FSC remains the sole choice of Tetra Pak

From Nepcon: Despite improvements in the PEFC system, it has not attained an assurance level that satisfies the standards set by Tetra Pak, global leader in beverage packaging. This is the main conclusion of an assessment conducted by ProForest on behalf of Tetra Pak. Read More

Gibson Guitar and the Lacey Act: Real Issue of Illegal Logging Waiting in Vain

From GreenBlue (By Tom Pollok): Federal agents raided offices and factories belonging to Gibson Guitar Corporation last week for the second time in two years, seizing documents, computer hard drives, pallets of wood, guitars, and tools. The raid was based on Gibson’s suspected violations of the U.S. Lacey Act, a 111-year-old anti-trafficking statute originally passed to protect wildlife, but more… Read More

China Joins PEFC

From www.PEFC.org (AUG 31 2011): PEFC International has unanimously approved the application of the China Forest Certification Council (CFCC) to join the world's largest forest certification system.
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Social issues move into the FSC Chain of Custody standard

From NEPCon (24 August 2011): FSC has launched a revised version of its Chain of Custody standard, implying several changes to the system that certificate holders should be aware of.
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FAO, EU fight illegal logging in Ghan

From Modern Ghana (By: Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh): The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the European Union (EU) have collaborated with the government to fight illegal logging in Ghana. To this end, the EU is supporting the FAO African, Caribbean and Pacific, and Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FAO ACP-FLEGT) support programme with 10,000 Euros to strengthen… Read More

McDonald's gives preference to FSC for packaging

From NEPCon: McDonald's has released a policy for packaging supplies that gives preference to FSC certification over other forms of documentation, "because it currently provides the best assurance of meeting our standards". Read More

Run, Forest, Run: How Nike Turned Unsold Industrial Credits Into a Forest Bonanza

From Ecosystem Marketplace (by Steve Zwick): Shoe giant Nike has a pile industrial carbon credits; Brazil has a slew of promising forest carbon projects in danger of withering on the vine. Social networking site Hub Culture has a virtual currency that only its members can use. Here’s how they turned that into $50,000 of forest carbon seed money, and why they think millions more will follow.… Read More

10th Proforest Summer Training Programme 18-22 July 2011, Oxford, United Kingdom

The Proforest Initiative is pleased to announce its 2011 summer training programme in Oxford from 18-22 July 2011.The programme is now available and open for registration.

A decade of training and capacity building in responsible natural resource management.

In the past ten years more than 400 participants from over 50 different countries have participated in our… Read More

Deal Preserves 22,000 Acres in Pennsylvania by Helping Landowners Certify, Market Sustainable Forest Products

From SustainableBusiness.com: "Working Woodlands is a new model of conservation that leverages the market demand for certified forest products and carbon offsets to help private landowners achieve their goals while promoting long-term conservation at the same time," says Josh Parrish, the Pennsylvania director of land protection for The Nature Conservancy (TNC).… Read More

24 NGOs can Not Stop Chenming Paper's Pollution

From SynTao.com: 24 NGOs’ united denounce seemed to fail to push Chenming Paper to stop polluting. As one of the NGOs, Friends of Nature told to International Finance News that they have sent an open letter to Chenming Paper to urge it stop discharging pollutions and apologize to the around citizens this February but failed. Read More Read More

Dole Launches Rainforest Alliance Bananas

From Environmental Leader: Dole Food Company, the world’s biggest fruit producer, is now selling Rainforest Alliance Certified bananas. The bananas are grown in Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala on Rainforest Alliance Certified farms, which meet the standards of the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), a coalition of leading conservation groups. The standards include metrics on water and soil… Read More

Beyond LEED – Green Building Certification Is Only as Good as Its Green Inputs

From Environmental Leader: Facing growing demand for green building certification, builders and consumers alike seek certifications that reflect the green credentials of their architecture. Unfortunately, a rigorous green building certification can be undermined if underlying green product certifications are false or misleading.… Read More

Seven major brands move away from SFI

From NEPCon: Long-term campaigning by ForestEthics against the US forestry scheme Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) has taken effect: sold on the arguments, seven high brand companies are now pledging to move away from using the SFI scheme to demonstrate their sustainability commitments. … Read More

New Guide: Corporate Ecosystem Valuation

From Ecosystem Marketplace (Author: Genevieve Bennett): The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has released its new Guide to Corporate Ecosystem Valuation (CEV). The guide, the first major attempt to package approaches to ecosystem valuation specifically for business, offers private sector actors a framework for understanding how – and how much – their businesses depend on ecosystem… Read More

Unilever Leads Sustainability Rankings

From Environmental Leader: Unilever has topped rankings of the companies most committed to sustainability, in a poll carried out by consultants SustainAbility and researchers GlobeScan. Read More

Sourcing Controlled Wood from UK made easier

From NEPCon: Companies manufacturing FSC Mixed Sources products will now find it less burdensome to control their non-certified timber when sourcing from UK forests. This breakthrough is owed to the approval of a national FSC Controlled Wood Risk Assessment. Read More

Environmental and CSR Reporting in China Today: A Paradox

From the Environmental Leader (by Fanny Lee): China is a country of many paradoxes, and the level of environmental protection and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is no exception. Read More

USDA invests $60M in 3 new research projects on effects of climate change on crops and forests

From the Associated Press: The federal government is investing $60 million in three major studies on the effects of climate change on crops and forests to help ensure farmers and foresters can continue producing food and timber while trying to limit the impact of a changing environment. … Read More

Virgin Group, HP Recognized for Best Corporate Responsibility Reporting

From SustainableBusiness.com: Virgin Group and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) are among the companies recognized in the 2011 Corporate Responsibility Reporting Awards (CRRA ‘11). Read More