Region Archives: International

During the 1930s, Italy’s government launched a sweeping reforestation effort in the Prealps region near Lake Como, planting fast-growing Norway spruce on land that had been pasture and meadow for centuries. It was a conscious decision, made mainly to answer the demand for timber, but it did not involve much ecological thinking. Now, 90 years later, a new study has gone back to measure what that decision actually did to the landscape, and the results are not flattering. According to the study, ‘Long-Term Ecological Impacts of Norway Spruce Plantations on Biodiversity and Microhabitat Conditions’ published in the journal Ecosystems by researchers at the University of Milan and the University of Lausanne, scientists compared century-old spruce plantations to nearby native deciduous forests. The study found that plant diversity in spruce plantations was 50.3% lower than in nearby native forests and 74.5% lower than in the grasslands.

It’s a freezing, foggy morning as the Searoad Mersey II docks at Melbourne Port. We’ve had a tip-off that the truck we’re looking for is on board. …Trees from Tasmania’s public forests are not meant to leave the island. But two years after Victoria banned logging in its own state forests, Four Corners has discovered there are Victorian sawmills now relying heavily on Tasmania for supply. In some cases, Victorian taxpayers are even subsidising the practice. …It’s clear this sawmill, in a state that’s banned native logging in public forests, has shifted its supply. …The state government told Four Corners no logs from public forests like these were leaving the island to be processed interstate. …The environmentalists reckon they’ve spent hundreds of hours at the Devonport ferry terminal, in the state’s north, watching logs leave the island.

JAKARTA — Pulp and paper giant APRIL made recent changes that are concerning to environmental groups. These changes include suspending and reviewing its flagship sustainability policy, lowering its deforestation commitments, and sourcing wood from two companies responsible for some of Indonesia’s largest recent forest losses. The company, part of the Singapore-headquartered Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) group, the world’s largest manufacturer of viscose rayon, said the changes are needed to align its policies with international standards and secure fiber supplies following the loss of several long-term suppliers. Environmental groups, however, said the move weakens a key safeguard that APRIL has long cited as evidence of its no-deforestation commitments. The controversy centers on APRIL’s decision to add Indonesian concessions PT Industrial Forest Plantation (IFP) and PT Mayawana Persada (Mayawana) askey wood suppliers, integral to manufacturing viscose.

Forest owners in the wildfire-hit regions of North Gyeongsang (Gyeongbuk), South Gyeongsang (Gyeongnam), and Ulsan will be able to reduce the financial burden of removing fire-damaged trees. The Korea Forest Service said Tuesday it will pursue a measure to “replace logging permit documents for the removal of fire-damaged trees” in order to help forestry workers in the wildfire-hit areas of Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, and Ulsan return to forest management. …The Korea Forest Service found that because fire-damaged trees are sold at lower prices than normal standing trees in ordinary forests, the cost of the technical services required to prepare the logging quantity survey report was being borne by forest owners. It improved the relevant regulations through a review by the agency’s Active Administration Committee.

OFUNATO, Iwate — An industry organization aimed at promoting the use of fire-damaged timber has been launched in this northeastern Japan city, in response to a forest fire that broke out here in February 2025 burning approximately 3,370 hectares. The organization, named “TEAM Shinrin Saisei Ofunato” … aims to address challenges surrounding the harvesting of damaged trees and expand distribution channels for related wood products. Trees can still be utilized for parts that were not burned or if the damage was limited to the bark, but they must be cut down promptly before moisture loss makes them difficult to use. By strengthening cooperation among the logging, lumber processing, and construction sectors, which are currently divided into separate segments of the wood industry, the organization hopes to make better use of the damaged timber and encourage forest owners to proceed with logging and reforestation.

Proposals to reduce forestry activity and increase protected forest areas have become an important part of the European forestry debate. However, according to a new impact assessment, such measures risk leading to lower production, tens of thousands of lost jobs, and higher societal costs – without delivering any climate benefits. A new national forestry impact analysis shows that a more restrictive Swedish forestry policy would have far-reaching consequences for the economy, employment, and energy supply. The study was conducted by Tomas Thuresson, a forestry PhD and former Head of Silviculture at the Swedish Forest Agency, together with Runar Brännlund, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Centre for Environmental and Resource Economics (CERE) at Umeå University. The report was commissioned by SCA. Jonas Mårtensson, Head of Business Area at SCA Forest, notes that the report highlights both the significant benefits of active forest management and the risks associated with seeking “simple solutions.”

