Region Archives: International

Froggy Foibles

April Fools’ Day is celebrated with pranks and hoaxes worldwide

By Hallie Golden
Associated Press
April 1, 2025
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

The April Fool

From France to Iceland to the United States, April Fools’ Day will be celebrated on Tuesday with practical jokes and elaborate hoaxes, so make sure to triple check viral posts and don’t leave your back open to any stray sticky notes. The jokesters’ custom has been around for hundreds of years, although its exact birth is difficult to pinpoint. These days, depending on your location, it could be marked with a fish secretly pinned to someone’s back or a whoopee cushion or even news reports of flying penguins (yes, that actually happened). In the U.S., the pranks are typically followed by screams of “April Fools!” to make sure all are aware that they were the unsuspecting recipient of a practical joke. Here are some thing to know about April Fools’ Day and its history…

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Meet the tree that likes being struck by lightning

By Cheryl Santa Maria
The Weather Network
March 27, 2025
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

The intense electrical charge delivered by a lightning strike can obliterate most foliage, especially in tropical regions where research suggests more than 800 million trees are destroyed each year due to lightning strikes. But …in some cases, lightning might benefit certain trees and provide a competitive advantage. Researchers, led by Evan Gora, a forest ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies …examined 93 trees that had been struck by lightning in central Panama. …According to the study, each lightning strike to a Dipteryx oleifera tree killed approximately 9.2 neighbouring trees due to the electricity traveling between branches or vines. This creates more space and resources for the Dipteryx oleifera. The trees also benefit from strikes because it helps remove parasitic vines called lianas, which can reduce light and nutrient availability. …In the long term, the lightning-strike tolerance of these trees could play a key role in forest planning and restoration efforts.

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Business & Politics

US tariffs draw dismay and calls for talks from countries around the globe

By Elaine Kurtenbach and David McHugh
The Associated Press
April 3, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States, International

Sweeping new tariffs announced by Donald Trump provoked dismay, threats of countermeasures and urgent calls for talks to find ways to rescind the stiff new import taxes imposed on goods from countries around the globe. …Trump maintains they will draw factories and jobs back to the United States. …European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was a “major blow to the world economy.” …British Prime Minister Kier Starmer said he hopes to get the tariffs lifted with a trade deal. …Financial markets were jolted. …China’s Commerce Ministry said Beijing would “resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests,” without saying exactly what it might do. …Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would wait to see how Trump’s announcement will affect Mexico, which like Canada was spared for goods already qualified under their free trade agreement with the United States, though previously announced 25% tariffs on auto imports took effect Thursday.

Related coverage in:

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White House considering roughly 20% tariff on most imports, report says

By Jesse Pound
CNBC News
April 1, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States, International

White House aides have drafted a proposal that would levy tariffs of roughly 20% on most imports, the Washington Post reported. The report cited three people familiar with the matter. It also said White House advisers cautioned that several options are still on the table, meaning the 20% tariffs may not come to pass. Another plan being considered is the country-by-country “reciprocal” approach, according to the Washington Post. The report comes a day before April 2, when President Donald Trump is set to announce his larger plans for global trade. The date has loomed over Wall Street, where stocks have been struggling in part due to uncertainty around rapidly changing global trade policy. Unlike the tariffs already announced by the Trump administration, the new plan is expected to be more widespread and permanent as opposed to targeting specific countries or industries. 

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Stock markets tumble again as China announces 84% tariffs on the US

By the Associated Press and Reuters
April 9, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

Asian and European shares slid on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipping more than 5%, as the latest set of US tariffs including a massive 104% levy on Chinese imports took effect. China announced countermeasures, saying it will raise its retaliatory tariff on the US to 84%, up from 34%, effective April 10. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 3.9% lower. …China has again vowed to “fight to the end,” raising tariffs on American goods to 84% to match Trump’s addition of a 50% tariff, while adding an array of additional countermeasures Wednesday. The 84% tariff will go into effect Thursday, and comes as a 104% tax on the country’s exports to the US came into effect. “If the US insists on further escalating its economic and trade restrictions, China has the firm will and abundant means to take necessary countermeasures and fight to the end” the Ministry of Commerce wrote. …Futures point to more losses for US stock markets.

