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Mongabay: To cooperatively stop deforestation for commodities, navigating ‘legal’ vs ‘zero’ is key (commentary)
As a decade-long effort by the private sector to voluntarily eliminate deforestation from commodity supply chains stalls, the EU, UK, and US are all considering trade regulations. But policy makers and advocates have been debating the relative merits of trade barriers based on a “legality” or “zero-deforestation” standard: we believe this presents a false dichotomy. […]
Mongabay: To cooperatively stop deforestation for commodities, navigating ‘legal’ vs ‘zero’ is key (commentary)
As a decade-long effort by the private sector to voluntarily eliminate deforestation from commodity supply chains stalls, the EU, UK, and US are all considering legality-based trade regulations. Forest Trends’ Michael Wolosin offers analysis on why both are necessary, from different stakeholders.
The Diplomat: Myanmar Timber Exports Continue, Despite Western Sanctions: Report
Myanmar’s military junta exported more than $37 million worth of timber to nations with active sanctions on the country’s state-run timber monopoly, according to the environmental advocacy group Forest Trends.
Despite sanctions on Myanmar, the US, UK, and EU imported more than $36 million in timber since the coup, exposing traders to risk of prosecution
Washington DC 7 March 2022 – Just over one year since the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, led a coup against the legitimately re-elected government, a new study finds that more than $190 million in imports of timber were reported from Myanmar in 2021, including to countries with sanctions, potentially exposing entities importing from […]
CNBC: Marc Benioff backs start-up that uses satellites to count trees and pays people not to cut them down
Salesforce founder Marc Benioff, backs start-up that seeks to offset carbon by facilitating the ability of companies to pay land-owners to keep their trees and forests alive.
SPGlobal: Price-sensitive carbon credit supply waiting in wings: Ecosystem Marketplace
The Director of Ecosystem Marketplace, Stephen Donofrio, is interviewed by SPGlobal, where he explains that there has been a dramatic surge in carbon credit sales and widening price spreads seen in 2021 are likely to continue in 2022.
Khmer Times: Vietnam says smuggling of sugar from Cambodia and Laos on the rise
The volume of sugar illegally imported into Vietnam from Cambodia and Laos has been increasing, with 757,000 metric tons per year in the 2015-19 period, nearly 2.8 times the quantity in the 2008-14 period, according to a report which was released at a seminar co-organized by Forest Trends.
Mongabay: Vietnam’s timber legality program not making a dent in risky wood imports
Despite new regulations to clean up Vietnam’s timber sector, importers continue to bring large volumes of tropical hardwood into the country from deforestation hotspots in Africa and Asia for use in products sold domestically.
Global Trade Review: Energy giants’ Myanmar exit renews attention on sanctions
Despite sanctions by the US, EU and UK, state-owned timber company Myanma Timber Enterprise (MTE) is still able to export significant volumes of wood products, according to Forest Trends, a Washington DC-based conservation group.
Capital.com: Is carbon trading going to boom in 2022?
Carbon trading is the process of companies and traders trading permits and credits, allowing users to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide. This has seen a significant increase over the last few years, as governments all over the world attempt to employ it as a means of eventually reducing emissions and managing climate change.