New Zealand — Contorta pine trees were introduced from North America and planted with abandon across Aotearoa for erosion control, timber and shelterbelts, contorta have rapidly adapted to our environment and spread at an alarming rate into farmland and conservation land. They now infest nearly a million hectares of the South Island. As Frank Film discovered, they’ve become our worst weed. …They suck water out of river catchments, change soil biology and quickly swamp tussock grasslands and pastures, creating an acidic monoculture in which little else can survive. There are at least ten species of pine that have become problematic–including Douglas fir, Scots pine and larch, but contorta is the undisputed wilding king. Over a lifetime spent working with trees, retired tree scientist Nick Ledgard has seen this disaster unfold. Contorta, he says, “was thought to be a bit of a wonder tree, but it’s turned out not to be the case”.

NEW ZEALAND — One of the world’s largest certifiers of responsible forests is cracking down on risky work in erosion-prone forests, which could affect smaller plantation growers. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) was working to reduce health and safety risks in forests that were not certified under its programme, but supplied what was known as “controlled” wood into mixed class products. The Germany-based organisation’s strict certification aimed to prevent illegal harvesting, human rights violations, to reject the use of genetically-modified organisms and protect conservation values. …FSC Australia and New Zealand senior policy manager Stefan Jensen said it was proposing significant due diligence changes in New Zealand, especially in steep and erosion-prone areas. He said the current risk assessment included one specified risk that was relatively easy for companies to meet, but more were being proposed.

Now, for the first time, scientists have compiled a global map of the mycorrhizal network, revealing an underground network of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM) threads that stretches an estimated 110 quadrillion kilometers through Earth’s soils. Around 70 percent of all plant species rely on mycorrhizal symbiosis. …evolutionary ecologist Justin Stewart of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam assembled data from 322 studies representing more than 16,000 soil cores across nine different global biomes. …Then, they used machine learning to predict the density of unseen AM networks across the world… The surprise was where these networks were strongest …Rather than clustering in tropical rainforests, the highest densities were found in places like grasslands, prairies, steppes, and wetlands. …A more worrying finding is that fungal network density was, on average, 47 percent lower in cultivated croplands. …”Mycorrhizal fungi have shaped life on earth, but we still understand too little it,” says mycologist Merlin Sheldrake.

From the rainforests of French Guiana to ancient woodlands in eastern France, thousands of hectares of forest are gaining new protections. On 9 June, France said it has created seven new biological reserves and expanded two existing ones. Together, they safeguard an additional 157,000 hectares of forest as it works toward placing 10 per cent of its land under ‘strong protection’ by 2030. “This translates into less pressure on natural environments and stronger protection for species and habitats,” says Monique Barbut, France’s minister for ecological transition, biodiversity and international climate and nature negotiations. However, the vast majority of that land – around 99.5 per cent – lies in a single reserve in French Guiana, France’s overseas territory in South America. The new reserves in metropolitan France collectively cover under 1,000 hectares. …The remaining eight reserves, spread across metropolitan France, range from the mountain forests of Bannes-Ravines in the Vosges to the Mediterranean woodlands of Pas de la Lauze in Hérault.

As demand for cobalt, gold and other minerals grows, mining is accelerating deforestation in the Congo basin – and increasing the risk of deadly Ebola outbreaks. For decades after the discovery of Ebolavirus in 1976, outbreaks of the disease were relatively small and contained, affecting a few hundred people at most. In recent years, outbreaks of Ebola have been much larger, affecting thousands and even tens of thousands of people across multiple countries. The 2014 outbreak of Ebola in west Africa infected more than 28,000 people in 10 countries on three continents. The current eruption, which began in early May and shows no signs of abating… The conventional explanation has to do with the larger and more interconnected human populations that pathogens can access. But there’s a more fundamental driver: the transformation of the underlying ecology of Ebola, which is being remade, in part, by the rising global hunger for minerals to power the hi-tech economy.

TURKEY — The Istanbul Governor’s Office announced that access to forested areas across the city, as well as lighting fires for barbecues, gas stoves, hookahs and similar purposes, will be prohibited between June 8 and Oct. 15. In a statement the governor’s office said the increase in human and vehicle activity in forest areas during the summer months raises the risk of wildfires. To prevent risks that may arise intentionally or through negligence, authorities decided to implement a series of measures. The restrictions also prohibit the burning of stubble, trees, branches and all types of vegetation for purposes such as cleaning vineyards, gardens, olive groves and agricultural fields in villages and neighborhoods, including those located within, adjacent to or otherwise connected to forest areas. There are no restrictions on picnics, sports, walking or similar activities in designated picnic and recreation areas, groves, parks, nature parks and ecotourism sites within Istanbul.