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Trump’s tariffs prompt China to retaliate with 34% levy on US imports

CBS News
April 4, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

BEIJING — China announced that it will impose a 34% tariff on imports of all U.S. products beginning April 10. The new tariff matches the rate of the US tariff announced by President Trump this week. The White House used a formula to calculate the sum of all the trade practices it deems unfair from other nations. Economists have questioned the methodology, and many foreign governments have complained the levies misrepresent their trade imbalances. …The Chinese government said it would add 27 U.S. companies to lists of firms subject to trade sanctions or export controls. According to China’s tightly controlled media, the expanded export controls would cover seven types of rare earth related items, including samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium.

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US tariffs may tighten Vietnam’s wood pellet supply

By Nadhir Mokhtar
Argus Media
April 9, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

Tariffs imposed on Vietnamese wood furniture exports to the US could pressure furniture production and tighten supply of byproducts, which are used to produce wood pellets in Vietnam. US president Donald Trump announced tariffs on nearly all US trading partners on 2 April, which took effect on 5 April… This means a sharp 46pc tariff has taken effect on Vietnamese exports, including wood products from the southeast Asian country. This could weaken US demand for Vietnamese wooden products, which could result in an overall cut in furniture production. Vietnam exported 53,000t of wooden furniture to the US in 2024, from 37,000t a year earlier, mirrored US customs data on furniture exports show. This accounted for nearly 12pc of Vietnam’s overall wooden furniture exports last year. A drop in Vietnamese furniture exports and manufacturing would result in less process residues — such as sawdust and wood chips — made available for pellet producers. 

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New Tariffs, But Not On Timber And Lumber

By New Zealand Wood Products Manufacturers Association
Scoop Independent News
April 3, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

NEW ZEALAND — The temporary exemption of tariffs on timber and lumber imported into the US provides some relief to New Zealand exporters. Though this exemption could be short lived based on the outcome of the Section 232 investigation aimed at determining the effects imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products have on the US supply chain. Exports of radiata pine products from New Zealand to the US were estimated at $358 million, making the US our third largest export market behind China and Australia. …The exemption comes about through internal US lobbying, by the likes of the American Building Materials Alliance and National Association of Home Builders.  …The administration has recognised that raising costs on timber and lumber would hurt housing affordability and weaken an important supply chain. …We thank our kindred Associations in the US for making this happen. We now wait for completion of the s. 232 investigation.

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No solution in the labour dispute at Finland’s UPM Plywood

UPM Plywood
March 30, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

FINLAND — UPM Plywood and the Industrial Union have failed to reach an agreement on a new employer-specific collective agreement. The union rejected the mediator’s settlement proposal, and the five-week strike at UPM Plywood mills in Finland continues. The proposal made by conciliator Jukka Ahtela on Friday was in line with the general pay increase level agreed by the Industrial Union for the export industry in Finland. The agreement would have allowed UPM Plywood employees to receive a total pay increase of 7.8% over 3 years. UPM Plywood accepted the proposal.m …The strikes have halted production at UPM Plywood mills in Finland. UPM Plywood mills in Finland employ 1,000 people covered by the collective agreement with the Industrial Union. Production at UPM Plywood’s Otepää mill in Estonia continues as normal.

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Metsä Board appoints Esa Kaikkonen as CEO, replacing Mika Joukio

Metsä Group
March 31, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

FINLAND — Metsä Board Corporation confirms that its CEO Mika Joukio will step down from his position on 7 April 2025, with Esa Kaikkonen appointed as his successor by the company’s Board of Directors. Joukio will continue supporting the transition until October 2025. This announcement follows an agreement between Joukio and the Board finalized Monday, according to Metsä Board Corporation. Joukio’s career spans 35 years, beginning at the Tako board mill and culminating in his appointment as CEO in 2014.  …Kaikkonen, currently EVP, Strategy at Metsä Group, has held senior roles across the organization since 1998. His previous positions include CEO of Metsä Tissue (2018–2025), EVP of Metsä Wood (2013–2018), and Group General Counsel (2003–2013).

