Kenya - The rising demand for timber in Kenyas coastal towns has driven merchants turning to mango and coconut trees.
The timber dealers have descended on indigenous trees on the Coast to fill orders for charcoal burning, carving, construction of boats and new buildings.
In the mad rush for timber, protected areas like the mangrove forests have not been spared, while charcoal burners and woodcarvers occasionally invade the Tsavo for wood... [Continue]
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Poor record keeping and illegal logging is raising concerns of over-exploitation of Merbau, finds a new report by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.
Merbau, a tropical hardwood, is popular in Europe and elsewhere as a flooring material. Roughly 30,000 cubic metres of Merbau timber entered the EU in 2005, half of it direct from Indonesia, the remainder from Malaysia and, after processing, from China... [Continue]
Fish and timber are natural resources often not managed in a sustainable way in West Africa due to inadequate EU policies, says a report adopted by the European Parliament. The own initiative report adopted with 559 votes in favour 11 against and 17 abstentions is part of a periodic review of EU policies.
The report draws on the role of the EP Committee on Development to assess how EU policies affect development in a new power granted by the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) that entered into in force December 2006... [Continue]
Kupwara, Kashmir, India - The shortage of timber at forest depots in Kupwara and Handwara for past six weeks has delayed construction works and forced consumers to get timber through illegal means.
The non-availability of timber has also rendered the construction work of many government buildings including schools and Panchayat Ghars incomplete in Kupwara... [Continue]
Lax management of an old growth forest in the central highlands province of Lam Dong has been blamed for widespread logging and land exploitation.
Deforestation in the environmentally valuable Yahoa forest over the past few years has been a tough problem to solve for local forest owners and rangers.
The authorities are fighting a losing battle for the forest which is in Don Duong District in Lam Dong Province and borders with Ninh Son District of Ninh Thuan Province... [Continue]
Ghana - Preliminary reports from the ongoing voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) negotiations on how to stop illegal logging and illegal timber trade between Ghana and European Union (EU) have indicated that Ghanas forestry resources and industry were in danger of a hard fall if changes are not made to the current rate of timber harvest in the country... [Continue]
Freetown, Sierra Leone - Sierra Leone on Thursday announced strict new rules to curb logging misuses, a day after lifting a six-month ban on the export of timber to stop alleged widespread plundering of its natural forests.
"With immediate effect, forest rangers will have to supervise the cutting of trees for logs and no tree should be cut without their supervision," Forestry Minister Sam Sessay said... [Continue]
