Ecojustice says a Federal Court Justice has ruled in favour of conservation groups on interpretation of the Species at Risk Act. In related news: SFI assesses it value with the EU Deforestation Regulation; Oregon is still split on who should pay for wildfire protection; sharing expertise to prevent biomass silo fires in Japan; and Chile’s death toll rises as megafires blamed in part on exotic species tree plantations.
In Business news: Canada considers making sustainability reporting mandatory; the Red Sea crisis hits Swedish forest products exports hard; recycled cardboard is still market-hot; Ontario looks to mass timber for affordable housing; and a 25-storey mass timber tower is approved in Vancouver. Meanwhile: Conifex loses its court bid on cryptocurrency mining; and Mondi completes its acquisition of the Hinton Pulp mill.
Finally, wood cellulose replaces plastics in sunscreen as biodegradable glitter. Seriously.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
WEYBRIDGE, UK — Mondi, a global producer of sustainable packaging and paper, has completed the acquisition of Hinton Pulp mill in Alberta, Canada, from 
The recycled-box rally is still going strong. Prices for old corrugated containers, or OCC, have been climbing as several newly opened mills vie for old boxes to turn into new packaging. In the Southeast, prices for OCC rose 6.6% in January, according to TTOBMA, a pulp and paper consulting firm that tracks sales and prices. The hunt for old boxes has spilled into adjacent markets, pushing up the prices mills paid for OCC in the Midwest and central Canada roughly 14% last month, the firm said. [END]
Last Generation Canada, an environmental activist group formerly known as On2Ottawa is rebranding to align with an international climate movement network called A22, as it prepares for a new wave of direct action and demands in the nation’s capital. The new name is an amendment of Last Generation’s counterpart in Germany, which maintains this is the last generation to stop climate collapse, while also being the first to effect change in society. …Supporter Gillian Graham, 23, said that many of the activists in the group are fed up with climate marches, climate strikes, calls to government and petitions. Direct actions that disrupt daily life and force the hand of governments became one of the only courses of action, they believe. …The group’s keystone demand is the creation of a national firefighting agency. The group is also demanding citizen assemblies — a group of people selected to make policy decisions and help solve climate issues.
Washington, D.C. and Ottawa, ON
VANCOUVER, BC – A Federal Court Justice has ruled in favour of conservation groups that challenged the federal Environment Minister for failing to take action to protect the critical habitats of at-risk migratory birds. This includes the Marbled Murrelet, which relies on coastal old-growth forests. Ecojustice lawyers were in court on behalf of Sierra Club BC and Wilderness Committee, to advocate for the protection of migratory birds. …The groups’ main contention was that a “protection statement” issued by Minister Guilbeault in 2022 too narrowly interpreted the Species at Risk Act. …Last week, Chief Justice Crampton concluded that only ensuring the protection of migratory birds’ nests, but not the rest of their critical habitat, was not justified under the law or key facts before the Minister. The Chief Justice concluded that the Minister should have considered that habitat loss and degradation is a key driver in the decline of most at-risk bird populations. 
A Vancouver software developer has launched a campaign to halt tree-cutting in Stanley Park and force the park board to disclose the reports behind the $7-million operation to take down 160,000 trees. The board says a quarter of the trees were killed by the hemlock looper moth infestation and are a wildfire hazard. Michael Robert Caditz said he is seeking legal advice aimed at applying for a court injunction and will attend Monday’s park board meeting. He formed the Save Stanley Park group after he became alarmed about the number of trees removed. Last year, the city awarded two emergency contracts to North Vancouver forestry consultant B.A. Blackwell and Associates totalling $3.85 million. …Norm Oberson, owner of Arbutus Tree Service fears that the risk of wildfire is being overstated in order to expedite bulk tree removal.
Democratic lawmakers are split over whether a greater share of the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to protect the state from wildfires should come from all Oregon taxpayers or from the private property and business owners whose valuable assets receive state protection. During the five weeks of the Legislative session, Sen. Elizabeth Steiner, D-Portland and Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth will both attempt to convince their peers to ask the public for more money, and Steiner also will propose reducing costs for the timber industry. Two of their colleagues – Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, and Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene – will make the case that the timber industry has been allowed for too long to contribute too little and needs to step up to fill funding gaps. At stake is not only the ability for state agencies to prevent and fight wildfires, but also widely needed resources for communities and homeowners … to stop fires from spreading.
UNDRR expresses condolences and solidarity with the people and government of Chile as they battle growing forest fires. As the death toll exceeds 100, this disaster is believed to be Chile’s deadliest forest fire on record with expectations that the death toll will grow. The Chilean National Disaster Prevention and Response Service has stated that it has delivered more than 560 tons of aid and has urged communities at risk to develop response plans and to take measures to reduce the risk of forest fires. These fires come less than two weeks after Colombia issued a disaster declaration due to raging fires and asked for international assistance. Regionally, between 2000 and 2019, an average of 33 million hectares of land are estimated to have been affected by wildfires in Latin America every year. 
Corporate Canada is moving a step closer to standardized sustainability reporting this week as an industry group charged with adapting international disclosure guidelines to the domestic economy finalizes its first drafts. The Canadian Sustainability Standards Board is expected to sign off on three documents that will guide climate-related disclosures. The documents will go out for a 90-day public comment period starting in March. These are international guidelines, tailored for the Canadian context, that could eventually be required by regulators such as the provincial securities commissions and the federal financial-industry watchdog, CSSB chair Charles-Antoine St-Jean said. …Financial experts, including those serving on the Sustainable Finance Action Council, have called for mandatory climate disclosure to be adopted quickly in Canada, saying it is a competitive imperative as the rest of the world proceeds with the standards. [to access the full story a Globe & Mail subscription is required]
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