulpwood and palm oil firms that had large fires on their land from 2015 to 2018, and more fires on some of those farms also polluted the region’s air quality this year, Greenpeace said yesterday.Reuters, 25 September 2019
Indonesia, Palm Oil, forest fire Greenpeace claims Malaysia’s Genting among palm oil groups with most burnt land in Indonesia but firm disputes findings
Malaysian conglomerate Genting Group is among the top 10 groups listed as having the largest areas of burnt land in Indonesia between 2015 and 2018, the republic’s chapter of environmental group Greenpeace has claimed.Yahoo News , 25 September 2019
Malaysia, Palm Oil, forest fire Israeli supermarket accused of selling Argentine beef raised in cleared forest
Greenpeace: Company that supplies meat to Shufersal cut down 300,000 acres of Gran Chaco forest; entire supply chain owned by Argentinian Jewish businessman Eduardo Elsztain.Times of Israel, 25 September 2019
Argentina, Beef, forest fire Malaysian minister Yeo Bee Yin ignores calls to resign for conflict of interest over haze
Ms Yeo Bee Yin has brushed aside calls for her resignation over a supposed conflict of interest in handling the transboundary haze issue. Responding to media questions about an oil palm plantation in Indonesia linked to her husband's company, IOI Corporation, which is said to be among companies causing the regional haze, the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister said the matter should be handled by the Indonesian government.Straits Times, 25 September 2019
Indonesia, Malaysia, Palm Oil, forest fire The Government Still Ignores the Independent Smallholders
General Secretary of Serikat Petani Kelapa Sawit (SPKS) Indonesia, Mansetus Darto said that in a whole, the government does not pay attention the independent smallholders. President Joko Widodo may publish the policies but do not positively impact to them. Many kinds of regulations do not positively influence them, such as, the President Instruction No. 8 / 2018 about the Evaluation of Palm oil Plantation License and Its Enchancement.Palm Oil Magazine, 25 September 2019
Indonesia, Palm Oil, palm oil smallholder 'They are only interested in soy'
Peasant and indigenous women in Paraguay are organising to survive the twin threats of industrial agriculture and climate change.The Ecologist, 25 September 2019
Paraguay, Soy, indigenous people Yeo shrugs off calls for her resignation
Responding to media questions about an oil palm plantation in Indonesia linked to her husband’s company IOI Corporation, and said to be among companies causing the regional haze, the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister said the matter should be handled by the Indonesian government.The Star Online, 25 September 2019
Indonesia, Palm Oil, forest fire Ghana to launch REDD+ options to address deforestation and degradation
Takoradi said as part of efforts to reduce expansion of agroforestry, tree crops, biofuels and agro-industries, improved the quality of multi-stakeholder dialogue and decision makin, and to mitigate effeccts of agricultural expansion, particularly cocoa, oil palm, rubber and timber the launch of REDD+ strategy programme would address that.Ghana News Agency, 25 September 2019
Ghana, Timber, deforestation Palm oil and pulp companies with most burned land go unpunished as Indonesian forest fires rage
Despite the ongoing Indonesian forest fire crisis, no serious civil or administrative sanctions have been given to the ten palm oil companies with the largest areas of burned land from 2015 to 2018, new Greenpeace Indonesia mapping analysis revealed. Furthermore, the Indonesian government has not revoked a single palm oil licence due to forest fires.Greenpeace, 24 September 2019
Indonesia, Palm Oil, forest fire Brazil’s Cerrado region faces deforestation endangering thousands of species
By 2030, it is projected that Cerrado will lose tens of millions of additional acres of its native vegetation. As that land disappears, the species that call it home are put in peril.MIC, 24 September 2019
Brazil, Soy, deforestation Malaysia-Indonesia officials to meet over oil palm, forest fire
Local palm oil companies with operations in Indonesia have been accused of contributing to the haze problem by allowing open burning on their landThe Malaysian Reserve, 24 September 2019
Indonesia, Malaysia, Palm Oil, forest fire