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Finance & Economics

Swedish forest industry calls US tariffs regrettable as pulp and paper exports face 10% duty

Lesprom Network
April 8, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States, International

The Swedish Forest Industries Federation expresses concern over newly imposed US tariffs on pulp, paper, and board imports from the EU, which took effect on April 5 at 10% and are scheduled to double to 20% by April 2025. The federation emphasizes that free trade is critical to the Swedish forest industry, which is heavily export-oriented, with 5–10% of its exports directed to the United States. Europe remains its largest market, accounting for around 60%. …The federation’s CEO, Viveka Beckeman, highlights that the sector depends on international demand. While timber has been excluded from the latest round of tariffs, it remains under review in an ongoing US investigation that may lead to import duties as early as November 2025. The industry, which employs approximately 140,000 people in Sweden either directly or indirectly, represents 9–12% of the country’s industrial employment, export, turnover, and added value. 

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US emerges as biggest loser in markets from Trump’s tariffs

By Richard Henderson and Sagarika Jaisinghani
BNN Bloomberg
April 3, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States, International

US President Trump’s shake-up of the global trading system is hurting US assets more than those in many of the big economies he has just slapped with additional tariffs. US equity index futures tumbled more than 4% after Trump announced a sweeping series of tariffs, and a gauge of the US dollar slumped. But the impact elsewhere was less extreme. The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 1.9%, while the euro was up 2.2% against the US dollar, hitting its highest level since October. A broad gauge of Asian stocks fell as much as 1.7%. The widespread selloff in global markets makes clear that investors don’t expect any winners from the latest — and by the far the largest — salvo in a growing trade war. But they also suggest the US itself might be one of the biggest victims of Trump’s protectionist policies. …Overall, the US dollar headed for its worst day in over two years.

Related in NPR: Dow drops 1,500 points on trade war fears over new tariffs

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Wall Street joins global sell-off as Trump tariffs fuel recession fears

By Graeme Wearden
The Guardian
March 31, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States, International

Donald Trump’s trade war is alarming the global markets, sending shares sliding in their worst month in over two years. Stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region are in retreat this morning, as investors fear Trump will announce swingeing new tariffs on Wednesday, which has been dubbed “Liberation Day” by the US president. Japan’s Nikkei has lost 3.9%, down 1,457 points at 35,662 points today, while South Korea’s KOSPI is down 3%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 has fallen 1.7%. In China, which has already been hit by Trump tariffs this year. the CSI 300 is 0.9% lower. …Today’s selloff comes after Donald Trump told reporters that the reciprocal tariffs he is set to announce this week will include all nations. …On Friday, core inflation rose by more than expected, while consumer sentiment weakened to its lowest level since 2022. 

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Brussels eyes 25% tariffs in response to Trump

By Camille Gijs and Giovanna Coi
Politico EU
April 8, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: International

The European Commission is considering slapping tariffs of up to 25% on a broad range of exports from the US in response to tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum by US President Donald Trump, according to an internal Commission document. The EU executive wants to impose a 25% duty on a wide range of U.S. exports, including soybeans, sweet corn, rice, almonds, orange juice, cranberries, tobacco, iron, steel, aluminum, certain boats and vehicles, textiles and certain clothes, and various types of makeup. The total amount of US exports hit by the tariffs is €22.1 billion based on the EU’s 2024 imports, according to public Eurostat figures, falling short of the Commission’s estimates of hitting €26 billion to “mirror” the damage from Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. …EU capitals will vote on the countermeasures on Wednesday. If they go through, most of the tariffs are expected to take effect May 16.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

International Softwood Conference 2025 to be hosted in Norway

The Timber Trades Journal
April 8, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

This year’s International Softwood Conference (ISC) will take place on October 22-24 in Oslo, Norway. The popular event, which provides valuable information on international softwood markets, will be hosted by the Norwegian Wood Industry Federation (Treindustrien), in collaboration with the European Timber Trade Federation (ETTF) and the European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry (EOS). The conference itself will be on October 23 at the Clarion Hotel Oslo, in the heart of the city centre. …The conference provides an opportunity to thoroughly examine trends in the timber market, focusing on facts and figures for softwood production and consumption in the most relevant countries worldwide – not just in Europe. Before the conference, on October 22, there will be five different study tours, including the production line at Bergene Holm Haslestad… and the wood paint factory at G3 Gausdal Treindustrier.

