Environment

From 1st to 2nd generation biofuel technologies

April 13, 2009 by timbercommunity

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From 1st to 2nd generation biofuel technologies
an overview of current industry and RD activities.
Content in this report:
Investment cost, processes (like thermo-chemical biomass-to-liquid) , feedstocks and supply chain,
future biofuels and policies
Download pdf-report (124 pages) from International Energy Agency

REDD - Will it Save the Forest?

April 5, 2009 by timbercommunity

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REDD—the United Nations initiative on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation helping preserve rainforests and delivering economic benefits to impoverished rural communities. Read more

Pesticides most important barrier for biodiversity on farmland

February 28, 2010 by timbercommunity

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A Europe wide study, led by Jan Bengtsson at SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) showed that fungicides and insecticides still had major negative effects on wild plant and animal species on arable farms. Since the early nineties the EU has implemented policies to reduce the dramatic negative effects of the use of pesticides on farmland. A Europe wide study showed that insecticides and fungicides still had major negative effects on wild plant and animal species on arable farms. Read more

Appeal: Protect Sweden's Old-Growth Forests

January 31, 2010 by timbercommunity

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The initiator of the Appeal is the organization Protect the Forest and the motives is to Adopt a new area objective for the period 2010-2020, which is in line with leading nature conservation science. They also want to increase the budget allocated to forest protection for the period 2010-2020 to the level needed for long-term conservation of forest biodiversity.

Other motives are:
Favor a greater variety of forest management methods in the 80 percent of the productive forest land, which is still being managed. Read more

Environmental case for forest during Climate Summit in Copenhagen

December 13, 2009 by timbercommunity

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The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen has put forests and the consequences of different forest management practices higher on the global political agenda than ever before, for good reason. Read more

Biochar may represent the single most important initiative for humanity's environmental future

November 7, 2009 by timbercommunity

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Soil contains more carbon than all vegetation and the atmospherere combined. Biochar (charcoal from biomass) is charcoal created by pyrolysis of biomass. Biochar is a fine-grained, highly porous charcoal that helps soils retain nutrients and water. Read more

ToSIA—A tool for sustainability impact assessment of forest-wood-chains

October 24, 2009 by timbercommunity

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A completely new software tool – ToSIA for decision makers in the forestry sector has been developed for assessing sustainability impacts of Forest-Wood-Chains (FWCs).

The tool shows what happens to the sustainable development when the production processes is changing. For example, one can determine the difference in carbon emissions of a wood product begins to be moved by rail instead of truck. Tosi is the result of the EU project EFORWOOD, which Skogforsk coordinates. Read more

UN's forest protection scheme at risk from organised crime, experts warn

October 10, 2009 by timbercommunity

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Interpol, the world's leading policing agency, said this week that the chances were very high that criminal gangs would seek to take advantage of Redd schemes, which will be largely be based in corruption. Fraud could include claiming credits for forests that do not exist or were not protected or by land grabs. Read more

New Carbon Credit-Trading Project focused on forests in the Southern US

October 9, 2009 by timbercommunity

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A group of timber and paper supply companies and environmental organizations has launched a pilot project to allow landowners who selectively log their forests to earn carbon credits they can trade on the open market. The new group, calling itself Carbon Canopy, Read more

Forest-carbon trading in Europe

September 1, 2009 by timbercommunity

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Europe has had a cap-and-trade system since 2005. Its entire traded-carbon market was $120 billion in 2008. The European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is a mandatory compliance programme for large emitters in the 25 European Union Member States, making it the largest corporate emissions trading scheme in the world and it is a major pillar of EU climate policy. Large emitters of carbon dioxide within the EU must monitor and annually report their CO2 emissions. Read more