Wood residues – the materials left over when trees are logged and processed – hold the potential to support resource-efficient energy access, revitalize rural economies and help mitigate climate change, according to this new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In many countries, wood …
WASPS, bees and ants are known to live in highly organised colonies with an elaborate division of labour among the occupants, who are separated into different "castes", each performing specific functions, and who are also physically different and with a rank in colony hierarchy. However, Ropalidia rufoplagiata wasps, studied by …
A significant provision for forests in this year's Union budget may turn out to be a case of missing the forest for the trees. Motivated by a desire to "protect the environment and to save wood," Singh cut the excise duty on plywood from 34.5 per cent to 20 per …
When Garhchiroli district collector Subrath Rathod seized a truck illegally transporting teak in Maharashtra last September, an enquiry was held and it showed that illegal timber-felling in eastern Maharashtra, particularly his district and neighbouring Bhandara, is widespread and involves forest, revenue and railway officials. The two districts contain more than …
A SOCIAL forestry scheme in Himachal Pradesh that for long was charged by environmentalists as a state-sponsored land-grab bid in the guise of afforestation has been suspended following the dismissal of the Bharatiya Janata Party government. The van lagao rozi kamao yojana (grow-forests-and-earn-a-living scheme), implemented by the BJP, sought to …
PRESSING need for foreign exchange is pushing the country on to the international timber trail. Though the ministry of environment and forests (MEF) chooses to be tight-lipped, official sources admit timber exports have been given a green signal. To begin with, timber traders will be allowed to re-export teak wood …
A PROPOSAL by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) to ban use of timber in construction from April 1993 is pitting the plywood and wood panel industry against wood substitute manufacturers. The former stand to lose CPWD orders worth Rs 70 crore and even more should state construction departments implement …
OPERATING in defiance of a UN Security Council embargo on the export of logs from Cambodia effective from the new year, Thai loggers are sending hundreds of lorries loaded with tropical hardwood over the border to Thailand. The UN has also banned the supply of petroleum products to the Khmer …
Malaysia is gaining support to fight industrialised countries who are pressing for a ban on logging in the tropical rainforests. Its partners in the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have supported its stand and agreed to dissuade other countries from following Austria's lead and imposing mandatory labelling on tropical …
THERE is really pleasing no one. Last month, the Indonesian government lifted an eight-year ban on export of raw wood -- and came under fire from both environmentalists and business interests. The ban was lifted in response to a demand by the General Agreement on Trade and Tarriffs (GATT), which …
ROUND logs can be transformed into square ones without using a saw. The process yields wood that is stronger, denser and less liable to split and warp (New Scientist, Vol. 135, No. 1828). The method, evolved by Japanese scientist Yoshinori Kobayashi, involves baking the logs to around 1000 C in …
Japan, once described as an ecological outlaw in a civilised world, faced punishment in March 1991 for its role in endangering the hawksbill sea turtle. The US administration threatened to restrict import of all wildlife products from Japan, including pearl import worth US $53 million, unless the Japanese mended their …
Norway, Iceland and Japan have all faced pressures and threats of green embargoes over their demand for whaling quotas. These countries want the right to harvest whales "scientifically", particularly the minke whale, a smaller and supposedly not endangered mammal. In July 1990, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) met and, under …
Opposition to US beef imports began in Europe a few years after health conscious European consumers discovered US beef was hormone treated. When this issue was raised in GATT, the US argued there was little scientific evidence to show hormone-treated meat is harmful. But the EC, prompted by politics and …
The timber industry in tropical countries has aroused disapproval and import bans are increasing on tropical wood from forests that are managed "unsustainably". The disapproval is particularly virulent in Europe and Australia, where retail shops, companies and local governments have banned the import of tropical timber unless it can be …
Botswana faced international opposition to its plans to develop the Okavango swamps by dredging channels to supply drinking water to the town of Maun and to a nearby diamond mine. Greenpeace International became incensed by the scheme and threatened to start a boycott of Botswana's diamonds with the slogan, "Diamonds …
A green war raging at sea is the use of driftnets by fishing fleets. Driftnets have been called "walls of deaths" by conservationists as these immense nets, at times 40 km long, strip mine the oceans. The US has already enacted legislation to prohibit trade in fish caught by driftnets. …
IN LATE 1989, Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi demonstrated his government's commitment to the preservation of the elephant by setting fire to nearly 12 tonnes of ivory worth US $3 million. Moi's dramatic act was the climax of a sustained campaign by conservationists, which caught the hearts of many across …
GLOBAL trade wars are turning green and, across the world, battles are raging to enforce environmental decisions through the power of trade restrictions and embargoes on the countries deemed responsible for environmentally unfriendly products. Japan faced punishment for endangering the hawksbill sea turtle whose shell is used to make jewellery. …
TIMBER worth crores of rupees is being stolen from the UP forests. Trees are cut either without permission or with the connivance of those in authority. Timber worth Rs 30 lakh was seized in a single seizure recently, reflecting the magnitude of the problem, which is complicated further by terrorist …
AT THE rate at which the world's forests are disappearing, it would appear that the price for human development is the destruction of forests. This is true wherever civilisations have risen and flourished, observes author and amateur explorer John Perlin, in his new book A Forest Journey, brought out by …