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French school demonstrates multiple benefits of wood-concrete panels

By John Bleasby
The Daily Commercial News
April 9, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

An educational complex in France has become a showcase for an increasingly popular prefabricated building technique. Work began in May 2024 on the €80 million (CDN$125 million) 14,500 m2 school facility in the City of Sartrouville, northwest of Paris. Final project delivery is scheduled for November 2026. …From the outset, the objective was to create a facility with a reduced carbon footprint in order to achieve what in France is called Level 3 “Bâtiment biosourcé” (Biosourced Building). This requires certain minimum percentages of bio-based material per square metre of floor area. The designers took a unique approach to material selection, opting for 7,000 m² of load-bearing exterior wall panels made of wood-concrete, representing 75 per cent of the flat exterior surfaces. Wood-concrete is made from a mixture of water and wood aggregates, sourced mainly from PEFC-certified French forest operators, which is then combined with cement.

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French company unveils new wooden PV carports, charging stations

By Francois Puthod
Photovoltaics PV Magazine
April 7, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

France-based EV charging station provider Rossini Energy has started selling PV carports and EV charging stations made with wood. “We started by manufacturing 22 kW charging stations with Douglas fir wood, sourced from French forests, rot-proof and renowned for its durability. We then combined our offering with photovoltaic car park canopies, which we now integrate almost automatically,” CEO Luca Rossini told pv magazine France.”They are two inseparable sides of the same coin. They go together perfectly.” Simon Chouvellon, Rossini Energy business manager, claimed that by choosing wood rather than steel for a 10-person shade structure, the company avoids 10 tons of CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to the carbon emissions of an average French individual for more than a year.

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Under the canopy: Jakob+Macfarlane reframes Avignon library with undulating shelving

Designboom
March 29, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

AVIGNON, FRANCE — In Avignon, Jakob+MacFarlane has transformed a dated library into a civic icon for the future, all without erasing its past. The newly reopened Madeleine Renaud and Jean-Louis Barrault Library, now dubbed The Canopy, is both a renovation and a reinvention, complete with a rooftop metaphor and a structural nod toward the digital age. Originally designed in 1985 by architects Jacques Prunis and Béatrice Douine, the library sat squarely in the French city’s Saint-Chamand district. Jakob+MacFarlane’s intervention … recasts the building as a symbol of community rebirth. …the design concept by Jakob+MacFarlane centers on the powerful metaphor of a tree.  …the structure offers shelter, light, energy, and growth. The soaring central staircase — its flanks lined with bookshelves — evokes a trunk rising skyward, while the expansive new roof functions as a literal canopy. Constructed from cross-laminated timber and embedded with solar panels, it provides both shade and sustainable energy.

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Nelson timber plant provides green materials for new Parliament buildings

The New Zealand Press
March 28, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

NEW ZEALAND — Green construction materials from the top of the South Island will be used in new multi-storey buildings being constructed at Parliament. Nelson Pine Industries will be providing more than 700 cubic meters of Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) timber, which will form part of the mass timber frame for the Museum St building, instead of using steel or concrete. Company chief executive Kai Kruse said the LVL timber, which was made using only logs from the top of the South Island, had a high level of seismic resilience. “As well as being lighter and stronger than traditional steel or concrete structures, using a mass timber frame was the more environmentally conscious choice,” he said. The framing will arrive in Wellington from April in partly-assembled sections and will be installed three storeys a time.

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Wood waste converted to liquid smoke as a biofertilizer for arabica coffee seeds

AIP Conference Proceedings
March 27, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Indonesia is one of the active exporters of logs and sawn wood, so the waste generated is very large. One of the applicable technologies developed for the utilization of wood saw waste is to process it into liquid smoke through the pyrolysis process. The application of liquid smoke to plants can affect plant’s growth and production processes due to the presence of acetic acid and methanol. The purpose of this research was to find out about the properties of Surian sawn waste liquid smoke and how it could be used as a biofertilizer an Arabica coffee seeds. …The effectiveness of liquid smoke from sawn wood waste for the increase in height, stem diameter, and the highest number of leaves of coffee seeds was obtained at a concentration of 2.5%.

