Region Archives: International

SAO PAULO – Brazil plans to propose a “huge” fund to pay for the conservation of tropical forests at the United Nations COP28 climate change summit that begins later this month in Dubai. That potential financing mechanism, not previously reported, would be the latest in a proliferation of multilateral environmental funds. Countries agreed in the past year to establish a giant fund dedicated to biodiversity and another to pay for the destruction caused by climate change. The funds funnel money from rich countries to poor developing nations that struggle to otherwise pay for their environmental efforts. Brazil is the world’s largest rainforest nation and contains some 60% of the Amazon jungle. It is seen as vital to curbing climate change and protecting unique plant and animal species. …The fund would not value forest conservation in terms of carbon, since protecting forests would primarily prevent further greenhouse gas emissions rather than absorbing additional CO2.

UK research into climate and pest resilient woodlands is set to boosted with the announcement of £16 million government funding for our world-leading forest scientists. …This funding will support vital research into ways to mitigate and prevent these impacts, helping to protect woodlands and plant more trees in the long term. It comes ahead of Environment Secretary Steve Barclay setting out plans… for a new National Forest and the unveiling of two new Community Forests – in Derbyshire and the Tees. …It will also support efforts to increase England’s tree canopy – one of the government’s key environment targets. Projects benefiting from the funding include: Studying the complex networks of soil nutrients and plant roots to see how they help boost woodlands; Work to better understand how tree seeds can fall naturally and plant themselves; Developing our understanding of how drought is impacting tree growth; and Examining the barriers to agroforestry.

With jaunty peaks sticking up from its eyelids that may help it camouflage as a dry leaf, the horned marsupial frog is “a fascinating creature that people can’t wrap their heads around,” says James Muchmore, founder of Save the Chocó, a conservation group dedicated to protecting this threatened region of Ecuadorean rainforest. Instead of laying thousands of eggs in water, like most frogs, female horned marsupial frogs produce only ten or fewer of the largest amphibian eggs in the world, at a whopping diameter of one centimeter. Males then fertilize these eggs and place them into a pouch on the mother’s back, which is what earns the species, and dozens of related frogs, the “marsupial” moniker. …The frog’s rediscovery, says Martin Schaefer, CEO of Jocotoco, proves the importance of protecting remote, vulnerable habitats. “Hope is something we all can create with our actions,” he says.

UNITED KINGDOM: Forestry services company Tilhill has called for forestry leaders to band together to change public attitudes to spruce trees and commercial forestry. The company called for change at the launch of the UK Forest Market Report 2023 on November 22. …Head of forestry investment at Tilhill, Xander Mahony, said industry needs to work together to change negative public perceptions about Sitka spruce, which he described as “the workhorse of the timber industry”. …“People want things made out of wood, wood looks nice, we have our buildings made out of CLT (cross-laminated timber) but they don’t connect that to growing good Sitka in plantations and so breaking through that communication barrier and making that connection is really important,” he said. …Mahoney said it is because there is a deficit of trees in the UK, and that “we are planting relatively little compared to what we already have”.

Additional coverage in Scottish Business News: Forestry leaders must collaborate to improve public perception about the sector

Tikhill: 2023 UK Forest Market Report

Brazil is planning to launch a global financing framework to support tropical forests, according to government officials, as the country seeks to regain its role as an environmental leader at the upcoming UN climate summit in Dubai. Under the proposal, a fund would be created to offer compensation to residents and landowners who help preserve forested areas such as the Amazon. …“We need to have resources in volume, quantity and frequency to finance those who own forests,” Brazil’s environment minister said. “Because today the initiatives we have only encourage those who are deforesting to stop deforesting. They don’t encourage or pay those who are already preserving and keeping the forests standing.” One option being considered is an investment fund with money from institutional and other long-term investors, with a set rate of return. …The fund would be likely to be co-ordinated by a multilateral institution such as the World Bank.

The paper industry loves this tree, it grows fast and produces good paper, a major industry in Portugal. But what harm is this tree doing to the environment? …These trees are known for their unique physical characteristics, rapid growth rate, and numerous uses. However, the use of eucalyptus trees in Portugal has also raised concerns about their impact on the environment. …The paper industry in Portugal has a long history and relies heavily on the eucalyptus tree. Over the years, the industry has undergone significant changes in response to political, economic, and technological developments. Today, Portugal is home to several major players in the paper industry, producing a variety of paper products. However, the industry’s impact on the environment has also been a cause for concern. …Portugal has the largest area of eucalyptus plantations of any country in the world proportionate to its size… They describe the eucalyptus tree as Giant matchsticks.

UPPSALA, SWEDEN – Drone technology pioneer AirForestry has recently showcased that its drone can attach to a tree top and lift a tree trunk. This feat underscores the tremendous strides the company has made in revolutionizing forestry operations, offering a glimpse into the future of sustainable and efficient timber harvesting. “Harvesting trees from above using drones was once thought impossible. Today, we’re demonstrating not just the technological feasibility but also the environmental advantages of our approach,” said Dr Mauritz Andersson, CTO and Cofounder of AirForestry. The innovative system, encompassing a 6-meter heavy-duty drone, a unique harvesting tool, A.I.-based automation, and a control station, represents a significant leap from traditional logging practices. The drone first navigates to a thinning site, precisely identifies a tree using computer vision, and subsequently employs the harvesting tool to grip the tree’s top. …The harvesting tool cuts the tree trunk with an electric chainsaw, and flies it to the roadside.