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Got wood? Vantage Towers and its mission to deploy sustainable telco towers

By Paul Lipscombe
Data Center Dynamics
March 27, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

“We want our towers to be pleasant to look at, and wood can help us to do that,” says Jean-Claude Geha, chief technology officer at Vantage Towers. Today the company has 84,600 towers to its name, with most of these structures made from traditional materials such as steel. However, Vantage has sought to break from the norm and try a different approach with some of its newer tower structures. This is where wood comes in. Although a very small number – 12, to be precise – of Vantage’s tower portfolio are made from timber. …Founded in 2020 by Vodafone, Vantage Towers operates across 10 European countries. …At present, Vantage has deployed its wooden structures in Hungary and Germany, where, in October 2023, the company announced it was building North Rhine-Westphalia’s first sustainable wooden-structured telecommunication mast in the town of Neunkirchen, Siegerland. The 40-meter high Ecopol tower is set to be erected early this year. 

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Forestry

Logging is quietly ravaging US forests. Trump is taking an axe to protections

By Jennifer Skene, NRDC
The Guardian
March 31, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, International

The world is running out of time to halt deforestation. Yet instead of stepping up, the US is dismantling forest protections and undermining global progress – highlighting the dangers of global forest policy that fails to hold the wealthiest, most powerful countries accountable. …But the latest actions by the US highlight just how dangerous and unbalanced this paradigm is. …Under the pretense of national security, Trump’s orders aim to gut environmental safeguards and fast-track industrial clearcutting in some of the US’s most precious and climate-critical forests. …Meanwhile, as Europe strengthens forest accountability, US state officials are pushing to exempt the country from new deforestation protections.. These officials, echoing industry talking points, are urging the EU to exclude US wood products from a law requiring due diligence to prevent imports or exports tied to deforestation or forest degradation. Their argument? That the US doesn’t need oversight.

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Conservation group cleared to take legal action against NSW Forestry Corp

By Patrick Bell
ABC News, Australia
April 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The High Court has cleared the way for a conservation group to proceed with a civil case against the Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) over its biodiversity assessment of of areas of native forest logging in NSW. The South East Forest Rescue group (SEFR) alleged the corporation did not conduct a broad area habitat search for features of habitat for three species of glider, two of which are regarded as vulnerable, and another as endangered. …The corporation’s sole ground of appeal was an argument that private people or entities could not launch a case to enforce the duties of a forestry approval. But the High Court has ruled that, for such persons to be prevented from launching a case, there needs to be “a clear and unmistakable” intention to do so in the legislation, which does not exist.

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Brazil is speeding-up forest fire prevention to avoid dangerous tipping points in the Amazon

By Robert Muggah and Ilona Szabo
Mongabay
April 6, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Brazil is facing an alarming surge in forest fires. Last year, the country registered 237,000 fires and over 30.8 million hectares of vegetation were consumed by flames—an area the size of Italy. This represented a 79% increase in areas burned compared to 2023. The Amazon rainforest bore the brunt, accounting for 58% of the total burned area. The threat of more fires during the 2025 fire season prompted the Brazilian government to declare a nationwide environmental emergency. Early this year, the Supreme Court ordered the federal government and all Amazon and Pantanal states to draw-up emergency fire management plans. …Brazilian authorities have taken steps to slow the spread of forest fires, albeit with mixed results. On the one hand, the government has reinforced zero deforestation policies through initiatives such as supporting firefighters and financing fire-fighting equipment via the Amazon Fund and Operation “Guardiões do Bioma“, which focus on combating illegal deforestation and environmental crimes.

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FSC is extending the suspension of the Asia Pulp and Paper MoU

Forest Stewardship Council
April 4, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

FSC is extending the suspension of the Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of the FSC Remedy Framework until the end of June 2025. The extension of the suspension is due to a conflict of interest identified between Domtar and the law firm FSC identified for conducting the legal review of APP and Domtar’s corporate groups. FSC is identifying a different independent, third-party law firm to conduct this legal review. In January 2025, FSC suspended APP’s remedy MoU until the end of March 2025 because of the changes APP and Domtar announced regarding the concentration of sole beneficial ownership of the two corporate groups. FSC is commissioning a legal review of the corporate groups of Domtar and APP to better understand the implications and the effect of this change, and any impacts on the scope of the APP remedy process and the MoU. FSC disassociated from APP’s entire corporate group in 2007. 

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AI-powered drones track down fires in German forests

By Stebastien Ash
Phys.org
March 30, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

GERMANY — Inside a green orb planted in the German countryside is a high-tech aid to prevent wildfires. The installation, resembling a giant golf ball covered in solar panels, is the hangar for an AI-powered drone that its developer hopes one day will be able to sniff out and extinguish new blazes in minutes. “Fires are spreading much faster and more aggressively than in the past,” Carsten Brinkschulte, the CEO of the German firm Dryad, said at a demonstration of the technology. …Dryad is in the running with 29 other teams from around the globe for a multi-million-dollar prize to develop the ability to autonomously put out fires within 10 minutes. During Dryad’s demonstration on Thursday—the first for a computer-steered wildfire detection drone according to the company—chemicals in smoke from burning wood were picked up by sensors distributed in the forest.

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First 1,000 fungi on International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List reveal growing threats

International Union for Conservation
March 27, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Gland, Switzerland – The number of fungi species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has surpassed 1,000, confirming that deforestation, agricultural expansion and urban development are driving these species to decline worldwide. The IUCN Red List now includes 169,420 species, of which 47,187 are threatened with extinction. The addition of 482 newly assessed fungi species brings their number on the IUCN Red List to 1,300, of which at least 411 are at risk of extinction. “Fungi are the unsung heroes of life on Earth – yet they have long been overlooked. …we have taken a vital step forward: over 1,000 of the world’s 155,000 known fungal species have now been assessed for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the most comprehensive source of information on extinction risk. Now, it’s time to turn this knowledge into action and safeguard the extraordinary fungal kingdom,” said Dr Grethel Aguilar, IUCN Director General.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

US exits carbon talks on shipping, urges others to follow

By Jonathan Saul, Michelle Nichols and Kate Abnett
Reuters
April 9, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, International

LONDON – The United States has withdrawn from talks in London looking at advancing decarbonisation in the shipping sector and Washington will consider “reciprocal measures” to offset any fees charged to U.S. ships, a diplomatic note said. Delegates are at the UN shipping agency’s headquarters this week for negotiations over decarbonisation measures, aimed at enabling the global shipping industry to reach net zero by “around 2050″. …”The U.S. rejects any and all efforts to impose economic measures against its ships based on GHG emissions or fuel choice,” according to a diplomatic demarche sent to ambassadors by the United States. …”Should such a blatantly unfair measure go forward, our government will consider reciprocal measures so as to offset any fees charged to U.S. ships and compensate the American people for any other economic harm from any adopted GHG emissions measures,” the note from Washington said.

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Is Bolivia’s $1.2 Billion Deal to Protect Its Forests a Climate Boon—or a False Solution?

By Nicholas Kusnetz
Inside Climate News
April 8, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Sometime next month, the Bolivian government and a company you probably haven’t heard of are poised to offer what could be the largest single sale of carbon credits in history. The deal will be unusual not only for its size—$1.2 billion, organizers said—but also because it will be backed by a national government and packaged under new rules developed as part of the Paris Agreement. Depending on who you ask, the sale could mark a new frontier in global climate finance, the latest offering in a long and dubious line of carbon credits or, potentially, a giant escalation in corporate greenwashing… “I don’t think a lot of people even in the climate world quite appreciate how much volume and activity may be emerging quickly from this new area,” said Danny Cullenward, an economist and lawyer focused on the scientific integrity of climate policy.

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Corgan offers a tool to measure mass timber’s real production carbon footprint

By John Caulfield
Building Design and Construction Network
April 7, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Global demand for wood as a building material is expected to quadruple by 2050. Demand is being driven in part by the rising popularity of mass timber for its aesthetics and eco friendliness. One of the perceived advantages of choosing mass timber panels and components for construction and renovation is their lower production-related greenhouse gas emissions vis-a-vis conventional wood products and other building materials like steel or concrete. But the notion that producing mass timber is carbon neutral—one of its key selling points for developers and AEC firms looking to reduce a project’s carbon footprint—has come under greater scrutiny, and has led one firm, Corgan, to develop a tool that calculates CO2 from mass timber, including the harvesting and transporting processes that, according to a recent paper published by Nature, could add between 3.5 billion and 4.2 billion metric tons of GHG emissions annually to the atmosphere by 2050, the equivalent of roughly 10% of recent CO2 emissions.