A forest monitoring system that uses satellites to track threats such as climate change-fuelled wildfires and illegal logging could soon be implemented in the EU. Climate change is taking a mounting toll on Europe’s forests, as extreme heat and drought increase the risk of deadly wildfires. …On Wednesday, the Commission proposed a law that would see Brussels collect forest data from the EU’s Copernicus Sentinel satellites. EU member states would also be obliged to gather ground measurements of trends including the areas available for logging, the volume of trees and the location of ancient forests. …Close to half (43 per cent) of the land burnt last year impacted Natura 2000 sites, a network of protected areas covering Europe’s most valuable and threatened species and habitats. …Most of the 2022 fires (96 per cent) were caused by human actions, but they were aggravated by increased fire danger conditions driven by climate change, according to the report.

The European Commission wants to introduce regulations to reduce the quantity of packaging and make it more sustainable, but environmental groups warn pressure is being put on forests to produce more paper, which some see as a more sustainable option. Across the world, three billion trees are cut down every year to meet the demand for paper packaging, according to environmental groups, and the pressure on forests keeps increasing as consumption goes up. According to the European Commission, the total mass of packaging waste generated in the EU rose by 20% in the ten years leading up to 2020, with paper and cardboard representing 41%. “Packaging production is set to increase by 19% between now and 2030 if nothing is done,” warned Hannah Mowat, campaign coordinator at Fern, a non-profit dedicated to protecting forests. But that could be about to change with the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), tabled in November last year.

In 2022, land roughly the size of Corsica was scorched by wildfires in the EU, according to the latest JRC report on fires in the pan-European region. It’s a third year in a row that unprecedented wildfire events cause large environmental and economic damage in the EU and, often, tragic loss of life. While most of the fires (96%) are caused by human actions, they are aggravated by increased fire danger conditions driven by climate change. Nearly 900,000 ha of land burnt in 2022, making it the second-worst year – the worst being 2017 with 1.3 million ha of burnt land and over 130 people killed – since monitoring through the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) started in 2000. Fires also impacted the Natura 2000 network, EU’s biodiversity reservoir, accounting for about 43% of the total burnt area. The total burnt land in Natura 2000 protected areas in 2022 is the highest in a decade, according to the report.

BRUSSELS – The European Commission is proposing a Forest Monitoring Law that will plug existing gaps in the information on European forests and create a comprehensive forest knowledge base, to allow Member States, forest owners and forest managers to improve their response to growing pressures on forests and strengthen forest resilience. Forests are an essential ally in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss, and crucial for flourishing rural areas and bioeconomy. Unfortunately, Europe’s forests suffer from many different pressures, including climate change and unsustainable human activity. Better monitoring will enable action to make forests more resistant to the cross-border threats of pests, droughts and wildfires that are exacerbated by climate change, enable new business models such as carbon farming, and support compliance with agreed EU legislation. Ultimately, it will help strengthen the capacity of forests to fulfil their multiple environmental and socio-economic functions, including their role as natural carbon sinks.

A global survey of 8,000 amphibian species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Species reveals that 40% of them are at some risk of extinction: 2,873 species in total. Brazil is the country with the greatest amphibian diversity in the world, home to around 1,200 species, and according to the new study, 189 are threatened, most of them endemic. Deforestation and lethal fungi had already been noted as causes of the decline, but now biologists are highlighting the role of the climate crisis: High temperatures and low humidity affect the amphibians’ breathing, which is partly done through the skin. Amphibians are important bioindicators of ecosystem health, as well as being crucial for pest control and medicine.

FINLAND — An artificial intelligence application developed by Metsä Group and CollectiveCrunch for detecting insect damage in forests has won the Quality Innovation Award in a competition organised by the Finnish Quality Association, Excellence Finland. Metsä Group’s Future Sawmill concept won the Business Innovation category of the competition. The Finnish Quality Association presented the awards on Wednesday 15 November. The application detects insect damage in forests such as damage caused by spruce bark beetles before it is visible to the human eye. The application is based on artificial intelligence, machine learning and open data. The Finnish Quality Association considered the insect damage app the best entry in the innovation category because the accurate information it provides enables a rapid response to insect damage that helps limit the spread of damage. The application also won the Environmental Innovation category.

The state-owned Forestry Corporation of New South Wales has again been ordered to stop work in an area of forest after the Environment Protection Authority identified endangered greater glider habitat nearby. It has prompted the NSW Greens to reiterate calls for a plan to end native forest logging, while environment groups urged the Minns government to immediately suspend operations in other parts of the state with high glider records. The stop work order was issued a day after several former environment ministers… signed on to a campaign led by the independent MP Sophie Scamps for a national ban on native forest logging. …Daniel Tuan, the general manager of Forestry Corporation of NSW’s hardwood forests division, said the agency was committed to protecting greater glider and other threatened species habitat and was concerned about the stop work order.