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Renewable carbon needs smarter policy to boost European Union’s circular future

By Anna Gumbau
Eurativ.com
April 2, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

As the EU pushes to meet its climate neutrality targets by 2050, the concept of ‘renewable carbon’ is rising fast in both policy and industry circles. Unlike fossil carbon, which is extracted from underground and released into the atmosphere during production and consumption, renewable carbon comes from above-ground sources, biomass, recycled materials, and captured CO2. In short, it’s carbon that is already part of the ongoing carbon cycle. “Renewable carbon is not just about replacing fossil-based materials: it’s about rethinking how we design, use, and reuse resources across industries,” said Michael Carus, managing director of the Germany-based Nova Institute during a recent event hosted by EURACTIV and Metsä Group. This kind of thinking is gaining traction among companies looking to green their supply chains. Wood-based products, for instance, have a unique potential to store carbon for long periods when used in construction or durable goods, making them a crucial component of a low-carbon, circular economy.

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The Crucial Role of Forests

By Charlie King
Sustainability Magazine
April 1, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Forests play a crucial role in sustaining life on Earth, covering 31% of the planet’s land and supporting 80% of terrestrial biodiversity. They provide essential raw materials for everyday products and protect soil, water and climate systems. However, these vital ecosystems face severe threats from the global climate and biodiversity crises. Sustainable forest stewardship offers a beacon of hope in addressing these challenges. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is leading the charge in sustainable forestry, offering a credible solution trusted by NGOs, consumers and businesses worldwide. With more than 150 million hectares of certified forests, FSC is at the forefront of promoting healthy and resilient forests for all. The nonprofit organization provides a framework for responsible forest management, balancing environmental, social and economic perspectives. FSC’s standards and certification process help forest managers, smallholders and governments ensure thriving forest ecosystems while safeguarding the livelihoods of forest communities.

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Butterfly populations are declining. Meet the people moving a forest to save them

CBC Radio
March 28, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

A new study is bringing hard data to understand how butterfly numbers have declined steeply in recent years, due to the combination of habitat loss, climate change, and pesticide exposure. A group of scientists is hoping to fix at least one of these problems for one species, by moving an entire forest in Mexico. The sacred fir trees, where monarch butterflies spend their winters, are struggling under climate change. Recently a team of researchers planted a thousand sacred fir trees at a new location at higher elevations to kickstart a new, future-proof forest for the butterflies to overwinter. Quirks producer Amanda Buckiewicz spoke to Cuauhtémoc Saénz Romero, a forest geneticist at the University of Michoacán in Mexico, and Greg O’Neill, a climate change adaptation scientist with the BC Provincial Government in the Ministry of Forests.

[This is an episode segment of Quirks and Quarks, on CBC Listen]

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Losing forest carbon stocks could put climate goals out of reach

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
March 27, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

In the past, intact forests absorbed 7.8 billion tonnes of CO₂ annually – about a fifth of all human emissions – but their carbon storage is increasingly at risk from climate change and human activities such as deforestation. A new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows that failing to account for the potentially decreasing ability of forests to absorb CO₂ could make reaching the Paris agreement targets significantly harder, if not impossible, and much more costly. “Right now, our climate strategies bet on forests not only remaining intact, but even expanding,” explains Michael Windisch, the study’s lead author and PIK guest scientist. “However, with escalating wildfires like in California, and continued deforestation in the Amazon, that’s a gamble. Climate change itself puts forests’ immense carbon stores at risk.” … “We must act immediately to safeguard the carbon stored in forests,” Windisch emphasises. 

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Netherlands’ largest forest biomass plant canceled, forest advocates elated

By Justin Catanoso
Mongabay
March 27, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Dutch forest campaigners are claiming a significant victory over one of the Netherlands’ top energy providers, Vattenfall, after the company decided in late February to cancel plans to build the nation’s largest wood pellet burning plant for energy. “This is enormous,” said Fenna Swart, leader of the Clean Air Committee, a Dutch forest advocacy group that has aggressively opposed Vattenfall’s plans since 2019 in the court of law and public opinion. “This is a great victory for our forests and biodiversity. After six years, [we] have succeeded in stopping this mega biomass power plant by the multinational Vattenfall.” The Sweden-based company, the Netherlands’ third-largest energy producer, first sought a permit in 2018 to build the 120-megawatt power plant using only forest biomass to generate energy. The facility, to be built just outside Amsterdam, would have powered up to 24,000 homes in exchange for 395 million euros ($424.8 million) in subsidies pledged by the Dutch government.

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Forest Fires

Crews ‘on their knees’ as fire rages for third day

By Charlie Buckland
BBC News
April 8, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International

Firefighters have spent a third day battling a mountain blaze that has spread across an area the size of 4,000 football pitches. The cause of the wildfire in Cwm Rheidol, Ceredigion, remains unknown but the fire service in Aberystwyth said it was dealing with a high volume of calls. Emyr Jones, station commander at Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said crews had been called to three different fire fronts on Tuesday afternoon, with a helicopter and drones being used to tackle the flames. Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Rhodri Davies, councillor for Rheidol Valley, said the fire crew were “on their knees” and it was “very scary”. …Mr Jones said the situation with the mountain fires above Strata Florida near Tregaron was changing all the time and was challenging for crews due to the environment, travel and water supply.

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Firefighters tackle wildfire spreading over large forest area in Scotland

By Nadeem Badshah
The Guardian
April 5, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International

Firefighters are dealing with a wild blaze that has spread over a large area of forest in Scotland with police urging people to stay away from the area. Emergency services were called to Glentrool in Galloway, southern Scotland, at about 11.50pm on Friday with fire crews still on the scene on Saturday afternoon. …Helicopters are being used in efforts to extinguish the flames which have also affected Merrick Hill, Ben Yellary and Loch Dee, police said. One appliance from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is at the scene. Another wildfire had been reported in around the same area on Thursday and covered about 1.5 miles (2.4km). …This year has seen 286 wildfires hit the UK, according to the NFCC, more than 100 above the number recorded in the same period in 2022, a year that had record-breaking temperatures and unprecedented wildfire activity.

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Ecosystem could take century to recover from devastation of wildfires

By Lee Si-jin
The Korea Herald
March 31, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International

The deadly wildfires in southeastern South Korea have been brought under control, but it could take 100 years for the ecosystem in the area affected by the wildfires to recover, according to forestry researchers. Multiple reports on large wildfires — including a March 2025 report by the National Institute of Forest Science — emphasize that it requires over 30 years for structural recovery and up to 100 years for full ecological stabilization. While the recovery varies by the type of living organisms — ranging from fish, marine invertebrates to insects, trees require decades to regrow and forest animals depend on sufficient habitat recovery. Soil restoration takes longer due to complex ecological processes… Meanwhile, the North Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency conducted its first on-site joint investigation in a wooded area in Goesan-ri, Anpyeong-myeon, Uiseong-gun.

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Wildfires extinguished after 213 hours, at least 30 killed

By Jung Da-hyun
The Korea Times
March 30, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International

Police began investigating a 56-year-old man on suspicion of igniting the wildfires that ravaged southeastern Korea over the past 10 days, leaving 30 dead and burning up vast stretches of land. According to the police on Sunday, the suspect allegedly started the fire around 11:24 a.m. on March 22 while conducting an ancestral rite at a family grave on a hill in Uiseong, North Gyeongsang Province. He has been accused of violating the Forest Protection Act. The flames quickly spread from Uiseong to nearby areas including Andong, Cheongsong, Yeongyang and Yeongdeok in the province. The fire continued to rage for days, making it the most destructive in the country’s history. The suspect denied the allegations against him, according to police.

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Rain and cooler weather help South Korean fire crews battle devastating wildfires

By Hyung-Jin Kim and Kim Tong-Hyung
Associated Press
March 27, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International

SEOUL, South Korea — Rain and cooler temperatures are helping South Korean fire crews as they battle the country’s worst-ever wildfires on Friday, as the governor of the hardest-hit region called for overhauling response strategies to respond to the climate crisis that he says worsened the disaster. The wildfires, which have killed 28 people and razed vast swaths of land in the southeast in the last week, were 85% contained as of Friday morning, Korea Forest Service chief Lim Sang-seop told a televised briefing. He said authorities will launch “all-out efforts” to extinguish the remaining blazes by bringing more helicopters and fire fighters to the areas. The raging inferno has also destroyed thousands of houses, factories, vehicles and other structures, while mountains and hills were stripped of anything but a carpet of smoldering ashes. …The wildfires have burned 47,860 hectares (118,265 acres) of land, forced more than 30,000 people to flee their homes and injured 37 others since last Friday. 

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